Thursday, March 26, 2009

Spin Cycle: Quirks

For this week's Spin Cycle, Jen of Sprite's Keeper has again asked us to bare our souls to the Internets, this time sharing our quirks.

As I mentioned here, I've been known to have the occasional quirky coping technique. But really, I am the epitome of normal. Really. There are just one or two small things that I do that maybe not everyone does...

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When I go through a yellow or pink light I kiss my hand and smack the ceiling of the car. Whether I'm driving or not. A lot of people do that though. Don't they?

I call lights that turned red as you drove through them "pink".

When I go over railroad tracks I lift my feet off the floor. Not so easy to do when I'm the one driving the car.

When I drive past a graveyard I hold my breath. Perhaps so I don't inhale any parts of the dead people? It doesn't help that the graveyard I drive past every day is across the road from a subdivision that was built on top of, and is still next to, a landfill. So, frequently the smell of rotting ham fills my car at that part of the drive, so there is an element of self preservation to this.

When I drive over a bridge I do not look left or right lest I suddenly jerk the car to one side or the other and fall off, guard rails be darned.

When I walk into the bathroom in the morning I close my eyes until I've turned on the light in case I should see someone in the mirror in the dark that ISN'T ME. Yes, I was traumatized by that stupid Bloody Mary game as a child. Obviously I haven't recovered.

Having been indoctrinated by Mother Goose I have the intense urge to pick up any spare change I see (Find a penny, pick it up, all day you will have good luck. Find a penny, leave it lay, bad luck you will have all day).

I like to hear the entire plot of movies I haven't seen, including the endings, so that I don't have to spend the whole thing wondering if it will turn out well, and so I know which movies I definitely don't want to see. I get really peeved when people won't tell me how something ends, because, believe me, I want to know.

I think rats make great pets. Especially for children. Oddly, not many people agree with me.

If you read a paragraph to me out of a book that I have previously read, and then hand me the book, I can find that paragraph with frightening speed. Hmmm. This might be more of a "stupid human trick" type thing, than a quirk. Oooooh. Jen, can we have a Spin Cycle on those? Unless we already did and I missed it?

Anyway....

I enjoy playing with my girls' toys as much as they do.

If I don't get into bed with a book I feel oddly dissatisfied with life and I can't sleep.

I LOVE to make lists, but I don't actually like to do the things on them. Unless they are packing lists, in which case I really enjoy crossing things off.

David and I have a really complicated set of hand signals for "I love you" that is much more time consuming than, say, simply flashing the ASL sign. We also have it in written form and it's longer than actually writing the words. We're just cool like that.

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See? Just one or two things...or three....

9 comments:

ladychelle said...

You are toooooo funny! Not weird..at all..serious :)

BUt I must admit, some of the things on your list, I also do. Like:

1. Kissing my fingers and touching the roof of the car when running yellow going on red lights. I saw a friend of mines do it back in high school and she explained it was for good luck. Well, I haven't dare stopped doing since then! Cnt help it.

2. I also hold my breath when passing a graveyard. I remember my grandma in Haiti telling us to do it. She wouold say its so the souls of the dead dnt enter our bodies. Who am I to try to find out whether its true or not?!

3. When I walk into a bathroom, although I don't close my eyes like you do, I do take a sight of relief when I see that's its me in the mirror. LOL.

4. I'm also one of those people who asks about the WHOLE movie and really wanna know! Why do people care so much whether its going to ruin it for me. JUST TELL ME!!!

5. I'm also a list maker. Love it. But I always misplace them. Like my grocery list never make it to the grocery store with me!!!
I also have a list of things I wanna do before I turn 35.

Hey, like my mom says "normal is boring". I'm gonna run with that idea!

Rachel said...

You are totally right Rachelle! Normal is soooooooo boring! :)

Sprite's Keeper said...

Rachel, you are AWESOME!
I cannot tell you how many things I relate to, the superhuman speed of finding paragraphs in a book I've read only once? Yup! You're linked!

Anonymous said...

I lift my feet when I drive or ride over railroad tracks too!

I also make a wish when I pass a car with one headlight out.

And when I see a white horse, I lick my thumb, press it onto the palm of my other hand, then smack my fist onto the palm. All for good luck, you know!

Michele said...

Thanks for visiting the blog. I think I read that Jen has the same feet lifting/railroad track thing going.

Casey said...

Oh, I do that eyes closed in the bathroom thing too and now I'm freaked to go to bed. Thanks! I also don't look to the side when I drive over bridges, you're not SO weird! ;)

Bex said...

do you realize how many of your quirks had to do with being in a vehicle?

i shudder at the mention of the bloody mary game. although i used to do the opposite: i would STARE into the mirror from my bed just to make sure no one would appear. bc if she should appear i was going to take her out first before she could get me! which meant that i almost always scared the bejeezes out of myself since if you are staring at anything in the dark your eyes are bound to play tricks on you!

D.M. Wright said...

You reminded me of my penny thing. I will not pick it up unless it is heads up. Because of the bad luck thing. So that is contradicting your poem! What am I to do!! LOL :)

Laufa said...

Pink lights, that is funny. Hmm I ran a dark pink one this afternoon. Great quirks, I even share a couple of them!!