Goofy Habits, OCD, and other Silly Behaviors

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Because we all have them.

No one can possibly be without a strange little tick here or there, so let's use this thread to share those delightful eccentricities :D



I...

... keep a hammer in the freezer.
... stick my tongue out when I concentrate.
... eat spaghettios cold and straight out of the can. They taste horrible when heated up.
... avoid lakes and large bodies of water like the plague. I'm ok with rivers, though.
... always smoke the front center cigarette first, and then the back far right one second after opening a new pack.


Now, what about you guys?

[Charley]

I don't leave the house without checking the gas at least 3 times

[Dasquian Belargic]

I don't know if it's goofy so much as OCD but if there are multiple straight-edged objects on a table (e.g. books, pens, rulers) in front of me I feel like I have to straighten them out so that their edges run parallel to eachother :ohno

[Captain Untouchable]

I do the straight edge thing too. It used to really annoy me at work because I had a curved desk, and there wasn't a straight edge to line anything up to. :mad

I fidget with my hands a lot. I doodle, fiddle with pens (none of my pens have those little clip things on any more because I keep accidentally snapping them off), peel the labels off beer bottles, and that sort of thing.

When I'm writing posts, I find it easier to think when I'm holding a pen in my hand... but when I start to speed type, instead of putting the pen down I hold it between my teeth, which looks kinda goofy. (I have no idea why)

Also, I have a slightly OCD thing about clothes colours. I used to get really agitated if my socks, boxers, and shirt/t-shirt weren't all matching colours, so now I have to buy black underwear so it won't bug me. :uhoh

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

I'm OCD about my dresser. Everything in my shirt drawers has to be perfect. And every few weeks I go through Charley's dresser and organize it so the drawers close all they way. I also don't like the way Charley folds clothes, so I took away laundrey duty from him.

Oh yeah, and I'm usually shooed away from helping load the dishwasher, since I will take things out and put them back in where I want them to go as he's loading it.

[Bianca Littizetto]

I move glasses at least 4 inches away from the edge of a table.

I have other stuff that kicks in at random times where I feel I must absolutely do something.

[Charley]

I'm trying to think if I have any more "goofy" habits. I have things I do, but usually for good reason.

[Callista]

Why a hammer in the freezer? Does it mean something or just because?


- I do the straight edge also, though sometimes I leave things chaotic for aesthetic purposes even though it kind of drives me nuts.

- I dislike how the boyfriend folds clothes, though we aren't married nor live together right now, so I can't ban him from it! If that day comes, though...definitely happening.

- I don't make the bed in the morning, but I make it before I go to bed and the sheet/blankets have to be placed correctly (this drives my boyfriend crazy because I'll freak out if the sheet edge isn't correct).

- I have to have at least one container of water/liquids when I leave the house, no matter how little time I'll be gone.

- I leave browsers open with things I haven't read but want to later...to remind myself when I next get on the computer (I'm aware of Pocket/Read It Later and use that, but those tend to be things I will read in a month or so -- I don't use it as much as I should). This sometimes means I have a TON of tabs open and can't shut down the computer for awhile...

- I'm an obsessive planner/calendar person, even though I probably won't stick to most of it. I love the idea of making schedules and thinking I'll follow through.

- I hate when people get out of the shower and get the floor and rugs all wet (*looks at boyfriend*). I dry off IN the shower and then step out... wet floor freaks me out.

Pretty sure I have a bunch of other random ones...

[Zenas Codrey]

Well, I...

*must always wear socks indoors, even if it's not cold.
*have to put 9 sugar packets/scoops in my coffee, because 9 is an auspicious number.
*but if I'm in a bad mood, I'll put 4, because 4 is death.
*have to have a movie or tv show on while I fold laundry.
*order Chinese food in this pattern: General Tso's Chicken, Sesame Chicken, Orange Chicken.
*must play a support role in team games. If people start stepping on my game, it pisses me off (don't pick Medic if you play TF2 with me).
*can't watch any iteration of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles without eating a pizza while doing so.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Originally posted by Callista
- I don't make the bed in the morning, but I make it before I go to bed and the sheet/blankets have to be placed correctly (this drives my boyfriend crazy because I'll freak out if the sheet edge isn't correct).

