Do you have any habits so ingrained you've never talked about them with anyone?

In My Humble Opinion
101

I almost always have a song in my head, and I’ll often breathe to the song - like keep the beat with my breaths.

I play word games and number games all the time. On license plates I A) try to make the shortest word possible with the letters, in order, on the plate. and B) I try to make a working mathematical equation without adding numbers, just mathematical symbols.

I hate being late, I usually leave insanely early for something until I get the timing down so well, I can time it all perfectly (this is of course when there are no unknown variables such as traffic).

I am writing my own language (which is known to my friends) but I play word games in my mind and work on it in classes, doodling to see if I can find an alphabet I like.

I sometimes will begin playing chess in my head, or making a random position on paper and then playing it in my head…

I dunno, I just do a lot of stuff to take up spare time in my head.

102

Me too! Only my horse had to jump all the oncoming cars. I don’t do it when I drive, but I occasionally still catch myself doing it when I’m a passenger. And now we’re both wolf people? (My e-mail ID is Randomwolf70.) I think we may be refugees from the same home planet.

~ Randi

103

I teach Taekwondo. We stress courtesy and respect, so we are taught to bow when entering or leaving the workout floor.

This is all well and good, except I find myself stopping and bowing as I go through the door in other places. Such as the conference room right before a staff meeting at work.

Yes, people do look strangely at me, why do you ask?

104

The bathrooms at work have tile floors with the little tiles that are different shades of grey/brown. I obsesively look for patterns and tetris shapes.

I look for certain clock patterns, too: 1:11, 2:22, …, 3:14, 11:38, 1:23, 2:34, 3:45, …

I use telephone poles or white road dashes as a metronome and get really frustrated when my rhythm gets screwed up.

I have a compulsion to play Ode To Joy on any musical instrument I pass or encounter.

I have some more, but my boss wants to talk to me…

105

My game is that I have to hold my breath until an event happens. For example, I might have to hold my breath until the person in the cube next to me clicks his mouse. If I can’t hold my breath that long, then I lose. If I do, then I win the game.

Other events include things like the ends of groups of TV commercials, clock minutes changing, me remembering what it was I came here to do, etc.

106

WOW…I’m not alone :slight_smile:

I play chess in my head while driving or just very bored. I recently lost to my alter ego in a brilliant game (subjectively speaking of course).

I also try to find my personality traits in characters I read about or watch in tv shows or movies. I think this started as a young teen or younger when I was trying to identify my personal strengths. However, the teen years are far behind and I find that the habit persists.

Lastly, when faced with a problem, I draw up a shape in my mind (could be 2d, 3d, 4d) depending on the complexity of the problem with each ‘side’ representing a possible solution. I then turn the shaped over and over examining all sides and determining what consequences would occur from each possible solution. I hope I’m not the only one who does this :slight_smile:

107

Okay, I have three weird little habits:

  1. When I sing or hear the My Country Tis Of Thee song at the end when it goes “let freedom ring”, I have to say silently “and ring”.

  2. When I use the downstairs bathroom in my house I have to sing a song my nephew made up years ago. It goes something like this: “peepee went there, poopoo went there, vomit went there, farts went there.” I try not to sing it when company is there.

  3. When I find something I’ve been looking for, it doesn’t matter what it is or how long I’ve been searching, I exclaim “You old African! Kunte Kinte, I found you!”

I’ve never heard of those crazy car runners before though. :wink:

108

Ooops, I forgot one thing. This actually affects my life.

If I am asked a question that I do not know the answer to, I get obsessed about finding an answer.

Remembrance day brought different colour poppies being distributed in Canada and someone asked me why the difference. I spent a day (thankfully my boss understands that I’m the same way with a problem at work so I got cut some slack) hunting down the answer, complete with an explanation from the Canadian Legion to confirm my findings.

109

I find myself doing strange pattern things like making sure thing are symmetrical and making sure there isn’t too much color together.

For example - I found I’ve developed a set pattern when getting my daughter’s crib ready for her - this must be as such:

  1. The pastel bear and pastel cow that are sort of a set must be on the same end - one in each corner.

  2. The big white bear and the big brown bear must each be in the other corners of the other end.

  3. The little brown bear must go with the white bear in the corner lest there be too much brown.

  4. The red Elmo must go with the big brown bear since he is about the same size as the little brown bear and there must be some symmetry.

  5. The elephant and the turtle must go between the big brown bear and the big white bear - no idea why but they are both kind of flat so they seem to go together.

  6. Two little blankets get placed along the sides of the crib.

  7. The two pink bears (the same kind - always good to have a backup of the favored bear) go on each side on top of the blanket near the head of the crib.

  8. The moose and the white bear go on each side on top of the blanket near the end of the crib.

  9. At Christmas a Care Bear was added to the mix and for whatever reason he can go just about anywhere but usually ends up on the side of the crib facing the wall.

I have no idea how this all started but that’s what I do now. It isn’t a huge compulsion so I can sometimes ignore it and just push stuff out the way to make room for a nap but often I need to make sure the crib is properly prepared.

