Okay, this is pretty funny. In response to my "what's your curse?" post, my friend Lachele e-mails me the following: "I have several of them, but one of them is what I call "echo." Echo occurs when a theme relevant to your recent life is repeated back to you from an unexpected and presumably unrelated location.

Anything you do publicly, like blogging, doesn't count, because the person/entity/whatever might have heard you say it. So this isn't technically an example. But, this is a similar type coincidence. Here's an example (fictitious) of an echo that I would count.

You're bathing the dog one night. The dog is being very uncooperative. So, you say to the dog "Dammit, Spot, you'd worry the horns off of a billygoat." Next morning in the car, the DJ presents a funny piece about a farmer whose goat lost its horns in some freak accident. Even better if the accident involved water or cleaning supplies somehow.

That's one of my favorite curses because it's at least amusing."

So this morning - TOTALLY proving her point - on the WSB radio traffic report, Captain Herb had to issue a warning for all motorists to use caution on Highway 54 and Highway Some-Other-Number-I-Don't-Remember because why? Goats wandering loose all over the roadway. He didn't say anything about any lost horns, but still.

I've had similar experiences along the following lines: I'll root through my CDs and run across one by Band XYZ that I haven't played or thought about in ages, and I'll think, "Hmm, Band XYZ! They were pretty good. I'd almost forgotten them...they haven't put out anything in a long time. I wonder if they broke up and I just didn't hear about it." Within the next week or so, it will be all over MTV, VH1 and radio: the triumphant return of Band XYZ with their first studio album in six years! It works with actors as well as musicians but I don't seem to generate Echo in all sorts of random areas like Lachele. I need more practice.