Haha I love this one the best for some weird reason. Probably because you've turned the ritual of bedmaking upside down ^_^


And the hammer is sort of a holdover from the old house. The fridge there wasn't the best, and the vent holes that fed from the bottom of the freezer into the fridge kept freezing. So one day I took out the tray, busted the vents out, and left the hammer in there for whenever I needed to break the ice every few weeks to a month. Nowdays it stays in there because even though it's no longer needed for freezer duty, I associate the hammer with being in the freezer so that if I DO need a hammer, I don't have to go all the way downstairs and get the other one out of my toolbox :)

[Captain Untouchable]

It's in there because it's a cool hammer. Duh. ;)

[Crusader]

I hate candles indoor and I can't leave a room with an unattended candle in it for more than a few seconds. A Xmas Tree with actual burning candles is in my eyes a death trap for suicidal christian cult members.

[Zereth Lancer]

I have to roll up in a blanket and sleep like a taco regardless of the temperature of the room. This leads to many a sweaty awakening in the summer. While on the subject of sleeping I cannot sleep on my back as I require something to be pushed up against my face (blanket, pillow, arm, etc). Literally, I need something against my cheek. I also sleep with a fan blowing for both the air flow and white noise. I cannot sleep very well without it and I will run a fan even on the coldest night in winter. Also when I sleep alone I lay diagonally across the bed, but this might just be the result of being a tall person. Otherwise I sleep on the edge of the bed on as little as possible because GF is bed hog.
I smell just about everything before I eat or drink it. Yes, I will smell my glass of water. I blame this habit on how my older brothers used to slip stuff into my drinks when we were kids.
When I eat I don't put my napkin on my lap, instead after each time I use it I fold it over and tuck it under the edge of my plate. So over the course of a meal I end up using about every surface of the napkin as I open and refold it.
I have a really hard time spelling difficult words verbally, but can easily write them out.
When I play video games I almost always play the "Tank" or some kind of supporting role.
I'm very OCD about things about symmetrical. This impulse varies in strength. I once ate a quarter of my GF's calzone because she ate it unevenly and it bugged me.
When I write my threads tend to escape down long running rabbit holes before I finally return to the subject.
I also cannot stand open flames being left alone.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Do people really put real candles in christmas trees still?

I love hearing your guys' habits and whatnot, since it reminds me of more stuff that I do that I'd not thought of before. We're all so helpful in mapping out each others' craziness ^_-

I can understand smelling water. I smell the water fountains at work before drinking from them since the water they've put out has been known to be 'off', and there's a rumor that my company used non-FDA approved water filters once as a cost saving measure. There's likely no truth to that rumor, but it still makes a person paranoid about the water fountains there.

If I get food from a fast food joint, I always meticulously fold up the paper wrappers that my tacos/burgers/whatever came in. I do the same thing with napkins when I am done with them.
I have two 'security blankets'. Both of them were from my grandmother, and I never sleep without them. Even if we go to a hotel or I sleep somewhere else, I take and use one or both of them. Usually both.
Back when all of the DVD's were on a shelf, they had to be alphabetized. This was sometimes a pain in the ass when we bought a new movie or two that started with A or B. What followed next was always a long process of shuffling DVD's down the line.
If we go out to eat, I stack the dishes to make it easier to bus the table.

[Callista]

And the hammer is sort of a holdover from the old house. The fridge there wasn't the best, and the vent holes that fed from the bottom of the freezer into the fridge kept freezing. So one day I took out the tray, busted the vents out, and left the hammer in there for whenever I needed to break the ice every few weeks to a month. Nowdays it stays in there because even though it's no longer needed for freezer duty, I associate the hammer with being in the freezer so that if I DO need a hammer, I don't have to go all the way downstairs and get the other one out of my toolbox :)

I kind of want to do this now... although my tools are only a few steps away from my freezer -- lol.



I also sleep with a fan blowing for both the air flow and white noise. I cannot sleep very well without it and I will run a fan even on the coldest night in winter.

I have to have a fan for white noise also. Having grown up in the country where it's very quiet, I got very little sleep the first couple weeks when I went to college in Denver. Since then I can't sleep without the white noise (especially since BF snores...oy). I'm a very light sleeper.



If we go out to eat, I stack the dishes to make it easier to bus the table.[/list]

I do this also. :) I've not been a waitress, but it bugs me to leave such a mess for them or anyone else.

Couple more I remembered after reading other peoples...funny how most of my quirks pertains to sleeping:

- I prefer my feet sticking out the bottom of the blanket/sheet...thus I REALLY dislike hotels that tuck their stuff in and will automatically pull it all apart before going to bed.

