# Do you have any habits so ingrained you've never talked about them with anyone? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 27, 2002, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-habits-so-ingrained-youve-never-talked-about-them-with-anyone/145186 "2002-12-27T17:16:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Quonk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ed655f/32.png) [@Quonk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quonk)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-habits-so-ingrained-youve-never-talked-about-them-with-anyone/145186/21 "2002-12-28T17:28:49Z")
I do that wall-becomes-floor thing also. I once got really into it and grabbed onto a desk and braced myself before realizing what I was doing. At least I never grabbed onto any _people_. šŸ™‚ Also, I have a secret identity with the initials V.J.F. who is really smart and can do everything perfectly. This has been going on long enough that I sometimes really think I am this other person when Iā€™m just waking up. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-habits-so-ingrained-youve-never-talked-about-them-with-anyone/145186/22 "2002-12-28T17:53:05Z")
Whenever Iā€™m in a car, driving or riding, I mentally pretend that itā€™s a race and Iā€™m always in the lead. If someone passes me, they chose to quit the race, while anyone I pass is simply a latecomer. I donā€™t even know when I started doing it. ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-habits-so-ingrained-youve-never-talked-about-them-with-anyone/145186/23 "2002-12-28T18:07:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by zweisamkeit \* > \*\*if Iā€™m a passenger in a car, and I donā€™t have anything to read or whatnot, I imagine that thereā€™s a person keeping up with the car on the street. \*\* I do this, except the person is on a motorbike. Makes for more spectacular jumps and works great on cross-country train journeys. Every so often I make him slam a tree head on, just for the fun of it. But this is normal. Unlike the rest of you guys who are plainly certifiable lunatics. šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![scablet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@scablet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scablet)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-habits-so-ingrained-youve-never-talked-about-them-with-anyone/145186/24 "2002-12-28T18:22:37Z")
When Iā€™m a passenger in a car, I part my teeth slightly every time a telephone pole or other significantly jutting object goes by, then close it when the ground is ā€˜flatā€™ again. Almost in an ā€œI am eating this telephone pole!ā€ motion. Itā€™s become automatic and half the time I donā€™t even notice myself doing it. Iā€™ve also framed my life as a film or narrative ever since childhood. It used to be simple, like appending ā€œs/he saidā€ mentally every time someone talked to me, but now I take note of lighting changes, dramatic irony, _everything_. I think of myself in the third person (donā€™t speak that way, though, because scablet finds that fucking annoying). At night, I recite the dayā€™s events in novella form. Itā€™s strange how many people Iā€™ve met who share that quirk. I always felt it was terribly self-absorbed of me. ---
**Author:** ![Caesar\_s\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/73ab20/32.png) [@Caesar\_s\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caesar_s_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-habits-so-ingrained-youve-never-talked-about-them-with-anyone/145186/25 "2002-12-28T18:39:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by zweisamkeit \* > \*\*Oh, and another: > > if Iā€™m a passenger in a car, and I donā€™t have anything to read or whatnot, I imagine that thereā€™s a person keeping up with the car on the street. The person can run on grass and raised concrete, but when thereā€™s a dip for a driveway, a street, etc, they have to JUMP over it to the next grass or concrete area. If itā€™s too far, they can reach for powerlines to whip around. > > God, this is really weird! \*\* Yeah, I do this, too. I remember doing it as a littler kid as well. My person can do almost anything, completely defying gravity. Itā€™s really funā€¦ heheh ---
**Author:** ![Pammipoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/87869e/32.png) [@Pammipoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pammipoo)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-habits-so-ingrained-youve-never-talked-about-them-with-anyone/145186/26 "2002-12-28T19:20:56Z")
If Iā€™m walking on a tiled floor or sidewalk, I never step on the cracks. I think Iā€™m subconciously terrified of breaking my motherā€™s backā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-habits-so-ingrained-youve-never-talked-about-them-with-anyone/145186/27 "2002-12-28T21:25:16Z")
Man, I had no idea that so many people had car runners, too! This is pretty damn cool. And yeah, my jumping person could jump abnormally far, too. The only time she (usually a chick) needed help was when you had the 8 lane roads or so. No problems otherwise. šŸ™‚ Iā€™ve also done the bouncing laser beam thing. Itā€™s sort of related to my floating/bouncing person in the room thing I mentioned in my first post in this thread. Now, what Iā€™m wondering is: How come we do this? Is it rather common, or unusual? The sticking factor is how you think itā€™s really weird, so you never really talk about it to anyone (which gives the appearance that not many people do things like this). So I wonder if itā€™s rare or common, and _why_ we do these thingsā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![Francesca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@Francesca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francesca)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-habits-so-ingrained-youve-never-talked-about-them-with-anyone/145186/28 "2002-12-28T21:45:51Z")
I donā€™t have a car runner, but when I am in a car as a passenger I unconciously suck my tummy in every time I pass a street light. I have no idea why I do this, but it makes for good exercise. My SO counts everything in nines. Nine letters, nine bricks, nine steps. I think itā€™s a cute quirk. ---
**Author:** ![Mushono](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cdc98d/32.png) [@Mushono](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mushono)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-habits-so-ingrained-youve-never-talked-about-them-with-anyone/145186/29 "2002-12-28T23:54:17Z")
I TAP!!! I dont know why I do this but I just tap. Like if iā€™m at a desk, i put my middle finger on top and smack the bottom with my pointer and ring finger, moving them up and down to hit the skin/nail and make different notes. I can do it insanely fast now and I just do it all the time im sitting at a desk ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-habits-so-ingrained-youve-never-talked-about-them-with-anyone/145186/30 "2002-12-29T00:57:37Z")
