Quirks, oddities, and all things strange
 

Well I have been thinking about some of the things that I do that I consider to be kinda weird. Not bad or anything, just some of my individual quirks I suppose. I always find it interesting and sort of comforting to know what other people do that makes them themselves. Here are some examples of things that I do that I find odd.

- I like to pluck hairs. I could seriously sit and pluck the hair out of my legs for an hour and then end up having to shave because only a small portion of my leg is done, it's like a comforting thing to do. Or it allows me to space out while still doing something if that makes sense?

- I really like popping pimples. It's kind of disgusting I suppose, but something about cleaning out ones pores intrigues me. I'd prefer to have none at all, but part of me gets excited about a a juicy zit *laughs* Okay, seriously, my dad has this huge pore on his back and it collects dead skin/oil etc like mad and I get super excited when he asks me to squeeze his back, it's like a land mine of sebum! Ew. Haha.

- Before I go to bed I have a little ritual of putting on lotion, lip balm, combing my hair and then getting a kleenx. I don't ever use it, but I always fall asleep with it in my hand. And if for some reason I forget to put lip balm on, even if my lips aren't dry, I'll lay there and think about until I end up getting up to layer it on.

- I like cleaning and organizing other people's houses. It started when I was a kid and I'd end up at a friends house and they had to clean there rooms. I'd go gung-ho and clean and organize everything, and their parents would be so impressed. Next time I came back it would be a mess and I'd be so disappointed. I also liked to encourage them to throw things out, it feels to cleansing to down size junk. That wasn't always successful though.

Well that's all I can think of for now. I just thought it might be neat to start a dialouge about our unique habits and stuff. :)

Sounds like you have OCD. :)

As for me, I tend to think things out, out loud, so it's a bit like talking to myself... though I don't do it in front of people, either because they'd think I was talking to myself or because they don't need to know what I'm thinking.

I don't step on the invisible lines projected by bisecting a hard corner, if I can help it.

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/6773/untitledrv4.gif

I wash my hands when they aren't dirty.

If I have a bad day, I play it over and over in my mind until I can't sleep.

I have a small obsession with the bathroom scale at my mother's house. It's a magical one. It remembers which number would discourage me the most, then jumps right up there before I'm even half on the scale. No matter what MY scale says.

I don't like to walk on sidewalk cracks or vents. But I will walk in mudpuddles.

I collect different colors of eye shadows, even though I don't wear eye shadow. If I want to someday, I can. I also collect different colors if lipstick, but I always wear the same color. And I can't remember the name of the color without looking.

I make coffee, cookies, or popcorn with no intention of drinking/eating them. Just so I can enjoy the smell.

I don't like my food items to touch each other on my plate. I like them all separate to start with. Then I usually mix the veggies with the taters anyway. But they can't be touching to start with.

I'll often check my email 5 minutes after the last time I checked it, just to see if anybody loves me yet. Tonight, nobody does.

Edit: And I like to hit the 'edit' button just because I can.

I do that as well. Not because I'm nuts, but because it's the only sure fire way for me to remember something. For whatever reason, if I say it out loud, it sticks.

....and I won't drink the last bit of milk in the jug. Ever.

I collect paper things - books, magazines, newspapers, things torn from books and magazines, postcards, greeting cards, bookmarks, artwork from my kids - basically anything printed with words or images that appeal to me for vague, non-specific reasons...excepting paper towels.

Both ktspktsp and I like to dig out trapped hairs (I guess they are technically ingrown, but they aren't gross... usually just curled up and stuck beneath some dead skin). We also like to tweeze each other's white hairs. It's like some kind of primordial primate grooming bonding activity, I suppose.

Okay, now that I've revealed our darkest, weirdest secret :lol: ... what else do I do. I notice when a hair has fallen off my head and is somewhere on my clothes or body. As in, if it falls onto my arm while I am cooking or reading, I notice it immediately... and I can't do anything until I get it off and away from me. It drives me nuts if I can't get it off me.

