π (022)

My mother was a math and science teacher for several years when I was a child. At least, she tried to be. I don’t know the details, but I remember that she was a student teacher when we were living on the campus of Eastern Kentucky University, and then she was a substitute teacher for many years once we moved back to Michigan. She eventually had her own classrooms. As a result, I was always advanced in both subjects. Except high school chemistry. 

Man, do I hate chemistry. And that’s nuts because you’d think I’d like understanding bonds and charges and whatnot. I think I don’t like it because I waited until senior year to take it, and that was a particularly difficult year for me. Chemistry was the first class after lunch. Many days, I napped in it. My teacher was a very understanding man and allowed me to work at my own pace. I did the work to pass. I could still learn chemistry. I’d have to if I ever decided to go back and try my hand at meteorology, which has been a desire since third grade. Yeah, I’m the dork that read a speech about wanting to be a meteorologist at 8 years old. 

Also at 8, my mother signed up for AOL 3.0. This was the first version I remember, but there may have been a few AOL 2.0 floppies in her stacks. America Online, the gateway to information. Some time after signing up and making a nerdy screen name for herself, she signed me up with one as well. At the time, I had started a small collection of pigs thanks to my trinket-loving genes and the generosity of their predecessors. She decided to use that as part of my name, but wanted to make it unique. I had a book called “Piggie Pie!” in my collection of pig items, and it clicked. It was the day she signed me up as PiggiePi that I learned the ratio π. 

I love everything circular. It’s the strongest shape, depending on applied pressure. Yoshi was born on Pi Day, one of the things that told me he was my puppy when I found him online. His litter name was Albert. Made me chuckle because I used to know quite a bit about piercings. I used to celebrate by getting a pie on Pi Day, but I always ended up wasting a good portion of it, so I stopped treating myself. Today, I have celebrated by painting my nails and listening to Marc Maron play guitar and chase Buster, his cat, on Instagram live. He called us dorks for saying “Happy Pi Day” in the comments, which I thought was pretty funny. Pi is one of few major transcendental numbers, I typed out to no one in particular. Fuck it, I’m getting a pie today.

Happy Pi Day!