Weird personal habits

Every evening when I get home, I ask my cat how her day was.

I do something similar, whenever I go to the bank to cash my paycheck, after the transaction is complete I heft the envelope into the air, tip it towards them and nod my head as if to say "Thanks again!"

I also overuse the 'thumbs up' gesture (it's a gesture I'm a big fan of since it dates back to ancient Rome) but I know it looks dorky and always feel embarrassed after having deployed it.

Also, if I wake up in the middle of the night and need a glass of water, I prefer to fill up a sammich sized ziplock bag with water instead of getting a cup (it's a germophobia thing, I don't want to have to wash a glass it would take too much effort)

Whenever I have a bag of potato chips, I always open it from the bottom.

I hope this thread never dies.

I always use my turn signals, even if it's just the road that's curving and there's no intersection.

My last girlfriend asked me why I shave with one eye closed. I never realized I did. I'm 49.

I catch myself doing that sometimes.

This is probably some weird form of OCD, but I'll hear a piece of dialog or line of a song, and count out the number of words with my fingers. If I can do so using multiples of five (in other words, starting with the pinky and stopping on the thumb regardless of how many times I cycle through), the phrase "wins".

If I was your age, I'd keep both eyes open. That way Death can't sneak up on you.

Holy shit. You win.


As for myself, hard to think of anything. I tend to eat/suck/consume Altoids compulsively if I'm playing poker.

You're in 2nd place, Dickson.

Brushing my teeth consists of equal parts brush movement and moving my head side-to-side. Wife says this is weird. Confirm/Deny?

Weird Personal Habits for me:

1) If I don't like you, I'll never use your name when speaking to you.

2) If I think I dropped something, I will look for it like a piece of jewelry on a Miami Dolphins training field. It doesn't matter what I drop.

3) I will never stay on the phone longer than 5 minutes. If you try to push it, I'll hang up on you. I have no idea why, it's like I have Phone ADD.

Kate, if I may ask, how do you drink water out of a ziplock baggie without spilling it everywhere?

I guess she punches a straw into the bag "Capri Sun" style.

That is the saddest and best visual of all time.

I've got some weird little OCD-lite type stuff that shines through once in a while, but it's nothing that impacts me or anyone else in anytihng even slightly approaching a meaningful way. Most of it stems from a deisre for order, predictability and control... but it's all good. (ETA: My wife has a tendency to point some things out once in a while, and it is only in these moments that I feel like I am defective... naturally.)

ETA, again to give an example: It doesn't shatter my life if it doesn't play out the same way, but I am a creature of habit. I like to do what I do the way I do it. Like, I head out for work much earlier than I need to because I like to have some downtime for myself before heading into work. I have coffee and lately I've been making use of a portable DVD player (it has become my most favortie thing EVER). I like to go to the same place and sit at the same table and I like to put my cup on a napkin, rather than on the table and I like the napkin to sit on the table a certain way and I purposely set it that way and I take the lid off the cup and add my sugar and then keep the cup facing a certain way and put the lid back on a certain way pertaining to the seam on the cup, and I like to fold up the leftover trash from the sugar packs I use a certain way and then prefer to wrap THOSE in the receipt (if I have one) a certain way. Maybe I am damaged, but this takes longer for me to type than to do and if it helps put me in a comfort zone of sorts then all praise be to wacky habits that hurt no one!

Something else, I notice that I like to give myself theme music when I'm walking around by myself (at least I hope I only do it when I'm by myself). It's usually (but not always) more along the lines of rhythm, like a bass line or drums, and I'm mostly good, as far as I know, at stopping when other people get within range of me possibly looking (sounding?) foolish.

Yeah, I ain't proud of it.

Wait, I've got one. When I'm driving around in the car by myself, if I'm singing along to the radio, I always make the lyrics incredibly filthy.

Yes! I do that too, to the point of incoherence.

"My friend's got a fuck shit and he cunts her stank
He shitfucks every twat
She wants dickhole assglass just to douchebag lime
well my fuck, you have to shit
Shit a dick, Shit a di-ick
blowjob up my twat
Nah, nah, why don't you shit a fuck?"

