This, That, and Not Much Else

First things first:

Melanie has tagged me for a meme: I am to open the book I am reading, turn to page 161, and read the fifth sentence. After I share it with you, I am to tag five other bloggers.

I'm currently reading Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson. Here you go:

"The rest of the formula was kept secret, but as best doctors and chemists could tell, the solution included substances that imparted a pleasant state of euphoria and sedation trimmed with amnesia - an effect the Chicago post office found problematic, for each year it wound up holding hundreds of letters from Dwight that lacked important elements of their destination addresses."

I'm tagging Kim, Mary, Lorette, Brigitte, and Carol in Florida. Whether or not they care to participate is up to them!

Next:

Claudia included me on her list for the You Make Me Smile Award.

I am very pleased, as over the past few months, I feel like she has become one of my very closest friends. We of course first "met" related to knitting - and she is quite a knitter! - but realized that we had the same weird sense of humor, we have both suffered through Notre Dame football this season, and we have similar tastes and sensibilities in so many things. Plus, Mr Puffy is so adorable, I would love to meet him in person as well!

Now I'm supposed to name anyone else that makes me smile. I chose the first five people who came to mind when I thought about the name of the award, and that's as good a "system" as any, so here are my choices:

1. Carol, of Go Knit in Your Hat - because she is completely nuts, and so much fun, both cyber-wise and otherwise! I mean, who else finds sites like Men Who Look Like Old Lesbians???

2. Carrie, of My Middle Name Is Patience - because she cracks me up with her writing style, the funny pictures of her cat Hezekiah (who she claims is "a pill" - even that makes me laugh!), and because I feel like if we ever met in person, we would get on like two people who have been friends forever.

3. Lorette, The Knitting Doctor - because, like me, she writes about knitting, but also everything else, all served up with at *least* a glass of wine! I just think she is the best.

4. Kim, of hand eye crafts - because of her celebrity crushes, and ongoing "feud" with her friend Rox on her blog. Earlier this year, she had a contest to determine The Knitter's Hunk, and it was a blast! (I think I have talked her and her two kids into visiting us in Philadelphia in 2008!)

5. Melanie, of Tea Leaves - because during The Knitter's Hunk contest, she was willing to let me give her a hard time about nominating Jeremy Irons, and because she will be writing along, and all of a sudden, there's a zinger! She was also one of my first knit-blogger friends, and we hit it off immediately after being paired for a swap.

Odd But True ...

Over the last year (plus a few months), it has occurred to me that I feel as close, and sometimes closer, to my various knit-blogger friends than I do to most of the people I see every day. I've been thinking about it lately, and for me at least, part of it is that if I have a day when I just really don't feel like having to talk to anyone, they are not offended or upset. Whereas, when you see someone every day in person, you have to actually interact with them in some way, even if just to request that they leave you alone (which of course usually guarantees that they won't).

Does anyone else find this to be the case with them? Just wondering.