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I don’t know how I ended up as an eavesdropper. Maybe growing up with seven older siblings who liked to keep secrets from me had something to do with it.

Some of my earliest memories come from receiving bribes to sneak into our living room to spy on my oldest sister and her boyfriend. I think I got a quarter for each recon mission I undertook.

She ended up marrying him so maybe I didn’t do as much damage as the rest of the family hoped. Who knows?

Because I’m a big wimp, I never turned this skill into something really cool. I had no intention of becoming a spy or anything like that.

I did use the skill as a reporter, but that doesn’t really impress everyone. So now I just entertain myself with my ability to home in on a funny conversation somewhere around me.

That’s exactly how I entertained myself on a recent errand. I didn’t feel the greatest, and I had to drop Bridget off at one of her activities. Maria asked me if I would get her some ice cream from our favorite place for cold treats.

I really enjoyed my final few months as a college student. Allegheny College, where I attended, operated on a trimester system at that time. That meant that we had three sessions of 10 weeks. Each time, we took three classes.

Thanks to some AP credits from high school, I had enough credits after the second trimester of my senior year to graduate. The thought of leaving early, however, never crossed my mind.

Sure, I wanted to enjoy my social life a little, but I made sure to have an enjoyable classroom experience as well.

I managed to schedule two classes back to back in the afternoon on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I didn’t have to wake up before noon, and I had one of my favorite professors for both classes.

He wanted to spend Friday afternoon in the classroom about as much as we did, so he extended the class time for the later session on the other two days so we didn’t need Friday afternoon at all. The earlier class met as usual.

So I had an all-afternoon schedule, got out early on Fridays and studied two really enjoyable topics. What a great memory.

All of this comes to mind because, almost 20 years later, I have made the decision to return to the classroom. I have a funny feeling things won’t be the same in graduate school.

If all goes well, I will enter a master’s degree in writing program in the fall. I’m sure some readers will enjoy knowing that I am finally going to learn how to write. It’s about time, I think.

In my younger days, I had quite a temper. A combination of overcompensating for my small stature and growing up with four older brothers brought about this condition.

I was not out of control, but I had a few fights at school, especially around junior high.

Nothing profound really changed things. I did start to have some success in wrestling and channeled my energy there. But at some point, I pretty much stopped lashing out.

I thought of all this last week as we went to an event to celebrate the birthday or a good friend. He had arranged for a group to attend a dinner at a local fire hall.

For so long, I took pride in the fact that I did not own an iPod. Didn’t need one, I told people.

I have a built-in prejudice against Apple and had plenty of other ways to get my music. I could resist assimilating.

Or so I thought. I finally gave in over the summer and bought one. I didn’t go whole hog and get one of the fancy schmancy ones, even though I really wanted to.

Since then, I have settled into a routine, using the player to entertain me during the day at work or substituting it for my satellite radio during my commute.

I’m not rich or anything. I’m just an entertainment snob. I feel less comfortable in silence.

Which is why I could not believe my eyes a week ago. I had plugged my iPod into my computer to charge and saw a very strange message.