A while back, my friend Ms. Kim had revealed 5 weirdnesses of herself (well, with her grand total of weirdnesses being 11). Now she’s tagged me to reveal 5 weirdnesses about myself — which I assure you (you meaning the casual reader) that I have several weirdnesses to choose from. So, to the point:

1. When I am really really happy OR when I feel very very sick, I rub my feet together. I really don’t know why, all I know is that I have done this since I was a kid. I started to pay closer attention to exactly when I do this. And today, I caught myself rubbing my besocked feet together when I was eating waffles with real maple syrup. I do likes the waffles!
2. Not unlike Kim’s “life as a movie” weirdness, when I listen to my MP3 player, I sometimes imagine myself (and whatever I am doing at the time) to be part of the music video for whatever song I am listening to. I get this feeling to start dancing on a pretend treadmill whenever I hear “Here It Goes Again” by OK Go. Whenever I hear anything from the “Kill Bill” Soundtrack, I am so wielding a Hattori Hanzo.
3. I really really enjoy Black Currant juice. It’s so hard to find, and it seems to be seasonal as I can only really find it around the Thanksgiving through Christmas holidays. I just found some Black Currant juice at Marc’s today, so I am totally stoked. Thanks Melinda, for that little quirk.
4. I think I am mildly obsessed with Craig’s List “Missed Connection” section. The ones that are my favorite posting are probably those where someone describes their “missed connection” in great detail…I wonder if those postings are ever answered. Since I’m not exactly sure if I believe in love at first sight, it fascinates me to read these postings where others pour out their hearts to a relatively faceless community. The other side of that coin is that there is a lot of “stalker” type of postings there too… total buzzkill. I dunno if this is even really a “weirdness”, but I’ve not really met anyone else that could confess they read the “Missed Connections” with such regularity.
5. I sleepwalk. I am a sleepwalker. I’ve fallen out of the top bunk of my college dorm bed, taken showers, microwaved food, and walked around to different parts of the house at night….all while dead asleep. I sometimes wake up at night, and I see things moving around and I am so convinced that they are real. I woken up numerous times standing in front windows. I have woken up crying on occasion.
6. I know it was supposed to be five, but I’ve decided to give you the sixth weirdness as a gift. I am terrified of lightning. I know everyone and my husband will tell me of how the statistics are in my favor to NOT get zapped by lightning, yet I still can’t shake the fear after hear a particularly LOUD CRACK of thunder. Even my mom thinks this particular fear is a bit odd, and maybe this is something I should grow out of. Maybe one day I will, but for now, I will just wait the storm out sitting in my car thanksverymuch.

So I pass the challenge on: What are your weirdnesses?

Just like a morning cup of coffee for me, I have to spend a few minutes a day not thinking about work or daily life-stress. So what do I do to kill that precious 5 or 10 minutes? I check out my *Daily Time Waster*.

A few months ago, while I was still working for BMW, a work friend had introduced me to this wonderful 6-panel comic involving dinosaurs. The thing is, the actual renderings of the panels rarely change. Only the story or context changes, usually with hilarious results. Go check out dinosaur comics to see what I mean.

Cool Thing of the Month: I just published my first book! Well, that doesn’t necessarily make me an esteemed author yet, but I do recommend you bibliophiles go to Blurb right now and download the book software and give it a test spin. My best friend is already enjoying the fruits of my publishing labors.

Cheers for now, I’m off to be a good Post-Christmas Consumer.

Sitting 500 miles away from home and *still working* despite the distance and proximity to my actual office…I have culled a series of songs that are experiencing heavy rotation (so to speak) on my ipod. Here’s the list for all to enjoy, as I don’t have a few spare moments to do a full update.

• Running Up That Hill - Placebo
• Transatlanticism - Death Cab for Cutie
• O Come O Come Emmanuel - Sufjan Stevens
• Holy Holy Holy - Sufjan Stevens
• Samson - Regina Spektor
• Love Affair - Regina Spektor
• Half Acre - Hem
• Little Bombs - Aimee Mann
• Clap Hands - Beck
• Beautiful Day Without You - Röyksopp

Enjoy.