I have. to have! all my’ punctuation: correct-or I; just go" crazy,
“I would far rather be ignorant than wise in the foreboding of evil.”
-Æschylus. 525-456 B. C.
Keys. I check, double check and triple check to make sure my keys are where they should be. Yeah, once in a while I’ll absently pat around in my purse to see if my money and credit cards are still there…
But keys? HA! I’ve been know to root around in my purse in the middle of dinner at a restaurant to make sure my keys are still there. And then slide my car keys into a pocket so I can pat them like a security blanket.
That’s all true, and until I wrote it I didn’t realize how bizarre it is.
More disturbed than I thought,
Veb
UncleBeer, lay off of the felching will ya 
BurnMeUp: I’ve got this thing about organizing my CD’s too. Not by category though. And what the HELL are you thinking by putting the albums of one band in alphabetical order ??? They should be in chronological order. Everybody knows THAT !
Coldfire
“You know how complex women are”
- Neil Peart, Rush (1993)
Well my other half isn’t as educated in music as I so she has trouble finding them and putting them where they go if they are in chronological order.
Magnificent to behold - Greatly to be praised.
Your girlfriend gets to touch the CD’s ???
Next thing you know she’ll be messing with the stereo for crying out loud !!
Coldfire
“You know how complex women are”
- Neil Peart, Rush (1993)
well she doesn’t touch the DVD player 
Magnificent to behold - Greatly to be praised.
I keep a hard copy of my memory. I carry a little notepad with me and every time I hear or learn something I’m going to want to remember later, I have to write it down. Always. I saw this movie on cable once called Sink Or Swim (though IMDB calls it Hacks), where there was this guy who had the same habit and while he had a woman IN BED she said something and right then and there he took out his notebook and wrote it down. I saw it and said, “That’s me!”
Also my pants: In my left back pocket is my wallet. In my left front pocket is my checkbook, keys and a pen (always black ink). In my watch pocket is my watch (of course) unless I’m wearing pants without a watch pocket in which case I put it in my right front pocket along with the notebook I mentioned. In my right back pocket is rarely anything unless I have something that doesn’t fit into the other categories, but usually not for more than ten minutes.
If I ever have to carry around any notes or printouts I can fold up and put in a pocket, it goes into the same pocket as my notepad. If I have to carry around loose bills for some reason, that goes into my left front pocket with my checkbook.
also my bookshelf is segregated by author and then the books are separated into “books I’ve read so far” on the left and “books I bought with the intention of reading but haven’t read yet” on the right. Curiously this tends to split my bookcase right down the middle (I’m as avid a book reader as I am a book collector, it seems).
“I’m just too much for human existence – I should be animated.”
–Wayne Knight
When I was a kid, I kept my crayons in spectrum order (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet) within the box. It’s gotten worse from there:
My closet is arranged left to right as follows: sleeveless and short-sleeved shirts in ROYGBIV order, then long sleeved shirts, sweaters, and jackets, also in ROYGBIV, then trouser hangers with tan and brown skirts and slacks, then blue and green, then black and grey. Dresses come next, short ones in ROYGBIV, then long ones in ROYGBIV. That’s not the worst part - the worst is that each hanger is the plastic kind, all the same color (white), and each a specified distance from the ones next to it. I use an index-finger width, though, I don’t bring my caliper into the bedroom.
I also keep cds in alphabetical order by band and chronological order within band. The same with videos, except I developed a Dewey-decimal-like system for them.
I have an issue with q-tips. They have to be aligned precisely within whatever container I’m using, be it the original box or a special decorative tin.
I also keep my tea in order by flavor (all the "Mint"s together, all the "Fruit"s together…).
I have way too much spare time.
And the money thing, yeah.
Sorry, I have to go wash my hands. Again.
Daniel, I do the pants thing too!
Right front pocket: keys, pocketknife, all metal change, lighter if I’m carrying it
Watch pocket: my watch is too big, but the little Certs Powerful Mints, in the plastic credit-card-size box, fit perfectly. I’m never without them.
Right back pocket: handkerchief, useful as a facemask, tourniquet, or even a snot rag
Left back pocket: wallet (and yes, the money is in value order)
Left front pocket: watch, pen (always black, with a cap that clips to the pocket), and any paper money that hasn’t yet made it into my wallet.
I’m not even going to go into my CDs.
Tom of Finland - I rip out the subscription cards too. Sometimes I have to resort to shaking the magazine vigorously to get out the little index card " Buy Now and Save 50%" terrorists.
I also put the top back on the screw top soda or water bottle after each drink. I do this out of dumping said items over a desk full of important papers at work more than once.Ounce of Prevention, etc… THAT and coke a cola stains do not, I repeat, do not come out of carpet ( despite several cleanings and spot cleanings.)
