MadMup.com

Even though I don't like to be cold, there are reasons I don't like to see Spring roll around:

• My winter coat has two inside pockets, perfect for carrying stuff. Spring coat, not so much.
• When the weather's nice, I don't (in the eyes of other people) have any excuse for staying inside.
• The nicer the weather, the more likely it is that the neighborhood kids will play right outside my window, which wouldn't be so bad except that the neighborhood kids are apparently banshees, and with the advent of Daylight Savings Time, they can play outside much longer than they ought.
• Bugs.

I'm sure I'll be able to add to this list as the weather gets nicer and I'm reminded of things.

Labels: quirks

6 comments

Somewhere in the past couple of months I've picked up a new quirk. When you hold a drink from Starbucks or McDonald's, your hand forms a letter C, right? I have developed this notion that I'm going to drop things because I can't hold them tightly enough, so to combat this surety, I curl my pinkie finger in underneath the cup, forming a little ledge for the cup to sit on.

It struck me recently that this might be a little strange. I've been holding glasses and cups for most of my life, so why am I just now figuring I'm going to start dropping them?

One thing some of you might not understand is that this sort of thing seems completely normal and logical to me when I institute it:

• Problem: cup might fall out of my hand because I can't grip it tightly enough.
• Solution: form ledge with pinkie for cup to sit on.

It isn't until much later that it hits me that this might not be the most sane thing, coming up with solutions to imagined problems.

This new oddity seems to go right along with my belief that the hanging lights and ceiling fans in the auditorium at church are going to fall on my head - no where else, mind you, do I have that thought. It's only the ones at church.

I'm reading a book right now where the author has just talked about how he had conversations with Emily Dickinson when he was spending a lot of time not around other people. I kind of shook my head at that one, thinking it was silly for him to talk to imaginary or long-dead people, and it was right in the middle of me telling the cats that I thought it was silly that I realized I didn't have much place to think it was silly.

His point ended up being - and I think he's on to something - that we need to be around people so we don't lose sight of "normal" behavior and how it is we're supposed to be around people. Of course, it's still pretty easy for me to think that forming a pinkie ledge for my drink is a good idea, because I'm pretty sure even Emily Dickinson would say that it's not good to drop your drinks around other people.

Labels: quirks

15 comments

I got a call the other day from a number I didn't recognize (so, of course, I didn't answer it), and after the voicemail notification sounded off, I checked the message. It was the lady who has cut my hair for about two years, if I'm counting correctly. She was calling to let me know that she was going to be working at a different haircutting place ("salon" sounds so hoity-toity) once January 29th rolled around. She didn't actually say "so you should start going to that place," but it was pretty clear that's what she meant. She even mentioned that it was going to be $4 cheaper.

My initial response was panic. I'm not such a fan of change, as many of you know, and I'd gone through this changing haircuttists before. So, panic.

But then I thought it was nice that she called me to let me know that she was going elsewhere. I realize her motivation wasn't necessarily motivated by altruism, but it was still nice for me since my last regular person sorta just up and left with no advance warning.

Then, after that, I started thinking about how I'd been going to the same place for 4+ years - it seemed weird to think about abandoning the place. This put me back in a quandary: do I stick with the place, or stick with the person?

What would you do?

Labels: poll, quirks

10 comments

I was riding in the car with a coworker the other day and I found out something that blew my mind.

On most car radios, there are six buttons that you can program to automatically go to your favorite radio stations. Some have more than that, but six is a sorta-standard. The FM band on radios goes from 87.8 to 108.0 here in the US, from left to right like you'd normally read ascending numbers.

Logically, then, if you've got six favorite stations, it makes complete sense to put them from left to right on your favorite buttons, lowest number on the far left, highest number on the far right. Right?

Apparently not to everyone. My coworker said, "Nuh uh. Your favorite station goes on the first button because it's #1! Also, it's closer to you [as the driver], so it's easier to push."

I could never bring myself to function in that way, but it got me wondering how many other people think like him. You know what that means... Poll time!

Please answer honestly, as this seemingly-simple poll could be the basis of someone's life's work on how people think.

Labels: OCD, poll, quirks

21 comments

I don't answer calls from numbers I don't recognize. I just don't. I'm not alone in this, so don't look at me like I'm some kind of freak. Voicemail was created for exactly this sort of situation: you leave a message letting a person know who you are. That's just how it works. Like George Costanza said, "You know, we're living in a society! We're supposed to act in a civilized way!" Part of living in society is leaving voicemails.

That's really not my main point, but it needed to be said.

Anyway, there is one exception I make. I have a friend who lives in a different state. He has an aversion to being named here, so I won't tell you anything more about him except that he lives in the 419 area code, likes snakes, and one time played three recorders in front of a live audience (one in his mouth and one in each nostril).

I occasionally receive calls from him him from work. Since his workplace has several different phone lines, I don't have them all in my cell phone under his name. Therefore, I don't recognize the numbers. I do, however, recognize the 419 area code, so I'll generally still pick up. It's one of the perks of being a friend of mine for 20+ years (no, I'm still not telling you his name).

So the other night when my phone rings and it's a 419 area code, I don't hesitate to pick it up. I immediately say, "You're lucky I recognize your area code or else I'd never answer the phone when you call." This was somewhat confusing to the lady on the other end of the line, who was actually calling to get my opinions on the local political landscape (which I also felt was weird - why is someone from a completely different state calling to ask me about my local city government? And where did she get my number?).

