The Power of 17

Tonight, I'm celebrating my 1,017th post. Why? Well...

I missed my 1,000th post a couple weeks ago.

I've got absolutely nothing else to talk about tonight.

It so happens that 17 is a very cool number, and I'm not the only person who thinks so.

I remember every detail of the moment the number 17 first got onto my radar. Waking up in a hotel room in Las Vegas, shared among a group of friends, we turned on the television to something -- anything -- while we were all taking turns showering and getting in motion. It happened that the thing that was on was Sesame Street.

Almost any American kid from my generation will have certain songs about numbers written indelibly in their brains from Sesame Street, Schoolhouse Rock, and the like. ("One-two-three FOUR FIVE six-seven-eight NINE TEN... eleven twelve. Dooooo doo-doo-do-doo doooo.....") Well, that morning, on came a similar piece designed to brand the number 17 in your brain.

First of all, it was weird even by Sesame Street standards. They just kept flashing the number on the screen again and again, as this voice kept saying again and again: "seventeen." Except sometimes it was shouted, sometimes whispered. Sometimes a long pause, sometimes twice close together. "SEVENTEEN! .... seventeen-SEVENTEEN! .... SevenTEEN!!!"

Juxtaposed over this weirdness was the realization: wait a second... when did Sesame Street start counting up past 12?! When I was a kid, nothing past 12 even existed on Sesame Street. Now this crazy drug trip simulation for toddlers was going on about 17?

Possibly, this all seemed more bizarre that it actually was, given that I was waking up in a strange bed after an uneven night's sleep, following a long night of gaming in the casinos.

In any case, I will always remember it.

SEVENTEEN!