Before I leave my house, I have to make sure that the oven is off, the toilet lid is down, the door to my utility closet is closed, and I do a head count on all my cats to make sure they are alive. Sometimes, if I can’t remember if I have checked all these things, I have to turn around and go back home. it isn’t totally strange. I have left the oven on before, one of my cats died inside the utility closet. The thing about the toilet is a little off–I live in fear that one of my cats will fall into the toilet head first, get stuck, and drown. With my cats, it could happen.
I must say (if only to get this thread back at the top of the list) that this is by far my favorite thread going. (Yes even better than the goat-cannon.)
How many heads do your cats usually have? 
That would be a disaster. I’d be the first to crack at the sight of all those food seperatists.
Even worse… can you imagine if we were all trapped in the Big Brother house with our odd habits?
Well,
I am a counter. I count the floor and ceiling tiles. Sometimes I slow down my walk to get the count. In my elevator at work there are 42 complete tiles (18 green the rest brown) In case of large areas I get an across and up and down number and caculate the number of tiles.
Also when alone in the elevator I must touch each wall. Actually each panel on each wall and each door must be touched once and once only. When there are other people in the elevator it bugs me that I can’t hit the walls.
During a routine Doctor visit my doc asked me what my stools looked like and I replied “I don’t look at them!”. Then I realised that I don’t look. EVER.
I always have music running through my head.
I usually don’t eat the last bite of food on my plate. Sometimes the idea of eating that last little bite makes me think of the restaurant scene in MP’s the Meaning of Life.
Also (people laugh at me for this) at dinner when I am done I cover my plate with my napkin. What’s so wrong with that?!?! You freaks who don’t cover you plate disgust me.
I’m getting better. I really am. <twitch>
I have a firm belief that sodas taste better when drunk out of a glass rather than those nasty aluminum cans. And I do mean a glass, with ice, rather than a plastic cup.
At work, if I knew we’d have a lunch meeting with sodas, I used to bring along a glass filled with ice. But I really am better now–I can drink out of the can without having a meltdown.
Thank you, all, for your time (I feel like I’m at a self-help meeting).
All numbers, letters and colors have gender to me.
When I eat M & Ms, I must eat two of the same color, one on each side of my mouth. When I get to the end of the bag and there are differing colors left over, I eat them according to “gender”. (sounds weird, even to me)
I type what other people are saying on my fingers.
EVERYTHING in my house must be at either a 90 or 45 degree angle to the walls. I will spend a good deal of time making sure this is so.
Finally, I MUST wiggle my feet to get to sleep.
As a child I used to say “Joe Palooka” when I saw a concrete mixer truck, and the drum revolved around so that the side plate–bolted onto the drum–would show. (I was 20 before I cured myself of this habit.)
When I walk on a carpeted floor for some distance, I gently tap the next piece of (apparently) grounded metal as soon as possible, so I’m not surprised by a spark from a doorknob. (I used to work as a security guard in a large building, and on the graveyard shift made rounds at 1 a.m.)
When I used to be able to listen to the Dr. Demento show, and he played that sound-bite with the xylophone tones for the “Funnny Five” titles near the end, I would turn around and, without moving my head upward, look upward as far as possible–as if my nose were against a wall and I was trying to look at the ceiling.
You people are a bunch of freaks!!
I feel so normal all of a sudden. I tried to think of my own weird quirks, but then I realized that they were all just results of laziness rather than obsessiveness. Sitting in the shower is nice, but only if you have something to sit on. The floor is uncomfortable. I have a friend of a friend who built his house with 7 1/2 foot shower heads. Sounds great.
Wait - I thought of one. My pockets are highly regimented. Right back - wallet. Right front - keys. Left front - Palm Pilot, Chapstick (I keep the same tube until it runs out - takes about a year or so), and change, if any (I deposit my change in a 3 liter wine bottle I have at home. Takes about 2 years to fill up, but when I cash in, it’s about $250-300). Left back - empty. I usually run my hands around when I stand up to make sure I didn’t drop anything.
Whenever I meet new people, I always do the following – (1) check to see if a wedding ring is present. (2) check to see what kind of shoes they are wearing. (3) check for number of piercings they have in each ear.
The aforesaid applies to both men and women.
Some other things…
I always open condiment packets where the dotted line is (if it has one).
After I tear open a packet of sugar, I stick the torn off piece back into the original packet.
I have to sleep with my bedroom door open. Call it a mixture of claustrophobia and paranoia kicking in.
I watch movies only from a critical point of view, trying to pick up logic, plot, and other errors with them.
If I see a black skuff mark on a floor caused by soft-soled shoes, I must stop and rub my own shoe over it until it is gone.
I sometimes refuse to use the bathroom if there is no suitable way for me to wash my hands.
I don’t get normal hiccups. I get one giant collective hiccup that comes out at any given time, is so loud that it can be heard clear across to the oter end of an offic building, and sounds remarkably like a parrot-cry.
I write emails to companies that have annoying commercials, even though nothing beneficial can come of it.
If the bed is not made up when I go to sleep, I cannot sleep in it until it is. Sometimes, this involves waking my wife and making her get out of bed while I do it. If she refuses, I make references to water and the bathroom to force the urge on her to go pee. Then I can make the bed.
I push buttons on my audio/visual equipment with the top of my fingernail to avoid getting skin oils on the buttons.
If I take a bath, I must follow it with a shower to get rid of anything that was in the bathwater.
I must sweep a floor without lifting the broom to avoid stirring dust and hair into the air too much. If I see anyone doing it a different way, I am compelled to instruct them to my proper method. If they refuse, I leave the room.
