I will bite my thumb at them

First posted 7-24-07

Sampson: I will bite my thumb at them, which is a disgrace to them, if they bear it.
[bites thumb]
Gregory: Go forth! I will back thee!
Abra: Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?
Sampson: I... I do bite my thumb, sir.
Abra: Do you bite your thumb at *us*, sir?
Sampson: [to Gregory] Is the law on our side if I say ay?
Gregory: NO!
Sampson: No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at you, sir, but I bite my thumb, sir!
Gregory: Do you quarrel, sir?
Abra: Quarel, sir? No, sir!

- Romeo and Juliet

I have a strange habit. When I really start to get upset, or depressed, or something is really bothering me, I write on my thumb. My left thumb, between the joint and knuckle. Just a few words, usually a phrase or a snatch of lyric or something that's been tumbling in my mind. I'll take a sharpie from work and write on my thumb. It's weird, because I am not the type of person to write things on my body, at all.

I've been writing on my thumb.

For a couple days there it was "It's a Hard Thing" for obvious reasons. Today it's "Is Everything Alright?". I seem to be asking people a lot that lately, including myself. Everyone's got problems. I'm getting tired of asking. Maybe I've written it down because I would really really like to have the answer.

I'm trying to think of other things I wrote on my thumb in times past. I can't remember the first one, it might have been "the heart aches and the body breaks", a phrase I've documented in this blog before, though I seem to have deleted that emo section. What can I say, this thumb-writing thing goes along with the emo-nuttiness. I know I wrote "red skies and red waters" which is an awesome Chuck Brodsky song. I know I wrote tons of things, but I can't think of them right now. I don't know what that means.

At times like this I am reminded of a tattoo. Professional poker player Annie Duke has a tattoo on the small of her back that says "say yes when nobody asked". I have no idea what it means but I find it philosophically pleasing.

Also, because I can

	Posted by fett @ 07/25/2007 10:29 AM PDT
	It's almost always a very pre-meditated action. I've never done it without thinking about it. I honestly have no clue why I do it. I just do.

	Posted by Coyote @ 07/24/2007 06:55 PM PDT
	I've been known to draw a monster face on my thumb from time to time. I am intrigued by this thumb thing though. Is it premeditated or spur of the moment? Have you ever done it and not realized until after?