I was such a nerd

When I was growing up, I was such a nerd. The oldest of four kids, and born to a nerdy (but lovable) mother, I didn't have anyone to show me how the cool kids did things. But I wasn't really aware of how nerdy I was. It's only now that I look back on myself as a child that I can see that I was probably the definition of square.

1. I walked to the library every week and brought home a dozen or so books to read.
2. I dressed up as a dictionary for Halloween one year.
3. When the local talk radio station switched to a Top 40 format, I called to complain.
4. I fell in love with the song "Jack and Diane" by John Mellencamp in 1984 -- two years after it was released. 
5. Along with two other friends, I started an "exclusive" vocabulary club. We were the only members.

This past Thursday night I went out with some girlfriends to a local Mexican restaurant. The booths each had this chicken head carved into them:

It immediately reminded me of Famous Recipe Fried Chicken. My family only ate Famous Recipe a few times a year. It was our go-to food for family reunions. Seeing the chicken reminded me of the last time I set foot in a Famous Recipe. I was probably about 12 years old.

We were on our way to the reunion. We stopped to get the chicken and I got out of the car to go into the restaurant with my mom. 

I was wearing this way cool shirt that I'd gotten out of a hand-me-down bag from some relatives. It was polyester and looked like it was a quilted pattern of reds, yellows, blues. I remember plaid and some white flowers on it, I think. It buttoned down the front. I think I wore it with denim shorts. I LOVED that shirt. 

That is, until we walked into the restaurant and walked up to the counter. The high schoolers working behind the counter were all trying very hard to stifle their laughter as they took our order. I didn't immediately see what they were laughing out. But then I saw it:

My new-to-me, colorful, patterned favorite shirt was really a Famous Recipe Chicken uniform!

(! * # @ ; /)

As someone who writes for a living, I have opinions about punctuation.

I won't claim that they are the most knowledgeable opinions. Sometimes I'm unsure whether a comma or a semi-colon is called for. I use punctuation more because it "feels" right than because it fits within the rules set for by Strunk and White. That must be the creative side of me leaking out.

For a long time, I had a love affair with the ellipses. You know, those three cute little dots that allow a thought to linger. . . I still find the ellipses enjoyable, but don't use them as often as I once did.

The dash -- can't remember if it's technically an em dash or an en dash and I don't really care -- also has a place in my compositional heart. It lets me interrupt myself, which is something I do frequently when I'm talking.

As an editor trying clean up other people's writing, the bane of my existence has always been the exclamation point. Do we really need to make that many exclamations? And even if the situation calls for a statement to be delivered with that much enthusiasm or emphasis, in my mind there is never an excuse for the mulitple exclamations. Seeing !!!!!! in a letter or article just makes my skin crawl.

A strange thing happened, however. I started blogging and I started finding myself using the exclamation point more freely -- though never in multiples. What's more, I use it in combination with the question mark on a fairly regular basis. How crazy is that?!

Do other people think about punctuation like I do? Obviously some must because the book Eats, Shoots & Leaves was popular enough to make it to the book section of Costco. (Strangely, I've never read it. ) And way before Lynn Truss turned her frustration with punctuational ignorance into a best-seller, Schoolhouse Rock addressed the use of punctuation in the context of catchy grammar lessons.

Do you have a favorite piece of punctuation? Or are you like E.E. Cummings, who felt that punctuation was optional?