Ridiculous things that you do for actually no reason

[KenAdams]

Whenever I pick up a parcel from the reception desk at work or from a neighbour I have to tell them what's in it. I have no idea why, they obviously don't care but I do it EVERY TIME.

Please tell me I'm not uniquely weird?!

@Cherry4weans you don't know how pleased I am to have found a kindred spirit!! I've honestly never mentioned it to anyone as its so weird!!

Just to heark back to the counting thing - I do it to help me get to sleep. And every night I pick up from where I left of the night before. So tonight I will be counting down from 338:
Three hundred and thirty-eight = 298 (I think), then "two hundred and ninety-eight"=287, so 298+2+8+7....

I have remembered the my sibling always used to imagine someone running along beside the car when we were driver around, and would issue then with warnings:"Jack, mind that hedge!"

I sniff things. I knew I did this as a child but I thought I had grown out of it, until I met an old friend of my mums over 20 years later and she said, I can't believe you still sniff things Boxer. Absolutely mortified.

@LutherRalph1 i count syllables as well! songs, film titles, sometimes sentences that i’ve just said. it’s very important that whatever it is, ends on a 5 or a 10.

i do have diagnosed OCD, which might explain mine slightly!

my own contribution:

whenever i post a letter i have to make sure that i have nothing else in my hands. so, car keys have to be zipped into my bag, phone in pocket. this is in case i accidentally post them. and even once i have successfully posted a letter without mishap, i have to play out the drama in my head of what i would do if i DID post my car keys or my phone. would i ring the sorting office? if there’s a post office nearby, do they have a key to ‘their’ postbox? would i flag down a postman? what if there aren’t any? do i come back at the next collection time on the post box? BUT, if i’ve posted my phone, how do i call the sorting office? if i’ve posted my keys, how do i get home to wait until the postman comes to collect the post, and how do i get in once i get there?

i don’t like posting things.

You know, those cats that meow intently at you as you walk past their house? The ones who seem to be shouting at you to help them get in? I always have to apologise to them for being unable to help them.
I'm especially apologetic if it is raining or bitterly cold.

Oh, and whenever I've made the effort to look nice for a night out I try and take a nice selfie, end up feeling like an idiot, take a series of photos of myself pulling silly faces... Then inevitably delete them all and never mention it to anyone

Apologising to cats is adorable @Motherofatruck and just the sort of thing I would do.

If I am feeling unwell at bedtime, either a cold, Random virus, headache etc I have to go to sleep in the recovery position “just in case”.

@Doingtheboxerbeat DP does that. He also doesn't notice but it's very funny to watch him get a freshly washed mug, sniff, and the coffee packet, sniff sniff, fill the kettle, sniff. Etc

@LemonPrism, it's problematic buying underwear though . No, honestly I don't even know I'm doing it, but I sometimes think about all the polite people who have noticed all of my life and never mentioned it.

This thread is fascinating!

I too look for the girls names on Eddie stobart lorries.

I also look at peoples fingers and toes and the nails too, I find it so weird that they ressemble their parents' nails I once told DP he has his mum's fingernails and he just looked at me like I'd really lost it

@mumwon I do that hahaa

I do lots of these too!!

• I write out words in my head, sometimes in fancy writing, sometimes as if it’s a typewriter

• I say ‘good bye, be good, I won’t be long’ when I leave the dog (who is constantly narrated in her excitable little accent of course!)

• both dp and I sing songs related to words we hear in conversations

• my internal narrative adopts accents when I binge watch things ESPECIALLY Downton Abbey.

Also, when I’m a passenger I imagine a little man either running along hedges or swinging from lamp posts or jumping from tree to tree keeping up with the car. When I drive I constantly narrate what I’m doing ‘now there’s no one coming so I’m going to pull out’, ‘are you going to wait for me? Yes? Then I’m going to go and now you have to wait’. I drive myself mad!

I also sit/lay with my toes tucked under my feet. I am NOT comfortable or relaxed if my toes are loose and exposed. They like to be hidden. Dp thinks it’s gross like I’m some kind of foot contortionist.

When the bus goes past in the village (there’s only 1) I have to shout ‘there’s a number 3 and a number 6!’ Because that’s what DD2 used to do when she was learning her numbers and the 63 is the only bus she saw!

Also, when I had PND with DD1 I remember telling the dr that I felt like I was constantly on a really shit day out and I just wanted to go home... but I was already home and this is it. I wonder if that’s related to the ‘I want to go home’ Thing?

I learnt to touch type many years ago and ever since I often imagine which fingers I would use to type. It's mostly when I hear unusual or long words but sometimes I do complete sentences. If I'm alone I'll actually move the corresponding finger as if typing it.
If I'm a passenger on a long journey I'll do it with registration numbers.

Yes to counting, talking to myself. I start singing mid-sentence if I say a word that features in a song e.g. "I am just turning left now"then start singing "to the left, to the left, everything you own is in a box to the left...". I split journeys, walks, tasks into mini tasks e.g. walk to sainsbury's is split into walk from my house to the gnarly tree, gnarly tree to yellow house, yellow house to funny monkey mat house...etc till sainsbury's.
I also interview myself.

Gosh I'm weird

@LL83. I do this too. It gets a bit out of hand when we are driving through the New Forest (for those who haven’t been there, the NF has many, many wild ponies wandering free).

In Ireland the whole family does the same thing but for donkeys!

@frankie001 pyjamas with pockets are better than sex

I use odd numbers for things like alarms and tv volume. Can't be on the 5/15/25 etc though as that feels like an even even though I know it's not. It drives me mad.

I also congratulate myself out loud when I do something imperfectly. For example, I've put on odd socks, used different coloured pegs hanging out washing, used an odd coloured pen to write something down I say out loud "well done, you've done a good job". I've done it for decades and I think it was to rebel against my mothers voice in my head telling me I should be perfect at everything.

I also used to count my steps, everywhere. I don't do it so much now.

I also check for security cameras in shops, I must look like I'm casing the joint 😳.

When I walk past a busker, as the music fades in and out of my hearing range, I imagine I’m in the opening title sequence to my own TV drama.

Am I mad?

Missingashoe I remember reading a thread on MN some time ago where the poster said she had theme tunes for each of her cats.

I absolutely can’t stand wonky uneven things in a room. If a picture on the wall was off centre I would have to straighten it. If chairs don’t sit under the table exactly opposite I would correct it. Off centre rugs and coffee tables also would be moved. If I am in a public place I have to hold myself back 🤣
I also do the petrol filling (game) where it must be on an exact amount. I am so good at this game now that I can get it spot on almost every time I fill up!

Whenever I see/hear the name Sean Bean - i can’t let it go without saying ... “Shorn Born or Sheen Bean” - because I feel it’s wrong that his name doesn’t rhyme.

I feel as though we need a search function for this thread so we can check if our "tics" or "pointless habits" are done by someone else, thereby making us all feel a little less alone in the world

I cut all my food into pieces before I eat it. So say a chop and chips and veg. I'll cut it all into mouth size pieces in a certain geometric pattern. I hate that I do it. And its embarrassing at dinner parties or in restaurants.
But if I dont, it feels so wrong. Probably the makings of OCD there.
I'm trying to stop!