Quirky rituals
 

Some of us are obsessive compulsive. We wash our hands 40 times a day, or everytime we touch a doorknob. Some of us delicately fold our toilet paper into a perfectly quilted stacked square.

Other people need to touch the top rail of the staircase before going into another room and some people count the number of telephone poles they pass by on their way to work.

Some of us have rituals that just don't make ANY sense to anyone but ourselves.

What kind of quirky rituals do you perform? Are they extreme or are they pretty reasonable? What got you started on these rituals and why do you always perform them?

I try to do everything in sets of threes and sevens, due to some mild obsession with pseudo-numerology. I have a friend who has to do everything in even numbers - it gets annoying sometimes.

I used to avoid stepping on lines - an example would be if I was walking down a street, I would make sure my feet were entirely on a single paving slab and not half-on two and therefore being on the "line", if that makes any sense.

I don't do it unless I notice / think about doing it. After writing this post and remembering about it I'll be doing this for a while for sure :(

I usually count almost everything I do, for no good reason. My explanation for it is "you never know how many ____ are there until you count them."

I have to get into my truck a certain way, and I have to do the same ritual when I come in at home from the office.

I ritualize almost everything I do, really. Everything becomes habit, everything gets encompassed. And I have a really HARD time breaking away from ritual. =/

EDIT: Why I initially started the thread ahaha. I was fiddling around on my desk and I realized that I have a huge problem if things aren't perfectly straight on my desk. It puts me into a horrific mood. I also have major problems when color coded things do not all follow perfect suit.

If I listen to music and walk at the same time, I have to step so my left leg hits the ground in 1st and 3rd beats.

Walking to progressive rock is hard because of this.

Most of my rituals are based off of sports superstition, like always putting on my right skate first, not skating over lines before the game begins, and things of that nature. Compared to some of the other guys I've seen I think it's pretty tame.

I like to do everything in evens and symmetry. Especially when I am eating something, I try to chew it an equal amount of times on both sides of my mouth, with the same types of teeth, or if it is something that is required to be cut, I try to have an even number of pieces, so that both sides of my mouth get equal treatment.
This obsession over evenness and symmetry has toned down over recent year though, which is kinda good, because it used to be blatantly obvious and disruptive before.

I always chew on the end of straws if I drink with them. It's just something to keep my hands occupied I think. I don't do it because I enjoy it, I've cut my gums a few times actually but it's fun and I continue todo it for whatever reason.

When fooling around with volume counted in numbers, I just have to have a volume of like 5, 10, 15 or 20. It can't be like 16, that feels totally wrong :P

I put my spike on my track/ x-country spikes in a certain order - form left to right and I have a pair of racing shorts which I do wear for anything but racing...
If I don't have those shorts - I think I'll lose or something

I always put my left shoe on first. Also, when I go to sleep, I make sure the closet door is securly shut, make sure the regular door is securly shut, check to make sure my alarm clock is set to the right time, and turn off the lights with one hand on my bed post to make sure I find my way.

This happens with all the men in my family. As for 'strange rituals', I'm pretty much the same as Syndrome: volume's gotta be a multiple of two or five. I go crazy when there's a one or three on the end. Seven and nine don't bother me much, though.

I can NOT sleep in an unmade bed. Also, if I think of something that I should have done - even if it's only for a half second, like a very fleeting thought - I won't be able to get to sleep until I get up and do it. It's very Joan Collins-esque, I suppose, but I've been known to get up out of bed all pissed off and mad at myself and go scrub the bathroom. I'm totally powerless against it, too. GRRRRR!!!!

You people who count things are freaky.

All my CDs absolutely have to be in alphabetical order, and all of my mp3s must be in all lowercase, same for the filename. I will always dig up exact change so I don't have to break bills, and I have to go sock-sock-shoe-shoe. Those are my only real quirks, though.

Whenever I make a list, it MUST end in a multiple of 5.

Multiple of 5 applies here: when something happens that differs from the norm in cases like this, I have to force myself to not think about it otherwise I'll flip out.

Everything on my desk has to be parallel to the edges of the desktop. Nothing can lay in the middle on an angle, it has to be in the middle and perfectly straight, or along the sides. Also, if it's along the sides, it has to be touching the edge of the desk (surface is about a quarter-inch below the tops of the side supports, glass sitting on ridges). And the corners have to align.

If ever I'm nervous to take a test, I tend to take out 2 more pencils/pens than necessary. I don't notice this either, but I suppose I'm always afraid one will break.

After washing my hands in a public restroom, I try not to touch the handles of the main door when leaving.

I do that too, and just never realised that it might actually be a quirk.

Since I don't like peas/beans of any kind, if I even suspect some is in my food, I will stop and dig around in my food for a full five minutes and pick all of them out. A perfect example of this is whenever I eat shrimp fried rice. Seems like everybody puts peas in there, which I can't stand. I don't bother ordering it without peas because it seems like such a big deal to do so. However, I will dig around in my food and make sure all the peas are out before I start eating.

Everything must be symmetrical. When somethings not symmetrical, especially if it would be very easy to change it to be symmetrical and no one's doing it, it bugs the hell outta me.
Also, I tend to meow, moo, and quack a lot.
I also can't get to sleep unless I have at least one of the kitties in bed with me, it's very dark, and very quiet.

Every time I have a drink when I sit down to eat a meal, I always drink before I take any bite of food. Honestly, I don't know why.

- washing hands in public washroom: I grab the lower end of the handle with the sleeve of my coat (especially after guys go straight to the door from the urinal)
- putting holdable palm-sized objects down, I always leave my middle finger touching the object last, much like the way pieces are placed in Hikaru No Go
- listening to music: I usually try to walk the tempo of whatever song is playing. This becomes really hard if the song is over 100 bpm
- adjusting glasses: I push up my glasses on the left side with my left palm because it feels stylish to do, sometimes even if I don't need to adjust my glasses
- keys: I always check that I have my keys in my bag around three times since I live in apartment and there's no way to get in without the access key/buzzing
- online: I check every bookmark each time I turn on the computer
- for buses: I hold my bus pass up for a prolonged period of time to make sure the bus driver doesn't have to ask to see it
- piano: I always make a mistake when I first start practicing for the day, otherwise I fear that the rest of my songs will be riddled wh more mistakes than usual

If you come over to my house for an extended stay of sorts, you'd better take off your shoes and coat (if you're wearing one) after you come in. For some reason, I seem to think that people will be leaving soon if they don't take off, at least, their shoes.

I don't really know why I feel that way; I've been that way as long as I can remember.

Other quirks of mine include some sort of sensitivity to sound: if the amount of talking in a room is not at specific levels (relatively quiet or normal volume, for example), I will be able to get no work done. This is to say that I become too involved into listening to the sounds instead of what I'm working on >_<

I'm pretty lazy, yet I also have a bit of OCD in me. For instance, when my dad leaves for school in the morning we must take a certain route or I feel very uncomfortable. No reason to, really, because we end up at the same spot, but I still hate it. Another example of this is when I'm in school. Going from class to class, nearly the same thing happens. I take the same route every day, never changing. I eat the same lunch, in the same order, every day, too. So weird.