Weirdness

I have been tagged so much lately that I feel like deer that has inadvertently wandered into Dan DeGarmo’s back yard the day after deer hunting season closed! I’m not sure what this morbid curiosity of finding out strange and weird things about someone is all about but here goes:

1. Sun sneezer. That’s correct. Sun sneezing, I’m told, is a genetic condition in which the signals from your eye to your brain are somehow also received by the part of your brain which deals with the sneeze reflex. This means that when your brain is being told to contract your iris in response to increased light it also thinks that it is being told to produce a sneeze. It has always highly amused our children and my record, I think, is seven straight sneezes!!!!!!! (! for Stephanie)

2. Reading. I love to read. I love books. Nothing weird here. My problem is that I have very little time for reading, and I tend to queue up books that I want to read. At any given moment I may be “reading” 20+ books randomly. On rare occasions I actually finish one!

3. Caffeine. Once I turned 50 my friend caffeine turned on me. Previously, I could take caffeine intravenously with no effect. Now, let me get a drink of caffeine after 8 pm and it is stare-at-the-ceiling-all-night time. Oh, caffeine, you were my friend, e tu caffeine? (Caffeine lament)

4. Foreign language mode. Spanish in high school. German in college. Dutch in The Netherlands. Smattering of Portuguese in Brazil, and French in France. Now when I am in a foreign country and try to construct a foreign sentence it will, like as not, come out with a mixture of foreign vocabulary. Amusing for everyone, except the puzzled recipients.

5. Food Weirdness – My favorite sandwich in the world? Hold your stomach – banana with bologna, with a healthy dose of mustard and mayo. Yum. And if bacon is available (bacon being THE universal best thing to add to any other savory food thing!), double yum! Oh, and on toast (lettuce optional).

6. Being on time. I am practically OCD about being on time for anything, or rather, not being late. I had rather arrive way early than be any amount late. Unfortunately, my wife does not share this compulsion. In fact, she is almost the opposite. This has made for some really amusing affectionate light hearted marital moments.

7. Bonus. I rarely follow instructions, preferring to figure things out the way things should go together, and only using instructions as a last resort. (Of course this does not apply to things Biblical). For example, I just realized there are supposed to be only 6 things on this weird list. This extra one is justified on the basis that I was tagged by multiple Taggers.

I choose to break the tagging chain.

WORTH A DUTCH PROVERB: "Gooi het maar in mijn pet, dan zoek ik het morgen wel uit." Literal Translation: "Just toss it in my hat and I'll sort it out tomorrow." Meaning: That is too much for me to understand so quickly.