Spam project 01

[constance]

To those of you who were so nice during my attack of misanthropy the other night, when I demanded that you entertain me: I am more or less back to my normal self now, am properly ashamed of my outburst, and really appreciate your humoring me.

And because I am so very grateful, I will now spam you with memery. :D

Firstly, because submarine asked and I can refuse her nothing: 8 weird/things/habits/facts about myself. See if you can guess the theme!

1. I cannot make a bed without hospital corners. I can go for days without washing dishes (though I do not necessarily recommend this for the untutored), I can work with four square inches of free space on my desk, but GOD FORBID when I put a set of sheets on my bed that they not pass the army quarter-bouncing test. I blame this weird habit entirely on my mother.


2. If I read a series of books, I must start with the first one, even if I already have the third one and know that I need not read the series in order. And then I must read all subsequent books in the series in order as well. Even if I have to wait years to do it.


3. In any given candy with assorted flavors, I must eat by the handful, one flavor at a time. And ideally I would like to make a pyramid and start at the base and work my way up, from the most plentiful flavor to the least.


4. I prefer my food not to touch on my plate. I have made progress in this particular arena, in that I will no longer refuse to eat if my asparagus and my chicken have somehow accidentally come into contact, but I do prefer non-touching food, and feel that it is a shame that more plates don't come conveniently segmented.


5. I like making things for people, but I don't like giving them out unless they're absolutely perfectly orderly, and so I have a box full of little projects that never came to anything because they're a little off, somehow. There's probably something for you, in there.


6. I. Love. Alphabetizing. I think it's a great stress relief.


7. When I cook, I have a very hard time making substitutions in a recipe. I used to think that this was because I wasn't an experienced enough cook to guess what might work instead -- but now I think it's something more related to the food-not-touching, or the candy-eating. Even now that I can guess better, play around with a recipe a little more, I don't so much like to do it. It makes me anxious; I must think it over very carefully.


8. My handwriting, as some of you can attest, is relentlessly, ridiculously tidy.

And yet. With all this, I am somehow one of those disastrous people whose houses and lives stop just this side of absolutely chaotic. Go figure!

Comments

[bethbethbeth.livejournal.com]

I. Love. Alphabetizing.

Shouldn't this be:

Alphabetizing. I. Love.

*g*

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, I totally thought about putting it down that way!

[laurelwood.livejournal.com]

Okay, so once we finally meet up, will you teach me to make hospital corners? I so admire people who can do them, but my mother didn't have the patience to overcome my hospital corners learning disability, and I have this feeling that you just might be able to break through.

Also, regarding #3, same here! :D

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Yes, after our picnic and before we go pinwheel somebody's yard on our way to some eccentric tour, let us take time to make a bed or two! :D:D:D

[imkalena.livejournal.com]

I. Love. Alphabetizing. I think it's a great stress relief.

Will you please come volunteer at my library? We are really behind on the shelving.

Ohh..Me too~!

[lindyhoppr.livejournal.com]

I hate it when things are not done in the correct way; I must eat chinese food with chopsticks, thai food with peanut sauce (even though I hate peanut sauce) and I abhor computer ebonics instead of real words.
I love a neat house, but can never make my house that way.

I wonder if there is a word that describes us.

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

I read #4 as "I prefer my food not to touch my plate" and tried to figure out how you managed to get your food to levitate.

[amelia-eve.livejournal.com]

I confess that I did a double take on this one as well.

I am right with you on the calming effects of alphabetization. Sorting out a deck of cards is similarly soothing, and usually less ostentatiously nerdy in a group setting. I was trying to explain the appeal to cordelia_v after having sorted and analyzed the entire design concept of her son's Civil War-themed deck of cards (Union black, Confederacy red). I think it's so nice because it represents a tiny universe in which I can impose total order.

I'm also a sucker for book series. But since I am also obsessed with the physical aspects of the books themselves, I end up buying them in lots. This was instilled in my early in life; one of my prized possesions is my late father's Harvard Shelf (http://www.bartleby.com/hc/).

[tofty.livejournal.com]

No, I'd need you to pay me some sort of minimal wage, as I am pretty broke right now -- but I could alphabetize all day long without getting tired of it, so you'd for sure get your money's worth.

Re: Ohh..Me too~!

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Obsessive-Compulsively Disorderly Disorder? :-?

[tofty.livejournal.com]

I find that when my wingardium leviosa abilities fail me, as they sometimes do, just hoovering the food straight out of the serving bowls does the trick. Though it makes me kind of an unpopular dinner guest, I regret to say. :D

[tofty.livejournal.com]

You're right on both counts! Sorting cards is indeed fun, as is any tiny universe on which one can impose order. And yes, I'm into the physicality of books as well, so book series are best when they match. In that way, I can always appreciate coming across a series complete, so that I can read it and collect it as a matched set. (This rule also applies to non-sets as well; I have three complete sets of Jane Austen, and one of my prized inheritances is from a beloved family friend, who gave me her mother's books, including complete turn-of-the-century sets of Maupassant, Dickens, and Robert Louis Stevenson, among others.)