November 5, 2009

Champion?

I was just asked how to spell styrofoam. I responded simply:

“S-T-Y-R-O-F-O-A-M”. STYROFOAM.

I think I expected applause.

It suddenly occurred to me that when someone asks me how to spell something, I suddenly go into this grade school spelling bee mode and I spell out each letter clearly and distinctly, as if I was facing a panel of five or six teachers that were hanging on each letter I blurted out. I then end the spelling by repeating the word I had just been asked to spell.

I don’t recall every being in a spelling bee in elementary school. I played a few tuba recitals and was the narrator of the elementary school production of “Jackie And The Beanstalk” (it was the 70s, it was weird) but a spelling bee? Not so much. I remember scoring a 100% on most every spelling test. Maybe I blocked out the bad parts.

Now that I think about it, I’m pretty definitely sure I wasn’t in a spelling bee. I remember an “enrichment fair”, where my table was devoted to UFO sightings and alien abduction incidents. I remember writing up a narrative about the Betty and Barney Hill abduction on ditto paper with my mother’s manual typewriter and printing off handouts to go along with the models of UFOs I made, based on descriptions from eyewitness accounts. I was the only one in my fourth grade class that was in “Enrichment”, which was the code word for the oddly-whispered “gifted program”. My mother thought I would be ostracized when I was the only one that left the classroom a couple of times a week for Enrichment. I guess the fact that I was already a one-man freak show was the reason I was in Enrichment in the first place. It was worth it. Besides, I got to see hunky Mr. Rayburn. I always liked him. I wanted to marry him but I knew I couldn’t do that back then. Heck, I couldn’t do it now if I wanted to either, come to think about it.

But a spelling bee? Nah. I never had a chance to be in one of those.

4 a.m.

It’s 4 a.m. and I am wide awake. Not only am I wide awake, but I’m feeling very rested. I feel like I could take on the day today without a care in the world and have a really good day. I am hyped up, amped up and ready to go. But in the back of my mind I’m wondering if I would fade before noon.

I have an ear bug replaying over and over. This time it’s Reba McEntire’s “I’m A Survivor”, the version used for her television show “Reba”. Lucky me, I even have visuals to go along with it.

I’m up and around writing in my blog during this little episode of insomnia hoping that it will somehow make me sleepy and I’ll be able to finish my night’s sleep. I’m sure this little ditty of a blog entry has made someone, somewhere fall asleep.