When I'm asking someone to hand me a pipette in the lab, I'll mime using the pipette to draw up liquid. So do many other people I know (I call it the universal scientist gesture).

So, yes.

Close to 100% when I'm talking to other people. I would suspect I also do it when I'm alone, but I haven't paid attention (now I will!).

When I'm at the drugstore looking for condoms ...

Absolutely all the time. When I'm looking for the TV remote, I mime pressing the buttons. It's like a mating call. Coooome to meeee, my dear remote.

When I am looking for something, I do "pointy" motions in the places I'm looking, as if I am about to see it and point it out.

It doesn't work, until the last point. .. at which I've found it.

Like occhiblu, I do mime if there's someone else in the room, just as a conversational shorthand. If I'm alone, I don't mime, but I do softly call either the name of the sought item, or I coo out my intentions for it (i.e., "Left shoooooooe, left shooooo-ooooe, I need to put you on my foooo-oooot").

I've recently noticed that I usually find the thing shortly after I start calling to it. I wonder if these behaviors --- miming the action, naming the object, describing the action --- trigger some neural pathway that helps us remember where the darned thing is.

I have a mental block for proper names sometimes, so I mime things a lot. It drives MuddDude crazy, because I am a terrible Mime. Everything, apparantly, looks like a giant button to me.

nope, but you should see my nintendo face.

No, but I *still* look really silly whenever I use scisscors - I mimic the scisscors opening and closing with my mouth. My mom could not help but laugh at me when I did it when I was maybe twelve or so, and I found I need to really concentrate to not do it, watch me check if there are people around before cutting anything still to this day. I mean hw silly doesn't that look *open mouth close mouth opeeeeen cloooose...*

And apparently, before drinking tea I open my mouth long before I've even grabbed the cup! I must look like and idiot all the time when I'm alone.

Whenever I'm looking for my striped mime sweater, I get stuck in imaginary boxes.

No, you are insane. But then, so is the mister.

I think I probably am insane, as I do this when there's no-one around. But hey, never mind.

Oh, god, I do this with scissors, alone and in front of others. I make little scissor-snipping gestures with my fingers while I'm trying to find them. (I am not actually sure if I do the pipette thing, I'll have to try to pay more attention...)