sorry about the near consecutive, but here’s the results
Brown had a long run, but mighty blue beat it in a brilliant triumphent battle. I actually felt sorrow to see brown go.
Blue has now earned the exclusive “Spot on top of my speaker” until the next war.
I too felt all alone in the world untill that fateful day when I discoverd that porn site that specializes in women stomping on rodents while wearing high heels.
But alas, none of those people take it to the extreme that I do.
(heavy sigh)
I know I’m not the only one who does this, but I still find it amazing: cell phone pacing. While in a conversation on a cell phone, I will pace back and forth throughout the duration of the call. Pace length varies whether I’m indoors or outdoors and the importance of the call. Stressfull call = 20 paces back and forth or so. When I hang up, I usuall find myself a hundred yards or so away from my original location without any recollection of how I got there. Also, if I’m indoors walking on a tile floor, I MUST step like a knight in chess…no exceptions!
Oh, and I also make drum beats with my tongue and teeth. Banging my tongue against my teeth makes the bass drum sound, while lightly chattering my teeth makes the snare sound. Its only loud enough that I can hear, but fun for me.
Your post now requires me to ask…
Just HOW MANY licks did it take you to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?
Re: the OP:
Before I eat anything, I have to smell every bit of food in front of me before I eat it, including my drink. The drink is what is interesting about this for me, because I will even smell my glass of water before taking that first drink.
I have a bizarre cheeseburger-rearranging quirk. Whenever I get a cheeseburger (a real cheeseburger, not fast-food variety) I usually find there is too much meat. So I will remove the burger and cut it in half so that I have two patties of equal diameter but only half the width of the original patty. One is discarded, and the other one goes back into the burger. If there is still too much meat, I will cut it into smaller pieces and evenly distribute them. I then have to also arrange the lettuce, onion and tomato so that they are equally distributed, thus giving me a satisfying integrated tasty burger experience. I have had people laugh openly at me while I do this. If anyone out there does this as well please write immediately and let me know that I’m not alone in the world.
Thank you.
P.S. I did the tootsie-pop experiment as a wee lassie and I believe it took me 236 licks.
I probably have more quirks than I realize, but Ghanima just reminded me of something I realized recently… I very rarely finish a sandwich. Doesn’t matter if it’s a burger, an open-face chicken club, or a PB&J. Even if I’m still hungry, I’ll come to the very last bite and leave a bit leftover. Sometimes it’s the tiniest bit of bread, other times I’ll have a good chunk of meat and cheese still left and I’ll eat just the cheese (never ever waste cheese, that’s my motto… Oh, and American doesn’t count as cheese… that’s a cheese food product). On the extremely rare occasions when I leave nothing left of my sandwich, I feel strange as I take that last bite… Like something is horribly horribly wrong with what I’m doing… Thankfully they don’t throw anyone in the loony bin for not clearing their plate…
Have you tried Land O’ Lakes Spreadable Butter? It’s a blend of butter and canola oil, comes in a little tub, and spreads perfectly right out of the fridge.
I do this. I will microwave the butter to get it soft enough to spread if I haven’t taken it out of the refrigerator soon enough. If I’m at my Mom’s and she makes me toast or a piece of bread and butter, I’ve been known to go into the kitchen to “re-spread” the butter.
I also make open face peanut butter sandwiches. I may eat two pieces of bread with peanut butter, but not together (I also don’t like jelly, so it’s always just a peanut butter sandwich). When I have nothing else to bring to work for lunch, I wll bring two slices of bread and a jar of peanut butter, rather than make a true sandwich and then just pulling it apart.
I do not believe they have that brand of butter up here, or I have not seen it.
I actually buy oleo most of the time, and butter when it’s on sale but the butter is saved for baking most often. If I DO use the butter for breads etc I slice a square off of it and place it in a dish like my Grandma does, which is then covered and kept in the cupboard, that way it is soft and easily spread.
I realized another one. When slicing up either cheese or bread the slices must be even and a perfectly 90 degree angle from the board (or near as perfect as I can get). If there is any noticable discrepancy one slice of cheese or bread must be cut to make it so, making that slice hideously deformed. It can still be eaten, but it is not to be used for grilled cheese sandwiches as it causes problems with the melting of the cheese.
