Monday, March 10, 2003

Since I read it on another blog, I think it would be fun to do a Quirks listing. Among my compulsions:

- I have an internet routine. Sign on Trewq, check mail; switch to Alt, check mail. Check boards. Check mail. Go to blogs. Elayne first, Srah second, Mark (even though he's not blogging for lent) third, Mike fourth, etc. Screw up the routine, and all day I have a nagging feeling I missed something. Subsequent rechecks will not make the feeling go away.

- I never use my left hand while eating. I don't like the idea of my left hand being anywhere near my mouth. I can't explain why. I don't use my left hand for anything I don't use my right hand for.

- When chewing, I have to divide up my food in halves, so that both sides of my mouth get an equal amount of food. If I don't, I feel unbalanced. Preferably, this means, for instance, when eating Skittles, I eat two at a time. If there's only one Skittle, sometimes I just won't eat it.

- If I make a strange movement with one half of my body, or if I pick up some heavy object with one arm, I have to repeat the motion on the other side. If I don't, I feel unbalanced all day.

- I never let the microwave hit zero. It's not that the beeps bother me. It's that I have this nagging fear that they'll wake someone up. This fear is present even when I'm the only one home.

- Before I can sleep every night, I have to make a check of the house. Both doors, even if I can see that they're locked, have to have their knobs turned to make sure. All lights must be off. All television sets off. Telephones on their rightful hooks. Dishes in the sink; blankets straightened. If I forget that I've done it for sure, I have to get
up and do it again, even if it's four in the morning and I'm exhausted. Regardless of the fact, even, that I know my mother makes the same round check every night before she sleeps.

- If, while driving down the road, I allow myself to notice the little address markers, I have to add them up obsessively. I mean, for instance, say you have the address "1156." I have to go 1 + 1 + 5 + 6 = 13. 1+ 5 = 6 - 1 = 5. 11 + 56 = 76. 76 - 13 = 63.

- If I imagine a loop of any sort, I mentally can't break the loop. Say, for instance, you're watching a cartoon, and a guy riding a horse runs into a tree branch, and his neck gets stuck on the branch and his body is going round and round the branch. I can't stop that in my head, even if it's stopped on the show. I have to make a jerking motion with my head, to try to pull the guy off the branch in my mind. Very disconcerting.

- If given a blank sheet to draw on, I always start drawing on the bottom lefthand side.

- The right sock must be put on the foot before the left; the left shoe must go on the foot before the right.

- I always try to leave the house on an odd minute marker. 5's are okay, but I prefer 7's. Hence, I leave the house at 10:57 every morning.

Speaking of which, it's getting on that time so I should run. What about you guys?