I have been told on numerous occasions that I appear to have my own vocabulary or to some extent my own language. I think we all do in some form or another. It was during one of these conversations that I realized I use a lot of "Obscure Reference Statements" or that I simply allow my "Inner Jukebox" to play on random. Let's start with the "Obscure Reference Statement". My family and I have this strange habit of picking up sayings from TV and movies then applying them to everyday conversations. Here is an example of what I mean by this:
The movie is "Men in Black". It is the scene where the alien space ship has just landed in Edgar, the farmer's front yard. While heading out to see what has just happened the farmer's wife, Beatrice, says "What the heck is it, Edgar?" but she says his name in a sort of slow drawn out slur that sounds more like "eh-ggurr".
This is how we would use the above "Obscure Reference Statement" in a sentence (or at least how it is used in my world):
We have this incredibly large spider living over our front door and it has been their quite a while, but that is another "shiny" tale for another day. Anyway, the first time we encountered it, I believe it was George who turned around looked at me and said "What the heck is it Eh-ggur?" Which is our way of saying "What is that and will it eat me?!?!"
See that was pretty simple to understand! Next, we have the "Inner Jukebox". Now the "Inner Jukebox" can be worked in similar to an "Obscure Reference Statement" but it is usually set on "Random", meaning you never know what you will get.
One of my favorite "Inner Jukebox" moments happened when I was working as an I.T. tech. On this particular day, I sat down at a user's computer and prepared to log in to their account in an effort to fix some application. I had been working on this for quite a few days and so I had actually memorized their password, not intentionally mind you. I have found that I have an interesting retrieval system in my head, I don't remember passwords unless I am sitting at the desk where I originally typed them. I think it's kind of cool, it's like some strange mental safeguard. At the keyboard I know the password but if I walk away to another location, say the kitchen or another person's desk, the recall is almost always unavailable, kind of like a personal "Error 404 - File not found". Wait a minute, how did we end up on this "shiny" little tangent?
As I was saying, on this particular day I sat down at the user's computer and as I typed the password, I heard it. "Sunny, yesterday my life was filled with rain. Sunny, you smiled at me and really eased the pain..." and then I saw it, the look on the user's face. Their password started with the word "Sonny" and this word acted like a quarter being dropped into my "Inner Jukebox", triggering my brain to select "Sunny" by Bobby Hebb and thus causing me to sing. Needless to say, we changed the password and I no longer allow users to tell me them. Instead, I look away and allow them to type their passwords in on their own.
Why do I tell you these two stories? That is a great questions! Let's see if I can come up with an equally great answer. I think the answer is three-fold. The first and easiest answer is "It explains a little more about who I am."
The second is a kind of warning. I mean if you are anything like me and you pick up random bits of movie or music information, then you may wish to make wise choices in what you watch or listen to since one can never be sure when that info will replay itself.
Finally, isn't the mind an amazing thing? I mean seriously, the fact that we have the ability to learn and retain not only what we want to but even in some cases what we don't even plan on. It is simply amazing to me how intricate humans are! I like how the Psalmist thanks God for how He designed us in the following verse:
"Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it." Psalm 139:14 (NLT)
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