11.09.2008

Something you didn't know about me.

I know you don't know this because I haven't told anyone, on the blog or otherwise. Now, before you get all excited, it's not that interesting, I just haven't told anyone because it's too pointless to ever mention. It relates somewhat to my last post, about that number. I have a thing with the number 13. I'm not superstitious, I don't really believe the hoopla, but nevertheless I have a thing.

It's simple, I try to avoid the number. Mostly it's when I'm sitting at the computer, I try to skip from (substitute 2 for any hour) 2:11 or 2:12 to 2:14 or later. Sometimes I time it so that's the time I get up to make a coffee or I just try to avert my eyes from the time. But that's not all, ever since it occurred to me to notice that :47 is 13 minutes before the hour, I need to avoid minute 47 as well. I avoid the number 87 too, in situations it may come up, for similar reasons. I don't understand why, like I said I'm not triskaidekaphobic. I may have trained myself to be aesthetically displeased with the looks of those numbers, but I see things that aren't pretty all the time, and it hardly explains why I'd go out of my way to avoid them.

Yes, I am blushing. Just as much for actually bothering to write this down as if anyone cares to read it in the slightest, as I am about how stupid my "thing" is.

I would guess it's a mild kind of OCD, one that doesn't affect my ability to go about my normal business, and perhaps everyone has some, if not similar, equally pointless habits that they have no reason to ever tell anyone, so maybe you're all thinking.. "oh that's nothing, everyone does stuff like that!"

Then again maybe you're laughing your asses off at me.

The only other sorta OCD thing I do is fix up beermats whenever I go to a pub, I have to arrange them all facing the same way and the same way up. However I'm not embarrassed about this one, in fact, I rather suspect myself of making a big production of doing it in front of people so they can see how fabulously quirky I am. I could be mistaken though.

Other than that I think I'm normal.

5 comments:

Barry Leiba said...

«Then again maybe you're laughing your asses off at me.»

Nah. I sort my chips by length, and eat the shortest ones first.

Erikland said...

Hey, I didn't know that about you!

Oh yeah, you said that....

Hmm.....maybe I'll reveal my "issue" about what to do if I Ctrl-C something but then can't Ctrl-V it anywhere.....nah...

Michelle said...

Ok.. now I'm curious. *plans to pester Erik incessantly until the truth is known*

Marisa said...

I was googling this and found your post. I have OCD, and I have the exact same thing with 'that' number. Even to the detail of avoiding 47 as well, especially in relation to minutes and seconds. I always when I look at the clock and see that it is the 12th minute, I hold off on what I am doing and wait until the 14th minute. I also don't want to look at the clock either until it passes. I'll stop what I am doing, or try to calculate things to make sure that something doesn't start or end at that minute or is not posted or timestamped at that time, like an email. Mine went even further though to include the number being anywhere, like the day of the month and avoiding certain things on that day, to even the second of the minute, and even avoiding the 1-2pm hour of the day due to the 24hour clock, and also to the number in transactions.

I also am not exactly superstitious of it as I had just got it cemented in my mind to hate the number and not want to be associated with it in any way. It is a negative association for me and when I see it or associate it with something else it gets attached to, like something I am doing or an object, then that thing gets transfered the negative association of it as well. When I see the number I have a spike of irritation and disturbance much like I would at looking at something ugly and disturbing. Just revolution.

Michelle said...

Interesting to find someone else out there with the same peculiar habits :) I do actually go so far as to avoid the xiiith hour.. on my phone anyway, as that is in 24 hour time, but the computer isn't so I can happily sit at the computer between 1 and 2 without a problem. The 13th of the month I convince myself it doesn't bother me, but I have recently avoided doing things like posting blogs or uploading photos to avoid the mark of the number on my pages.. so I guess very similar.