It's fun, there is something satisfying about biting the corner off and sucking out all the water in a series of big gulps (especially in the middle of the night when you wake up and you're super thirsty). One of my earliest memories (age 2.5) is of being on Cliff Island in Maine with my family and going on a walk with my dad where he gave me a zip lock bag full of apple juice with a straw in it. That's probably where I first got the idea.

Here are some movie related ones though:

Whenever I watch a DVD, I always go to scene selections, and then select scene 2, then hit chapter back( I never push "play"). This usually lets you get past the warning messages and studio logos. I only do this if stopping the DVD, starting it, and hitting chapter forward didn't get the movie to automatically start on it's own (which usually happens 75% of the time). I *hate* unskippable ads/warnings and do my best to avoid them

Also, I adopt curse words or expressions from movies and TV shows and deliberately use them in conversation with people who I know won't understand what I'm talking about.

See above answer


EDIT: Anderson,

I actually have a multitude of straws around my house at any given time. Whenever I get a Chill Zone, I always take like 2 more straws than I need. Once I've saved up enough, I use them for all sorts of purposes (mostly I construct stuff out of them while I watch movies) but rarely do I use them for drinking!

When applying deodorant to my armpits, I'll start with the left, then move the right and go back and hit the left one at least one more time. No second love for the right one though.

I'd assume she'd just nibble on one end of the bag a bit and then keep it in her mouth till she's done. I should know... I used to put soda in a bag like that when I was a kid from time to time. Oh geez...

ETA: Too slow!

I'm not going to lie to you: a lot of you people are freaks who should be kept away from society at all costs. No offense.

Any time I am around or hear of or see from a distance any sort of nails-on-chalkboard-esque situation... it could just be nails on denim... any sort of raised surface really...

I flip out. I have to run my nails over either the same surface or a similar surface until I calm down.

This has REALLY lightened up in the last couple of years, but when I was a kid, these situations were physically painful for me. Nowadays, I'm mostly just aware of any nails-scratching-something activity... it's almost "Oh look, there it goes again... jeez that's annoying..."

Also, when I was a kid -- everything HAD to be in 2's. When I was walking... it was always 1 - 2, 1 - 2... rhythm to songs... beats in a conversation... chewing food... I used to tap either side of my jaw in 1 - 2's.

I would hope you are not talking about me because I mentioned my weird ziplock bag habit in the "weird personal habits" thread. That would be unkind

Ok yeah... but that ziplock bag thing is pretty creepy. And not very green.

I rock while I eat. I'd never noticed this until someone pointed it out to me a month ago.

When walking on tiles I always move my next foot two tiles forward and one to the left/right, like the knight in chess.

I buy 100's because I'm such a frugal bastard that I need that extra little smidge of tobacco per cig, but I prefer the taste of a king, so I habitually trim the filters down. I can't discard those filter nubs until after I've squished it like a snack sized serving of bubble wrap... lest the universe come to an end due to my negligence. I used to trim an entire pack upon opening, but I can't be bothered to do that anymore, unless I'm going out to a public place like a bar. People tend to frown upon me whipping out my cutting shears every time I'm about to light up.

FWIW - This habit is actually on the bottom rung of my daily OCFO (Obsessive Compulsion For Order) quirkness ladder. I'm not ready to give up the really big ones just yet.

I'm making a list of people I will never meet from this thread.

OMG ME TOO!

Same here, although in Spanish we use first names less often. I never considered it a weird habit. It will be really obvious if somebody caught my "trend".

I don't move like a knight, but I have to alternate which foot steps over the next line of tiles/sidewalk breaks/whatever surface I'm walking over. If I have to make an awkward little babystep or giant stretch-step to get over with the correct foot, so be it. And if I do end up stepping over 2 lines with my left foot, then I have to do 2 with the right. I'll keep a running tally of 'mistakes' going so I can balance it out.

Whenever I eat I'll only eat one thing at a time.

I did this before I started doing the "knight" thing.

Thanks, Cap.

I don't see why my anecdote is being singled out as particularly irrational considering what other people have mentioned. What about putting on a turn signal when there is no intersection and therefore no need to signal which direction you intend to drive? I see nothing wrong with ziplock bags. I am living on my own for the first time in my life and can't afford a part time non profit career in late night dish washing as well.

