Day 150: Day 150

Hey, I made it to another landmark number. 150 is a nice one to cap off the week with. Somehow increments of 50 feel like an honorable even number, I guess because 5 is an honorable even number too. Nobody questions when you put the volume on the TV at 25. Put it at 27 though? Something is clearly wrong with you. I think it's funny how people are drawn to 'nice' numbers, including myself. I can't figure out exactly why that is. Why is 150 any more of an achievement than 151? People will put the volume at 25 even if 27 makes for better listening. We even take numbers that should be ugly and force them to be pretty, like π. I'm convinced it wasn't just easier to have a symbol to work with, but also more pleasing to the eye. We could approximate with 22/7 every time, but that's just wrong isn't it? There's even a symbol for 2π, the Greek letter τ. Some people can't leave 2π as is, they absolutely must have a pretty symbol.

Writing is kinda the same way. We need pretty character arcs, polished into perfect symbolism for the type of life they represent, and predictably surprising twists that make us wonder how we never saw it coming. Endings are the hardest. Nobody likes when the book ends on 27, even if it deserves to end on 27. Maybe if I could figure out why that is I could write a better novel.

Thank you for reading,

Benjamin Hawley