Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Quirky? Why yes, I am!

I know this may come as a shock to you, but I'm not as normal as I look.

Yes, I know that's hard to believe, especially since yesterday's Blog Me MAYbe post about writing motivation was a little on the serious side. For "May I tell you something about myself?" Tuesday, I thought I'd lighten the mood a bit by presenting eighteen quirky things about me.

But first, here's my idol, Phoebe Buffay, the ultimate quirky free spirit:




On with my quirks!

1. I can't stand the thought of anyone touching my eyeballs. I don't even like thinking about my eyeballs, and if I get an eyelash in one, I hop around on one foot (who knows why?), cup a hand over my eye, and yell.

"And then we sauté the vegetables
until they're nice and soft..."
Image courtesy of Graham Soult
rgbstock.com
2. When I make dinner, I sometimes like to pretend I'm filming a live cooking show.

3.  I hate calling people I don't know well. I'd rather talk to them in person or send them an e-mail.

4. After I've parked my van, I almost always have to walk around it to make sure that the sliding doors are indeed closed.

5.  I hate the smell of ranch dressing. Unfortunately,
my kids love the stuff, so I often have to hold my breath while making lunch. (Weirdly, I do like the taste.)

Hey, Stinky. You're not so bad!
Wikimedia Commons (public domain)
     6.  I don't mind the smell of skunks.

     7.  I always put on my right shoe first.

     8.  I like all the hangers in the closet to be facing
          the same way.

     9.  Before I pick up the phone to make an
          appointment, I rehearse what I'm going to say.

     10. I often have full conversations with myself
           when other people are around.



11. When I order hamburgers at "good" restaurants, I eat them with a knife and fork. If I'm home, I pick them up.

12.  I hate going up escalators, but I don't mind going down them.

Image courtesy of Dominic Morel,
rgbstock.com
13. When I put towels away, I always put the most recently washed ones on the bottom of the pile so they all get used evenly.

14. I always blow-dry my hair on the left side first.

15. I eat a square of unsweetened chocolate almost every day.

16. I like to sing Stevie Wonder's "I Just Called To Say I Love You" and Lisa Loeb's "Stay" in the shower.

17. I like Popsicles but don't eat them often because I can't stand the taste or feel of the wooden Popsicle stick.

18. I'm claustrophobic and therefore terrified of being trapped in an elevator. Interestingly, as a child, I was reading underneath my bed, and my long hair got caught in the exposed springs. Coincidence? You be the judge.

*Shudder*
Image courtesy of Hans Thoursie, rgbstock.com


So what are your quirks? Do we share any of the same ones?

56 comments:

  1. What fun. OK -- The towel thing -- doesn't everybody do that??? I know I do! Rehearsing phone calls -- I usually have notes prepared. Cooking -- my sister wanted to learn how to make apple dumplings and we pretended we were doing a cooking show. Before we knew it, my husband was there with a pretend camera zooming in on pretend perfect shots. My different quirk: I hate to back out of a parking spot so I usually look for a pull-through.

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    1. I love your cooking show! ;)

      I do the same thing when I park the van! I hate backing up and always--always--find a pull-through.

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  2. Quirky = unique. It's fun to be slightly different, who wants to be a sheep. Great post by the way.

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    1. Thanks, Sally! And you're absolutely right. I'm definitely not a sheep. :)

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  3. I'm also sensitive about my eyes, I hate calling people I don't know, and I also rehearse what I'm going to say when I call to make an appointment. And my hangars also have to face the same way, and I also hate the wooden popsicle stick. The same thing prompts me to remove corndogs from their sticks before eating. Does that defeat the purpose of it being a corndog? I've never been sure about that.

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    1. So much in common! We must be kindred spirits. ;)

      As far as the corn dog goes, I don't think taking it off the stick defeats the purpose, but peeling off the cornmeal would! LOL

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  4. Ha, this is fun.. I HATE talking on the phone, period.... and think email and text messaging are the best inventions EVER!! I don't mind skunk smell either, I'm glad to know I'm not the only one. And yes... I have full blown conversations in my head, it's a daily thing :)

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    1. My uncle LOVES skunk smell--he'll stop and just breathe it in. I'm not quite that bad. LOL

      My ex-insurance agent will be calling me today, and I've been "talking" to him all morning in my head, imagining all the conversation possibilities and what I'll say when he tries to get me to go back to his company. :)

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  5. Great list! The only thing I think I have in common is the towel thing. Hmmmm trying to think of a quirk of my own. Lol, this is ridiculous - I know I must have a billion quirks but can't think of anything!

