Eight things

Eight things you didn't know about me (demanded by Stephanie).

1. Whenever I walk past a door or window-that-could-be-walked-through that should be shut, I give it a push or a pull to confirm that it is. This can happen several times an hour.

2. I alternate between rising very early and staying up very late, over a cycle of many years. For the last five or six years it's been the late phase, presently my usual bedtime is around 2am.

3. There's always a song playing in my head, from the moment I wake up until the moment I fall asleep. Right now, for example, it's "La Vie en Rose".

4. There isn't a day that I do not berate myself for cowardice, laziness, stupidity or all three.

5. I talk to myself in three languages, depending on which inner voice is speaking to whom.

6. I'm very numerate: I can do math in my head as fast as some people can use a calculator, and I can usually tell whether a three-digit number is prime or not just by looking at it. Despite this, I feel that I am bad at math.

6a. I love the concept of cognitive dissonance.

7. My memories are fully engrossing, presented in all senses. When I remember standing on the Piazzale Michelangelo in Florence, I don't just have the view, I remember also the wind on my face and the smell of the cypress trees and how sore my feet were and the taste of the ice cream (lemon) that I ate there.

7a. This kind of engrossing memory often happens while I'm walking around town, I will spend several seconds with my attention completely occupied by an afternoon in Italy 35 years ago. While this happens I will continue to walk along the route I set out on, without stumbling or being hit by a car or walking into other pedestrians. I call this "autopilot", and it fascinates me.

8. I can (and do) pick things up with my toes.