Does anyone else here have personal superstitious "rituals" that border on insanity?

I’ve got a few of these…probably too many, but in the interests of full disclosure:

  1. I have a small laminator in my office at home. It sits on my desk near the window. I always close the door to my office when I leave to keep my cats out, but I always have to go back and check to make sure the cat hasn’t stepped on the “on” switch of the laminator and thus created a fire hazard. This has never happened, but still I check.

  2. I have to double-check burners to make sure they’re all off even though I know I didn’t turn them on. Same for the garage door–I have actually turned around and gone back many times (not on the same trip!) to verify that I’d closed it.

  3. At work there are these little bins with sugar, coffee stirrers, tea, etc. in the kitchen area. I must close them all if I encounter them open. The only exception is the ones containing half-and-half containers, which often overflow to the point where you can’t close the bin. That’s okay, but if it can close, it must be closed.

  4. I won’t look at the picture on a calendar until that month arrives. If somebody wants to page ahead to see a date in a later month, I turn away because I like to be surprised by the new picture at the correct time.

  5. I won’t read Anne McCaffrey’s “Dragonflight” again. The first time I read it, there was a major fire in my home town that got close enough to my house to be scary. The second time I read it (years later) the across the street neighbor’s house burned down, killing her. I’m afraid to read it again even though I know there was no connection.

Wow, I sound like a total Froot Loop, don’t I? :eek: I’m really not that bad…honest!

  1. I have to air-type everything. When I’m driving, if I see a street sign or a license plate that captures my interest, I make typing motions with my fingers on the steering wheel for each letter of the word.

  2. I used to always have to take the same amount of steps with my right foot as I did with my left. I’ve kind of gotten over that as I’ve grown older, but I still find myself worrying about asymmetrical walking from time to time.

  3. The cushions and pillows on my sofa and love seat have to be perfect. I’ve tried forcing myself to just walk away when I see them all squashed up and tilted to one side, but it nearly makes me crazy, just knowing they’re sitting there all dorky-looking in the living room. I have to go back in and arrange them nicely.

I do think some of these things are mild forms of OCD. I was much worse when I was younger.