oddities and eccentricities

i really like thinking about people.

not individual persons, but the whole race of humans. we're really odd creatures.


i was sitting with one of my really good friends and we started talking about our 'peculiarities', and i promised her i would write a blog about her story.

the whole conversation started with me telling her that every night when i go to bed, i have to put a sock on top of my clock otherwise i can't sleep.
the reason is that the light from the clock keeps me awake. there will be nights when i lie in bed for 20 or 30 minutes unable to sleep; it's then i realize that i forgot to cover my clock with the sock.

my friend then said:
"i know exactly what you mean! i was up all last night because my bookshelf needed dusting"
on her way to her bed that night she noticed that her shelf was a bit dusty.
"i tried to go to bed, but when 2 o clock rolled around i just gave in..."
she then proceeded to dust her bookshelf, alphabetize her books, and put the un-needed books into plastic bins.

another night she told me was a vacuuming night, where she vacuumed all of the upstairs hallways.

things like these are what fascinate me. the people who can't get their day started without a venti soy light water, no foam chai misto, the people who have to have a bran muffin on a plate, with butter, and a plastic knife - stainless steel cutlery will not do!

another one that came to mind is my actress friend, krishna, who never passes up a penny on the ground, and has to have everyone's drawstrings aligned - i've picked that one up too.


we're so habitual with our lives, so caught up in trivialities to feed our obsessions, some of us have things like ocd to cling to, while others are in denial of their eccentricities.
i have no idea what my point is, but i find these neuroses fascinating.


i've found that as i've gotten to know people more and more, i see their neuroses, their compulsions, extreme introversion, or an inability to maintain eye-contact. they then see my little neuroses - the need to keep my stereo between 18 and 23, how i like to drink my drinks with a little straw or out of a can; never plastic.

i find humans really wierd...it's odd that they object when i call them eccentric...