Speaking of insomnia…this post just wrote itself last night. Updated 6-21-11
1. I really enjoy reading random things about my friends. The more random, the more enjoyable. I still do!
2. I chafe at the punctuation rule requiring end marks to be inside the closing quote WHEN the quote is just a section of the sentence. Sometimes I even break the rule, ON PURPOSE.
3. I am weaning myself of a bizarre comfort food: non-instant powdered milk eaten with a spoon. When I was a child we had piles of government surplus boxes around and one day I was hungry. It helped me give it up when I learned that it contains oxidized cholesterol. Never mind that it sticks in your teeth and is plain gross from any spectator’s POV. This is a closed chapter in my life.
4. I have an athletic past: I played goalie on a field hockey team in the fifth and sixth grades. I communicated this TBOI (tasty bit of information) to my husband and his folks on New Year’s Day. My mother-in-law referred to me as a musician, not an athlete. “Hey!” I protested, “I played field hockey.” (Besides, one (musician) does not preclude the other (athlete).) My mother-in-law had never *heard* of field hockey. When the USC infomercial played during the Rose Bowl, there was a shot of a field hockey team. Vindication, Baby!
5. I had one date (but played music for a year) with a man who composed many of the choruses in the Maranatha Praise Book. When my sons (10 and 12 year-old athletes at the time) discovered this they were Horrified! “Mom, if you had married this guy, we would be playing the piano instead of playing baseball/soccer!!” (One does not preclude the other.)
6. My husband and one daughter-in-law share an antipathy to FaceBook. He calls it FacePlant. He still does!
7. I hate when I *adore* a movie and my husband decidedly doesn’t. Vitus and 84, Charing Cross Road come to mind. I persuaded him to enjoy Lark Rise to Candleford.
8. I must have a latent love of homogeneity because I am surprised (and a wee bit distressed) when someone with whom I consider myself 92% compatible, has an opposite reaction to a book I liked. I can be malleable, though. I’m usually the one who changes my opinion. Not always.
9. My favorite thing to do when the guys watch movies beyond my ken is to read the archives of a blog I recently discovered and like. Yep.
10. I am astonished at the level of passionate disagreement that can arise between my four-year old grandson and me. We both hold fast to our fierce opinions; neither gives an inch. Fast forward ten years and then what? We agree not to discuss Spiderman and get along fine now.
11. I cannot foresee a day where I am comfortably confident in the usage of lay/lie, affect/effect, and that/which. Not to mention em dashes and en dashes. Making progress—in more ways than one—on the em dash. Nat, a young friend of mine, taught me that Alt + 0151 = em dash. Yay!
12. I laugh at what I call over-correction: when someone uses “and I” in the objective case. Ex: Hard times are headed down the road for you and I. It ought to be “you and me.” (See #2)
13. The idea of gardening is quite appealing to me. The idea. When it comes down to it, I would much rather read than weed. Audio books make both possible.
14. I can avoid shopping better than anyone I know. (Exception: bookstores, office supply stores, Costco and Trader Joe’s–all of which are at least three hours away)
15. It is my goal to be at every niece and nephew’s wedding. I missed one because he eloped. He. Eloped. When is the last time you heard of someone eloping?
16. When we went to a church where most people didn’t drink alcohol, I used to construct cereal box fortresses in my shopping cart to hide the beer I was buying for my husband.
17. I have no fashion sense. I attract friends who like to “makeover” me. I don’t mind, but nothing ever really sticks.
18. When the men are huddled together talking theology and the women are discussing potty training, I’d rather be with the men.
19. A ClustrMap is on my blog because I adore the international dots. I have two semi-regular commenters from foreign countries for whom English is a second language.
20. I collect songs I want played or sung at my funeral. This is a vital part of who I am. #1 Funeral Song is For All the Saints. It’s still something I think about at least once a week.
21. I sing and sway in the car, even at stoplights. I sing in the bathroom, using my hairbrush as a microphone. I conduct the orchestra when I’m taking a walk, usually 4/4 time. I also read while I blow dry my hair.
22. My favorite thing to do with my oldest grandson is to lie (see #11 – I had to look it up) on the kitchen floor and sing made-up songs with gusto. Not so much anymore. My second favorite thing is to read him books. Favorite thing to do with a different grandson is to watch hunting videos, something I refused to do with my sons.
23. My fantasies: to have read all the excellent books on my shelf; to play the piano beyond “pretty good”; to run 5 kilometers; to have all my photos organized; to have someone do my hair every day; to let others talk…naturally; for self-control to be the default.
24. Competitiveness comes and goes. I can laugh at losing or I can be an intensely disappointed loser. The other option is just to beat the sucker I’m playing. Ayup.
25. Likewise, I alternate between agitation and resignation relative to order/disorder issues.
I have fewer middle-of-the-night rendezvouses. (I had to look up how to make a plural of rendezvous; pronounce it vooz. I’m not convinced this is correct. *See comments*) 
A Living Pencil 