Odd little habits you have

In My Humble Opinion
221

Somehow, reading about every one else’s quirks makes mine seem manageable. :slight_smile:

When I go to the movies or to a restaurant, I have to sit against the wall. If I’m in a theater with no seats against the wall, I’ll sit in the one closest to the wall (so an aisle seat).

I’m a compulsive reader–shampoo, food labels, etc. (It’s okay at the store, because I’m vegetarian and don’t use products that have been used in animal experimentation…but once I get them home, I already know what they say!)

I’m totally orally-fixated. I chew on EVERYTHING. My pens never have a chance (I started buying the Pentel hard plastic ones, because they’re much harder to destroy). As part of my birthday present last year, two of my friends gave me a box of bendy straws, because I’m famous for pulling the straw out of my drink at restaurants when I’m done and chewing the hell out of it.

When I have a part of my body that hurts, I keep testing it to see if it still hurts. Like, if I have a bruise that’s sensitive to pressure, I keep pressing on it to see if the pain has stopped yet.

I fidget. I fidget with things on my desk, things at the table, my hair, my ring–I feel naked if my ring isn’t there, and I keep fidgeting with my finger where the ring should be…

I sing. Sometimes quite without realizing I’m doing it (especially if I’m wearing headphones). I have to be supercareful about it on airplanes, 'cuz I’ll drive my seatmates bonkers. :slight_smile:

Oh. I’m extremely anal about capitalization and spelling. If I’ve sent an e-mail or posted something that I notice has a spelling/capitalization/grammar error, I’ll send another with a correction of the error.

I keep reading other posts, thinking, “HEY! I do that too!” But I’m done for now. I’m sure I’ll come up with more later.

222

I remembered more.

I destroy pizza. I pick all the toppings off, then eat the cheese, then scrape off the sauce, then the part of the crust that doesn’t get completely baked, then the crust. It drives my mom nuts.

I cannot STAND the feel of newspaper. It totally squicks me out. I just can’t deal with it.

Things that happen and things I see trigger songs in my head. Like, if someone asks me for the time, inevitably “Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care?” infests my head. That kind of thing.

I peel hangnails and pop zits. Both are an effort to relieve pain, though. If a hangnail is peeled, it can’t snag on stuff. If a zit is popped, it relieves the pressure.

223

If I’m alone in an elevator, I just have to sing and dance. Also, if I manage to get an elevator by myself and get to do a song and dance, it’s the highlight of my day.

I recently discovered that there are hidden security cameras in the elevators in the building I work in.

Oddly enough, the knowledge that there are security cameras in the elevators doesn’t prevent me from indulging in the urge to boogie.

224

I felt compelled to de-lurk and toss my bits into this thread. For all you who thought it was weird to SIT in the shower… well I do that too… but worse yet I LAYDOWN in the shower. It just feels so relaxing having the water beat down on me.
I also completely destroy my pizza… I eat the toppings, then the sauce then the squishy crust, then the crunchy crust.
You might notice I left out the cheese part, well that is becasue I order my pizza WITHOUT cheese. Cheese on pizza … icky.
I proclaim to hate cheese ( but I eat cheetoes) I won’t touch any other kind.
I read in the can, but worse yet, unless I am eating with someone else, I must read while eating.
I must have my feet covered while I am sleeping, but I hate to wear socks to sleep. In fact, I have to be covered by SOMETHING while sleeping, even if it is 90 degrees outside.
Incidentally, the feet covering drives my SO nuts because she can’t stand to have her feet covered while she is sleeping. She has the blanket wrapped around her neck. We must have two blakets or we have total wars in the bed.
I’ll think of more that will probally drive you nuts…

225

I feel so at home…I thought I was the only one who did some of this stuff!!

  1. You can add me to the already long list of people who eat food on their plate one thing at a time. Not only that, but I always save the thing I like the best for last. If I get full, I skip other foods to finish that last thing.

  2. I always destroy my pizza. Toppings, then sauce, then the gooey dough stuff, then the crust.

  3. I have a total oral fixation. If I don’t have gum or mints, I bite the crap out of my nails. If my nails are too bitten down, I chew on the skin around my nails. Gross, I know…but I don’t even realize I am doing it.

  4. I am extremely self-conscious, especially about my weight. It drives everyone nuts because they claim I’m not fat, but it’s just something I can’t get over. Somehow I developed the habit of pushing in on my tummy, presumably in hopes that it will make my stomach look flat. I also always look at myself sideways in the mirror first, again, to see how fat I am. The first thing I do in the morning? You guessed it…stand sideways in the mirror to see how my tummy looks that morning. I can’t stand to be naked…not even just by myself…I have to will myself not to think about it in the shower.

  5. I absolutely cannot stand going a day without shaving. Even in the winter when all I wear is pants, I just can’t stand the feeling of it. Any girl I tell that to thinks I’m wierd.

I’m sure there are others, but I gotta go do some studying!

226

I always keep a glass INSIDE the icebox, when I want to drink water at night and I’m too lazy to get a new glass, clean it, fill it, etc.

