Quirky Tag
SIX quirky things about me.
Me, quirky?
Quirk: A peculiarity of behavior; an idiosyncrasy.
•Well, I am always doing "boogie" checks in any available mirror, have been since junior high. Jill and I are VERY paranoid about boogers being visible. Never a good thing.
•I love to pick at things--zits mainly. Pretty much anyone's. I will secretly pop your newborn baby's zits every time. Nick calls me a "d--- monkey" because I pick at him so much. John had one in his ear once that I still fantasize about.
•I am not squeamish at all really. I will stick my hands in nearly anything (within reason). My college roommates were always impressed I'd fish anything out of the garbage disposal no matter how soggy the bread or funky the slop. I submerge my hand in the toilet water to clean it--does everyone do that?
•I cannot stand having cold feet. I will stick them under anyone's bum on the couch to keep them warm. I will stay awake the ENTIRE night if my feet don't warm up.
•I would be on the phone all day if I could. I love it, always have.
•I count everything and try to make the number come out even. I am counting in my head all the time. I write words with my finger in the air--just to see if the outcome will be even. I count all the dashes on the alarm clock numbers, the ridges on a picture frame or crown moulding, squares on the floor, the amount of curves in each letter of a word--I go back and do it over and over till I get it even. Is this autistic?
•I can remember hundreds of phone numbers from my childhood on, but not much else sticks with me. Also, very good at recalling names and faces.
What'd I miss? (insults welcome)
25 comments:
That's funny about you counting dashes on the alarm clock. I did the exact same thing .EXCEPT!! I count them in evens with my teeth. I'll count them in two's to a sort of "beat". With every beat it will rotate from left side of my teeth as beat one, beat two is my whole set of teeth, then beat three is the right side. The ideal beat session will finish off on the third beat(or right side of my teeth). However! Sometimes i like finishing it on the second beat. So...1-2-3-1-2-3-2! It just makes me happier when i can count all the dashes and end even, with the second beat. I'm glad i'm not the only counting freakin the family. I have found that i don't do this anymore cause i use my phone as an alarm clock. I yearn for the day when i can lay in bed next to my wife, just so i can stay awake all night waiting for the next number to pop up to see if i can finish the count. YIPEEEEE!!!!
Holy Crap Mitch!! Do you think it's genetic? I totally lay there and wait for the next number. I used to know tons of different combinations--and whether they'd come out odd or even--just by looking at the time.
The teeth way it's much more intense.
Yes, I had pretty much all the numbers down at one point. I would even know them so well that i could do up and down beats and make them songs. I would remember the song for each combination. Or at least have a rough layout of what kind of chatter beat i wanted to make. I miss those days. Now i just stare at the ceiling:(
Funny! I like you and Mitch have a counting fetish, and I always want things to be even. I almost used to think if a number wasn't even, it was evil. I have done the clock thing, but not to the extent.
Ever since I was young I do a certain rhythm with my feet and legs... I start be by moving my right big toe, then the left big toe, then my right pinky toe, to my left pinky toe, then all my toes on the right foot, then all my toes on the left foot.... Then I flex the back of my right knee, then the back of my left knee, then my right groin, then my left groin, then I flex my right butt cheek, then on to my left butt cheek... Repeat, repeat, repeat. I can do it forever, and I usually do it before falling asleep. I started doing that to suffice for the times I couldn't rock.
Jennifer I like you remember numbers, faces, names and I always know license plate numbers...
What was the red caravan's License plate number you ask??? 489 CER. Always have!
Mitch... Who knew!
Jennifer, I am not sure I can ever stick my hands in place. If I have gloves sure, but that is one reason I would never do dishes growing up. I HATE THE GRIMY feel and soggy food!
Wow...That counting stuff blows me away. My brain does not work that way at all, I never count anything if I can help it.
BUT I categorize numbers and letters as feminine and masculine. I had storyline to go along with them when I was little. The number 4 was/is the most beautiful and popular of all the numbers. 5 the most handsome.
jen your post was too funny! i can't believe that you stick your hand in the toilet water that is SO sick! haha. i totally agree with you with the zit picking thing - the back of christian's ears are a gold mine, i lucked out on that one i guess. oh and christian says he remembers you sticking your feet under his bum. :)
that counting thing makes me nervous just thinking about it! wow.
and yes.. hand in the toliet water... or in the garbage disposal.. gross.
This was a fun read. I'm not squeamish either (I would've died long ago if I were) but I draw the line at toilet water - everything else is fair game. Poor Ty, he can't do his own boogie checks, so it falls to me to keep him boogie-free. I know, TMI.
