Well, no, double spaces aren’t necessary if you don’t care whether or not readers can see where sentences begin and end… and why worry about something that contributes so much to reading comprehension?
Whenever I know I have to be somewhere earlier than usual, I’m so obsessed with being on time that I start waking myself up about every 10-20 minutes beginning an hour before I actually need to be awake. For example, I go running with friends every Saturday morning at 6:00 a.m. So I get up at 5:15 a.m. Since we’re all distance runners, I have to get up early so I can eat and have time to digest my food before running so I’ve got a few calories in me for energy. Anyway, for no apparent reason other than my own freakish obsessiveness with being on time, I wake up at 4:15 a.m. Then at 4:30, then again at 4:45. Then I wake up two minutes before my alarm goes off. Every friggin’ time. Two minutes! Well, at least I don’t wake my fiancee, but that’s really annoying.
I’m obsessive about losing my keys. I put them down in one spot and think “no that’s not a good spot, someone might touch them” so I move them. I can move my keys 4-5 times before I feel they are safe…then I forget where I put them.
Count me in for the alarm radio one… I check a couple of times every night. I have to check if it is loud enough to wake me, although I know I never change the volume, I still got to make sure. Turn it on, check volume, check time, check pm or am, check time again, turn the alarm on, verify if the little red light is on. Satisfied.
I also do the key thingy… I can be parked half a mile away as soon as I am on my way to my car, got to have the keys in hand!
Also, I don’t think I saw that one, I am obsessive about toilet paper… or paper towells… The roll has to be put the right way… I don’t know how to explain that one, it has to unfold from the top, not the bottom. I will reguarly change it at people’s house if I use their bathroom.
Did I make any sense?!
I’m obsessive about leaving meat on a bone. I pay good money for meat (like chops) and expect the kids to clean the bones!
Zazie: Yes, it makes perfect sense and you’re not alone. The great “toilet paper direction” debate has raged on for years with no clear winner in site.
For the record, though, toilet paper must hang down from the bottom/rear of the roll. Anything else is just plain wrong.
Barry
its the order of the tv channels for me.my house has two sets and it is important that both of them have channels set in the same order.the news channels followed by the music channels etc etc.
i involuntarily check my wallet lots of times when i carry it and same with the cellphone.
i even havent spared the wardrobe.tee shirts and shirts in diferent stacks,jeans separated from the formal trousers.
i hope there are more like me.
I should have clarified that when I strip out double spaces I replace them with a single space.I agree (as I purposely did for my example), that no spaces after a period would look even worse.
Oh, yeah. I’m obsessive about the kitchen, too. My fiancee still can’t boil rice, so I usually want to do all the cooking. I also really, really like to have a clean kitchen by the time I go to bed so I don’t have to clean the whole damn thing before I start cooking, only to mess it up again. And when I say clean, I’m not terribly anal about it - I don’t ask that the counters be bleached or anything. I just want there to be no food laying out and the pots & pans, if they don’t need to be soaked, should be preferably washed & put away. There are other reasons for my obsession, too - for some reason, most ground-floor condos and apartments in our block get centipedes in the spring and in the fall. I hate those bugs more than any other type of bug. I’m absolutely paranoid about getting one of them in my food. So I do the cooking badger my fiancee into doing the cleaning before we go to bed. If he doesn’t get to it, I do, 'cause the thought of those bugs grosses me out.
Shudder Ick!!! Shudder
My clothes have to be hung in my closet by type of item, then by color. First I sort all the shirts, jackets, skirts, and slacks then hange them roughly in order of the colors of the rainbow: purple, blue, green, yellow, peach (I don’t do orange well), red.
My paper money has to be in order in my wallet by largest denominations to smallest: 20’s then 10’s then 5’s then 1’s. I have to know at all times how much cash I have on my.
I simply must know what time it is. Heaven forbid I not know if it’s 5:15 or 5:45!
Finally…
I cannot mix food on my plate. The world may very well end if my peas touch my meat or my potatos touch my bread!
I don’t know whether to feel normal or left out.
I don’t obsess about any of this stuff.
When I buy greeting cards for people, though, I have to have a blank sheet of paper for “rough drafts” of what I’m going to write on the card. I can’t just sign the card; I have to write a little meaningful note on there, too. It has to strike the right note of wit, charm, and caring. And I have to have a cool pen to do it with, too. And I have to find a handwriting “style” that matches the style of the card, and the style of the cool pen (which I usually purchase just for this occasion b/c I can never hang on to cool pens).