- My closet is organized by pants and skirts, dresses, under shirts, regular shirts, and sweaters/jackets/over shirts, and then by color in those 5 categories (white, cream, yellow, green, blue, purple, red, orange, brown, black -- color wheel!). My dresser drawers aren't really organized aside from being in respective drawers: undergarments and their folded piles, sleepwear, swimwear, and workout gear. Screw keeping them organized by color.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I love sleeping in hotel beds - I love a tightly made bed and will squeeze inbetween the sheets very carefully so as not to untuck anything. In contrast my husband untucks everything and usually ends up tossing the sheets from his side either on top of me or scrunches them with his feet WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT? D:

[Morgan Evanar]

I love sleeping in hotel beds - I love a tightly made bed and will squeeze inbetween the sheets very carefully so as not to untuck anything. In contrast my husband untucks everything and usually ends up tossing the sheets from his side either on top of me or scrunches them with his feet WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT? D:You have big feet and they get hot under all of the extra sheets? That's usually my problem.

I'm a total asshole about seatbelts. In my car, you belt up, or you walk. I have a ritual for setting my seat up in cars that aren't mine that some might think is OCD.

I always heel-toe downshift. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxGtx9xXhlM

I'm not really sure about anything else. I have a high tolerance for a lot of other things.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I don't have big feet. :colbert

[Morgan Evanar]

I'm implying your husband does. They make excellent heat sinks when applied to a thinner layer of bedding or open air.

[Charley]

Okay seeing some of these examples and I realize I have more than I realize.

White noise / noise at bedtime is absolutely vital to me. I've slept under a fan for as long as I can remember, and when I met Christin she would sleep with the TV on so my problem has only gotten worse. If it's quiet, I get paranoid, and I do not sleep when paranoid.

Covers. Tuck please. I want to be completely hemmed into the bed.

[Captain Untouchable]

If we're talking sleeping habits, I usually wrap the duvet over one leg and anchor it between my knees. Guarantees that no matter hard someone tries to steal my duvet they won't succeed. Also I have to have a bonus hugging pillow to keep my left arm occupied, otherwise I get self conscious about where to put it and it keeps me awake. Without both of those things I have to sleep with my arm between my knees.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

I like to cocoon myself in my security blankets. Charley hates it.

Sleeping with the TV on is something that cropped up during my time living alone, but went into overdrive after I moved to Alabama and was working night shift. Having a movie on made me feel like I wasn't alone, and now it's gotten to the point where it's an act of congress for me to fall asleep without something on. If the power goes out before bed, I gt almost panicky, and I have killed the battery on Charley's laptop playing a DVD until I fall asleep. There is a caveat to what gets watched at bedtime though; it pretty much has to be something we've seen many times over, like ATHF, South Park, Seinfeld, or the most popular of bedtime shows, Poirot.

I never sleep on the side of the bed closest to the bedroom door. NEVER EVER. If a monster comes into the room, Charley will be the first to get eaten. This one actually came from my mom. She told me that one night she'd had a really bad dream after seeing The Exorcist, and ended up having to swap sides with my dad so that he was on the side closest to the door. The story goes that after they swapped, my dad couldn't sleep the rest of the night.

I also never sleep on my back. I used to get sleep paralysis and night terrors pretty bad back in the day, until I read somewhere that sleeping on your back was a big trigger for it. So now when I go to bed I usually sleep on my side (waking up in the morning I have of course shifted to where I'm lying on my back, but I NEVER go to sleep in that position).

I'm very picky about where my head is when falling asleep. I don't like to breath warm/hot air, so my head HAS to be angled up for maximum cool and fresh air intake.

Oh yeah, and I wake up on the 'wrong side of the bed' for more often than not.



... I have a lot of strange bedtime rituals, now that I think about it o_O

[Crusader]

I'm not really sure about anything else. I have a high tolerance for a lot of other things.

I guess this does not include my driving in video games!

[Callista]

I'm very picky about where my head is when falling asleep. I don't like to breath warm/hot air, so my head HAS to be angled up for maximum cool and fresh air intake.


This is me as well... my boyfriend looks like to cocoon himself entirely...head and all and I don't quite get it. I can't breath under blankets.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Oh, I can't sleep at all if the closet doors are cracked open. They must be closed at all times.

When I was younger and slept in a twin bed against a wall I used to sleep with my back to the wall and a pillow between myself and the room. Sometimes my mom wouldn't be able to find me in the bed because I was crammed between the wall and the mattress.

[Dasquian Belargic]

I am another cocoon-er. I have to sleep with my head under a blanket.

[Kale]

You all are crazy. CRAZY, I tell you!

[Charley]

If you sit at the dinner table and season your food before you eat any, I will bring it up and call you out on it because I hate you.

