Welcome to my Randominion

Randominion is a word I created for those times when random thoughts & acts pop up in our lives. They take you by surprise, and you momentarily enter this equally thoughtful and shocked state of Randominion. My daughter is the queen of Randominion. We'll be driving along somewhere, lost in our own thoughts as we listen to the iPod through the radio, and she'll suddenly blurt out bits of randominity like, "How do slugs breathe?" or "Did you know that the web of skin between your thumb and forefinger is called the wagina?" (This is true: I cconfirmed it on WikiAnswers.com.)

My daughter's latest randominity occured this morning as I was driving her to school. I had barely finished my first cup of coffee at that point, so my brain still was not fully operational. We're sitting quietly at a traffic light — still going through that morning adjustment to being vertical — and she turns to me and says, "Did you know that the aorta of a blue whale is big enough for a human to swim through it?" Now, doesn't that just make you stop and conjure up all sorts of wierd thoughts and pictures in your head? You've just entered the state of Randominion.

You might argue that these randominities are just trivia. While many randominities are trivia, not all trivia is randominous. Usually trivia pops up in conversation in context to something being discussed. But trivia become randominous when it just gets blurted out of the blue, like my daughter's frequent episodes.

And not all randominities are trivia. Let's not forget random acts of kindness (like when somebody actually slows down to let you merge into traffic before you're forced off of the freeway on another exit), and random humor (Monty Python and the Holy Grail is full of it: "We want... a shrubbery!").

So, I'll leave you with another one of my daughter's randominities: Do you know what a wenis is? Is it:
A) an unusually small piece of male anatomy?
B) the rough skin on your elbow?
C) a baby wallaby?
D) all of the above!

(By the way, it's cheating to go check it out on Google)

Alrighty then...

The answer...

is...

(Are you sure you really want to know?)

Okay...

I'll tell you...

It's really...

...the skin on your elbow.

Funny, isn't it? It's actually one of my favorites (I love to embarass my daughter by chastising her in public about rubbing her wenis). Now... just imagine you're having coffee with a friend, or sitting in a meeting at work. Think of the randominion you can create by suddenly blurting out, "Did you know that the skin on your elbow is called the wenis?" People will stare at you in awe and wonder (wenis envy, perhaps...). Try it... go forth and be random!