The counting thing - for me stuff must be in groups of five or by color. And why is it that I can still remember phone numbers from the 80s, but my actual childhood memory is riddled with holes?
The Miller's are all "quirky" (and that is just a nice way of putting it.....). The real word is OCD!! This is why I do not blog, all the opportunities to be honest and open with strangers. More power to you my "quirky" friend, from your "quirkier" friend up the road. (can we be friends since my address ends in an ODD number... Let's count my whole address to see 15215 equals (Mitch, you got it yet....? oh, 14!!! We can remain friends!!! Love ya!!!
LOST on your counting things. I have had periods in my life where i would play alarm clock games, but i tried really hard to kick the habit and finally did. something about counting the dashes. Oh yeah i too would sing songs to the dashes. Oh yeah, it's all coming back to me... I would look at the number and see where i could take dashes from the first number to make the second number an 8(thus using up all space possible)because only an 8 would use all dashes. i can guarantee that i would also lie awake waiting for the next number. where was computer back when we really needed something to do.
Another quirk of mine. I have always, still kinda do, think that the Miller family was kinda nerdy for having an 873 phone number prefix. I am not sure why i felt embarrased but i always did.
We are all complete freaks!!! So this is what I do with numbers and clocks. In regards to words... Each word has to have a pair of letters and no odd letters are allowed. If a word has 5 letters I will combine the word or words that proceed it to make it even. For example: Take the word leave. It has 5 letters and I break it down like this, LE AV E
I was good until the "E" comes into play. Since the word leave has 5 letter i will then combine LEAVE with (your comment). This phrase has 16 letters so it should work and my word game is a success. It goes like this in my mind. LE AV EY OU RC OM ME NT.. Money.... If it didn't work, i would have probably combined it with "choose an identity". I am referencing words on the comment page so don't think those are my normal words. I do it with everything.
Digital Clocks
I do not have nearly the OCD/ freakish complex games that Mitch and Jen do but I do try to make horizontal faces with the digits that appear at any given time. If you look at the numbers from side to side the number sequences contain noses, some have open mouths and sometimes when it is a 10,11 or 12 the numbers have eyebrows. Try it out and report.
I used to make sure that if I spit out a single piece of ice from the car that I would spit a second piece of ice so the first would have a friend This was done just to make sure he wasnt alone out there on the wild streets of Vegas.
Anjie--for the record--your house number equals eighteen--I'm counting curves of numbers NOT the value. VERY COMPLEX.
LOL! You all are hilarious!
With the numbers your family is too funny! I guess it goes to show that many things are in the genes!
Jennifer, you and my husband could be a part of a zit popping club. He is the same way.. I am that way with peeling. If someone has a bad sunburn, and big pieces of skin peeling away, stranger or not, I want to get them. How bad is that?? ~ And I'm referred to as a monkey too with my split-end hair picking.
You lost me in the toilet part. I will fish out the disposal stuff if I have to, but it grosses me out bad. The toilet?? After I clean it even with gloves on, I want to take a shower. It's part of that OCD thing for me.
Your list is too funny. Glad you shared.
BTW: I forgot. I'm a boogie checker too! EWW! I'm also a nose and ear hair cop. I'd better not see any! :) Ha-Ha!!
Man--these are ALLL cracking me up big time!
Funny...I thought I was the crazy one in the family, you all are making me feel pretty darn normal.
I haven't laughed this hard for a looooooooong time. You are all freaks. Next years vacation is going to be spent at "Middlebrook Sanitarium" for the mildly insane. We'll all be there.
Actually......This is what I do.
I have to lead everything, as in music lead.
So I conduct the electric sockets, the light switches, designs on wall paper, anything that I can make a beat out of. I have to get it to an even 2,3, or 4 beat. I, like the rest of you will work it out till it comes out right. Like an original 3 beat, might turn out to be a four depending on the edges to beat to.
I never really minded putting my hand in the toilet bowl Maybe because I kept them pretty clean, not that there is such a thing as a clean toilet bowl. I would rather put my hand in a toilet, than use a bathroom somewhere other than home.
MOM
Ladies and Gentlemen....allow me to introduce to you the "Queen of Quirks!" Ah, Mother...good to hear from you! Bathrooms, carpet, doggies, motels,old..anything old. Why don't YOU do this tag Mommy!
OK, first off, I feel like I am in the Twilight Zone of counting things, finding beats and numbers adding up evenly so they can get along???? What the hey??? And your family is very weird! Seriously, when I am laying in bed, I am thinking of my day, goals, etc. Not counting, that seems like work. The fact that almost your entire family does it is just CRAZY!! And Mitch with the teeth chattering thing, I can't even wrap my head around that one. I cannot stop laughing as I am typing this, just thinking of you all counting. Wow! That sums it all up. Wow!
