I AM A PACKRAT

I confess I am a true-blue packrat. I guess it´s part of my DNA makeup. Certainly, I am no oddball because I share this trait with 99 percent of my fellow humans. Packrats, also known as trade rats and magpies, are those who collect and gather things as a hobby or, perhaps, as a compulsion. In polite society, we are known simply as collectors, of paintings, stamps, old photographs, miniature cars, comic books... You name it. What do I collect? I am forever sniffing the air for words to add to my collection, in English and Spanish. I keep my eyes peeled for new idiomatic expressions when I read. My ears are always pricked up for phrases I can add to my ever-growing collection. I must say that I am an eavesdropper on the bus, subway, and coffee shop, trying to catch new items for my list. Often I muse that I am a bit unhinged, deranged, gaga... but I can´t help it. I am a bilingual lexicographer.