The only true thing I am hyper anal (great word, btw) about is lip balm. I never go without it. Ever.Never. I have about 20 of the tubes in various purses, winter coats, the cars and diaper bag. If I find out I am without it, I buy another one and it has to be from Bath and Body Works. They are the best. Oh, and handcreme. Every time I drive the car I put on handcreme. Drives hubby nuts.
My sister in law is a hyper anal control freak. Her linen closet ALWAYS look like it’s ready for a Martha Stewart photoshoot. The towels MUST be folded EXACTLY the same.
She handwashes her wood floor ( the entire downstairs of her house, save a bedroom) every fucking week. On her hands and knees. AND AND AND will not let anyone walk on their wood with shoes on lest they scratch it. Hubby (her brother) and I completely ignore this and traipse about in construction/winter/dirty boots and whatnot, just to see the hair go up on the back of her neck.(it is really one of the few things he does to irritate her and I love him for it.)
When she hosted my baby shower, she bragged how she hand washed the floor that morning for the 30 guests. WE live on a dirt road with a dirt drive way, I pointed out, now you are going to have to do it again tonight or tomorrow after everyone drags that into the house. Nonplussed at her hyperanalistic ways, said she would ask the guests to remove their shoes. Didn’t work. I greeted them at the door and told them to leave them on.(BESIDES, they are MY GUESTS, not HERS. So, there.)
One of these days I’m gonna let my dog run loose in their house so she can scratch up the floor with her claw like nails. They still bitch about the tiny ( about 2 inches) scratch in the entry way that she did when she snuck in the door before I could catch her. THEY ARE WOOD FLOORS FER CRYIN OUT LOUD.
I can’t wait until her precious little princess baby girl who wears only designer clothing starts eating with her hands…when the food starts flying, and it will contrary to what SHE THINKS HER LITTLE ANGEL WILL DO AND ACT, it will send her into a tailspin. The whole family can’t wait to watch her fret about the mess.She is so clueless I could strangle her and feel I was doing society a huge favor.
Of course, my personal favorite story of how anal she is is either:
When she got married she wanted to stop between the wedding and reception ( about a four hour gap) to see if everything was going OK at the hall. She didn’t when I said, " What the fuck are you going to do, get down on your hands and knees in your wedding dress and wipe up the spilled cranberry juice? THEY are professionals, let them do their job."
or this
She had her baby in May and had the summer off as a teacher, and took her 6 weeks unpaid maternity at the beginning of the school year. SHE WENT TO SCHOOL EVERY DAY TO HELP THE SUBSTITUTE OUT SO HER KIDS WOULD NOT BE OUT OF CONTROL. THEY ARE FIRST GRADERS,FER CRYING OUT LOUD. WHAT THE FUCK WAS THE POINT OF STAYING “Home” WITH THE BABY IF SHE WAS NEVER HOME? SHE had to pay her mom ( the sitter) just the same because she was gone all day. (This kid lives in the car.)
She also is up every night until nearly midnight grading papers…FOR FIRST GRADERS…it’s not like they are writing thesis or something.They can barely piss on the toilet, let alone write their names.
AND SO, Gentle reader, I give one of the big fat reasons of why I will never truly get along with this woman/child/moron. And they wonder why I’m so laid back about a tar/oil/coke/vomit/blood stains on the carpet.Thank you for allowing me to vent.
(BTW, the woman who puts her money in order in the wallet, THAT, I could live with.)
TO BUNNY:
That doesn’t sound like anal but more like obsessive compulsive. If she is a neat freak also, or a patterner or has to do little ‘ritualistic’ physical actions before leaving anywhere, especially her home, then that should be a big clue.
Mark
“Think of it as Evolution in action.”
My closet is arranged in a way similar, but not identical, to missdavis’s. I also use a decimal system for filing my videos. My books are: Fiction: Alpha by author. Comics/cartoons: Alpha by author. Humor: A by a. Nonfiction: Separated by subject, then a by a, or, when appropriate, chronological. Shirley, I am also anal about my towels and so forth, but I don’t alienate people with it like your SIL. Although a friend once said he wouldn’t play chess with me if I didn’t leave off nudging all the pieces into the exact centers of their squares.
