TWENTY EIGHT AND HAPPINESS

so, if you know anything about this blog, you know it's about numbers relating to real life circumstances. i have a weird obsession with thinking about how old i am, taking that number, and seeing if i can relate it to my life in any way. like, when i turned 25, i started seeing fives everywhere, and i realized that since my dad died when i was 20, that i had spent 1/5th of my life without him. that was a crazy realization.

of course, this blog's name comes from the number 26, as i was 26 when i made it. i felt like i was in a weird state of purgatory, between the life i left behind and the life i wanted to attain. 26 is a number that is between a square (25 = 5x5) and a cube (27=3x3x3). so it made sense to me that that is the way i felt.

well, 27 came and went, folks. some parts of my life are much better. i love this city, and i met a pretty cool girl that i want to keep around. i decided what i want to do with my life, but i still need to get it. the main thing that's getting in the way of my total happiness is the job that i want. everything else is pretty sweet.

i think 28 is the year i can attain total happiness, either by taking more steps towards becoming an art teacher, or by finding something else that makes me feel fulfilled. why do i think 28 is the year? 28 is what's called a happy number.

it's weird to explain, so here's what wikipedia says:

a happy number is defined by the following process. starting with any positive integer, replace the number by the sum of the squares of its digits, and repeat the process until the number equals 1 (where it will stay), or it loops endlessly in a cycle which does not include 1. those numbers for which this process ends in 1 are happy numbers, while those that do not end in 1 are unhappy numbers (or sad numbers).

meaning:
2 squared (4) + 8 squared (64) = 68
6 squared (36) + 8 squared (64) = 100
and of course, 1 squared plus 0 = 1.

so there you have it. obscure number theory and mathematics guarantee that i'll be happy this year. bring it on.

*addendum* i just realized that 28 is also the number of days in the menstrual cycle. it might not be a completely happy year, after all.