Oddities

Sarah and I were talking before we finished our lunch break today, and the conversation turned to strange things we do, and I thought it might be interesting to list some of my oddities here. You can read them and maybe go, "Hey, I do that too!" Or "Wow, she's weird." Whichever. Enjoy!

I count stairs whever I'm going up or down them. It's not a conscious thing, it just happens. Sometimes it'll get worse than that and I'll start counting all of the steps that I take on the ground or floor once I'm off the stairs. Then I have to make myself think of something else so that I'll stop.

This started when I was a kid: I thought for some reason that it was bad luck to turn the light out at night if the (digital) clock was on an odd number. Except if it ended in a 5 - that was safe. So if I was going to bed and the time was 9:03, I'd have to wait until 9:04 before I could shut the light off. For some reason I still do that, even though I know it's not bad luck. (Yes, I know I'm weird.)

I trace things in my mind. Not everything - only certain shapes. The worst are jackets or shirt collars. For jackets I'll trace the line of the lapel from one side of the jacket to the other, then down to the bottom of the jacket and back around to the front, where I'll start again. For shirt collars (like a dress shirt collar), I'll trace it from the top of the front, down to the corner, around the back and back up to the other side. Again, once I start, I have to make myself stop. It's not just those things that I trace in my mind, but those are the worst. I'll also trace rectangles and odd shapes.

Not as odd as those, but the next one I thought of is that I twirl my hair with my left hand, usually only when I'm bored or stressed. I've also been known to bite my bottom lip when I'm nervous.

I also can't stand to have the windshield wipers going faster than they need to be. The wipers scraping against a mostly dry windshield drive me nuts.

And those are all I can think of right now, although I'm sure there are more! If anyone reading this wants to share their own oddities with me, or tell me, hey! They do that too! I'd love to hear about it - comment away! (Please comment? Your silence is deafening out there. And when you're done, go read Sarah's blog and comment to her. She's getting a deafening silence on her site too.)