Toilets don't bother either. Sink disposals do however. I hate clogged up sinks or showers or tubs. I have a cold feet problem too, but I do not like wearing socks. I just try and rub them as I can. And I can remember phone numbers too. Memory is going to pot, but ask me a number and I can instantly say it.
BTW- I did not catch the "bad boy" comment on my post until you pointed it out. Totally did not even catch that and I bust out laughing too! Ahhh, the irony!-Suzanne
Wow...this counting thing is out of control with you Millers. That piece of it is quirky, if not OCD. The cold feet thing is normal. Sometimes I am the beneficiary of getting a cold foot stuck under my @$$ by you, but I don't mind. I think Johnny got them Saturday night while he was drumming to Rock Band. He was probably too busy counting words on the screen to notice.
The only other things I can think of noticing about your quirks is how you will drop everything or what you are doing to talk to people...usually about nothing. But, that goes along with the phone thing and your need to socialize with adults after you have been talking little kid talk most every day. You are also a big worrier...like most of your siblings...but, you are getting a lot better. I think you cope with your worrying by getting re-assured, out loud of course by either Nick or anyone within conversation distance. ie; "What do you think about that...Do you think it's OK...What if he's a serial murderer...Do you think it's safe...How do you know it's true, etc. etc."
Now, I didn't know about the sticking your hands in gross places part, but I'll be sure not to shake your hand any more! You could go major OCD and start carrying around Purell like Howie Mandell.
Here's one of my quirks...but, I will give out none of the others! When I take my socks off, I always have to sniff them to make sure that my feet don't stink. I HATE stinky feet. If they do, then I will throw those shoes away!
Excellent observations! However...do you really think i get much reassurance from Nick?
"But Nick....Mitchell's at the top of the climbing wall without a harness...should I be worried?"
What!? Naw.....he's fine...those harnesses don't help much.
That is a great post. You learn so much about people. I was smiling the whole time!
I never even thought of looking in a mirror to check for burgers-maybe because I try to avoid those evil things all together. I do the same thing with fishing things out-unless there is something scary in the toilet. I too hate cold feet. It seems like if my feet get cold, I get cold, and I never warm up. I bought a box of the hand warmer packs to put in my shoes for when I'm working outside because I hate, HATE cold feet. I can remember alot of numbers. Must be a math thing-I love math.
I don't really count the dashes on the clocks, but I look at the symmetry of them. I always have to look and make sure that things are even. Not really numbers but stuff (spliting food, recipes, shapes, etc.)
Thanks again for sharing!
Jennifer~ I am totally cracking up! Too Funny :) I guess I better introduce myself, I'm Ann's BFF, Monica and I have to admit I've been secretly lurking/stalking for awhile now.
My sister is booger obsessed right along with you. She always grabs my car mirror and cranks it to an odd angle so she can check....no mirror avaliable, I get to check for her.
I'm glad I'm not the only one out there who cleans my toilet with just a rag (of course I wash my hands when I'm done) and I dig in my disposal on a daily basis!
As for the clock and number stuff...too much WORK!
Thanks for my laugh for the day, Monica
I really thought I married the obsessive Miller sister, but I can now see that Jill could almost be your polar opposite. Okay, Jill's got her little quirks too. I would think, though, with all the obsessive counting going on in the Miller household that you would have produced at least one accountant, statistician, actuary, economist, or financial guru. I guess John's the closest since he does have to actually submit bids.
So, if I have to share one quirk of my many: in keeping with the counting theme, when I walk, I need to have my feet get "even" treatment. So, for instance, if I'm walking on a sidewalk and I step on a crack with my left foot, then I need to step on a crack with my right foot to even things out. Mind you, I don't do this all the time, just when I'm bored or in an obsessive mood.
The toilet thing is just gross. I will never tell my husband that one, because he'd be sure to never shake your hand. He's more OCD than me about that stuff! I have to admit that I didn't read all the counting posts. Too much for me. But, I do like to keep things even. If I eat M&M's, I try to eat them two by two and put one on each side of my mouth to keep it even (it's not fair for the right teeth to get to munch on yummy candy and not let the left teeth, right?). If possible, I also try to keep like colors together, but they can be mixed at the end if they come out uneven. If I got an odd number, I bite them in half, and chew a half on each side. I also do the sidewalk thing Rob mentioned, and keep everything even with my feet.
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