    Well, I'll give you one of my mom's instead. When she was a kid, she had to eat her peas really fast because, she felt like the ones left on the plate would get their feelings hurt. So there she sat at the table - shovelling them in as fast as she could.

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    1. I love your mom's childhood quirk! How cute!

      I had a little trouble coming up with my list, too, so I asked my husband. He knew. LOL

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    2. Lol! That's hilarious... and makes perfect sense!

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    3. He was a little reluctant to tell me at first. He said the question was the equivalent of "Does my butt look big in these pants?" He was worried it would all end badly... LOL

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  6. This is fun! I definitely agree about the feeling of the wooden popsicle stick. I don't like phone calls either, but I have to do them all the time at work. I generally write out script for each of my calls before I make them. It helps a lot. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. I hear you about the scripts. I definitely do that--or I just practice how I think the conversation will go in my mind.

      What is it about those Popsicle sticks?! :)

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  7. Loved the list of quirky things and share several of them. Not the skunk one though. :)

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    1. I suspected that not many people would. LOL

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  8. I love the list! In common.... definitely the elevators. But only elevators. Its a sudden fear. No idea where it came from. :) I love the one about the cooking show, too. :)

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    1. Thanks, Vanessa! I always feel like the elevator walls are closing in on me. Yikes!

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  9. Okay, I may be weird too, because I do a lot of those things! :D

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    1. LOL Yay! As someone up above said, why be sheep? ;)

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  10. That was a fun list! And quirky people are always the most interesting people. I hate talking on the phone with anyone and I rarely pick it up when it rings unless it's my mom, Nana, or husband. I don't like Popsickle sticks either. You think they could be more environmentally friendly and not make them out of wood, but recycled plastic, something smoother.

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  11. you say
    i only hear what i want to...
    i love that song! and phoebe running!

    thanks for sharing your quirks =)

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  12. I love this post. Yes, your quirks are charming. I like to sing operatic soprano in the shower because of the excellent echo. But only when the house is empty (no audience). I sing a few lines from Carmen and from La Traviata over and over again, and fill in the words I don't know with La La La La La.

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  13. I rehearse my phone conversations when it's someone I don't know or I have uncomfortable news to tell them.
    Great to meet you! :)

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  14. So many quirks.
    I sing ridiculous songs to the dogs "Finn's a little man and he has a little van and he has a deep dark tan"
    Yeah.
    I am deathly afraid of fish. Live ones. Especially manta rays which are pretty much kites with eyes and a stinger. Funny, I have a pond full of fish.
    I cannot even think about getting into an mri machine or drain pipe. Tanning beds are terrifying (and bad for you)Being surrounded by closed-in walls terrifies me. Elevators are ok if there are no more than 3 people. After that, I exit right away.
    I get overstimulated easily. If I am in a crowded area and there are a lot of voices all at once, I have to go somewhere quiet. (at work it's into the walk-in cooler.
    I love to make people laugh but I hate being the center of attention. If a few people are looking at me when I talk, I freeze.
    The mere thought of an egg makes me cringe.
    The sound, smell or thought of vomit makes me almost pass out.
    So many more....
    I put makeup on the left side first, sock goes on left foot first as does undies. I also dry the right side of my hair first.
    I have to brush my teeth right before I walk out the door.
    I must always have some sort of balm or gloss on my lips. If I wake up in the middle of the night and my lips are dry, I blindly reach next to me for the balm.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. I like your song! :)

      The MRI machine! Ugh. I have nightmares about that. I hope I never have to get in one.

      I don't like being the center of attention either, which is weird because I used to be a teacher.

      I put my makeup on the left eye first and my socks on the right first.

      I loved reading about your quirks! Thanks for sharing. :)

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  15. #2 and ever since I had an accident on one, I despise using escalators. I'd rather avoid them altogether.

    A particular idiosyncrasy of mine is that my undergarments should coordinate with my outer attire. Strange, but true.

    -Barb the French Bean

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    1. Those escalators are dangerous. I always feel like I'm going to fall.

