11:11

Much has been written about the 11:11 phenomenon, which consists of certain people noticing that number on their digital clocks in a way that's too strong to be coincidence, and too random to involve their looking for it. There was even a 2004 movie, 11:11: HELL'S GATE, and another movie titled 11:11 will be out next year.

I know, because I'm an 11:11 person myself.

It started for me about a year and a half ago, when I honestly hadn't heard, read, or seen a word about the thing. I'd pass by the digital clock in my bedroom, which I only look at perhaps six times a day, and a disproportionate number of times it would read 11:11. I wondered about this, but I dismissed it as coincidence indeed, though I did tell a friend about it.

Imagine my surprise, then, when about six months later I attended a talk by an astrologist, and she mentioned the phenomenon. My hand shot up, and I told her I was subject to it. Luckily, my friend was there too, and she vouched for my "preexisting condition."

So what does this phenomenon mean? Some say the 11:11s are signals sent to special people telling them the apocalypse or the rapture is near, and to prepare themselves. (If so, lucky me.) Others say they're some sort of gateway to the secrets of the universe. (I hope the hinges aren't rusty.) Still others say they're simply a trick played by mischievous gods on people who are somewhat mystical. (Which I am.) Others yet say they're a numerical code that needs to be deciphered. (But I'm clueless as to how.)

Personally, I do believe some sort of message is being sent, especially since, while I have two other digital clocks in my house and one in my car, the thing has never happened with them. In other words, like in some movie indeed, just one device is being used as the conduit.

But what is that message? Is it a date, such as 11/11, in that an hour and a minute might be extended to a day and a month, or a month and a year? If so, watch out for all November 11ths, or for November 2011, or even, if you cut it as 1/1/11, January 1, 2011. (As if we don't already have enough of a problem, see one of my previous columns, with the end of the Mayan calendar on December 21, 2012 - and there's even a movie about that now.) Or is it perhaps something pictorial, such as four columns of a temple, or four tall extraterrestrials emerging from a spaceship?

Whatever. But since this is a humor column, let me advance a few "trickster god" theories of my own.

The Las Vegas Theory. When 11 comes up in craps, you win. So maybe I'm being told to go play.

The Frank Sinatra (or in the remake, George Clooney) Theory, which is incidentally related to the Las Vegas Theory. My digital clock is telling me I should be an Ocean's Eleven type guy.

The Straight Up Theory. 11:11 is the only time the numbers are straight up, so maybe I should quit watering my whiskey.

The Money Theory. Do I have only $11.11 in my wallet? If so, I should pay a visit to the ATM.

And finally, the Elephant Theory. If you say 11:11 and slur it (speaking of whiskey), then you've got "elephant elephant," so maybe two pachyderms are somehow in the future of 11:11 people like me. (I just hope they're friendly.)

Don't get me wrong, I do believe in mystical things like this one. And if they are telling something, someday it will be revealed.

But let's have a little fun along the way.

P.S. Though how about the observation that since digital clocks only came into wide usage in the 1970s, no messages (of whatever kind) could have been sent and received before then? Chew on that one, folks.