Six things and a mystery.

The semester starts tomorrow, so I'm pretty sure I won't get another chance to post this week. To keep the blog warm, here's a "six weird things" thingie stolen from Kate A and Speccy Drew and The Mystery of the Hidden Case. Six weird things: 1. I have a slight obsession with coffee mugs. I like broad, deep mugs that feel interesting and push the boundary between a cup and a bowl with a handle. Every time I go to Target I cruise by the coffee mugs and they're always the only thing I'm attracted to in fancy pants home furnishings stores (I'm looking at you, Pier 1 and World Market). 2. My pinkie fingers lock up when I use them too much. This is something that was a problem when I played flute and piccolo, and I'd forgotten about it until Christmas break. When I played many, many hours of Guitar Hero. 3. I can do one-handed cartwheels. 4. I always have frozen broccoli in my freezer. I mean, I eat it a lot; I don't just have one bag that I never use. 5. Every time I buy a new article of clothing, I dance around a little in front a mirror wearing it. [That was such an awkward sentence. I apologize.] I need to be sure that it'll survive if the city is suddenly under the mental control of a villain who makes everyone dance around. Or if I'm in a bank that's held up and the robber pulls out a boom box and demands that we all bust a move. Or if I have to do a rolling-off-a-log (always my favorite step in tap class) to illustrate something to my students. These are all possible and realistic situations. 6. I am terrified of house fires. I blame this entirely on my elementary school, which conducted a yearly Fire Safety Week. During FSW, the entire school would watch videos about how horrible it is to die of smoke inhalation, how quickly an entirely family can be snuffed out, and how necessary it is for YOU to check your smoke detectors and have a PLAN. This plan is only good if it is drawn by a child an includes a picture of the family standing happily beside an X while the house burns merrily. We also watched a video about a little girl scalding herself in a bathtub while her mother was on the phone, and ending up with 3rd degree burns all over her body, skin grafts, and enough white bandages to cover her from head to toe (this one bothered me more than the house fires). After years of me having screaming nightmares during FSW, my parents let me stay home during 5th and 6th grade. And now, Speccy Drew and the Mystery of the Hidden Case. Yesterday I was trying to find my Denise circulars' case to put away some needles I'd taken home to finish the Jamesey. I knew -- I KNEW -- it had to be somewhere in this corner of my apartment. Where was it? Click here for the answer.