It took a minute or two to straighten out the confusion, and by that time I felt she had earned my time, so I went ahead and answered her questions.

So now I'm faced with the fact that I have a very specific Kryptonite, and if my defenses are that easily overcome, what's next? Will I start answering calls from any area code with those three numbers - 491, 941, 914? It's a slippery slope and I'm more than a bit concerned.

Labels: phone, quirks, Seinfeld

10 comments

There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to why, but sometimes I make up songs.

Actually, there is no specific convergence of heavenly bodies or wind conditions or food ingestion that brings this about - it's just something I do. Whether it's singing to the cats about why I haven't fed them yet (usually it has something to do with "I don't want to go downstairs yet") or proclaiming the wonders of a particular food ("Donuts! I love donuts!"), I just find myself singing impromptu songs sometimes.

Here's an example of one that sprang to mind a long time ago. Dave and I were driving to school one morning when we saw a sticker on the vehicle in front of us that looked like a former President:

Hey, Woodrow Wilson
On the back of the truck
That's on the front of our car
That's on the ro-o-oad.

Certainly not Shakespeare by any stretch, but there's something about on-the-spot words and on-the-spot tunes that I really like. That one there, for instance, has been rattling around in my head now for over 13 years. Seriously. And it just makes sense, you know? Our car was on the road, the truck was in front of us, and the sticker that looked like Woodrow Wilson was on it. Perfectly logical. Should there have been more? Perhaps. We might have explored what it was we wanted to say to Woodrow Wilson. The quattrain in this form should simply be considered a greeting, I feel, one that is very specific as to location.

I know I'm not the only one that does this. You other guilty ones know who you are (Dave, for instance). I worry, though, that it's some sort of condition that will only get worse with time, but I don't worry too much about it, since it's something I enjoy.

I wonder if it's tied with my other musical tic. Sometimes when someone says a sentence, the meter of the sentence immediately fits the meter of a song I'm familiar with. "Those are some big guns that they're shooting in Iraq" immediately goes to the tune of the Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black," for instance. That one is helped more by "Iraq" rhyming with "black," but it isn't always that way.

And, of course, pretty much everybody does the "that reminds me of a song" thing. Should someone happen to encourage all partygoers to "have fun tonight," 93% of the attenders will immediately think (and sometimes sing outloud) "Everybody Wang Chung tonight!" traveling to Kokomo, Indiana for some reason? There's a Beach Boys song for that. It can be surprising some of the random lyrics and tunes that pop into a person's head triggered by the smallest thing.

None of this is necessarily a terrible thing... unless it happens 458 times in the span of an evening. Even then it's not necessarily a terrible thing... unless you happen to be in the company of others.

It is to those others that I apologize now. I'd like to say "it won't happen again," but I know it will.

Feel free to sing along.

Labels: music, quirks

1 comments

Last night was a big night: I watched my first movie of the year.

Sure, that might not seem like a big deal to you, but last year I watched 371 movies, an average of 31 a month. I decided to try going a month without watching any movies, you know, just to see. It went fine. I watched a bit more TV and read a bit more and.. other stuff, I guess.

But yesterday was a new month, so I thought I'd watch a movie. Since it was so momentous, it couldn't be just any movie, it had to be an awesome movie.

It had to be Batman.

It also kind of felt like this was the sort of event that needed to be shared with people. I put forth the idea of having some people over and was encouraged to do so. An announcement was made, plans were put in motion, snacks were purchased, the whole deal. And, wonder of wonders, seven people from the Career Class at church showed up.

I like to think that many of you who read the site here like to do so because my foibles and quirks make you feel better about your own, either by making yours feel less severe in comparison or make you feel less alone in your similar ones. To that end, I feel I should confess the following:

I talk during movies.

Constantly. Non-stop. And the thing is, I hate that I do it! It's always the stupidest stuff! Here are the gems I subjected them to last night:

• The guy playing Gordon and the guy playing Alfred are the only two actors in all four of the Batman movies.
• She was married to Mick Jagger.
• Hey, Wendy, does his tie go with that shirt?
• How old were you all in 1989? (The most surprising answer: "Five." Seriously!)
• Best. Batmobile. Ever.
• That right there is when a million boys fell in love with Vicki Vale. (When she showed up onscreen.)
• Here's what was wrong with the sequel, Batman Returns: 1) Batman TWO should have been about Two-Face! Hello! 2) Too many villians, too much going on. 3) More origins were messed with.
• He had that light installed in the Batmobile just in case someone was going to be sitting in the passenger's seat and he needed to blind them.
• Watch his utility belt when he looks up at the helicopter - see it move? Why didn't they reshoot that?
• I hate this part because it messes up the whole origin of Batman! The Joker DID NOT kill Bruce Wayne's parents!!!
• This movie is just to get you in the mood for Prince in the Super Bowl halftime show.
• Batman wouldn't have killed The Joker - it's what he does! He spares villians! He makes it a point not to kill villians!
• Iconic hero shot coming right up! Wait for it... there!

See? See what I mean about it being inane? And this is just a small sampling.

I need some sort of help.

A big thanks to Matt, Marshall, Wendy, Melissa, Lee, Jeannie, and Eric for coming to my inaugural movie night and for not killing me.

Labels: friends, movies, quirks

19 comments