Wednesday, October 25, 2006

You're probably weird, too.

I’m not an Oprah viewer, but I happened to be home the other day when it started and heard it was about OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder). I find this interesting because 1) the girls’ stepmother seems to have some OCD tendencies, and 2) because I think a lot of people have at least minor tendencies. I might be one of them. Nothing major, but I do find myself bothered by certain things or adhering to certain "rules." Some are probably OCD related, while others are just weird idiosyncrasies. I bet you do things like this, too:

It’s just not right for certain items in the fridge to be placed next to other items. For instance, milk does not belong near items like pickle jars, the mayonnaise, or steak sauces. I just feel my milk is going to be contaminated in some way if it sits next to those foods.

Pictures on the wall should never, EVER be crooked. Ever. Even in someone else’s house, if you can manage to straighten the picture without them noticing.

I like for miscellaneous items to be perpendicular or parallel to other items. Any other angles are somewhat annoying. I recall this being an issue when I had an office job and the papers on my desk needed to be arranged just so at various times throughout the day. The world was a better place when the edges of the papers were parallel with the edge of the desk.

I have to say that I have come a long, long way in chilling out. I used to be more bothered by mess, disorder, and dirt. I’m way more comfortable with it now, and perhaps some of that is because I’ve discovered there just isn’t enough time to worry about those imperfections anymore. And if you were to open my fridge, you would see little or no indication of OCD mannerisms. Or if you popped over to the house, it wouldn’t be free of clutter on the computer desk, messy dresser drawers, or unorganized closets. The annoyance of these things is always there, always looming over me, but I don’t often take the time to fix them.

I can’t explain to the three people I live with how much more relaxed and laid back I would be if their rooms or bathrooms or general stuff was neatly taken care of. And I think that because they don’t have issues with order like I do, that it becomes too overwhelming for me to try keeping my part as neat as I would like it. My mind tells me that if I worked hard on my stuff and no one else did on theirs, that I would simply lose my mind. So I give myself over to the dark side and try to join them, if only slightly. It doesn't mean they're sloppy or dirty people (okay, two of them definitely are sometimes), but just that they're different from me.

And now for a sudden subject change, I'm going to attempt to get some Halloween-appropriate pictures of Junior this week. You'll see what I mean when and if I capture the evilness within.

2 comments:

DeeBee said...

I must admit that while reading this, I might have (with a smile)rolled my eyes at you a little... but I did both eyes together and in sync with each other, so relax.

her said...

Do you have any OCD tendencies when it comes to taking pictures of Junior?