By Michael J. Tittinger
Daily Press Staff Writer

WORLDWIDE — Come hell or high water, or maybe both if the tides cooperate.

People throughout Santa Monica have been bravely putting their bast face on things this week — trying to enjoy omelets at the Farmer’s Market on Main Street; window shopping for items they may not get the chance to buy on Third Street; carrying about cappuccinos as if they welcomed the heat.

All appeared normal, but that’s subject to change today.

“On Tuesday, we’re going to be in Yosemite National Park,” said Michael Kennedy, 18, in town visiting from his native Ireland.

Yosemite National Park ... a curious place to await the Beast.

“Well, if I had a house, I might be stocking up on supplies,” said Kennedy.

He wouldn’t be alone if he were. That sense of impending doom you feel just may not be from last night’s taqueria surprise.

At Supply Sergeant on Lincoln Boulevard, an armed forces surplus store, people have been coming in and loading up on emergency supplies, just in case.

“It’s not like they’re running in here screaming ‘six-six-six,’” notes store manager David Mollen, “but people have mentioned it.

“It’s weird, man.”

Tuesday, June 6, 2006 — or 06-06-06. Have a nice Rapture.

For weeks, billboards have been towering over Los Angeles telling commuters “You’ve Been Warned” and “Heed the Signs.” The stark, black postings also had the numerals 6+6+06 prominently displayed in white lettering, leaving the reader to recoil in his or her own imagination and ponder what was to come. While the signs have since been revealed as a clever marketing campaign for the new film “The Omen”, they also seemed to put people on notice.

At the base of one such sign on Broadway, between Fourth and Fifth streets, passersby were reluctant to discuss the date that, in the Bible’s Book of Revelations, signifies the Beast.

“I don’t have time” ... “I have to get to work” ... “I don’t have any change on me.”

For the signs have been around for weeks, but only as the supposed day of reckoning approaches have residents begun to dig in, taking stock in themselves.

While Supply Sergeant has seen a 15-percent spike in earth kits, survival gear and knives, over at L & K Market on Main Street, customers have been loading up on such necessities as water, canned foods and beer.

No one said you can’t greet the Four Horsemen with a good buzz.

“Surprisingly,” said store owner Amin Ajani, “there haven’t been a lot of customers talking about it.”

Denial — it’s the first of the five stages of grief.

The number 666 has ingrained itself in the human psyche as a result of its mention in the Bible:

“He has also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name. This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His number is 666.”

Not considered one of the more lucky numbers — 666 — that could all change for a daring few. At least one Web site, BetUS.com, has posted odds on the world’s untimely demise today, factoring in biblical and historical elements.

According to spokesman Matt Ross, recent tsunamis, earthquakes, wars, terrorist actions and general world unrest “make you think about what St. John wrote.” Not to mention about whether the 10-1 odds are a bit too hot to touch.

One Santa Monica resident, who asked not to be identified, as the Beast may be wire-tapping, isn’t so optimistic of a happy outcome today.

“I think the world is ending and the anti-Christ is gonna rise up with three heads — Bush, Rumsfeld and Cheney,” he said as he walked an eerily typical Third Street Promenade on Sunday.

“On Tuesday, I’m gonna bend over and kiss my ass good-bye.”