Of course she moves everything around and throws half the stuff out of the crib fairly quickly but at least it started okay.

I do similar things in other situations as well - just a mild semiconscious thing.

110

The Pink Panther stares at me from tiles of the bathroom at my office!

_/ _/ _
/ _/ _/
_/ _/._/
/ _/ _/
_/ _/._/
/ _/ _/
_/ _/ _/

Eyes added for emphasis (plus it makes the image even creepier).

Sometimes as a nervous finger-occupying habit I find myself playing Solfigietto by CPE Bach on “air piano” (usually just the right hand part though; it becomes too blatantly apparent when I start reaching for the low notes).

I have a car jumper, although not a particular image of one. His main issue is avoiding the street lights. I usually click my teeth each time he lands.

I too live in a movie. Still not sure if it’s a comedy or tragedy.

When I was a kid I used to make puzzles all the time. When they got too easy, I would make them upside down, relying solely on their shapes to complete the puzzle. When I finished I would end up with a nice brown rectangle.

Before sleeping I have hypothetical conversations, often debates, with either people I know or certain types of people with opposing viewpoints. Sometimes it takes an hour or so to finally drift off.

I often talk to myself, or as I rationalize it, vocalize my thoughts :slight_smile:
Sometimes just uttering an idea can change it or make one look at the idea differently.

I also have symmetry issues. It first manifested itself when I was filling up the dishwasher as a child (damn cutlery and cups!).

I count things, divide and multiply numbers in my head, bite my fingernails, chew on my lips, click my teeth to the rhythm of songs in my head (when I’m not playing air piano or riding in a car, of course), and I play with the eye floaters.

Me too, Greenback. That’s how I found this place :wink:

111

I will at times when stuck in a room w/ nothing to do, stare at the wall and note all of the surfaces against said wall… then I will imagine some 2d video game character (usually mario or samus) jumping around on the “level” made up of the wall and the objects that are attached to it.
i really need to stop playing video games

112

I used to do this too! I’d even make sure my food was chewed on equal sides of my mouth. It would drive me NUTS. So I don’t do it anymore. Ok, maybe a little.

#2. When I walk, I count steps ahead. Like, I’ll look down the sidewalk to a specific crack and know which foot will hit it. I do this going down stairs, too, only sometimes I count wrong, and I get a little dizzy and usually have to grab the handrailing. Which is difficult when I’m carrying a full basket of laundry.

113

When I can’t fall asleep, I type in my head. But I type whatever words come to me. I don’t have to make sentences of the words, and if I do, the sentences don’t have to make sense. It’s more the rhythm of the typing that relaxes me. I’m glad to see I’m not the only person with a fantasy world in my head. I have created a character (female, my age) who has the perfect life which includes the perfect man. The perfect man is whoever I have a crush on at the moment in my real life, usually someone famous. I construct events in these imaginary peoples’ lives and will play them over and over in my mind. And often I make changes to the events. I will do this for months until I find a new guy to have a crush on, then the old perfect man is out and the new one is in. I have always thought I was nuts.

114

I do something similar with tile floors. I unconsciously mark out a grid (usually about 4X6) and use the individual tiles to build up single digits. After a minute or so, I can “flip” between different digits, sort of like what you do when making a Necker Cube change orientations.

I also have the habit of rearranging the letters in printed phrases to make new phrases. Looking at the cover of Robert Heinlein’s “The Puppet Masters”, I automatically swapped the first letters and got “The Muppet Pasters.” Good for a laugh. At least to me.

115

Speaking of things one does as a passenger, I’ve been imagining this for about 30 yrs now whenever I’m a bored passenger:

I imagine I have a super-dooper laser beam aimed out the window. It’s so powerful it mowns down everything in sight.
It effortlessly chops thru everything in its path. I imagine the farmers thanking me for cutting their hay.

Lots of fun and a lot less work than keeping that runner going.

116

Hmmm. Okay

Do you realize that I have NEVER had a bouncy ball in my head until I read the first post and now I can’t get the dang thing out.
Apparently I am easily influenced.

Okay my idios

I used to pace on the pattern on the carpet at home, it would drive my mom nuts, 8 paces turn left 4 paces turn left 2 paces turn left 2 paces turn right 6 paces turn left 2 paces turn left and repeat.

As far as driving goes I have a fly guy, no cape or anything he just skims the ground about 2.5 feet off the ground on the right side of the car, every once and a while he jumps over a driveway and gets 300 feet in the air, but mostly he just hugs the ground.
I also play air piano and do complicated rhythms with my fingers, I used to sproing my fingers but got caught and was so embarrassed I quit for life.

Sproing; Hands in front of you palms facing each other about a foot (30cm) apart. Fingers spread hands slightly cupped. Now quickly bring your hands together so that the fingertips and thumb tips meet. As they meet bring your fingertips and thumb towards each other causing your hands to push apart from each other. Repeat rapidly until you feel that sproing when your timing is perfect. Takes a little practice to get your finger tips to all meet at the same time.

