Happy Pioneer Day...wish I had it here!

Do you ever notice certain words that stand out for you? When you're not really listening to something, to someone else's conversation, are there certain words that you pick up automatically? Words that hold special significance for you, perhaps?

Sitting backstage at a poetry/fiction reading this evening, I unfortunately couldn't hear the words very well. No backstage monitors turned the stories and poems into mush to my ears, with only every few words standing out. However, in both the technical rehearsal and the performance, one story--one word within one story--stuck out, even though I couldn't hear what the rest of the sentence was about.

"Church"

I find that, especially here, mention of religion always perks my interest. Especially when I hear it from my coworkers, I often catch myself thinking they are talking about me. The misfortune of being religious among a group of others who are not particularly so.

"Obama"

Ah yes, always. "Democrat" and "Republican" get me sometimes, but not as often. "McCain" just puts my hackles up.

Things that I'm interested in get me, too. "Creative writing" and "Stage management" always perk my interest. Here, that's enough to get a crick in your neck, since there's a whole department of creative writers. Stage management, not quite as much, since there's only two of us.

I wonder if we are hard-wired, if our ears pick out certain words simply by association, regardless of our interest, or if we secretly have a constant fascination with certain things, which results in our mind subconsciously being aware of these in-passing references.