Five Weird Habits

The first player of this game starts with the topic "five weird habits" and people who get tagged need to write an entry about their five weird habits as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose the next five people to be tagged and link to their web journals. Don't forget to leave a comment in their blog or journal that says "You have been tagged" (assuming they take comments) and tell them to read yours.

As I have been "tagged," here goes:

1) I am completely paranoid about sharing cups/dishes/silverware: I really don't know the root of this one, and it's not that I'm afraid of contracting anything specific, but I have always felt this way. Now you may be thinking, "oh that's not too weird; who would want to use the same fork as a total stranger anyway?" But I'm not just talking about total strangers. I'm including friends and family here, too. It's almost - but not quite - like the "germ-o-phobe" episode of Seinfeld.

"Hey, can I just have a little sip of that?"
No, you can't....and if you do, I'll be forced to get a new glass.

2) Within the first 2-3 minutes of meeting a girl for the first time, I've already decided if she's "date-able" or not: I realize I've probably missed out on numerous meaningful relationships/sloppy hook-ups because of this habit, but ever since I first became interested in dating girls (around age 11 or 12, I guess?) I've always made up my mind very quickly as to whether a girl is worth pursuing. And it's not like it's just a "type" thing, either: only into blondes, must have a nice ass, etc. It is something altogether intangible that I've never been able to completely identify. This is something I know I need to change, and I'm really making an honest attempt to do so. Fortunately, there seems to be no shortage of "date-ables" out there, but still I feel like I'm unnecessarily limiting my options.

3) I meticulously categorize every song I've ever heard: I've alluded to this habit before in this blog, most recently in my "2005: The Soundtrack" post, but I've never given away just how strange it actually is. Now I'm sure lots of folks classify music as "80's music," or "Disco," or "Oldies," or something like that, but what I do is much more extreme. For instance pretty much everything pre-Woodstock era is "Oldies," which includes early Beatles stuff and many other things produced in the '60s, although "'60s" is a completely separate category that includes most of your Hendrix and other Vietnam protest type music. "70s" and "80s" are their own general categories (both are further subdivided quite a bit), but it's once we get into the 90s that things really get weird. From here everything is classified by its individual year of release, its specific genre, and most oddly of all, it's season of release. Yes, I can type in "Fall 1993 alternative" to my iTunes and get a full playlist for my listening enjoyment. I could say even more, but I've probably said too much already.

4) I despise talking on the telephone: I love talking to people face-to-face, you can almost always find me on IM, and I'm pretty good about my email, but I have always hated talking on the phone. I just feel like I'm missing out on something when I can't see the other person's face when I'm talking to them. It's like Kramer said: "94% of our communication is nonverbal, Jerry." This is also why I use a lot of smileys on IM. I had one girlfriend in high school who was especially big into talking on the phone, even though we lived all of 3 blocks apart. I know my distaste for telephone conversation existed before her, but that relationship certainly didn't help things.

"Oh! Then in History class today, the teacher had to leave the room for a minute, and....."
Uh, can I just come over? At least then we can make out after you finish your pointless story.

5) I love doing things that are traditionally considered to be bad luck: For instance, according to the rules of the Weird Habit post, I'm supposed to pick 5 new people to list their own habits after they read mine. It ain't gonna happen. (The only reason I posted the rules "as required" was to give some context to this post) I've always taken great pleasure in breaking chain letters, walking under ladders, shattering mirrors, and doing stuff like that. I've even been known to actively pursue black cats. For some reason, tempting fate just really gets me fired up.