Just last night, I was leafing through my latest issue of Real Simple and I came across the article "Weird Symptoms, Explained". The article begs us to "find out what's behind those freaky twitches, tics, and body pains (and how to get rid of them)." So, I'm reading the article, which I find fascinating because I'm into self diagnosis, and I get to the part where the article is explaining why your body jerks as you fall asleep and I have to stop and explain to my husband that this is caused by "nerves misfiring as your brain and body down-shift into sleep mode." "Heh?" Jim replied. I repeated myself. He nodded with raised eyebrows and turned his attention back to the show he was watching about gang activity in Anchorage. And I went back to my article and opened up my mental trivia file and tucked this baby inside.
You never know when this mental trivia file will come in handy. At my faith sharing group two weeks ago we were reading a poetic prayer from our books and came across this phrase: God grant us Your Sophia. Huh? Sophia? What does that mean? I dug into my mental trivia file and said, "I think it means 'wisdom". I think Sophia is a Greek word for wisdom--a goddess of wisdom maybe? Let me google it." So I pull out my phone and Google: What does Sophia mean? And the very first thing that pops up is the web definition and it says "Sophia- Greek for wisdom". Ah, LOVE that mental trivia file! I think I filed that one away when I was reading a baby name book, oh so long ago.
Mostly the mental trivia file is useful when playing Jeopardy and Trivial Pursuit. For some reason, and I'm not sure exactly why, I can usually run categories (or come close to running them) on "the Bible" "Shakespeare" and "Science." It's also good for conversations with my brother who has been dubbed by my family "King of Random Facts". How many conversations with him have started "Did you know...."? I've lost count.
The thing is, I know this a little annoying. I mean pulling out the trivial facts is fine when you're missing a key piece of info, like the example at faith sharing group. But sharing interesting tidbits at random is often met with that expression my husband gave me: eyebrows raise, head nod, and then back to what you were doing before. I guess when I find something that is interesting, enlightening, or otherwise fascinating to me, I just can't fight the urge to share it. Out of context, the tid bit might not mean as much to someone else as it might have had they come across it on their own. I still feel the need to share because I do buy into the theory that you learn what you teach. So just by sharing the fact I myself write it in bold and file it away for later.
Secretly, I'm a biology geek. Random facts about the human body, the plant kingdom and animal kingdom, those are my specialty. This is an odd thing to me because I never really considered myself to be a math or science person...I always gravitated to the arts: Music, Literature, Drawing, Writing etc. I guess it just means that I am well-rounded but part of me wonders if there is a deeper reason behind it. I'm sure there is a random fact to explain it. I'll just have to keep reading to find it!
Happy Friday all! Have a great weekend!