I like to clean out wax from ears, lint from belly buttons, and dirt from under toenails. However, I hate tweezing eyebrows. :p

Every fall, I like to pick up horse chestnuts and keep them in my pockets for as long as possible. They are kind of like "worry stones" for me... I just rotate them in my hands all day, making them even smoother in my pockets. Sometimes I find these nuts years later, in old jackets where I forgot to remove them. Still good as new. :)

oh horse chestnuts, i somehow missed the chest part.. was wondering why you'd castrate horses...AND walk around with their nuts. :eek:

i sometimes count things, i'll pick a theme and start counting.

i like to make sure all doors to closets are shut...monsters you know :)

I like a lot of lights on, but I don't do that when the wife is home, she just gets crazy with the institutional brightness....or I like no lights on, again, can drive her batty, so i don't do that too much either.

I don't throw the bottle cap away when I open a beer. I play with it while i drink the beer. when I finish the beer i fold the cap in half and put it inside the bottle. I'm sure the people at the recycling place really appreciate that.

that's all I care to divulge now...maybe more later.

Me too. My hair is fairly long, and I'm growing it longer (this is the longest it's been since I was a little girl. Uncurled, it's about an inch past my bra strap). Drives me insane to have a loose hair caught up in my shirt on the side, and brush against my arm occasionally. :oogle:

I make lists. Every day. To Do lists, for the day and week. I don't think it's excessive, but apparantly it's noticeable. :rolleyes: Oh well, I can deal with that.

I like to have clocks and calendars in every room of the house. I manage to do without a calendar in the bathrooms...but sometimes I wish I had them there.

I feel very uncomfortable if I'm not wearing my watch. I used to not be able to handle it too well if somehow I ended up w/o it (extremely rare), but I can handle it better now, as I take it off for performances.

Oh, I like to remove lint from my hairdrier's intake with tweezers, although now I have a drier where the guard comes off, so I can do it better and faster, which is cool.

I have an obsession with my split ends (hair). I think it stems from when I was a young girl, and we were very poor, and things like haircuts for us kids were not as important as cigarettes and junk food. I used to get made fun of in school because of my shabby appearance and wild hair, and one day I got the idea that if I could somehow manually (without scissors, that is) remove my split ends, the teasing would stop. Well, you can't manually give yourself a trim, and you definitely can't stop young kids from teasing cruelly, and even now I have a very weird habit of messing with my split ends. *sigh*

if i get a drink of water, i half fill the glass, throw it out, then fill and drink. ALWAYS. even if the glass came right out of the dishwasher.

I had to verify your profile to see if you were my wife.

I eat salt-- I'll grab a pinch of kosher salt and crunch away.
If I'm eating something with bones- like a lamb chop- I have to pick the bone clean. And if I'm eating a meal with someone who doesn't pick the bones clean, I will take the bones off their plate and finish them. :shakehead:
I can't sleep without a cover on. When I was a kid it was because I knew it would protect me from vampires, but now I just can't sleep unless I'm covered up. If it's a nap, it can be a little blanket, but if I'm going to sleep for the night I have to be covered up with a sheet and blanket. No vampires here, no sir.

All in all... I'm pretty normal.

But for a long time I couldn't eat with my glasses on. Don't know why.

I like plucking hair also. Particularly my eyebrows.

I put my clothes on in a certain order everyday...and if I get distracted and somehow put my right sock on before my left, I take it off and do it the right way. If I don't it will drive me crazy.

I eat candy like skittles and m&m's by color and only in even numbers unless it's one..If there is going to be only say...3 red left I will eat the two red and then eat the one by itself.

If I wear pj pants to bed and a tee....I will tuck my shirt in and the legs into my socks before I fall asleep. I hate it riding up...if they come untucked in the middle of the night it wakes me up and I retuck...if it happens again I will either get a different pair of socks or sleep in just undies. heh I've heard of a couple other people who do this. But yeah that's probably one of my odder ones. haha

That's it for now

I project personalities onto inanimate objects.

1. I'm like StellLuna - I cannot sleep without a cover on, even if it's hotter than hades, I need a sheet at least. May sweat like bullets, but I'm covered.

2. I count every stair when I climb stairs, and remember (usually) how many there are. And if I'm in a place where I know how many stairs there are, when I'm descending, I'll not look down at the stairs, but keep my head up, just so I can appear confident, while lightly skimming my hand along the rail.

