Freaky!

I was subbing for a science teacher the other day. I set my bag down and started perusing the lesson plans and started trying to track down the reading worksheet that I was supposed to distribute after the test. While scanning around the teacher's three desks, I came across a blue post-it on her computer, which read in blue ink "floccinaucinihilipilification." It was a word I had not seen in quite some time, a word I indeed knew. (No, it's not a GRE word. But if it is, I'm sure I'd get that question correct.)

In that moment I was sent into a flashback to the summer of '96, Sydney, Australia. I sat next to my stand-partner, Mike Negrete, on a tour bus as we were transported to our rehearsal. Mike was reading from a collection of small books that his mother bought him for his trip—"The Do-It-Yourself Genius Kit." Each book was filled with a bunch of trivial facts that if you learned, would make you a...anybody? anyone? Correct! A genius.
Here's a few that I recalled in that moment:

• Flies jump backwards when they take off.
• When flies land, they usually puke something up.
• Kennedy could read ___newspapers in 60 minutes. (I forgot the number, but it's more than 2)
• DaVinci could paint with one hand and write with the other at the same time.
• The longest word in the 1st edition of the Oxford English Dictionary is "floccinaucinihilipilification," meaning the act of estimating or judging worthlessness. (It was later replaced in the 2nd edition with"pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis") See link.

How did that word come to end up here? The teacher must have been looking it up online, especially since it's not a word I hear thrown around too often.

The day continued on, and, as students took their exam, I was reading my new book when my eyes went wide. There, on page 38, was the word "floccinaucinihilipilification." How can that be? The mysterious word from so long ago popped up twice in one day. That could not be a coincidence. What would force this word into my life? Is it a message? Am I supposed to estimate my worthlessness? I was confused.

As I handed out the worksheets for the students to do after the test, I continuously glanced at the directions for the puzzle I had never seen before. It was called an Enchanted Box. Students had to solve each question that was in the boxes, 4 x 4 in the square. If they answered the questions correctly, the sum of each horizontal row and each vertical row would be the same. I shrugged at it when a student asked me to help them understand it. All I got in high school were crosswords and word searches as our waste-of-time worksheets.

I went back to my book. Once again, chills rushed down my spine. The main character of the book, a guy who suffers from OCD, was making what he called a Magic Box to calm his nerves. The character's Magic Box worked the same as the teacher's Enchanted Box. The author even inserted visual examples, a 9 x 9 one and an insane 16 x 16 one.

How could this be? Two freakin' weird incidents. I was unnerved at what the universe was trying to tell me.

I shared this with the Counselor and she had the silly notion that maybe the teacher I subbed for was reading the same book. That's preposterous. The cosmos is trying to tell me something. Oh Fortuna, send me another sign!