WIDE AWAKE . . .

The only trouble with self-medicating and sleeping all day is that ... well, I can't sleep at night. Go figure. But thanks to Wonger for more miscellany to keep me occupied. I don't know why I love these quizzes and questionnaires so much. I am a market researcher's dream -- I can take questionnaires all day and all night long and I never get bored. Why is this? Is it that I need so badly for others to know things about me? Is it that my short attention span appreciates these short little questions that require little sustained thought? Is it that I love to be introspective and really think about these questions? I have no idea ...

1. If you could build a second house anywhere, where would it be?
Block Island.

2. What's your favorite article of clothing?
My J.Crew jeans.

3. What's the last CD you bought?
Jason Mraz's "Mr. A-Z" and Chris Tomlin's "Arriving," at the same time.

4. What time do you wake up in the morning?
7:00 a.m., even when I don't want to.

5. What's your favorite kitchen appliance?
A toss-up between my KitchenAid mixer and my coffeemaker.

6. If you could play an instrument, what would it be?
Definitely, the guitar.

7. What's your favorite hair color?
On me, mine (really dark brown with less dark brown parts here and there). On others, a dark, rich chestnut brown.

8. Do you believe in an afterlife?
The Christian heaven and hell, yes.

9. Which do you prefer: sports car or SUV?
$3.00 a gallon or not, SUV all the way.

10. What's your favorite children's book?
Little House on the Prairie, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

11. What's your favorite season?
Autumn.

12. If you could have one super-power, what would it be?
I would love the ability to fight crime and injustice ALL over the world, WHENEVER it happens, or better yet, BEFORE it happens.

13. If you have a tattoo, what is it?
I have no tattoo ... yet.

14. Do you juggle?
Not at all.

15. Name one person in your past you'd like to go back to talk to.
My father's father.

16. What's your favorite day?
Friday.

17. What's in the trunk of your car?
A complete car emergency kit; a bottle of water; an art print that needs to be framed; a cotton painter's tarp.

18. Which do you prefer: sushi or hamburger?
Hamburger, with swiss cheese, lettuce, red onion, pickles, ketchup and jalapeno peppers, on only the bottom bun. Side of french fries, please.

***

BOOKISH . . .

I just picked up The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, written by Malcolm Gladwell. It is SO RIVETING. I thought it would just be a throw-away book, something I can read while doped up on codeine and Comtrex, and not really have to concentrate that hard on. But lo! It is among the most interesting books I've ever read.

Its thesis is that every major phenomenon -- a syphilis epidemic in Baltimore, the popularity of "Sesame Street" and "Blue's Clues," even the American Revolution -- became that major phenomenon after it reached its tipping point, the moment where one small person, event, or thing blew it wide open.

It makes me think so much about other small people, events, things. Me, the person I interacted with today, the phone call I make tomorrow, the smile I give to one lady, the frown I give to another. Just the other day, I listened to Charlie and Dr.G joking about the fact that if she had never gone to that particular college, she never would have met Dr.G, they never would have gotten married, they never would have landed at NHF, they never would have had the Melon, they never would have moved to freakin' Canada, they wouldn't be sitting there now talking to me. Such little things, one thinks, but all these little steps lead to major things like marriage, children, homes, church life, friendships.

Such a mystery, life is sometimes. It makes me want to profess all the more the all-knowing, all-powerful and ever-merciful nature of my God. Were it not for His hand deliberately pushing me hither and thither, for His roadmap guiding me back from the places I went astray, for His providence putting specific people into my life and embedding them on my heart, I would not have gone to the "right" college and law school. I would not have had the job opportunities I have so thoroughly and ridiculously enjoyed in the last four years. I would not have landed at NHF either, and found a family there. I would not be in the house I live in, or claim the friends I love now. Well, maybe I would ... but no, actually, I don't think so. I shudder to think ...

For me, the tipping point isn't really a pseudo-mathematical phenomenon or formula. I mean, I know it is, and I read that it is, and that's all nice and good. But my tipping point is God. He's the one who has always, and does now, and will continue to lead and guide me, making divine interventions seems like coincidences, creating those pivotal moments where my decisions, if not rooted in Him from the start, will put me on the roundabout path back into His will.

Whether or not you ascribe to my Tipping Point, I highly recommend this book. And as soon as I recover from this germ attack, I'm heading out to grab Gladwell's second book, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, which is all about intuition and acting on it and relying on our adaptive unconscious. My God, I'm salivating just thinking about it ...