3. In order to wake up, if I have to be somewhere early, I make coffee and then go back to bed with the cup, and drink it horizontally. I've learned how to form my lips so that it doesn't spill on my bed.

4. If I am driving through an intersection and the light above me is yellow, I touch the ceiling/roof of my car. It helps the light not turn red before I'm through the intersection.

5. When playing cards, and if it's a game where the players draw from a pile, I walk my fingers to the pile, every time. It irritates the other players, which is always to my advantage. But I can't NOT do it.

Thank you all for sharing your quirks!!! I'm so glad so many of you have replied :) I also cover up at night, even in the summer when it's hot as hell. I'll use a sheet in the summer and sometimes end up kicking my legs out, but I have to have it over my arms and near my face. I do like the plucking of the hair that has a little layer of skin over it, not yet ingrown, but slightly covered. Hours of entertainment hehe ;) I think our quirks and oddities are what actually make us "normal". The fact that we aren't perfect or are a little weird connects us to each other. Loves it!

tenniels says:
It's also what makes for interesting conversations. :)


I have to eat gummi bears in pairs... one wedged between each set of molars, and bounce 'em between my teeth. If I have an odd number, I'll bite that last one in half.

What is with us and the sleeping with covers on, anyway?

I do the same thing. I hate it when one manages to fall down the front of my shirt while I'm in public...I don't know what's worse, digging down to get it while others watch my antics or having the hair drive me nuts.

I also do the lipbalm before bed. I can't sleep without it. Same with the covers...it may be hot as Hades but I'll still have a sheet over me.

Before I had a dishwasher and I washed mine by hand, I did them in a certain order every time, and it would make me nuts if my husband would slip something into the water if it wasn't what was "supposed" to be in there at the time. I actually do several things in order...getting dressed, my grooming rituals in the morning, other cleaning tasks.

I fold my towels a certain way and will refold them if someone else does it differently...which isn't often now that I don't live with roommates.

Yeah...I'm weird.

I chew ice. Compulsively. I even bought a little ice chopper from Ikea because our in-fridge ice crusher doesn't do the trick. I love the ice from Sonic. "Cubelets" they're called. Or pellet ice. If someone wanted to make my YEAR they would buy me the $3000 commercial cubelet ice machine for my kitchen.

I am another hair-picker - I love plucking stray eyebrow hairs or loose eyelashes. I sometimes tug at my eyelashes until a loose one comes out. Ratbastid gets annoyed with me because he has very thick eyebrows and eyelashes and I'll pluck at ones that are out of line. If we're in the shower and I find a stray eyelash on him I'll stick it to the wall.

I make my capital "A"s like little triangles.

I used to love chipping off old nail polish, but now it's just tedious.

Hee hee, lots of sleepers-with-covers here! Mine comes from sleeping in very primitive places in the last 20 years. No mosquito webs nor anything to guard against rats.

I eat Cheese-Its in pairs, too, StellaLuna. Don't like eating just one. It's gotta be 2.

Lurkette, there are little "cubelette" ice trays at K-Mart - we have them and the ice cubelettes are about 1 CM X 1 CM. Check it out.

EEEEEEEEE! If this is true, I am soooooo happy! Bless you! :love:

I fail to notice when things aren't making sense until I realize I'm not making sense.

I react badly, thereafter.

I also eat Gummi Bears in pairs!! But I put one right side up and the other upside down (a Gummi Bear 69!!!!!) because they fit together like one giant Gummi Bear which I totally love :thumbsup:

I also can't sleep without covers on me.

I also can fall asleep within 5 minutes of going to bed. I didn't think this was odd, until others say they lay awake for awhile. *shrug*

I count steps (stairs and how many steps to get to places).

I am extremely susceptible to bus stop ads. Advertisers use those, I'm buying the product or watching the movie or tv show.

I will touch my nose when I'm in deep thought or reading.

I will often relate situations to songs or tv shows. I feel like that show on HBO sometimes, Dream On.

I am obsessed with my hair. Playing with it, fiddling with it, stroking it, smelling it...I do this compulsively, constantly.