Is this obsessive or just weird? And who can tell the difference?
I’m a time junkie. I freak the ever loving hell out if I’m going to be late. Doesn’t matter if everyone else will be late too, and I know it, I cannot be late. I start shaking and checking the clock every 2 seconds. Lord help you if you’re on the road with me.
Open cabinets drive me nuts as well. Not just a minor annoyance nuts but a full on cue-freaky-horror-movie-music-in-my-head-heart-beating-a-mile-a-minute kind of nuts. Must. Close. CABINETS!
The volume on my radio in my car. I’m constantly adjusting the volume. If I get near another car at a stoplight, must turn music down. When the light turns green? Must turn music back to wear it was before stop light. On the freeway? Must turn music way up. Parking somewhere? Must turn music either so low it’s almost inaudiable or off. I have to do it in my friends’ cars too (just the parking thing.) Drives them nuts but it’s an obssession. Hence my mentioning it in this thread.
I’m also obsessive about my windshield wipers in the rain. I cannot stand drops on my windshield. I’ll keep turning them on and off if it’s raining that annoying amount where it’s not enough water to need the timing setting, but too much to just leave it. Can’t have drops.
Hmm. I’m weirder than I thought. 
My socks- crazy obsessive to the point that I have cut them out of my life for the most part. You know the seam near the toes? It freaks me out It must be straight and not half over half under.
I have a minor growing obsession with ordering like colors together in my clothing in the closet.
I must make sure the closet is closed before I go to bed (old childhood fear).
I have a hard time using public restrooms. I must check and recheck the front of my pants to make sure they are clean and dry or else I can’t leave the restroom until they are.
I am often obsessive about making sure my mouth is absolutely clean after eating in public.
My worst problem has become an obsessive fear of germs on dishes and flatware. When I wash them the water has to be scalding hot. When I’m done, I have to check and recheck to make sure there are absolutely no traces of food anywhere.
For me it’s the stove. Did I leave the range on?? Did I heat up something or didn’t I? I better go back and check…and on and on and on before I leave the house until that little vein in my husband’s neck starts to throb…He thinks I’m nuts and I’m quite sure he’s right - but I have this very real fear of fire. I always think I smell smoke. I’ll go around searching from top to bottom to see if something is burning. I have 5 animals and I’m terrified of leaving them and having the house burn down. Ack, just thinking about the possibility makes me tense…breathe, breeaaathe.
I am insane about how things are placed in a room. I can tell if someone has moved a chair or an object. It will torture me until I can move it back! Sometimes my very sweet, well meaning mother likes to dust my tables or clean up when I’m in the bathroom. I wait until she’s in the bathroom to move all the objects back that she’s moved…Oh yea…freaky girl here.
Oh, and odors in the house. No, no, no, no. Can not have any bad smells in my environment. Garbage cans must be dumped every day. Sometimes 2 times a day. The dogs (two of them) must be washed every week and a half. (Ah, but they’re so darn soft and fluffy when they’re clean!:D) The sheets must be washed every week… I do think I have highly developed olfactory glands. Sometimes I smell things that no one else seems to, so maybe I’m just extremely sensitive.
I think I’m also obsessive about my skin. I am one of those women who has so many creams and face washes that she will never be able to use them all in a lifetime. I always wear sunscreen, moisturizer, alpha hydroxy acid cream…you name it. But hey, I have really soft skin! You’ll just have to take my word for it! lol.
Ok, now that I’ve bared my soul I think I am going to have to chill. Gracious I’m batty!!
If I’m around anyone and they say “me and huggy” or whatever, I’ll immediately say, without thinking, “huggy and i”. If I remember correctly, it’s not neccessarily a grammar rule as much as it is a convention of politeness. Still, though, it bugs me when I hear it and I am forced to correct it.
I’m also obsessive about packets of condiments at resturants. I feel that I must get all possible sugar/ketchup/hot sauce out of the paper or plastic bag as possible, or else whatever I’m eating/drinking wont’ be as enjoyable.
Other than that, I’m a lazy slob. None of the same kinds of quirks as other people, I suppose, although I do check several times each morning to make sure I have my keys.
–greenphan