ways in which stacey is a freak [part 1 in an infinite series]

Vanilla Ice was wearing a sleeveless jersey last night with the number '187' on the back [yes, Vanilla Ice...*that* Vanilla Ice. More on the concert soon...].

So freak that I am, standing there in a polite but extremely rowdy crowd, getting pushed over onto the stage [yes, I was in the front row...if you are going to see Vanilla Ice, you should do it right], freak that I am, I'm playing games in my head with the number:

187 is 11 times 17.
Times 4 is 748 [48 is a favorite number of mine].
Multiply 7 by 48 and you get 336 times 3 is 1008 [zero and eight are also favorite numbers].
187 x 4 x 3 is 2244...cool.
Double that and you get 4488...more favorite numbers.

Yes, I realize the following is odd:

The fact that I have favorite numbers, plural.
The fact that zero is my all-time favorite number.
The fact that all this is going through my head at a frickin' *rap* concert.

Can't help it. Patterns call to me. Numbers, shapes, behavior. I loved my now-canceled credit card number, because it had five zeros in it and a cool rhythm [dah-dit-dah-dit deduh-dee-dit-zero doo-zero-duh-zero duh-dit-zero-zero]. I notice symmetry, I notice when it's missing. I pattern-match, I generalize past data, notice similarities and am able to use them to deduce possibly-related solutions [which serves me well in my work].

I love when I am hand-writing a note and I am able to right-justify the lines.

I love packing groceries, clothes, purchases and getting them to fit as efficiently as possible into the space available. I will play with permutations of a 12-pack of soda, a carton of milk, a box of cereal, and a case of toilet paper to get it into as compact and cubic a bundle as I can.

Tessellations fascinate me. I have three canisters of addictive things called "Busy Beetles", interlocking plastic pieces that fit together in many, many different ways. You can make solids, spirals, snowflakes, just by varying the patterns of connectivity. It's more intriguing than it sounds...I used to take them to work, and people would spend more time than they should playing with them.

I play games in my head with license plate numbers. Try to make poker hands, multiply the digits in various combinations to see what I can end up with, grab numbers from adjacent cars to get a pleasing result.

I found this comic incredibly sweet and funny and familiar [be sure to read the hover text as well...it adds to the sweetness]: http://xkcd.com/c289.html

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Okay I'm going to stop this now...if I continue listing the ways I find patterns in life, I'll never stop typing. I'll sum it up:

Hi, my name is Stacey, and I'm a pattern watcher.