I also rub my hands together frequently.

I absolutely cannot sleep without covers or sleep naked. I have to be clothed and covered with more than a sheet. I have a super-light comforter for the summer, but it should be better this year because now we have air conditioning. I prefer more blankets over less, and was notorious in my younger years for sleeping under a mountain of blankets with my cat perched on top.

I also love to pick pimples or ingrown hairs or things of the pussy and pustule-y nature. I used to drive my brother crazy because he had mild acne and these HUGE blackheads that he just would not pick...so I would sneak attack his nose. My SO attempts to be patient with my picking.

I also like to poke my own bruises.

I bite my nails. But because my teeth leave them with jagged edges I grind them down using my lower incisors. I can't stand my nails catching on anything.

I put on my socks before putting on my pants because I'm afraid that a toenail will catch and break my toe off.

I pick at my scabs, no matter how painful they still may be. When they start to bleed, I let them form a scab again and repeat the process until it's fully healed.

I can't sleep naked. I have to at least be wearing some underwear before my body will let go and allow me to fall asleep.

I, too, am a pimple popper. My own pimples get popped as soon as I notice them.

That's all I got for now, but I'm sure there's more. :)

When I did my middle management stint at Sonic, the ice machine would break down like clockwork around the first of Summer--it was mentioned during the tour even. You would not believe despite the regularity of the event--and the fact that it's just ice--the number of complaints we fielded until we got them back. Some of them were really, really mean about it too. :lol:

During my shower today I realized something else that I do. When I run my fingers through my hair and some comes out (ladies, you'll know what I'm talking about, I have hair half way down my back) I put it on the side of the shower and save it until I'm done the shower and ball it up and throw it away. I am scared that if I were to just let it all go down the drain it would clog or something? Anyone else do that or am I alone on this one?

freaky, my wife does that too...thankfully, though. If she didn't we'd have some serious drainage issues in our shower.

Yes, I do this every time I shower, for the same reason as you (and SaltPork's wife)... my hair is super long and clogs the drain on a regular basis. I went through many years of clogging drains and pissing off my family and roommates before I came up with this tactic of pulling as many loose hairs as possible out before getting in the shower, then constantly pulling more loose hairs as I shampoo/condition/rinse, then pulling even more out when I am blowdrying it.

Still, even after all that, I manage to clog the drain now and then, as well as cover our floors in a carpet of my fallen hair. You would think I'd have gone bald by now... but no, it's thick and keeps on growing. Weird.

Anyway, my point is that I do the exact same thing. Sometimes I forget to retrieve it from the shower wall afterwards, though, and it gives my husband a fright when he sees it and thinks it's a large hairy spider crawling up the wall (my hair is dark brown). :oogle:

I walked into one of those this morning. Stepped into the shower, turned around and there it was. I almost shat myself...and probably screamed like a girl too.

I'm an odd bird in general, but willing to share some specific quirks.

When doing laundry, I stand over the washer, staring at the water as it fills up with bubbles. It's strangely satisfying when the big circle of bubbles forms completely. Sometimes I use more detergent than necessary to make it extra bubbly...

I have this weird nervous habit - I rub my lower lip. I don't know when it started, but I believe it to be a replacement for biting my nails. I'm pretty sure I haven't done it in public because I'm conscious enough to not do it if I'm wearing lipstick.

Hmm well then...

I count steps, I don't step on cracks, If I have an itch or something and blink my left eye, I have to blink my right eye. If I bite down with the left side of my mouth, I'll do it 2 more times, then I'll bite down 2 times using both sides, then one time on the right side. Then I reverse it and do it 2 times on the right and once ni the middle. Then its all evened out... otherwise I feel like my teeth are shoved deeper in the side with less bites. The invisable cracks thing I do that a lot too. I floss from back to front which I guess is weird coz I've been told about it a bunch of times.

Each morning, I select a coffee mug from the cabinet that matches whatever clothes I'm wearing that day. For example, I would never drink from an Auburn mug if I were wearing red.

Grancey shakes her head and says its gay, but I don't care.

I realized another one last night...