      Thanks for sharing! :)

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  16. I'm with you on the popsicle sticks. The towel thing makes such good sense; I don't know why I never thought of it. I think my quirk (the one that drives my husband crazy) is brushing my teeth when I'm driving in the car. You know, we all have quirks but most of them seem normal to us. What a fun post!

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    1. Thanks, Joanna!

      I agree with you: we're definitely all at least a little bit quirky. :)

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  17. Those are some funny quirks! I'm not a big fan of popsicle sticks, either. And I like squares of chocolate, although I don't indulge in them every day. I really don't understand why you don't think skunks smell bad. Were you a skunk in a past life? LOL.

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    1. It's unsweetened chocolate that I eat nearly every day--that really bitter baker's chocolate. I love it!

      LOL about the skunk. Who knows, huh? ;) I guess I just think that there are a lot of other things that smell even worse. :)

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  18. Ha-ha! I touch my own eyeballs all the time because I wear contact lenses. I touch them even without contacts for no reason, or because I have an eyelash in them. Other people can touch them, too. Doesn't bother me at all.

    One time at an optometrist, I was told that the glaucoma test pointer needed to touch my eye and that I absolutely could NOT blink or move my eyes. I thought it was going to puncture them! The guy scared me for no reason, so I freaked out about that one incident. But, I otherwise am fine with eyeball touching.

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    1. I cringed just reading your eyeball comment. ;) The only doctor I really can't stand going to is the eye doctor. Just the thought of it makes me panic. I've worn glasses for about thirty-five years and have never once been able to get the courage to try contacts--and a glaucoma test? *shudder*

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  19. I enjoyed reading these about you; interesting about the smell of ranch dressing versus the smell of skunk :) I like the smell of tar, weird.

    I just read your comment about not being able to wear contacts; I have to agree that test for glaucoma is just plain weird!

    I'm with you about claustrophic and elevators. I bet there is a bit of correlation with your experience with your hair under the bed and now your aversion to small spaces. I don't ever want to think what would happen if I needed an MRI!

    very cute post; made me smile :)

    betty

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    1. Thanks, Betty.

      We're all quirky, aren't we? I don't like the smell of tar. :)

      Oh, yes, I'm certain that my claustrophobia stemmed from the hair-stuck-in-the-springs incident. I still panic when I think of that day.

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  20. I hate the phone! Email was made for phone-phobics like me. And #13 is very, very smart--I do not do that, and the result is a couple towels that get used and rewashed all the time and others that never do. I'll be adopting that quirk!

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    1. I had to talk to my ex-insurance man on the phone today. It wasn't fun. E-mail would have been so much better. I'm so much smarter when I e-mail... ;)

      Glad quirk 13 will help! :)

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  21. If you're quirky, then I am too. I always dry the left side of my hair first too. I also hate the phone and ANY enclosed spaces. Fun idea for a post, Dana!

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  22. Its always great to get to know another blogger a little better. I do the same thing with hangers. And I'm claustophoobic as well.

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    1. I'm always glad to know I'm not alone! :)

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  23. some of your quirks I share and some of them make me laugh. I have a cousin on my hubby's side that LOVES the smell of skunk. Strange!

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    1. I don't love it, but I can think of smells that are worse!

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  24. My husband is the same way about Popsicle sticks, so I usually cut his off of the stick and put it in a bowl for him. And I'm totally with you on the eye thing! Just thinking about something in my eye gives me the creeps!

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    1. I told the eye doctor once that no one's eyeballs should be touched. He just laughed. :)

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  25. If a bee buzzes around me, I'm totally cool and calm. But a butterfly? I freak out big time. Much to the amusement of everyone around me!

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  26. omgosh, how did i miss this yesterday--i love this---we are the same on the escalator thing, except i hate both directions--i am the same on the phone thing- and the appointment thing---the coat hanger thing too----not with ya on the skunk thing----i guess i have shared most of my quirky things---hmmmmm, maybe that if i find a doll or stuffed animal in a store out of place, then i have to go put it with the others :)

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    1. I know someone who does the same thing in stores!

      It sounds like we're almost twins in our quirkiness. ;)

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  27. I HATE the phone! I write full scripts if I have to call someone up! So weird...

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  28. Ugh!! I hate the popsicle stick, too...gives me the creeps just thinking about it!

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    1. I thought for sure I would be the only one, but so many people have said the same thing. Glad I'm not alone!

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