WOW . . .

Omigosh, I'm on time today for Friday Favorites. Will wonders never cease.

What is your favorite...

1. ...Superstition and why? Never stick utensils straight up and down into a bowl/plate of food. Back in the Motherland, when it comes time to honor your dead forefathers, you go to the gravesite (or even at home during the yearly family gathering) and set out a gourmet feast on the ground. You stick the utensils -- chopsticks and spoons -- into the food vertically, because, as everyone knows, dead spirits can't grab utensils which are lying flat on the ground, and if they can't grab the utensils, they can't eat, and no one wants to deal with the hungry and therefore unhappy spirit of a dead forefather. This is a purely Buddhist ritual, and as a Western Christian, it's utterly ridiculous (and probably sacrilegious) for me to abide by it, I suppose, but something about the purity of this superstition touches me. The moments where I glimpse serving utensils stuck vertically into food and I surreptitiously take them out to lay them alongside the food instead, allow me moments to think upon my own ancestors and consider how I might honor them and their legacy, bestowed unto me through my parents and extended family.

2. ...Horror movie (Friday the 13th, Halloween, etc.)? I can't say I'm a big fan -- did I ever tell you about the time that I caught glimpses of "Poltergeist," the scene where the little girl looks into the television screen that's all fuzzy and snowy and the television talks to her? To this day, I can't stand it when a television goes haywire and becomes snowy -- I simply won't look at it, and if I can, I'll walk out of the room. Or do you know about the time I watched part of "Nightmare on Elm Street," the scene where the girl is taking a shower and Freddy comes out of the shower stall wall with his knife-fingers and claws her back up? To this day, I'll try to keep my eyes open as long as possible in the shower so I can make a quick run for it should anything like that happen to me. And I definitely don't do well with horror flicks that delve into the spiritual realm -- I totally refuse to watch "The Exorcist," and after seeing "Fallen," I didn't touch another human being for days. Psychological trauma does not become me.

3. ...Spoof of a horror movie? The entire "Scream" series. No, I didn't enjoy the bad guy always popping back up or the creepy music or the dark corners or the something-bad-is-going-to-happen camera shots. But the hysterical one-liners and hot Skeet Ulrich made them worth it.

4. ...Urban Legend? The one where the college student is studying with friends and realizes she needs something from her room. The only problem is, her roommate is sleeping. As the student doesn't want to disturb her sleeping roommate, she quietly enters their room, does NOT turn on the light, manages to grab what she needs and leaves the room without waking her roommate. The student falls asleep while studying with her friends, and returns to her room the next morning. Upon opening the door, she finds her roommate slashed to death in bed, and written upon the wall in blood, "AREN'T YOU GLAD YOU DIDN'T TURN THE LIGHTS ON LAST NIGHT?" SHIVER.

5. ...Old wives tale? All roads lead to "keep your stomach and innards warm no matter what, or you'll never be able to have children." As a result (I think), I don't really enjoy ingesting large quantities of ice cream; I try to avoid sitting on cold surfaces, like a rock in the outdoors or a marble floor indoors; I cover my stomach with my hands after I eat to keep it warm while it does its digestive work; and even in the hottest heat of summer, I won't sleep unless I have a corner of a very heavy blanket covering my torso.