The time has come – the Walrus said – to talk of many things… Specifically, my underwear.

I am, of course, referring to Ornoth’s well-documented Hexannual Universal Internal Vernal Underwear Interval (abbr. HUI-VUI, not VUI-HUI), wherein our protagonist spontaneously does an in toto purge of his undergarment inventory every six years, around the end of February.

When to buy a new pair? animation

Although this cyclical behavior is known to go back at least as far as 2001, it wasn’t discovered and documented until 2013, when it received its official nomenclature. Six years hence, science confirmed this theory when the subsequent purge took place in March 2019.

In that illuminating initial 2013 research paper, a prediction was made that reprises of the HUI-VUI phenomenon would transpire again in early 2019, 2025, and beyond. With the 24th anniversary of its first documented observation fast approaching, this had obvious implications for expectant pantspotters everywhere.

Happily, our on-location Brief Patrol has verified today’s arrival of our long-expected bundle of joy. And there was – as they say – much rejoicing.

The HUI-VUI’s next predicted episode will occur at the end of February, 2031. Be there, or be squarepants! 🙋‍♂️

It’s *that* time again! Time for Orny’s Hexannual Universal Internal Vernal Underwear Interval!

Umm… what?

If you were with me back in 2013, you’d know that I discovered that I have an internal timer which universally goes off every six years in the springtime. This extremely precise biological clock provides me with absolutely vital information: i.e. it’s time to buy new underwear!

Woman with panties on her head cosplaying Ayame from the manga/anime Shimoneta

Woman with panties on her head cosplaying Ayame from the anime Shimoneta

When I discovered this longstanding HUI-VUI phenomenon back in March 2013, I published my shocking findings in a reputable scholarly journal (my blog). Toward the end of that peer-reviewed research paper, I confidently declared, “Now I can go and update my calendar and add ticklers for the next two decades of regularly-scheduled $100 underwear purchases: in March 2019, 2025, and 2031!”

Obv, now that the aforementioned and long-awaited March 2019 is now upon us, it’s time for your esteemed author to once again sally forth in new briefs!

… and there was much rejoicing.

See ya in 2025, peeps! 🙋‍♂️

I’ve found it increasingly difficult to blog over the past couple months. That’s partly due to the content I have to write about, and partly you: my audience.

The content is tricky. Since December, I’ve been absorbed in an exploration of several very sensitive topics, such as emotional sensitivity, social life, group dynamics, gender relations, romantic relationships, and sexuality.

While I am extremely open about sharing what’s going on for me, this kind of content naturally leads me to reflect upon how much of this very personal material I want to share in a permanently-archived, public blog.

On top of that, the overall theme of my inquiry is social, so I have to be doubly careful about what I post. Instead of just worrying about my own privacy, I also have to consider the privacy of the other people I mention, and how they would feel if they saw my description of our interactions posted online.

Furthermore, I’m also embarking upon a job hunt, which introduces the question of prospective employers and coworkers discovering this blog. That too influences what content I feel comfortable posting at present. Although I hope that prospective employers would see the value in hiring someone with a complex, dynamic internal life, rather than a coding robot with no depth of personality.

So all those considerations have left me feeling pretty constrained.

That doesn’t mean I won’t be posting, but it might take more time than usual for important topics to show up (as you’ve seen by the delayed writeup of my New Years meditation retreat). And some important events might only get alluded to in passing, if at all.

As implied above, I have a ton of stuff going on right now; the past two months have been incredibly transformative, featuring lots of amazing developments and just as many heart-wrenching problems. Things are happening very quickly, so I’m having difficulty keeping up to date in sharing my thoughts and reactions.

I guess the bottom line is this: thanks for your patience, for your friendship, and for any role you’ve had in my life over the past couple months.

And there’s more to come, you can be sure…

People really seem to appreciate my candor and openness. That’s been true for years: I was even given a company-wide Core Value Award for epitomizing Sapient’s value of Openness. And readers of this blog have told me that they admire me for my willingness to publicly share my most intimate thoughts.

So in that spirit, let’s talk about my underwear.

Every so often, when I feel it’s about time, I buy underwear. I usually buy it in big bunches, then go for quite a while before deciding it’s time to buy another batch. Buying in bulk and minimizing shipping costs is basic household efficiency, right?

Earlier this month I decided it was time, so I placed another big order. That piqued my uncannily acute sense of Ornoth curiosity, so I looked back at my previous purchases… And I discovered that the truth of being Ornoth is even more amazing than I had previously imagined!

So, I only have records of my last three underwear purchases. As I give you the details, remember that despite their similarities, these were three completely independent transactions, years apart, with absolutely no conscious or planned parallelism.

The first oddity is that all three times I spent almost exactly the same amount of money: $81, $82, or $92. I suppose that makes sense, given that I’m essentially swapping out collections of approximately equal size. That’s a little interesting, but not a shocker.

A more curious bit is that all three of those purchases were made at almost the exact same time of year: February or the first week of March. So it seems like springtime is underwear time, according to YT. Okay, that’s odd, but not exactly evidence of a vast alien conspiracy.

Finally and most interestingly, those purchases were not just at the same time of year, but the interval between the orders was always exactly six years, every time: early March 2001, February 2007, and early March 2013. Okay, so that is actually kind of surreal.

What it all adds up to is this: I’ve discovered the Hexannual Universal Internal Vernal Underwear Interval! (Say that three times fast!) This theory (which is mine, and belongs to me) you may abbreviate as the HUI-VUI.

What value does this hard-won insight have, you might ask? Well, that should be obvious.

First of all, this triumph of order and logic brings to light yet another amazing and heretofore undocumented super-power of the entity we lovingly know as Ornoth.

But more important than adding another item to the long list of miracles I’ve performed, now I can go and update my calendar and add ticklers for the next two decades of regularly-scheduled $100 underwear purchases: in March 2019, 2025, and 2031!

Oh, and speaking of my underwear, have I told you about how my medieval recreationist persona earned the nickname “Naked Man”? Well, I suppose that’s a story for another time…

Happy first 12-hour day of the year!

Okay, so I finally succumbed and joined the inane self-indulgence that is LJ.

Why?

Well, primarily because an online journal is easier to write in than one stored only on my home machine. There are more opportunities for me to store pertinent thoughts, wherever they occur. And why should I create my own journaling system, when LJ has done a reliable job at it already?

But you shouldn't expect to see very much in the way of public postings here. Although I'm an exceedingly open person, I have no intention of using LJ as a public forum. If there are things I specifically want to share with people, they'll probably appear as friends-only posts; but my default will be to keep everything private.

If you're desperate to know what's going on in my life, you can always go to the online "newsletter" that I've been keeping since the beginning of 1998. You can find it at http://users.rcn.com/ornoth/.

Frequent topics