Use Your Brain

A few of my peers were giving me a bit of grief about my last blog. Not so much on content, but on word choice, i.e., vocabulary. "I don't EVER hear you use those words." No, not out loud and certainly not all the time.  What they don't realize? Perhaps my lexicon is grandiose and slightly poetic!  (Usually after reading some particular piece of classical literature.)  And last weekend, despite being in the middle of a Dave Barry read and watching Animal House at the same time, my brain was pouring out with either sublime or pertinent words without a single glance at a thesaurus. Go figure.

At other times though, my brain utterly fails me.  I can't think of the name of the most simplest of objects, like that thing that holds water. You know? That you drink out of? When you're thirsty? Do you know yet? That thingy? That I'm pointing at right now? Yes, that's it! A cup.

I do the same exact thing with numbers. Despite what my husband may tell you, I pretty good at solving math problems - especially those that are algebraic in nature. But I'd be lying if I told you that I have never misplaced a decimal in my head a few times and completely miscalculated my savings in store, wanting to argue with the clerk at the checkout, but having enough experience to know that her cash register is probably smarter than my brain and not wanting to embarrass my daughter anymore than I already have by saying something that I no idea could be embarrassing...but I digress.

My point: Whether it's math, reading or using a dusty old vocabulary stored deep within some hemisphere of our cerbrum, shouldn't we engage our brain as much as possible? My favorite method: scribbling a few witticisms in attempt to hone my wordsmith skills. But I'm guessing Alex likes the math exercises for one reason only=>

I BET SHE SAVED A BUNCH!