If I take home fast food. I have to take everything out of it's wrapper and put it on a plate. Yep... even the French fries. And yes, I pour my drink into a real cup.

When I drink anything, I like to drink in 4 drinks...as in swallowing 4 times...or any multiple of 4. I also count stairs...kind of neurotic about it, but mostly for my memory if I am carrying something heavy up/down them and can't see.

I have color commentary going on in my head when I do mundane tasks.

"Wow, who would have thought he'd get the ENTIRE weed out down to its roots! Back to you Fran!"

When I talk to myself in my head (you know that trail of self thought), I'll be like, "we" should really do the dishes Tenniel. And then I think, we, I'm just me, me myself and I. It happens every time and everytime I say or "think" the same thing to myself that it is stupid to say we, because it's me, but it's the inner me talking to the outer me, if that makes sense? Probably not, I'm very nonsensical. Also, I prefer say the tv volume to be on an even number, but I really prefer it to end in a 5 or a zero. I wouldn't like it to be on 23, so I'd put it to 24, but then I might just go with volume 25 because I like that better.

I'm really wondering if these things are strange at all, or if we're all just so strange we're absolutely normal? More for me myself and I to think about I guess ;)

Isn't that the way everybody does it?

Oh, well if we're going there, then I am stuck on the number 8. When I was a kid, I used to do tasks in 8's (break things down into 8 movements), and my brother once had an Icee sticker on his toybox that said, "Icee - coldest drink in town," and there was no end to the sheer torture I felt because it was only 7 syllables and I couldn't come up with a way to mispronounce it so that it had 8 syllabes. And believe me I tried.

Maybe this explains why I'm a musician. I cleared it with my CPR instructor that I be allowed to do 32 chest compressions instead of 30 because 32 is the same as 8 measures of 4 beats each.

Grancey has pointed out that when I'm driving with a cup of coffee I wait exactly 8 seconds between sips and that I chew peanut M&M's exactly 8 times before swallowing. I did not know any of this until she started screaming at me in the car one day for no apparent reason. Something about driving her crazy....

I sit on my balls to make myself cry when im bored.

Quirks? Everybody's got 'em.

Me, I tend to rub/scratch my nose when I'm vaguely annoyed, particularly when I either don't know precisely what I'm annoyed about or when I can't do anything about it. I am a compulsive knuckle cracker and particularly use that one as a displacement when I think of things (or people) that upset me. I didn't make the connection between the two until about two and a half years ago, when my roommate of the day observed that I cracked my knuckles whenever one specific individual was mentioned.

I am a compulsive fidgeter, which is why I don't do well at desk jobs. My current job is a desk job and I go through on average two rubber bands per day... play with them until they break.

Whenever I buy a new pack of cigarettes, I turn it upside down and tap it against my open palm twice. When I pull a cigarette out of the pack, I tap it twice against the broad side of the pack before putting it in my mouth. I have no idea why I do these things, I just do.

I randomly adjust my hat and I can't leave the apartment or office without it. I've given in to not wearing it at work since it violates dress code, but I always put it on before actually stepping outside the building. The adjusting is actually almost rational, since I wear a fedora and a stiff breeze will take it off my head if it's not seated properly, but there's no real explanation as to why I can't leave home without it. Speaking of leaving home, I always have to check my pockets on the front stoop when I step outside. Keys go in front right, phone in front left, wallet in back right and comb in back left. I have never in my life locked myself out of the house and it wouldn't do me any good even if I did, since I've already locked the door behind me, but I do it anyway. If I forget any one of those items I have to go back for it; this includes my comb.

I make a tika-tika noise when I'm concentrating on something. I know why I do this; it goes back to when I was learning to play the trumpet. When I was learning how to double tongue I would practice the technique everywhere I went and now it just sneaks up on me sometimes.

Although I probably have a few oddities, my sudden and continous failing memory will not allow me to list them.