227

Ooh, shaving. Heh. I don’t know if this counts as a weird habit, though…this is more a conscious choice. I don’t shave. At least, I don’t shave to be socially acceptable. I shave when the hairs on my legs start to irritate me–like by rubbing against my pants. The upshot of this is that I’m far more likely to have recently shaved in the winter, when you can’t see my legs, than in the summer, when you can.

I shave my pits with slightly more regularity (which is not to say frequently), but only because I notice it sometimes interfering with the operation of my deodorant. I might be hairy, but I don’t like to be smelly. :slight_smile:

228

Not TMI…I can totally relate. I don’t care about social acceptance (in fact, I think most women go a lot longer without shaving than men would like to believe :wink: ), I just hate that stupid prickly feeling you get after even one day. It drives me nuts!!!

But this is borderlining on a hijack…so I’ll stop. :slight_smile: Back to your regularly scheduled IMHO thread…

229

Wow. I mean…WOW. Some of you have some seriously funny addictions/compulsions. I love it!

I really don’t think I have any terribly odd habits. But here’s a go at some.

I hate change so I leave it all over the place. Sometimes, I just let it fall on the ground in my home - I just couldn’t be bothered to pick it up. I hate it. If it isn’t in bill form, I just leave it where it is.

My ex gf says that I used to leave kleenex (yes, used) all over the place but I think she was just being…well, an ex.

Oh, I can not STAND to have something touch a certain spot on my neck - I swear I’m choking. Also, if I sleep on my stomach, I can only have my head turned to the right. If I turn it to the left, I think I’m choking and will stop breathing. It actually feels different to me.

Oh God, here’s the worst. If I see someone with a mullet haircut, I almost have to yell out, “MULLET!”

Tibs

230

OK, I gotta add my two cents:

When I am in a crowded city, and crossing the street at a crosswalk, I look at all the women coming towards me and play a little mind game… I have to quickly choose which one I would pick to help me re-populate the Earth after a major catastrophe! The rules are as follows: If I choose the sexiest one, the Earth is re-populated with happy, healthy, good-looking people. If I choose one, and then find a sexier one later (it’s too late to change!), the Earth gets re-populated with ugly people, who are unhappy because they could have had a better-looking mother! If I can’t choose anyone, the Earth is not re-populated, and the insects take over… :mad: Damn insects!

That’s mine, and the rest of you are all frigging sick!! :stuck_out_tongue:

231

I’m a nonsense-word generator, too. I catch myself repeating them out loud when I’m walking home after dark. If someone spots me doing it, I’ll stop until they’re out of sight, then start again.

Sometimes they mutate into songs.

Sometimes the songs are just words or expressions spelled out, and sung (quietly) as if they are some obscure country’s national anthem. Example: “Bag of Snot”

B-A-G O-F-S-N-O-T!
B A-G O-F S-N-O-T!

I read everything. Bus advertising. Discarded packaging. The back of airplane seats, in both official languages. Business signs. Road signs. I’ll read words backwards too, mentally or out loud. Chapters is Sretpahc. My city councillor candidates lawn signs during the campaign were great: Erdnegel and Sgninnac. Tim Horton’s becomes Snotroh Mit. Said with strange, vaguely eastern European accent. “Snotrhhhoohh Meet”.

232

Wow, all you compulsive chewers must send your freudian friends around the bend! :wink: But enough about you, let’s talk about ME…
I forgot one, being that when I drive alone I always try to psychically change the traffic light ahead to green or, if green keep it there. I actually try to visualize whirring gears in the switching boxes and slow them down to get through the light - sometimes it works!!! :rolleyes:
We won’t talk about the attempts to get the cute girls in other cars to stare at me…

233

I’ve thought of a few more weird little things I do… I am also a compulsive reader, and must have something to read in the bathroom. I can’t make any noise in a public bathroom; farting is inthinkable! Peeing noise is OK, though. I can’t even relax enough to poop if there is someone in there with me. Weird, huh?

234

i am weirder then all of you! i could write a book about all my weird little eccentricites.

when i was 5 i was convinced that if i stepped on a crack in the pavement, (not necessarily a crack, but rather the uniform line every so many paces that is purposefully placed there by the cement layers)some swirly headed guy that lived underground would come and get me, (much like the boogey-man would “get” anyone else).

then when i was about maybe the same age, i loved to “squish” a particularly loose portion of skin on a kitties furry underbelly just between the hind legs,(NO, NOT THE GENITALIA).

now, i have a little code that goes on in my head when i read. its very annoying, but getting a little better.