Ok, I’ll be the first to admit that everyone has quirks, but you have to check out this thread and realize that as insane as you may be, there are many others who have you beat by a longshot. I warn you, however, this thread is not for the faint of heart…
I try to read them in the order they were written… except for The Chronicles of Narnia which i read in sequence.
Genius. If it wasn’t so cold i’d go out now to buy some M&Ms. I always thought they were a little dull as sweets, but this has made me look at them in a whole new light.
I can’t think of any particular quirks myself at the moment, just wanted to show my appreciation for the M&M championship idea.
Carry on…
I do this a lot too, and include my tongue as an instrument. There is a surprising range of tones you can get by shuffling spit around against your teeth.
I do both these things. And may I say, my future looks a little odd as a result. I am learning to be an appraiser. I will be going into people’s houses and walking on their tiled floors like I’m playing Wizard Chess; and will be taking business calls on my cell phone in public, where the world can watch me pace.
(I once walked clockwise around a water fountain 15 times while patiently explaining to my ex why he was my ex. A guy sat there and watched me do this, and when the call ended, he asked me if going the opposite direction would fix my relationship. I never thought of that! :eek: )
Hmm…I always knew I was normal and everyone else in the world was crazy. Now i have proof…this thread!!!
Hey Hal–Could you please hold another tornament and give us the status of the new black & white M&Ms.
On another similar thread in the not-too-distant past, I discussed my M&M sorting and eating habits and my sidewalk-crack-stepping habits, neither of which are all that remarkable in the context of this group (which is just amazing). Although I can do the sidewalk-crack thing on any patterned floor surface; I “feel” the differences in the soles of my feet. Borderline OCD? Probably. Hasn’t disrupted my life yet, however.
I’m also a compusive counter. I like to count in my head. I have many opportunities daily to do that now, as I work in a building where I have to take two elevators to get to my office and the elevators beep as they pass each floor, so I get to count the floors up and down as I ride. I thought I was alone in my compusive counting till I read “Rest You Merry” by Charlotte Macleod some years back, in which two of her characters are also compulsive counters who, upon discovering this similar trait, realize it is True Love. I felt the same way at the time.
I have a few minor obsessions at work, too. Paperclips MUST be sorted by size and type, unhooked from each other, and neatly laid in their appropriate compartments all lying in the same direction. And file folders must always be in tab cut order – you know, the ones that come with tabs left, right, and center have to be sorted so that they go in sequence. Fortunately, my nearest coworker shares my obsession, so we happily sort our file folders together.
Much like Ghanima, I find people rarely know how to prepare a cheeseburger properly. Inevitably it is unsatisfactory and I am forced to disect it. I begin by pulling apart the two buns to reveal the goodness within. Usually the preparer has only put mayo on one bun, and this will not do. I flip the meat over so that the un-mayoed bun can sop up a little of the mayo from the meat. I then carefully arrange the patty itself, making sure nothing is hanging off the edge. Then, and only then, may I bite into it.
I’ve been a compulsive counter for many years. When I walk up steps, I always count steps. I basically count everything. If I don’t have something specific to count, I count “1-2-3-4” (or sometimes “1-3-2-4”) on my fingers over and over in my head. It’s like background music to me. 
Re M&M’s: I agree they should be sorted by color, but what I do is start to eat the color with the largest number of candies first. When the number in that pile = the number in the second-largest pile, I can eat from those piles alternately. I continue until there’s only one of each color left, and then finish them off IN ANY ORDER I WANT!
I was in the Container Store the other day. As part of a display, they had some balls of yarn in a clear container. But someone had been playing with the balls, and some of the yarn had come off and gotten all tangled. Well, since I’m a World-Class Untangler, I had to sit down and sort out their balls of yarn. Only took about 10 minutes…
I’m compulsive about my food. No different foods may touch, or I won’t eat the portions that have touched other food items. I separate different foods on my plate, with at least a one-inch space between them. My mom complains that I used to make her remove the skins from my baked potatoes, so I could eat potato and skin separately. Ok, I was 4 or so.
When I eat things like beef stew, I make sure to have only one food item at a time – potato, carrot, beef, etc. NEVER mix foods in my mouth at one time! Gack!
Oddly, my 2.5-year-old son sometimes eats the same way. He eats pizza in layers – first the toppings, then the cheese, then licks the crust clean, then eats the crust. Other times, he mushes everything on his plate into a mass, and shoves it all into his mouth. I can barely stand to watch him eat when he does that.