Every year, March would barge in like nobody's business, taking everyone by surprise. It always feels like we just finished celebrated the new year, two actually.
'Wow! How time flies' everyone sighs.
This year, March made people feel it lingered a little longer than usual, thanks to the sweltering heat and subsequent dry spell. To some, it was even costly as they lost a huge portion of their water dependent income sources; vegetables and rice farmers, and also freshwater livestock suppliers and gatherers are some of them.
As March approaches the end, things got a little better, with rain almost every evening. This time however, sunny sky dependent businesses face challenges. Car wash outlets and open night markets get lesser traffic. Even the multi million dollars F1 race has been rescheduled one hour earlier in anticipation of a wet evening, fearing similar cancellation as previous year.
April begins as a big joke for everyone nevertheless. To some, it is a day of practical jokes, a dose of fun, cheer and jeer which is often at someone else' expense. It is rather tricky to be taken seriously on this day for fear of embarrassment and looking like a fool. On the other hand, it is also not easy to pull a good joke since most of us are aware of the imminent day. You might think the newer generations are easy targets but it is quite the opposite. They are more aware of the current trends. Some even consider it as outdated and lame.
'I may be young but I was not born yesterday' or 'Nobody does that anymore these days' they say.
For me,
April first means I am next. How's that for a birthday tag line.
My life's anniversary falls on the second day and thanks to people around me, I am reminded of how lucky I am to make it this far, mostly through social network's birthday alerts. Just facebook really.
I gotta thank my parents for their family planning and not a day too late. If it weren't for them, my birth would have been a joke. Don't think I'd be called Fool though, ever. I would probably be named April, which kinda sounds feminine. I remember watching an anime series with a female character named April when I was seven or eight. Can't recall the title though.
Having said that, what is in a name anyway. Agustus means 'great' in latin but I'm far from that. And there are so few great people with the same name as mine. And could you consider Augustus Pinochet as one great man? According to the website
thinkbabynames.com, "Agustus is an uncommon first name for men and an equally uncommon last name for both men and women. (1990 U.S. Census)".
Great! All the better then. That means I'm a rare specimen. And I might not have any children because it is very uncommon to have last names after me. Sounds more like 'should not have kids' to me. That doesn't sound like a good prospect. Maybe I think too much. Maybe I know too little.
And why Agustus? Some people ask. I always tell them it's all maths actually. You see, I was born on the second day of the fourth month, which, when multiplied gives eight, hence the month August. "So we'll slap him with the name Agustus then!" I can imagine my dad concluding the brain draining baby naming exercise.
Well, at least that's how simple I wanted it to look. Furthermore, people seem to accept things which are easily quantified. But we all know that's not the real reason. The truth is, I have no idea. Unlike others that have asked me, I have never had the curiosity to ask the same question to my parents. I always take it as their gut feelings and what they inspire me to be. A great person.
Heaven knows I'm trying.