[Banner Laverick]

I try not to have too many OCD obsessions, because then I actually obsess and become anxious to the point of freaking out...I have to have routines, and if they get messed up in any way, I get annoyed.

I'm doing a lot better with being touched by people - I still don't like when people come up and purposely touch me, but accidentally brushing my hand or something doesn't make me feel like washing anymore...There are exempt "safe" people who can touch me all they want though lol!

I still sort my candy by colors, then eat them lowest amount of candies to highest amount of candies, in groups of 3's and 4's. I bought "touch woods" because I have to touch wood to make sure good things stay good, lol.

I could probably write a novel about all the compulsions and obsessions I have. Luckily most of them are goofy and harmless :)

[Zenas Codrey]

duvet

dafuq


If you sit at the dinner table and season your food before you eat any, I will bring it up and call you out on it because I hate you.

DFAC food is so horribly bland that putting salt on it before eating it is automatic, and when I forget, I regret it instantly. Don't hate me, hate the poor quality Army food.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Duvet = comforter that needs a pretty cover

[Captain Untouchable]

duvet

dafuq

Duvet = comforter that needs a pretty cover

The prettiness isn't a factor: it's a hygiene, convenience, and comfort thing. If you wash a duvet/quilt, you run the risk of making the stuff inside it go all clumpy and lumpy. I used to get really bad nosebleeds all the time as a kid (at times we had to change the bedding 4-5 times in a night)... if we'd not had that removable cover, we'd have had to toss the whole thing in the wash and I'd have had no blankets/etc all night. Having a duvet cover - same as a pillow case - gives you something that you can take off every week or two. We need that extra level of warmth a lot more often over here in Europe, so culturally that sort of thing is the norm.

And yeah, they can be "pretty"... or they can be awesome, and have Thomas the Tank Engine Batman on and stuff.


I still sort my candy by colors, then eat them lowest amount of candies to highest amount of candies, in groups of 3's and 4's.

I do that!

Worse, while I was in school I used to carry one of those little airtight plastic boxes around with me, and whenever I had Skittles I'd put all of the purple ones in it and save them up. Whenever I had a pretty crappy or miserable day, I'd just sit there in front of the internet or TV and eat exclusively purple Skittles until I felt better. :uhoh

[Anne Phoenix]

1) Everyday at least once a day I will mentally ask myself the question "How many Battleships do you need to sink a Heavy Cruiser?" and I will always think to myself in response the answer is "Zero, because other things can sink a Heavy Cruiser." at random and then wonder where the question came from.

2) I never dry my back using the towel after a shower. Instead I will lie on my back on the bed and let the bed sheet absorb the moisture.

3) I usually take a small glass of something to drink with me to bed even though I don't end up drinking any of it and I'll usually let the pile of glasses accumulate until one of them starts growing mold.

Those are the main three that I can think of right atm.

[Thaitla K'prerr]

Oh God I do the skittles/m&m's/reese's pieces sorting thing too. I always sub-manage them into little groups and then eat them until the numbers are precisely equal. I even sort them by damaged candies :(

[Callista]

lmao... I totally forgot I did that with colored candy as well! Oy... They all have to be equal, too...

I also will eat broken chips, leaving the full ones for last and then start on smallest to largest.

Wonder why people do these things... pretty funny.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

I only eat candy in December. The rest of the 11 months in the year I 'strongly discourage' sweets being in the house.

As far as food, I will generally eat anything put in front of me. If you ask me what I want, I will spend half an hour trying to figure out what I'm in the mood for. My indecision drives Charley to madness.

I also go from not hungry in the least to GIVEMEFOODNOWI'MSTARVINGTODEATH in the blink of an eye. This is another source of Charley's insanity as well.

[Crusader]

I hate losing to AIs and I can't let a game go that I have not finished yet. I will be playing one boss fight or checkpoint for 6 straight hours over and over again until I finally beat it. If I do not beat it in the first session. It will be on my mind for the rest of the day/week/month. In the short list of games that I never finished I can tell you exactly where I stopped playing. Those memories are like scars on the back of my head.
It gets even worse with games that I started playing with others because then my brain tells me that I have to finish it with these people. Other people would only be a substitute.

For Halo Series it has become a tradition that I will not play the next game until my buddy and I sit down on the couch and do our first coop playthrough. After that I will instantly start a new playthrough on the hardest difficulty and beat the game again (alone).

[Callista]

I used to do that with Solitaire :) I had to go until I won... not quite the same, lol.