Last year, The Beatrix proclaimed October 10th “Torsten Day”, so I thought, “Why not make it an ongoing celebration?”  (That’s a rhetorical question.  I’ve found that if I start to answer the questions which pop into my noggin, then I quickly feel like an ant on a Klein bottle, never and forever inside or out, like Schroedinger’s kitten.)

I’m not one for being the center of attention (as a nerd who identified with Bernard Marx in high school, I quickly learned to become invisible to avoid unwanted attention), and I still get a bit embarrassed whenever anyone celebrates my birthday.  But if it’s random, and low-key, and I’m able to run away if necessary, then I can handle the interaction.

My name isn’t sanctioned by the Church, so I don’t have a Saint Day, and the Swedes give me a Namnsdag on February 23rd, which isn’t very conducive to celebrating, because February is the August of Winter.  This year, October 10th is right before the New York Comic Con, and since most of my friends and acquaintances are geeks of various tribes, I figure this is a better day to celebrate.  (I used to attend comic cons around my birthday in July, but Wizard World ran the Chicago Comic Con into the ground, and San Diego is just too much too much.  So October in New York is a nice compromise.)

So, if you happen to recognize me at Javits this week, come up and introduce yourself.  If you happen to see me at a bar, and you’re a comics professional, let me know.  I’ve probably read your work, and owe you a royalty payment since I probably got the comic or book via a review copy.  I’ll buy you a drink to balance my karma, and if we talk about comics, I’ll let you claim the drink as a business expense!

 

 

4 COMMENTS

  1. Ya know…things did feel kinda different when I woke up this morning and now I know why! It’s Torsten Day! In the small Ukranian village my family calls home, we celebrate Torsten Day with a loaf of fresh-baked bread and a reading of sacred comics from the 1600s.

  2. Here in Yorkshire we have erected our 12-foot wooden Torsten, and look forward to burning nominated witches inside it at around 11:30 this evening.

  3. Where I now reside, the geese splash down in ponds, set aside their southern journey in honour of this day and mingle among the townfolk. In turn, the townfolk parade throughout the village lanes, loudly proclaiming the Torsten Ritual. It is a many splendoured spectacle, to be sure.

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