Writing, Hoarding & Trolls

An incident occurred recently while I was riding in a car with my brother Joey. I was in the driver's seat and we'd stopped at a toll booth so we could pay to cross a bridge. After paying the fee and continuing down the road, I turned to my brother and asked, "have you ever wondered if the toll booth operators are actually a secret race of trolls?"

These are the kinds of questions that get us into trouble people. Of course he'd never wondered this. Most people don't think like that. It's weird.

But weird is what we do. And something about a story I'd once heard regarding trolls that lived under bridges had prompted me to wonder if, in modern times, they disguised themselves as humans, but were ultimately still controlling our passage -- accepting dollars in lieu of answers to complex riddles.



Photo: images.fanpop.com

"Stop. Who would cross the Bridge of Death must answer me these questions three,

ere the other side he see."



Imagine how strange it must be for normal people to be around us. We are an unusual bunch.

For one, we're hoarders. We collect pens, notebooks, index cards, and Post-it notes like there's going to be an office-supply apocalypse and we may never see another pen / notebook / index card / Post-it note again.

Our Google search history is peppered with queries for things like:

• A body's rate of decomposition when submerged in water
• Effects of chloroform
• 9 ways to kill an elf

And we have a tendency to ask the most insane questions seemingly at random. To us it makes sense. We were pondering the question while you were speaking to us and assuming we were listening.

Whether this type of behavior is a detriment to my personality or not, I'll never know. It's simply who I am. And I imagine that a lot of you have had a similar experience. So today I'd like to invite you all to share a moment when your writer-crazy surfaced. A moment when the people around you weren't sure if you were a genius or if they should have you committed.

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