5 weird habits

[tigertoy]

I usually eschew memes, but this one seems like an amusing opportunity to actually tell something about myself, rather than reaching into a hat for one of a small number of canned messages.

The meme, picked up from cadhla and figmo:  write a journal entry describing 5 "quirky, weird, or unusual habits".  The entry must also describe these rules and invite interested parties to do it in their own journal.  (That would be this paragraph right here.)

1. I have an almost pathological hatred of waiting for elevators.  As a result, when I check into a hotel I tend to make a nuisance of myself asking the desk clerk for a room on as low a floor as possible.  I've been known to walk up as many as eight floors just so I wouldn't have to wait for an elevator.


2. This one is actually a habit that I don't have that almost everyone else does, but it certainly marks me as weird.  I do not own a television and essentially never watch TV. This means that when you're talking about how cool last night's Supernatural was, or even how wonderful the Buffy series was, I may smile and nod politely, but I don't actually know what you're talking about.


3. I have a borderline obsession about finger- and toenails.  If I become conscious of having nails, I *have* to trim them, or if I don't have access to a clipper, to tear them off.  This means I can never grow fingernails to pluck strings with.


4. When I eat a food that is a mixture of recognizable pieces of different things, I always try to have a bit of each thing in every bite.  F'rinstance, if I were having stew, I would want a bit of beef, a bit of carrot, a bit of potato, a bit of celery, and some barley in each bite. If the chunks of the different items are too big to combine them this way, it bothers me slightly.


5. I talk to myself.  This in itself is probably not that weird, but when I talk to myself, I use a peculiar dialect, where I use a mixture of made-up words that I've collected over the years and ordinary words that have different meanings when I use them.  I think I am pretty good about keeping this subvocal when there are people who can hear me, but if you should hear me use such strange expletives as "Pants!" or "fnordication!", it's either a clue that you've snuck up on me and I don't know you're there, or that my grip on reality is looser than usual. If pressed, I could probably provide definition, etymology, and explanation for all of these odd words and usages, but many of them would be embarrassing.

I think that provides a good sample of the weird things about me that I'm comfortable writing about and you're comfortable reading about.  As for the others, we're not going there.

Comments

How weird is "weird"?

[markiv1111.livejournal.com]

I don't share all of these, though I do talk to myself sometimes. Even so, they're pretty credible. I was a total non-TV watcher up until maybe six years ago, and a case could be made that I should have continued as one; but at the fannish rooming house (The Dream Cafe) where I was living, the huge living room TV was almost always on. I first got hooked on the 10 o'clock news (the ABC, NBC and CBS stations being of equal interest to me) and then found myself watching a few shows. I do not remotely recommend that you follow in my footsteps, as this does waste some of my own time.

Nate

[starstraf.livejournal.com]

2 — you would like Lawrence — that is the norm here. Most of my social crowd either dosen't own a TV or only has one to watch DVD's (Don't watch broadcast/cable)

[poltr1]

Gad. Some of these I have, like talking to myself, sampling everything on a smorgasbord, and compulsively chewing my fingernails if they're too long.

I own a TV, but I hardly watch anything. I know a few people who don't own TVs though.

And if you start muttering "Bugrit! Millennium Hand and Shrimp!", I'll send Sam Vimes to arrest you. :-)

[bammba-m.livejournal.com]

that's actually a very cool meme

[figmo.livejournal.com]

I have three TVs in my house, yet the only time I tend to put them on is to either bore myself to sleep or (when set automatically) to wake myself up.

When Warren isn't around the TV in my rec room mostly collects dust.

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

fun meme.

i used to not have a TV for long, long periods of time. these days i have one mostly to watch DVDs on, and the occasional interesting nature documentary. i still forget to watch even shows i like, and should rightly have a tivo-like setup. i don't care enough to make that happen, though. if this TV broke i don't think i'd even replace it.

i am mostly the opposite on 4 -- i like to separate my food tastes. only occasionally will i mix specific items in relatively precise proportions -- fruit with cereal, for example.

don't like nails either, though i try to refrain from tearing them off (tear off toenails though, and then am bugged by them snagging on socks or blanket, *sigh*). there's a clipper on my desk and one in the bathroom and one in my backpack, so i am never far from a clipping tool. :)

i talk to myself as well, and i often use specific words that i like -- they don't have to have a special meaning, but it's usually about their sound or rhythm. i'll just mutter them like a mantra sometimes. macadamia... macadamia... macadamia. i also practice dialects when i talk to myself. it's quite embarrassing when somebody surprises me. :)