I was visiting my mom and sister this weekend (more on that later). My sister was giving me some health-food-store bounty she’d bought in a surge of optimism, then never used. She and Mr. Rilch were praising my cooking and recalling the Thanksgiving dinner where I’d gotten the entire meal on the table without help and “without seeming to do anything”. ::
:: I told them my system:
When all ingredients have been acquired, (two days before, except for fresh produce), decide which pot or pan every item will be cooked in, which dish each will be served in, and which utensil each will be served with. Establish a meal time and work backwards: Start rolls at T-12 minutes; stuffing at T-1 hour and 5 minutes, and so on, so everything’s ready at once, but no two items demand all your attention at the same time. Mr. Rilch and Cindy were highly impressed, but my mom sniffed, “That’s the only way to do it!”
Remember, I’m pulling for you; we’re all in this together.
—Red Green
AWB: I’m so happy that someone else has a cover obsession. My S.O. thinks I’m nuts. Besides even, they have to be flat - I can’t stand the feel of wrinkled sheets.
Rilcham: I, too, am a chess piece nudger - that does drive people crazy - kinda breaks their train of thought a bit nudge, nudge
I recap my sodas - but I think that’s just a nervous habit.
And, I have about a million books, so I’ve got a Dewey Decimal system kinda thing going on - just not a perfect one, yet. If I didn’t, I’d never find the book I was looking for.
Geez, I feel like I’m in a 12 step program. Hello, my name is Susan, and I am an anal-retentiveholic
WARNING: I cannot be held responsible for the above as apparently my cat has learned to type. =^…^=
I really think I could go on forever with this thread and maybe I did hold off a little until some others had posted weird stuff too.
I have a mental check list which I go through EVERY I leave home, including Wallet (right front), keys (front left), watch etc etc etc
I cannot stand asymmetry, for example around my stereo or tv, the speakers must be exactly equidistant from the central object.
Yes I straighten pictures.
I can never wear odd socks…I’d rather walk on hot coals.
I will throw my newspaper in the bin and walk to the shop in any weather if somebody has read it before me and it isn’t perfectly flat with exactly aligned edges.
Books must be arranged from largest to smallest, although certain exceptions can be made for very wide books, which are then shelved separately, so as not to spoil the aesthetics of the main shelf.
If I drink from a water fountain, I have to take a certain round number of slurps, usually ten (I don’t know how this started).
My CD’s are numbered in order of purchase so there’s never a problem with that.
There are a myriad other things, but I won’t bore you with the details.
Except, the thing which really strikes at the heart of my manic mind, is having to unravel socks left inside out on the floor. I could commit murder after two or three ‘unravellings’. Grrr
Oops, better get back to work……I’m not that weird really.
http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/003504.html
According to the note my wife just gave me, my post in the above subject says it all. I only pulled out one owners manual and called one store as reference though, so I’m not sure…
I forgot to mention that I also fold shirts just so: sides folded towards the middle, an inch from the collar on each side, then the bottom folded up so the hem is even with the shoulders. If the shirt has a logo, it should be centered. The result is a perfectly level stack of perfectly flat shirts.
Bear in mind that most of us are being good to ourselves by sticking to these rituals. Mr. Rilch and I have too many shirts for our own good; folding them in this manner lets us make the most of what little drawer space we have, and prevents us from having to rummage through, yank out and wrinkle or tear our shirts.
MarkSerlin: I think you’re right. Keeping the serial numbers in order doesn’t serve any purpose I can think of, so it’s probably OCD. Unless Bunny works at the Mint.
Remember, I’m pulling for you; we’re all in this together.
—Red Green
This may be telling, last night I had a wonderful dream… I was in a library and discovered that it used the Dewey decimal system! I organize books by spine size (Martha Stewart told me to). I have different shelves for different subjects. All my reference books are in the two shelves immediately to my left (Understand, I work at home). I don’t know why Encyclopedia of Furniture Making is a reference book, it just is in my mind. I didn’t see anyone mentioning ironing their money, so I won’t mention it. You can iron you newspaper if it gets wrinkled. Brasso does a real good job at keeping your pennies bright. When I play a CD on my computer I always enter the artist and song titles so that in future plays I’ll know the titles. My wife and I installed all the hardwoods in our house. We had a very specific rule for board choice: Butt joints could not be less than ten inches from each other. We chose a gymnasium finish for scratch resistance. No matter how simple the home improvement project, I always draw it up in TurboCad (my favorite CAD program), and printout 3D renderings of how it will look. I have my entire floorplan in CAD, and a whole lot of the floor joists, DWV, and wall studs in there as well. I–I bet you could tell–am a layer freak.
I know where everything is in my home. When my parents would move a magazine,I’m like,you moved it!Its different!
Actually, if you iron a newspaper, it seals the ink and keeps it from coming off on your hands. This is more the kind of thing you would do for someone else, like a company president, because the person doing the ironing is going to get plenty of ink on their hands.
Remember, I’m pulling for you; we’re all in this together.
—Red Green