117

I do so many of these things - narration, car runner, answering questions, debates, long intense fantasies before sleep, ‘eating’ the stuff by the road (takeoff of runner), more and more.

[begin typing without organization] I also did something when on the long driving trips through farmland (runner gets boring if all he can do is run), so I’d ‘zig zag’ mentally through the white dash lines on the road. If there were the little reflector dots, you would have to skip that one. I could do that for a long time. I count things relentlessly, but due to my mother’s side of the family being chock full of mental illnesses, it’s believed to be mild Tourette’s. I squeak/yelp/beep/make other noises to communicate simple ideas. You’ll rarely hear me go “ow,” rather I’ll yip like a little dog. I love symmetry. I babble to my dogs with order, ie. if I use one babble to mean “wait a minute,” it’ll always be “wait a minute.” I have synaesthesia to an extent, and it upsets me to see say, certain shapes or single letters/words in a colour they’re not supposed to be. I love feeling textures and will chew/mouth on almost anything I can just to learn the texture. I’ve made up so much babble-slang, most of my family and friends imitate it themselves. When I’m curiousified (often, heh) or don’t care about other thinking oddly of me, I walk and stand around with my hands kinda tucked to my chest like a squirrel does, you know? Or a little begging doggy. I have a special…laugh, I guess it is, when I’m kinda happy, but nothing in particular is amusing me. It’s musical, and always goes like DDBAA note-wise (not sure if that’s the exact notes) with each getting the same time and accent said. [end typing without organization]

I now want to make my master’s thesis on the Car Runner. :smiley: There’s gotta be a reason for it, especially since almost everybody has “run on grass, jump over concrete.”

118

Edit: I meant DDBCC >_< Mustn’t mess up how I ‘laugh’ merrily. I do it in beeps, not syllables or whistles or nuffin.

119

So I’m reading through these posts and I GOTTA sign up to talk about this “Car Runner” thing.

Yep, I’ve got one. Had it all my life, far as I can remember. It never actually took human (or horse or kiler robot) shape or anything tho. It’s just my big toes. When I’m not driving, and sometimes when I am, I’ll play with my toes. I kinda picture them off to the sides of the car, one on each side, and the toe has to JUMP over obstacles… I just sorta lift the toe inside my shoe and put it down again on the other side. And yes, I can only run on grass, I have to jump over cross-streets. I also have to jump over manhole covers and those sewer drain things and all kinds of other stuff.

So what’s this all about? Why do SO many of us have something similar? Is it hard-wired into our brains somehow? Maybe there’s a survival instinct here somewhere… ancient humans had to visualize something else running along the valleys with them in case they ran into a barrier… they can’t get across, but lookie there… the invisible friend is right near a path, and HE had no trouble, now I’ll go there. I dunno, just a thought.

And here’s a really weird thought, the question I had to sign up so I could post and ask: WHAT IF DOGS DO THIS TOO? Maybe THAT is the real reason Dogs LOVE Trucks!!!

120

Wow, my first post is going to be a long one…

I do the blade/saw thing when I’m a passenger. The passenger side door has a long, rectangular and very thin blade sticking out of it, parallel to the ground at the height of the outside door handle. It slices through shrubs and so on effortlessly, but when it comes up on an especially substantial object, or a person (it doesn’t cut people), then it can’t cut through and gets wrapped around the object. So in my head the car does one circle around the object and then flies off on a tangent, shedding the blade and sprouting a new wing/blade as it does so.

I also can’t read a number without trying to pronounce it in my head. I probably started doing this as a mnemonic aid sometime. The sounds associated to digits aren’t completely consistent, sometimes it’s the letter the digit looks like (as in leetspeak), and sometimes the first letter of the digit’s name. So for example 470557 is ‘flossl’.

Since nobody else confessed to these things, I must be really weird. Anyway…

The real reason I posted is because I do the car runner, and I remember how it started. When I was a kid, we’d spend our summer vacations at my grandparents’ place. The train ride to get there would take two days, and after dark I’d stare out the window for hours on end (I was a quiet kid). And I would watch the shadow of my rail car streak along the shrubbery beside the tracks. The shadow would be kinda distorted - the forward top corner stretched forward, probably due to perspective and the position of the moon. And in this state of near hypnosis I would imagine the shadow as a runner.

The runner was a long thin guy, with a trenchcoat and hat, like the black spy in Spy vs. Spy. The fact that this would be extremely impractical attire for running never bothered me - it was the only way I could explain the shape of the shadow. He ran leaning forward at an impossible angle, like people do in cartoons.

I’d keep my gaze fixed on the forward top corner of the rail car shadow, which I imagined as the tip of the runner’s hat. And whenever we passed a wall or something, the shadow would seem to rise up, being on the wall instead of on the ground. It seemed like my runner “stood up” a little. If the wall was closer, it was like he jumped. Sometimes, near a light source or a river, the shadow would vanish. That’s when the runner had jumped real high to cross the obstacle.

You get the idea. I hope. Or maybe I’m just crazy and obsessive.