I have, however, developed a very queer idiosyncrasy which I have no intention of losing in the near future: whenever I occupy a room/space that is vacant while narrowly avoiding a confrontation/meeting with another person, I let out a slight howl to the tune of "Ronaldinho". :D

I play with crap on my desk and I usually end up breaking it. I may have paper clips on day one, but on day 3, I have a 5 foot, multicolored chain. I had an ink pen but all I have left is the little tube with the ink in it. I have converted the spring to a cannon and little clicker thing into a cannon ball. With my little flimsy tube of ink I draw on my styrofoam cups. I usually end up poking a hole in the cup though. I had a needle and thread once.. I sewed my fingers together. Well.. Kinda..

I have to set any alarm clock either three minutes later, or three minutes earlier, than the actual time I need it for.

I am only comfortable in an environment below room temperature. If it's over 72 degrees, I become uncomfortable. Above 80 and I become very uncomfortable and distracted. I can concentrate the best closer to 50 degrees fahrenheit (10 degrees celsius). Not only that, but I don't really get cold unless it's close to 35 degrees. When I was younger, I could sleep in snow with little more than a sweatshirt on. It's strange, because my body temperature is 98.6 F (37 C) like everyone else.

I bite my nails, but I always make sure they look ok, by biting off the bits that are jagged. They end up looking like nails that were clipped a day ago by a nail clipper.
I also push back that little bit of skin that covers the bottom of the nail. Not too hard, I just like to barely see it.
I also crack my knuckles and other articulations a lot. When I go through a complete "cycle", each finger goes through 3 cracks (in different places), my wrists once or twice each, my elbows twice each, my neck once, my upper back, then lower back, my hip if I can (sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't). My knee can crack by twisting it, or extending my leg, and this sort of dislocation-ish thing, that produces a very loud low pitched crack (everyone I've shown this to gets freaked out, nobody else can do it, or wants to). My ankles, and then my toes. I don't always go through this specific order, but sometimes I do, to the great annoyance of however is hanging out with me.
Other than that, nothing that I can think of.

WOW.... I have soo many of the same quirks as all of you!

I pull my hair out. I play with it, smooth it, sometimes even chew on it. It has gotten so bad that my hair has this permanent frizzy look to it bc i have all these hairs that are shorter than the others... I pull out the really thick, coarse hairs that are crinkled or whatever you call it. I also have a few minor bald spots in various places due to this. I've heard it's an actual OCD... I can't remember the name for it though.. saw it on the Tyra Banks Show one day...
It's my security blanket. I'm almost ALWAYS playing with my hair and it drives my SO and everyone else I know absolutely crazy.

I crack my knuckles and everything/anything else that will allow me to do so. I crack each of my fingers about three times... i arch my back and twist to crack that... my knees and ankles also crack pretty easily. My toes... and one of my favorites is the inside of my hips... like right by the crotch area, I just stand on one foot and pivot outwards kind of like a dog hiking up his leg to piss. It feels sooo incredibly good. And I get freakishly weird stares everytime. Ahwelll..

My brother and I both used to have a problem tapping... And had to do it evenly. If mom yelled "stop" lets say... and i was tapping and on number 10... because i was below my favorite number (11) i had to tap one more time. Always.. But if i were on number 23..i had to tap to 24 because it's even. Always had to end on an even number unless i was below 11, which is odd... then i'd just tap to that. Idk weird...

I also love to pop pimples. But i'm weird about who's pimples other than my own that i will pop. Will with my brother, or best friend, or SO... although he doesn't let me! lol... but can't do my moms. Idk why just grosses me out.

Sometimes I get in horribly weird rituals and moods where i also have to match whatever I do on one side of my body with the other side... like chewing, tapping, whatever it is until i feel it's even...

Sooo basically what we're all saying is that each of us has a little bit of OCD in us... just some are worse than others and seek medical attention for it. I'm not gonna lie...as soon as I get my insurance back up and running... I'm going to the doc to see about this hair pulling crap I do.... It's ruining my hair, and I've tried to stop myself (wearing a rubber band on my hand and slapping myself with it, biting my nails more than i already do until they bleed, etc) but nothing I've tried myself works. I cannot and will not stop. I want to though.... so maybe medical prof's can help. IDK maybe I'm trying to take the easy way out....lol....

I know exactly what you mean, that spot feels the best of all,but for some reason I can almost never crack it. Oh well, when I do it's awesome.