(Doing the Daily Post today.  Why?  Because a part of my Writing Process that I didn’t talk about a couple of days ago is that occasionally I get blocked out of my damn mind and spend four hours staring at a computer screen like a jackass.  Which is what I’ve been doing this morning in between half-assed attempts to figure out a way to market my book/blog/Twitter feed/entire life.  Screw it; YOU tell ME what to write about.

Of course, now that I’ve typed that, I gotta go wander around my house until I can figure out what the answer is.  BAH.)

You’re embarking on a yearlong round-the-world adventure, and can take only one small object with you to remind you of home. What do you bring along for the trip?

(Seriously, walks around the house for ten minutes.)

…

Wait.

Going about this shit all wrong.  Small object?  Cool, I’m bringing a cell phone.  Loaded to the gills with pictures and videos and oh, wait, you can call people with that too?  Awesome.

Oh, that’s cheating?  Okay.

(There’s no rules!  It’s not cheating!  Shut up!)

Fine.  This:

That?  Is my thinkin’ rock, and chances are I should have gone and gotten it out of my desk before now, because my brain’s all screwed up and useless today and I kinda need it.  It’s a rock, with a depression in it to rub your thumb on.  It is a singularly useless object.

Except.

Here’s what you’re really doing when you’re bringing something to “remind you of home.”  You’re bringing something with you to stimulate thinking.  The thinkin’ rock (I swear WordPress you correct thinkin’ to thinking’ one more time and I’ll kill you) is surprisingly calming, actually, for something that literally only exists to provide you a surface to rub your thumb on.  You’d think you could rub your thumb on just about anything, provided it wasn’t, like, sharp or something:  no!  The thinkin’ rock is literally specifically designed for thumb-rubbing.  It’s better!

(It’s also not as… wet?… as it looks in the picture, which makes it look kinda creepy.)

Thinkin’ rock reminds me to think.  Thinking, in this case, is the same as reminiscing, which a good way to kick back and think about your family.

Better, mind you, to bring them with you.  Or at least the damn phone.  But I’ll take the rock too.  I got big pockets.