Quirky McQuirkles

People are weird. More specifically, I am weird. Before you all start thinking this is a self-hatred/I-hate-humanity post, let me 'splain.

Think about your life for a minute. When you wake up in the morning, what is the first thing that pops into your head? (This morning, the first thing that popped into my head was the word "oscillate.") When you take a shower, do you have a routine you go through - shampoo first, condition second, body wash third, then rinse, then blah blah blah - or do you bathe "at random?" When you put your pants on, which leg goes in first--your right or your left? When you get in your car, do you put your keys in the ignition before or after you put on your seat belt? Do you prefer a certain color of M&M over the other colors?

See? We all have strange little routines, rituals, and slightly obsessive preferences, sometimes without even realizing they exist. My theory is that we do things a certain way because we need some smidgen of familiarity in our crazy lives. Think about the children's TV show "Mister Roger's Neighborhood" for a minute. Every time Mr. Rogers walks into that cute little house, he does the same thing. He hangs up his suit coat the same way, zips his sweater the same way, takes off his shoes the same way, etc. every single day. As a child, that was one of my favorite parts of the show. I could always guess what was coming, and it made me feel secure. We all have the same type of methods that, possibly, we use as methods of "grounding" ourselves. (I mean "grounding" in a good way, not the "You are definitely NOT going to any birthday parties for two months, young lady" kind of way.) Just for fun, I'll list some of my quirks. Feel free to do the same in a comment or on your own blog. Don't be ashamed of your quirks! Nay, rather, embrace the cute little quirklings.

• When I look at myself in the mirror, I get a little bit of a glare on my face. See picture for example, if you dare. I'm not sure why I do it. It makes me feel... hotter, I guess? I dunno. At this point, it's a reflex to look at myself that way. Odd!!
• I have recently formed the habit of using the word "monkey" in the place of random adjectives/nouns/verbs. Examples: "What kind of monkey is this dumb store? They don't sell cinnamon bears!" "What the monkey! That car just cut me off!"
• When I sit down to play around on the piano, I always start playing in the key of D major. That be my favorite key.
• I pop my neck a lot (gross, yeah), and I always turn my head right first, then left.
• I bounce my legs up and down when I sit at a desk. This one probably bothers other people, but it sure as monkey doesn't bother me, cuz it probably burns, like, extra calories or something.
• I hate it when men wear sweatpants. Track pants=whateva', but the sweat pants=please don't. I don't know why this bugs me, so don't ask me why... I'm not even sure I want to discover the answer to that question.
• I don't like cheesecake (GASP!! from the crowd). Yeah, I know. Whatever.
• When I eat goldfish crackers, I like to bite them in half along the little "seam" thingy. Then I have two little goldfish that are like separated Siamese twins! Yay! I do the same thing with peanuts, and sometimes almonds. Also, when I eat cinnamon bears, I always bite the head off first. Then they can't feel any pain as I consume them.
• I used to love the band Snow Patrol, but I can't listen to them anymore because hearing their songs reminds me of middle school. Ick.
• I like green and blue M&Ms the best. I swear they taste better than the others! (The brown ones should die.)
• I always fill up my water bottle at the same sink in my house. The other sinks probably have germies or something. (Jk, they don't, but the water from the small sink in the kitchen is so much prettier/more tasty/more awesome/more drinkable than the water from the other sinks.)

Anyway, that's probably a long enough list to make you all think I'm a freak show. I am okay with that. I like quirks. I think they are quirktastic. The end.