Leap Day Felicitations and Exaggerations

This old postcard cracked me up. Beyond Sadie Hawkins dances, the legend is that in leap years, a woman could propose to a man, and he could not refuse without offering compensation. The February 29th version of bagging your own buck. And of course, the whole plot of Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance concerns an ill-fated birthday boy, bound to serve the not-quite-competent Pirate King until his 21st birthday, when he'll be in his eighties.

By contrast, the modern take on the date is way less dramatic and more sensible. Feh! The Telegraph says you might cook a seasonal vegetable or give your hair a treatment masque, though Laura will appreciate their suggestion to close your Facebook account if only for the day. Well, pardon me, but hasn't that gone a little too prosaic? Certainly, for an every four year occurrence, writers can come up with something that's got more oopmh than organizing a closet.

Today, I am helping yellow-eyed lemurs start a driving school. Tonight, I will drink champagne from a pith helmet, jitterbug with actuaries, beat Yogi Bear at arm-wrestling without wrinkling my taffeta, and stay up until 9:15!

As befits such a rare occasion, the most outrageous lies are not only encouraged, they will be believed hook, line, and sinker. So, what will you be doing?