At various times in my life, I have become enamoured with particular puncuation marks. In my teens, I loved the exclamation mark. And in the past few years, I’ve overused dashes in my writing.
I sense another change coming, because I’ve noticed a lot of question marks in blog posts, emails and my story-writing. What’s up with that? 
Felt like listening to Alien Ant Farm this morning (I have “ANThology”). I wondered what the band has been up to lately, and found a Wikipedia page.
What struck me is the fact that a few days ago, a new song was released online. I could call the timing a coincidence, but part of me likes to believe that ESP exists and I somehow knew about the renewed activity by the band.
I forgot to welcome in the new season on the 20th. Oops!
I always get excited at this time of year. I love the warmer temperatures, new flowers, green leaves on the trees, my anniversary, and my birthday! 
There are times when I’m almost yelling at my TV, telling the contestants on a reality show what they should be doing. I assume that my wits would be sharper than theirs if I were in their place. I would be braver and quicker, and less gullible too.
I don’t feel so clever this morning, and I’m wondering if I would be just as clueless as those I mock on TV…
I’m getting over a cold and finally feeling able to use my brain for more than passive activities like watching movies and playing computer games. This weekend I’ve worked on Chapter Seven in my novel, writing new material to fill in a gap between events – I’m great at writing the parts of the plot that are most interesting at the time and leaving the rest for later. (Rather like my strategy for solving jigsaw puzzles – pick an object in the picture that looks the easiest and forget about the tough stuff until it’s all that’s left…)
Mum has been reading the chapters over as I print them out for my personal hard copy of the manuscript, the current draft of it, that is. (For some time now, I’ve made changes to the computer file only.) Her only complaints so far: I don’t have enough description – not my strong suit – and I used the phrase “It sucks” in the fifth or sixth chapter. Not bad for whatever number draft I’m on, since I know I still need “polishing” to make it a finished product. (BTW, can I ask her to remove “the moment of truth” if she uses that in a story she’s writing now? That’s one overused phrase, IMHO. )
As for the other pastime I love – reading – I must get back to “The Witness” by Dee Henderson. I’m about halfway through and finding it slow going. I’m pretty sure that’s my fault ’cause I want a faster-paced story, like watching a movie or TV show. Since the novel is the Book of the Month over at iVillage’s Christian Bookshelf message board, I’d like to finish it soon and provide a few discussion questions of my own. (We have an open sort of format and usually no timeline for answering the questions either, which makes it easier to order books online or request them from public libraries.)
After “The Witness,” I have Amanda Quick’s “Wait Until Midnight.” I didn’t expect to find a title I hadn’t read when I looked in a used bookstore recently, but this one popped up and I couldn’t resist. I don’t recall the first Amanda Quick title I found, but I’ve been enjoying Jayne Ann Krentz‘s writing ever since, no matter what genre she writes. She’s that good!
That’s about all that’s on my mind at the moment, but I should be back tomorrow with more thoughts. Until then, I’ll leave you with this fascinating tidbit: For the first time since I left New Brunswick, and a job that did not allow nail polish for food safety reasons, I am sporting sparkly green fingernails! (Not pukey green, either, but a pretty and shiny shade.)