I don't have many glasses and usually do my dishes in the morning. At 3 AM, it's easier to grab a ziplock bag than to go downstairs and get a glass from the cupboard*. As for being green, I like to think of myself as a green advocate, but as I've previously stated in other threads, I think conservation needs to be managed at the governmental level, it should not fall on individual citizens.

Plus, to wash a glass just for the night time uses up hot water, takes oil as well. It takes calorific energy for me to walk down stairs and wash a glass in hte middle of the night. That energy would have to be replenished by food. Food that generated a carbon imprint to produce

*and I'm a light sleeper, if I do too much moving around when I wake up it could take me forever to get back to sleep, I need to get the water, and get back to sleep ASAP

I do this too, though mine usually takes the form of inserting absurdly profane additions rather than altering the existing lyrics.

"You are the wind beneath my wings, youfuckingprickcocksucker."

I do this too. If I'm going to move from one dish to another I have to make a point of it otherwise I'll just eat one thing at a time.

Also, if I'm having a sandwich or burger, I will not put it down until I've finished it usually. Unless it's freakishly large or something. And it's all the more weird because I don't inhale it. I'll take my time, just holding the fucking burger in my hand like a buffoon.

PK, just embrace your inner creepy.

Also, I have a tendency to wave at people when greeting them... even if they're 3 feet away.

Oh, and the hand greeting thing in Demolition Man? I do that. I call it a 'Safety Five' -- "It's like a high five... but SAFER!"

If I have something with a clearly defined top bun and bottom bun, like a burger, I always turn it upside down to eat it. I have no clue why. Been doing it forever.

You get more access to the flavor this way... all the fixins are usually on top (this kind of sandwich/burger construction is a mistake, btw... but we're not getting into that), so turning it upside down brings all that tasty veggie/sauce goodness into play.

I have a similar malady, but it's syllables in multiples of four. I count the syllables off by squeezing my toes against the bottoms of my shoes and releasing (squeeze 1-2, release 3-4). And if the phrase ends with all of my toes relaxes, I'm satisfied. I hadn't thought of calling it "winning", but that's exactly what it is.

Oh, and if we don't have a winner on the first try? Repeat until it does. Everything is a multiple of four eventually...

I've heard about something like that from a Honduran friend. My quirk is only in interpersonal conversation. It's not like I have to restate everyone's name on-line (Fleed-style) to acknowledge them warmly.

Sometimes, I just don't feel like typing out a screen name. If I know you in the real world and I haven't addressed you by your name...I don't like you.

The worse is when I give people nicknames. I only recently found out my mailman's name. It turns out that he wasn't dubbed Slowfuck McGee at birth.

Nice! I basically do that too. And if I pick up a sandwich or soemthing I really don't like to put it down until I am done.

I might steal your habit. I like this.

When someone gets shot in a movie, I make a farting sound. I only do this when watching movies at home, mind you.

Goddamn, y'all.

Um, I eat too fast.

I'm normally compulsive and impatient, but for some reason, it urks me to wait for microwave food. Even at the ridulous speed it's prepared. While at work, I will take a leak while my food heats up. It takes me exactly a minute and 45 seconds to walk from the office kitchen to the mens room, go, wash my hands and get back. Just enough time to heat up my lunch (soup, leftovers, etc). It makes me happy if the microwave dings just as I'm entering the kitchen. Almost as if it's anouncing that I'M done.

If it doesn't work with fives, I'll sometimes break it down to threes and just go pinky-middle finger-thumb.

Methinks you are rationalizing your laziness my dear Kate.

You don't need hot water (or much of water in general) to wash a cup...and the creation, transport, disposal, and purchase of god knows how many ziplocks you have wasted on this habit consumes far more energy and resources than if you had just turned on your faucet for 30 seconds.

ETA: You could just buy your own personal canteen and store it in the fridge, but that's too convenient.


This isn't weird. This is smart. I do the same thing. I want the movie I paid for, and nothing but, to start.

Kate, use a water bottle.

I always put the TV or car radio volume on an even number. Unless it's 25, then it's perfectly okay for whatever reason.

Water drinking from a ziploc bag? That's some inexplicably weird shit.