Lordy, this is weird. **My** car runner is on a four-wheeler. I have no idea why. When I am reading, I breathe at periods. I discovered this when I tried to read long posts by people who used ellipsis ( . . .) instead of periods. Iā€™d be light headed by the end. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-habits-so-ingrained-youve-never-talked-about-them-with-anyone/145186/31 "2002-12-29T01:09:16Z")
I canā€™t go into a dark room. I have to reach into the doorway to flick on the light before I cross the threshold. If the switch isnā€™t near the door, I have to close my eyes in order to enter the room. ---
**Author:** ![Jello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@Jello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jello)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-habits-so-ingrained-youve-never-talked-about-them-with-anyone/145186/32 "2002-12-29T02:59:30Z")
I count things in 7s, then 13s, then 19s, so I can tap evenly from index finger to pinky and back. The songs that get stuck in my head the most have beats that go in patterns that let me tap my fingers out full circle. ---
**Author:** ![Daowajan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@Daowajan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daowajan)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-habits-so-ingrained-youve-never-talked-about-them-with-anyone/145186/33 "2002-12-29T03:33:11Z")
Okay, Iā€™ve never admitted this to anyone, but here goes - When I was a little kid on road trips, I used to just stare blankly out the window. On one trip, I developed the habit of blinking whenever our car was exactly halfway between the reflector poles by the sides of the highway. This mushroomed into blinking when our car was halfway between two other things, like oncoming traffic in the opposite lane. There was a period of a couple of years when I couldnā€™t _not_ do this whenever I was in the car. Now Iā€™ve gotten over that compulsionā€¦ but I still occasionally find myself blinking whenever Iā€™m halfway between those reflector things by the side of the highway. ---
**Author:** ![jmizzou](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/edb3f5/32.png) [@jmizzou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jmizzou)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-habits-so-ingrained-youve-never-talked-about-them-with-anyone/145186/34 "2002-12-29T04:55:46Z")
Count me in as a member of the Crazy Car Jumperā€™s Club. When I was little, I spent a lot of the time in the car going to visit relatives, and the Car Jumper was one of the many things I did to keep myself entertained. My guy was about a foot tall and always ran along the shoulder of the road. No motorcycles or four-wheelers, but he was _very_ destructive ā€“ always ripping up reflector poles and throwing them at other cars. ---
**Author:** ![Qwisp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qwisp/32/397_2.png) [@Qwisp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwisp)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-habits-so-ingrained-youve-never-talked-about-them-with-anyone/145186/35 "2002-12-29T04:56:18Z")
Well I canā€™t say Iā€™ve never talked about this before, because itā€™s kinda obvious. I rock. Literally. Any time Iā€™m on the computer or in the car.When Iā€™m not rocking Iā€™m tapping my foot, or jiggling my leg. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-habits-so-ingrained-youve-never-talked-about-them-with-anyone/145186/36 "2002-12-29T05:01:48Z")
When Iā€™m looking at a tile floor, half the tiles are good and half are bad. Good tiles never touch each other directly; rather, they touch at corners. If Iā€™m looking at a tiled surface that I see on a regular basis, I can tell whether the tile Iā€™m looking at is good or bad. The two types almost look different. ---
**Author:** ![NotWithoutRage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NotWithoutRage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NotWithoutRage)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-habits-so-ingrained-youve-never-talked-about-them-with-anyone/145186/37 "2002-12-29T05:26:43Z")
I tell myself stories before I go to bed. Also, I dance at my place of employment to childrenā€™s music when nobody is looking. ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-habits-so-ingrained-youve-never-talked-about-them-with-anyone/145186/38 "2002-12-29T05:44:11Z")
When I am driving down the road I imagine how much faster I would seem to be traveling if my car and I were much smaller. If I were, say, 10% of my actual size, then going 60 miles per hour would seem like going 600 mph. ---
**Author:** ![DarkWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee59a6/32.png) [@DarkWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarkWriter)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-habits-so-ingrained-youve-never-talked-about-them-with-anyone/145186/39 "2002-12-29T07:25:46Z")
I type in my head a lot. I learned typing in high school, and have typed almost everyday for the past 20 years. Sometimes when I talk, I type along in my head. Occasionally Iā€™ll type on my lap with my fingers, too. ---
**Author:** ![Triss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Triss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triss)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-habits-so-ingrained-youve-never-talked-about-them-with-anyone/145186/40 "2002-12-29T07:55:09Z")
Iā€™m a gazer. It started in my school days, I think, during boring classes. I fix my gaze on something in the middle distance and just stare at it. Sooner or later, if undisturbed, this produces the optical illusion that the object my gaze is fixed on is coming closer and closer. At a given point, the object suddenly appears to be right in front of my face. Closing my eyes dispells the illusion, but one or two blinks doesnā€™t. When Iā€™m having trouble getting to sleep, I watch for phosphenes to form in my field of vision, if you can call your closed eyelids a field of vision. When they appear, which isnā€™t always, I can hear them. They seem to make low-pitched rythmic sounds as they appear and fade. Weird. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-habits-so-ingrained-youve-never-talked-about-them-with-anyone/145186.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-any-habits-so-ingrained-youve-never-talked-about-them-with-anyone/145186.md?page=3)