Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Awake In the Wee Hours; "Scribbler's Disease".

June 28, 2012.

Restless leg syndrome, or hunger pangs, or something else kept me from falling back to sleep. I got up, thought I'd spend time in the kitchen. I had a half cup of leftover dinner, then a couple of small cookies,  then later, a drink of water. I've had some experience with bad nights. I know the routine.

I went to the computer to check my emails. A few were sent after I had gone to sleep, so I went through them. Decided to check out Facebook, and I saw a bit of conversation where someone mentioned "Scribbler's Disease." Hmmmm. Never heard of that before. What is that, and when did it come to be? I thought about it for several minutes. I thought it might be people always jotting things down in their notebooks, or making lists of something, like 'things to do'.

I do think that I have that disease, as I make notes all the time, about this, or that, and wondered how long I've been doing this. Oh, yes, I think I know just when I first showed signs of that.

At the age of seventeen, I was working as a filing clerk in a large insurance company. We had to work with small cards with the names of insured people on them, and would file them in the narrow drawers of a filing cabinet. You know, somewhat like the library cards that were used many years ago to show the names and authors of all of the books in a library.

It was a tedious job, but I did like filing things in alphabetical order, and I did like reading all sorts of names. When I came across a name that was unique, humorous, or strange, I would write it down on my list. For instance, there was one that was Rhainey Knight; and then Thunder Jackson; and James Jimmijam.

Something that was to me very unusual, I wrote down and kept. There were so many names that took my fancy. One name, truly, was Ethel R. Shitty. I don't think I shall ever forget that one. I have no idea whatever became of my list, but I wish I had it now.

When I hear someone mispronounce a word or use it in an odd way, I like to write it down. I have a list somewhere of quite a few of that kind. I don't ever mean to be unkind and mocking someone's pronunciation, it's just that I have this disease. I really can't help myself. I do not tell on anyone who  makes these mistakes. After all, we all make mistakes. We're human.

Well, it's been a couple of hours, maybe I'll fall asleep now. Back to bed I go.

G'night.


I'll see you at the Corner Post...






















At the age of 17, I was working as a filing clerk in a large insurance company. We had to work with small cards with the names of insured people on them, and file them. You know, somewhat like the library cards that were were used to show the names and authors of all of the books in a library.  

It was a tedious job, but I did like filing things in alphabetical order, and I did like reading all sorts of names. When I came across a name that was unique, humorous, or strange, etcetera, I would write them down on my list. For instance, there was one that was Rhainey Knight; and Thunder Jackson; and James Jimmijam. Something that was to me very unusual, I wrote down. One name, truly, was Ethel R. Shitty. I don't think I shall ever forget that one. I have no idea whatever became of my list, but I wish I had it now. 

When I hear someone mispronounce a word or use it in an odd way, I like to write it down. I have a list somewhere of quite a few of that kind. I don't mean to be unkind and mocking someone's mispronunciation, it's just that I have this disease. I just can't help myself. I try not to tell on anyone who makes this mistake. After all, we all make mistakes. We're human.  

 

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