If you type “25” into Google, three hits down you get “see results for 24.” But I don’t want to know about 24. I want to know about 25, my new age, the coming of which caused me much stress in analyzing what I’ve done with my quarter of 100 years. Yes, numbers are arbitrary. We made them up, along with time. But whether you’re a math geek, a guy who bets a lot or a numerologist, we all know that there’s some kind of magic in the numbers.I’m superstitious about numbers and developed my own set of biases based on absolutely nothing practical or real. I hate even numbers. Odd years tend to be good ones for me. Here’s what I learned about my fresh age: It’s the atomic number of Manganese, the number of critical Florida electoral votes for the 2000 presidental election, the minimum age of candidates for the House of Reps and the size of a full baseball roster, according to Wikipedia. The big two-five is a square number, the result of five to the second power. I think that bodes well for symmetry this year. It’s also the sum of two squares, (three squared plus four squared). Never mind the squares, 25 is also a centered octagonal number and an automorphic number. It’s also a pseudoprime and an aspiring number. I have no idea what any of that means. Welcome anyway to the Marisa-brand of Numerology. My predictions for myself: As a somewhat centered person with an octagonal head, I’m anticipating a year of metamorphosis. It should also be a year of pseudoindividualism and aspirations. Thank you, 25-year-old brain, for your ability to mix science, math and superstition (disrespecting them all in the process) without giving a thought to the eleventy billion years of history upon which they stand. That’s what I call a quarter-century of progress.
The Big Two-Five
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