day 7: I think we all know the obvious answer is that one in December which Capitalism pretends that everyone celebrates by default. I am old enough to remember when stores would at least have the common courtesy to wait until after the third Thursday of November to start pulling out the fake snow and plastic trees; now it's at the stroke of midnight on November 1, if only because they need to sell all their excess Halloween candy to make room for the fancy tins of popcorn. It's empty and horrible and meaningless, and I've never spent the day with a group of people who could give me a surprise gift I'd actually appreciate or use.
day 8: the time it takes for Mark to cronch his kibble. he is very good at eating so it would be very fast ,