Ex. the kitty
is black, and white
with /purple antennae.!?

the code for the above sentence would read as follows;
capital e, x, space, the, space, kitty, clip-space, is, space, black, comma, space, and, space, white, clip-back-space, with, space, back-slash, forward-slash, purple, space, antennae, dot, exclamation-mark, question-mark.

this code is very extensive, and extremely obnoxious. it started when i saw a comedy skit on t.v. from the fifties, where the comedian would emphasize each mark of punctuation with a verbal noise. (he was reading from a book, and very serious, while the crowd was hysterical, in retrospect i wonder if he was actually plagued with the same affliction as myself).
i notice that i create, and play these stupid word games in my head when i do not keep myself busy enough, and am particularly bored. even without mental stimulation, my mind keeps itself busy, (and creatively at that).
another good one which i think i can say i have kicked is the backward-word game.
i would say full sentences in my head perfectly backwards according to spelling. so, the word would be pronounced backwards, and said before the word that actually comes before it, (if read forwardly).
i am waaay weirder then you weirdos.
i am a fairly intelligent person, that is creative, and i have decided, “wired” (mentally) much differently then most people. left-handed, and not well read, i am starving for mental nourishment, but my work, and disabled mother does not afford me time to read, and expound upon my learning. :frowning:

p.s. i am a frustrated individual with alot of potential, i am not boasting, i think alot of people do also, but simply do not care, or realize their own potential.

hiiii inkkyyyy!! :smiley:

235

I am a first time poster…long time lurker. I just had to post to this particular topic though because you all are making me feel normal…something 3 years of therapy didn’t accomplish!

  1. My towels have to be folded like they fold them at hotels…if they aren’t I have to refold them.
  2. Sandwiches…every single ingredient has to be evenly placed on the sandwich so when you take a bite, you get a bit of everything.
  3. I have to have something to read in the ladies room…shampoo bottles, paper inserts from medicine, etc.
  4. I refuse to eat inside a fast food restaurant…I will go through the drive thru…but not inside.
  5. I too have the “assigning feelings” to inanimate objects thing…particularly items with animal images.
  6. I feel like I wear the weight of the world’s problems on my shoulders…like thinking about how you can buy milk from a store on any corner…lots of tired cows. Or all the meat at all the grocery stores in the world.
  7. My video collection is in alphabetical order

These are just a few that I can think of.

236

re: troubleagain

[If I see a word or phrase and don’t realize it (I’m a speed reader with excellent vision. A lot goes in to my head that I don’t even have time to be aware of…) I will repeat the word or phrase to myself until I become aware what I am doing, then I MUST search the room until I find where the word or phrase came from. ]

wow, i thought i had to be the only one, i find this happens to me simply because i have too much i am already preoccupied with in my head. sort of like instant replay.
i also find the same happens with previous conversations, television, even thoughts, everything gets replayed a million times. there was one time i went to a signing by a big comicbook artist, (i was maybe 15) the next morning i awoke knowing in my dream state i had gone through the whole ordeal several times, with perfect precision, no deviations from the actual incident…just like watching a movie over and over and over.

237

I have a similar problem (?). If I’m in a library or a bookstore, title words or author names will jump into my eyes, and I have to go back and search the shelves until I find where it came from. Sometimes this can be a good thing, especially at book fairs or antiquarian book dealers; I’ve found some gems in the middle of real messes because a word has jumped into my eyes. It can also be really annoying when it gets to the point that I stop and look at so many books on a library shelf that I forgot why I went into that set of call numbers in the first place.

Call numbers… I’ve got words for different areas under the Library of Congress system. “Bullshit” for religion (Bibles are classed under BS); “F*ck” is Canadian history (FC); “Zoo” for bibliographies and indices (Z); “Eskimo” is great for ethnological and Aboriginal-related titles (under the E, esp. E98 and E99); “prose and poems” gets me into the literature stacks §; books about “anything” take me to the encyclopedias and general reference works (under A); etc, etc. If I’ve found a call number, or just want to browse an area, I “home in” on that part of the liberry using the appropriate word, repeating it over and over until I’ve come to the right stacks.

238

OOh creepy! I do that too! i also play the trumpet, and if i’m thinking of a song, i will often catch myself doing the fingering with my right hand. It’s usually not the right fingering, but i still do it. wierd.

239

So fun to know there are other… interesting… people out there…

My little things:

  • When drinking eggnog I will always hold the mouthful in my cheeks first, and slowly allow it to strain through my teeth and down my throat without swallowing until I must. This completely grossed out my ex. Fortunatally, my current girlfriend doesn’t mind it.

  • I’m a bathroom reader. Shampoo bottles, soap boxes, whatever.

  • I hate it when people leave the microwave with time still on it.

  • When I’m a passenger in a car I play this little game where I “jump” the car over cracks in the road by the simple expedient of clenching my fist and moving the thumb off the rest of my fingers and then returning it to the original position. Ok, this is really strange, but I’ve been doing it since I was old enough to see out the car windows. I don’t do it when driving.

  • I eat chocolate, but don’t really enjoy it.

  • I take very long showers. If I can’t have my 30 minute soak, I will just go without. A long shower is an amazing way to start the day. I’m going to try sitting in the shower tomorrow morning.

  • On a related note, I almost never take baths. The only exception is when I’m taking a bath with someone and even then I don’t really enjoy it.

  • I always frown when I read. It’s totally uncontious, but I get a lot of questions about weather or not I just got bad news or something like it.

  • When I read I totally block everything else out. People have had entire conversations with me that I simply don’t remember.

That’s enough for now. Thanks to everyone for sharing their little habits.

-nigel

240

I always avoid shoveling snow in the direction with my back to the street. I hate to think someone will try to pull in while I’m not looking, I guess.