Lovely letter L...

I read the strangest article yesterday. It claimed that we are unconsciously drawn to whichever letter of the alphabet our names begin with. This means that without realizing it, we gravitate towards things and places for no other reason than the fact that they begin with the same letter as our names. Since my name is Lisa, I should be driving a Lexus and living in Louisville or Las Vegas, where I would be working as a lawyer and eating linguini and lingonberry pie…

The article also stated that this subconscious draw to our name-letter is so strong that students actually strive for the grade that corresponds with their name. An Alice or Adam would study extra hard, apparently, because the “A” seems so much more appealing when it’s the first letter of your name. Whereas a Carl or a Carrie would simply coast along, hoping to be average. Um, okay. So I guess I’m supposed to believe that Faisal, for example, was a complete underachiever in school? You’re telling me that he was subconsciously drawn to F’s, just because his name begins with an F? So he’d be taking a test, and think, “hmmm… I DO know the answer to this question, but for some reason I really want that F… I think I’ll leave it blank…” That just doesn’t make any sense to me…

And what’s more, the article said that baseball players whose names begin with “K” are more likely to strike out. I mean, c’mon, isn’t this study kind of grasping at straws? I mean, sure “K” is used to signify a strikeout, but what about the fact that “strikeout” starts with an S? What about the S players? What about H players – do they hit more home runs? Do B players walk a lot? Well just in case, I guess I won’t be drafting Konerko or Kotsay for my fantasy baseball team next year…

I didn’t take this study too seriously, especially after I started trying to think of “L” things that I’ve been drawn to. I dunno… I have some lemons and limes in my fridge… I do a lot of laundry… if Rick ever hears from the elusive Dell Chicago job hiring manager, we might be moving to Lincoln Park… But at the moment, I live in Austin, drive an Acura and an Audi, have three pets I named Echo, Allegro and Piva, eat a lot of chocolate, love travel, and occasionally get paid for proofreading or writing. I mean, if I was honestly drawn to things that begin with an “L,” I would’ve been suggesting we visit the island of Lanai next week… instead, I’m quite happily looking forward to Kauai…

Well, Kauai, Lanai – it’s only one letter off…