I would sooner uninstall a beneficial program, rather than allow it to put an icon in the system tray.
If the alarm is to be set for 6:00 A.M, and I accidentally make it go to 6:01, I will do a complete loop back to 6:00 again, no matter how long it takes.
I have Never used the snooze function on my alarm clock. I get up immediately after the first ring.
I cannot sleep in a room unless it is as dark as a black hole in the room. Even the light from a led clock shines right through my eyelids and keeps me up.
If people in the house use too many lights too often, I will unscrew the bulbs to prevent the light from turning on, and trick them into thinking it is burned out. Noone changes bulbs but I, so they are in no danger of getting thrown out.
That’s enough for now I guess…
Everybody does this.
When I worked a counter, every tough customer would get the coins with some dirty gum on them, which I would save in a separate bin.
Well lets start…
When it comes to my wallet, it goes in my right front pocket. You might think is he nuts? Well there is a method to my madness. (1) It keeps both my butt checks level when I sit and in turn keeps the back straight (2) Pickpocketers can access that area so it will never be lifeted.
Now I don’t know how many of you have this little habit, but I for the life of me, can not sleep on my back. It has to be either on my side or my stomach, can’t figure why this is you would this on your back would allow you to breath better and be more comfortable.
Last one,when I set my alarm clock and go to sleep I always have this nagging feeling I forgot to turn it out so in the middle of the night for no reason I will wake up to check if it is on. This could happen twice a night at times, this doesn’t help for a good night sleep.
There you go the rantings of a crazy man…
or maybe I am the only one sane and you all is the crazy people.
Pockets. Left front, zippo lighter and keys (all with teeth facing the same way); right front Chapstick (there’s another habit), change, guitar picks, small Swiss-Army knife, anything else–nothing else goes in the left; right rear, wallet always facing the same way, but that’s because it’s molded to my cheek; left rear, comb and handkerchief.
I can’t leave the house without cigarettes, even for a 5 minute trip to the store or walking to the mailbox. Ever.
I can’t sleep if the bottom of the sheet is untucked, or even loose enough to feel as though it’s untucked.
I always have to have something to drink within reach, usually ice water.
Lord Davidson posted:
I do too. Must be a Nutmegger thing.
I do the same thing! I told two of my guy friends that and they just kinda shook their heads at me. Baths are to relax and showers are made to be clean, that’s why you must take a shower after the bath or you’re just not clean.
I think this is just a natural “people” thing. Every group of people that I see walking together will walk in step. Besides, if you’re holding hands or anything it’s just so much easier.
Kitty
I can’t sleep with the bedroom door open.
Likewise, I cannot fall asleep without at least something over me. If it is too warm, I will stick out one foot. It it’s still too warm, I will stick out the other foot, still too warm, uncover my shoulders and tuck the blanket under my arms, still too warm, push it down to my waist, but still, always, it covers the region between my waist and the tops of my thighs. The blanket, when both legs are sticking out from under the covers, does not lie across my legs horizontally, but gets smushed between my uncovered legs and trails down to the foot of the bed.
When I brush my teeth, I pick up my toothbrush, wet it under the water, put the toothpaste on it, and wet it again before beginning to brush my teeth.
I have to take a shower after a bath for the same reason: baths are recreational, showers are for getting clean.
My alarm must be set at the hour, the quarter hour, the half hour, or the three quarter hour, never any other time. If I go one click too far, I will cycle all the way back around to set it at the proper time. The fact that hitting the snooze bar means I will wake up nine minutes after the hour drives me batty. I wish someone would invent an alarm clock that lets you control how many minutes the snooze bar gives you.
I have to clean my ears with a Q-Tip immediately after every shower. If I I wait too long until the ear-grease or wax or whatever it is starts to dry out, my ears don’t seem to get as clean, and my ears feel squishy all day long. Don’t even ask me what happens if I accidentally run out of Q-Tips.
I used to have dolls and stuffed animals at my grandparents house, and if a long time passed between times I went over there, and I went over there and saw that my dolls were all still dressed for summer, and it was now cold outside, I would become distressed. I would have to find clothes enough for all of them and group them close together so I knew they would all be “warm enough” after I left again. This usually meant stuffed animals to the outside, since they had fur coats and would not be as cold with one side not touching another doll/animal. I would also apologize to them for neglecting them and being a bad mommy. I didn’t want them to think I didn’t love them. I think the Velveteen Rabbit scarred me for life.
And you thought you were loony.
I always scratch the roof when I go through a red light.
Sometimes when I type a word wrong, or get the letters mixed up, I don’t just erase the misplaced letters, I have to save as many of them as I can so that they get their turn. This becomes quite a problem when I can’t decide which letter gets to go first.
Whenever I eat anything like M&M’s or Smarties, I have to seperate them into colour groups and then I eat from the group that has the most in order to equal them out. Then I either eat them one at a time going from colour to colour, or else I put one of every colour in my mouth at the same time.
I absolutely must have lip stuff with me at all times. If I forget it, I will go buy another.
I must shower after taking a bath.
If there is music playing I absolutely must walk to the beat. (Thank you 8 years of marching band)
Oops.
That’s yellow, not red.
Omigosh we must be twins separated at birth. Except that I need for my shoulders to be covered when I sleep. And now it’s my kids stuffed animals that carefully I group together. Some like to be next to one another more than others.
How about spinning? If I spun in one direction, I had to spin an equal amount of times in the opposite direction to 'Undo" it . This went for those swival stools at the luncheonette counter as well. My mom would say, “What are you doing?” And of course I’d reply, “Undoing it.”
Geez, do I have to sign my name to this post?!