Trigger'd

Triggers. Everyone has them. That is to say, everyone has certain stimulus that spurs certain behavior. I've heard the term most often used as stimulus causing bad behavior, like the sight of someone smoking crack triggering a recovering addict to relapse. But, triggers can cause the urge for any behavior. A person can also have multiple triggers for the same behavior. For example, the summer heat, a cold winter wind, flipping the lights on in the kitchen, blinking, and breathing all trigger my wife, Sarah, to want ice cream. 

I am not trigger-exempt. Oh no. Far from it. I'm discovering new ones all the time. But, I have a favorite trigger. 

About a year ago, I IMDB'd Danny Elfman, whom I admire as much as any movie score composer, I reckon. I had forgotten he wrote the score for Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, starring Paul Reubens (famously triggered), one of my favorite movies as a kid. So, I went on over to iTunes and downloaded the soundtrack. Well, Pee-Wee's theme song triggered some, uhh, primal behavior in me that had laid dormant in me for the previous 31 years of my life. I can't explain it. The song just makes me crazy, like I'm Jack in a box that hasn't been opened for 31 years — until now. My trigger is best illustrated in the little video that my co-worker, Chris, put together below ... 

So, do you have triggers? (Not to be confused with chiggers. Completely different.)