I wonder if anybody else notices things about themselves as they get older. I wonder if anyone shares these generally non-positive things with anyone else. (And remember this is a blog, so I do mean ANYONE else.) I’d guess its more likely that most of you noticed these things long ago and the fact that I’m just now noticing them is once again a testament to my slow processing speed.

One thing I noticed this morning is that I thank people a lot. Maybe too much. Maybe way too much. Thanks so much for reading that sentence. Really. Thanks so much.

Case in point: It’s 9:17 a.m. right now in the past 10 minutes I have written 2 emails to 2 different people. Within both emails, I was thanking them. Not for anything specific per se, just in closing. As in…

Thanks so much,
Jerry

But here’s the weird thing I noticed. When I type the word “Thanks”, my fingers automatically follow “Thanks” with “so” as in “so much”. As if “Thanks” is insufficient. I’m not kidding. It’s a freaky subconscious thing my fingers do when I’m typing “Thanks so—see? I did it again. So, I admit, I’m a bit overboard with “so”.

And if you ever call me on the phone, I’ll thank you before saying goodbye. Even if you called me. Even if in the context of our conversation I agree to some huge favor you’ve asked, like donating a kidney. Even if I was totally right and you were totally wrong (Okay, that one doesn’t really happen). No matter what we say on the phone, I’ll thank you right before I say goodbye. I just do. Its a habit. Thank you.

I’m thinking about having brain surgery to correct it.

Another thing is, I use commas a lot. In fact, its been said that I overuse commas. Some would say that the previous sentence shouldn’t have a comma. To that I say, “Tough toenails, I’m the one typing.” Seriously, I do like commas and for someone who does an awful lot of typing I’d fully expect the comma button on my keyboard to wear out first. And I’m still upset that it has to share with the <. I mean who uses < ? I just looked down at my comma button and no joke, the < is just about worn off. I can't wait until its totally gone and then its just me and my , ready to conquer the world.

I don’t mean to psychoanalyze myself, but my love of commas might come from the fact that I don’t like things to end, I mean end. And periods just seem so final.