*A Little Quirky*

My new bathroom mate has only lived with me a couple of days and has already come to the conclusion that I'm a "quirky" person. Now, I'm not sure exactly what she's referring to, but I have definitely gotten this kind of feedback throughout my entire life. I have taken a little bit of time to search myself and see if these accusations of "quirkiness" have any sort of truth to it, and surprisingly, I found a few….

I admit it. I like paper products, okay? In fact I LOVE them. I love the way a paper towel feels when I hold it and I usually get three more than I really need just for the comfort factor. Besides, this world is a messy place, and paper products are here to help us out. I love all kinds of paper, I'm not particular to any kind. I love print paper, toilet paper, paper towels, paper plates, paper cups,napkins, posters, books…..as long as it is paper, I'm a happy girl. People say once I start buying my own paper products, i'll stop using them so much. I'm here to tell you that my budget for paper products will be a major priority.

As I've talked about in earlier blogs, I have a case of halitaphobia (a never ending fear of bad breath). I brush my teeth all the time and never forget if someone else has bad breath. I can forgive a few times, but people smelling good is very important to me. I assumed everyone else was the same way, but apparently not…my obsession is very much particular to me. A few people could use a good case of halitaphobia every once in a while if you ask me. That's a good quirk to have.

I experience the world through my nose which means I smell everything like a dog. I thought this was normal, until someone let me know it wasn't. People are quick to single out these days. I can't function if a room smells funky and I do better on my homework if I have a drier sheet to sniff. I took a drier sheet to the Praxis because those testing rooms smells very, very strange. How could I make a good grade sitting in a place like that? Bad smells are the enemies of learning!

I can't go to sleep unless my cell phone is perfectly strait and I usually take about a minute a night trying to straighten it just so. When i was little I used to have a weird issue where I would have to touch everything with both hands. Like…if my left hand brushed the wall then I had to take my right hand and brush it also. If I touched one side of my face, I had to touch the other. Everything needed to equal out. If I turned on a light switch, I had to pretend to turn it on with my other hand as well. It was a really frustrating time, because living like that is not easy, believe me!!! I remember being distressed and tired at night from my equalling out issue. Thankfully, those days are past me and I have ridden myself of that quirk! If you are a psychologist reading this, I'm sure you're having a hay day. I'm your dream come true!

I have a certain chair at home that is MY chair. I've sat in the same spot at the dinner table since I was little and get very nervous when that changes. My sister's now husband came to our house for the first time and he sat in my chair and I very politely had to let him know how the house works. "That's MY chair." I said with a smile. Everyone started laughing, but I was staring at the chair with a very serious intention of getting it back. Mom gets me in trouble sometimes because she says I need to be able to move chairs, but it's a little more complicated than just "moving chairs".

I love windows. I can stare out windows for a long time and the whole educational department can vouch for me. Between classes I just stand like a creeper at the window looking out. The first thing I do every morning is open my window and look at everything outside for about five minutes. It gets my day started out in the best way. I think I might be an outdoorsy person because I like windows so much, but it's just a better situation if it's inside the glass.

I am a recovering germophobe. I think about the germs crawling everywhere on a daily basis. I love anti bacterial, it's my best friend. I'm not grossed out by the germs of nature, but I am very grossed out by the germs of humans. I wash my hands a TON. If my hands feel in the least bit dirty, I lose all functioning. I like for my hands to smell like soap all the time which can also relate back to my smelling issue. My nose is just really keen and picky.

I always think that I have a terminal illness or something medically wrong with me. When I hear about a sickness, I feel like I'm getting it myself. It's not like I want to be this way, but my body really does start hurting!!! It's like something I can't control. If your foot hurts, my foot hurts….literally.

I guess you could call these things "quirks". But I think that everybody has them, but maybe are too afraid to come out and say it. That's what I tell myself anyway. In my world, EVERYBODY is a quirky person. It's what makes life interesting.