It's 11/11/11, a date you can read forwards and backwards, American-style and European-style.
It's Veteran's Day/Armistice Day, which seems to be celebrated more someplace than others. The kids here are out of school and some communities have ceremonies of remembrance scheduled.
My denomination (UCC) is finishing up a drive called Mission 1, which ran from 11.1.11 to 11.11.11.
It's a popular date for getting married, or so I'm told, just like other memorable dates (for instance 09/08/07).
But mostly, it's a big day for Nigel Tufnel, in celebration of "maximum elevenness." 
For today's Friday Five, share five ways you or someone you know likes to turn it up to 11. How have you gone beyond the usual expected limits? Feel free to interpret this as eccentrically as possible.
As always, let us know in the comments if you play and you'll probably get some visitors to your blog. Be sure to go say hi to others! It makes things easier if you post a link in the comments. There are instructions on how to make that happen
here.
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Gosh, it's over 20 years since I saw Spinal Tap. I had forgotten about old Nigel. That's a funny movie, I should rent it again.
1) I've decided to stop worrying and love the bomb. No, not really. I've decided to stop worrying and not worry anymore. Radical non-worrying, turned up to 11.
My employer announced this week that they are "considering" moving all non-contract employees to "at-will status," meaning that we can be dismissed at any time for no cause. It came as a rude shock. I've worked in Texas higher education for my entire career, and I have to say that knowing that I could only be terminated "for cause" has been a comforting foil to the relatively low pay etc. There is a comment period, etc., but I'm sure they are going to do it. So, I was fretting about it, feeling angry and bitter. And then it came to me: I can either let this poison me, or I can believe that God loves me and the Universe wants good things for me. And I choose the latter.
2) Library Use. I go to the library at least once a week and take away as many books as I can carry.
I make extremely liberal use of the online catalog and request for hold, online renewals, interlibrary loan, and other programs of my local library. I am DEVOTED to my library. It allows me to read broadly in a tremendous variety of areas, and I've developed several small subject-based personal libraries (temporary ones) as the need has arisen. Most recently they have been on cancer care and cancer recovery nutrition, and also on massage.
3) Laughing
Have you heard me laugh? Then, enough said. If not, I'll say that it tends to be very loud. LOUD.
4) Piles
I wish this were not true of me, but it is. It just is. I'm a piler. At home, at work, wherever I may be. No matter how often I clean off my desk, the normal state for my things tends to be like this.
Sigh. One day maybe I will change. But for now, piles turned up to 13.
Here's my desk:
5) Manic fascination with certain things, EX: Vaccination against Human Papillomavirus (HPV)
