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SimplyScripts Screenwriting Discussion Board  /  Getting to know you, getting to know all about you...  /  The Obsessive Compulsive in You
Posted by: Shelton, February 20th, 2006, 2:56pm
Ok people, time to step up.

What's something that you do that people would find to be almost obsessive compulsive?  I'll start.

I am absolutely incapable of tying only one shoe.  If I tie one, I HAVE to tie the other.

I thought this would be something we could all have a little fun with.  Have at it.
Posted by: MacDuff, February 20th, 2006, 3:24pm; Reply: 1
Everytime I leave my condo, I usually open the door again and check the stove, toaster, kettle, fireplace, toilet to make sure nothing is left on or running...even if they haven't been used that day.

I guess it's better than coming home to find my burned out condo has flooded my downstairs neighbours...
Posted by: Andy Petrou, February 20th, 2006, 3:34pm; Reply: 2
As already noted in Martin's excellent script, I am very bad with door handles. I can't lock one and walk away. Nope. Spend a LONG time checking if I locked it and then still am paranoid that I didn't. I've missed many bus rides to work because I keep walking back home to check if I locked the front door. Worse at night when I am so tired and want to go to sleep, I fear I shall be sleep locking before you know it.

Also, I have to flip and rotate my pillows before bed. Can't sleep in a bed which feels like I just slept in it, if you get me. Needs to feel new, lol!!

Urmmmmm, also, whenever I watch eastenders, I HAVE to sing/hum a certain chime beat out loud when it's on. I'm SO incredibly sad.

I'll leave it at that for now  :B
Posted by: Impulse, February 20th, 2006, 4:23pm; Reply: 3
I'm an obsessive compulsive high school student: sharpened pencils. I can never have them dull -- and dull to you is not dull to me. I need pencils needle-point sharp or I get angry. I've been known to go through a pack of pencils in two days because I always sharpen them.Oh, and I hate un-perforated paper and even more, I hate perforated paper that won't tear off. I spend SO much time tearing off the fringe off paper. I've been known to rewrite my math homework more than once if I make mistakes too many times.. even if I erase them. And I color code my notes just like the teacher does. If one example isn't in the same color ink as my teacher writes it on the board, I go home and rewrite it.

My life will be so much easier when I get out of school.
Posted by: Martin, February 20th, 2006, 5:08pm; Reply: 4
I'm one of those annoyingly restless people who drums their fingers on every available surface. I think it stems back to not being allowed a drum kit as a child. I've got rhythm, damn it!

Also, I simply have to sleep on the left side of the bed. Unless I'm alone, then spread diagonally across the middle will do just fine.
Posted by: Old Time Wesley, February 20th, 2006, 5:46pm; Reply: 5
I've developed a habbit of washing my hands to an unhealthy limit, I'll go out of my way if I feel they're dirty.


Quoted Text
Everytime I leave my condo, I usually open the door again and check the stove, toaster, kettle, fireplace, toilet to make sure nothing is left on or running...even if they haven't been used that day.

I guess it's better than coming home to find my burned out condo has flooded my downstairs neighbours...


I know a person like this, so afraid that the house is going to burn down (Even if they're only leaving for like 2 minutes) they even do it if somebody is staying in the house while they leave as if you're so stupid that if a fire breaks out you'd do nothing to put it out.
Posted by: Old Time Wesley, February 20th, 2006, 6:02pm; Reply: 6
I wouldn't want to know what you find with this "black light" but I can imagine it's not good.

Posted by: James McClung, February 20th, 2006, 6:36pm; Reply: 7
Like Mabuse, I'm constantly tapping out drum beats on whatever surface I can get my hands on (usually my leg or my desk). I've never played the drums though.

In high school, I abhorred the letter 'k' as well as apostrophes. I'd write entire papers for my classes that refrained from using either of them unless they were part of a quote or someone's name. I also hated the number 4 written with the top pointed as opposed to open. Thankfully, screenwriting cured me permanently of my 'k' and apostrophe issues while the 4 issue just kind of went away by itself.

We writers are an eccentric people, aren't we?
Posted by: R.E._Freak (Guest), February 20th, 2006, 8:09pm; Reply: 8
When I eat it HAS to be even numbers. For example, if I'm eating something like Skittles I will seperate them into color groups, count them, eat them two by two, and throw away any odd colors that are left. For something like a burger I will bite it an even number of times. I always take two sips of a drink, swallow twice. It even reaches into other stuff. I always carry two pens.

And the number four is to me the perfect number. It can only be divided evenly by itself and 2, and every number that is an equal multiple of it and the square are both even numbers. For example, four times two is eight. Four times three is twelve. Four times four is sixteen. Four times five is twenty. All even.

I have this odd distaste for the color yellow. I can accept it in something like a poster, or a yellow scene in a movie, but the color yellow in of itself (like a highlighter) can do anything from annoy me slightly to infuriate me. This one time I broken a highlighter in half and threw it into a river. I kid you not, I threw a highlighter into a river because it was yellow.

I am usually chewing on a toothpick. It's the only thing that keeps me from snapping like a twig. I used to chew on pens, the only problem was when I am holding a pen I have to flip it between my fingers. So, one compulsion sort of interferred with the other. Hence, my hand gets pens and my teeth get toothpicks.

I carry a bottle of hand sanitizer with me wherever I go. Let's just leave it at that.
Posted by: Zombie Sean, February 20th, 2006, 8:21pm; Reply: 9
I'm sure someone has already said this because I really didn't bother reading over the other replies 'cause I'm kinda in a hurry right now, but I saw this and felt like I could post two things in here:

1. When reading a book, I begin to think of a tune and I keep on thinking it and I can't concentrate so I HAVE to hum or sing the tune before I get back to reading it.

2. Whenever htere is a piece of thread sticking from my jeans or pants, I have to pull it out no matter what.

Sean
Posted by: Takeshi (Guest), February 20th, 2006, 8:51pm; Reply: 10
I can't start the day without having a shower, even if I'm about to go to the gym and sweat like a dog, I'll still have a shower before I go, instead of having one after I've worked out.

I can’t leave the net alone. Even when I'm at work and run the risk of getting busted by my boss, I'll keep logging on. I'm doing it right now.

I MUST have a coffee on the hour every two hours and it doesn't matter what I'm doing, everything has to stop, so I can have my coffee.

Posted by: Helio, February 20th, 2006, 8:52pm; Reply: 11
Hello Doc Don, I love to be in your mental heathy sanatory!

Oh God, mabybe after to read all these testimonies the better thing I have to do is to jump from a high building...and fly!
Posted by: R.E._Freak (Guest), February 20th, 2006, 8:52pm; Reply: 12

Quoted from Zombie Sean
2. Whenever htere is a piece of thread sticking from my jeans or pants, I have to pull it out no matter what.

I suddenly picture you sitting on your chair next to a pile of yarn.
Posted by: Zombie Sean, February 20th, 2006, 9:22pm; Reply: 13

Quoted from R.E._Freak

I suddenly picture you sitting on your chair next to a pile of yarn.


Haha, I can't right now. My cat is sitting on my lap and these pants are new, but if I were wearing older pants and my cat was on my bed, then, yes, I would be picking at the threads right now, and there probably will be a pile of yarn next to me.

Which reminds me of a Sci-Fi commercial thing where this old guy is standing in front of his mirror and he sees a tiny strand of hair on the middle of his bald head and he begins pulling it out and it keeps coming out so he begins pulling it out faster and faster, and it shows a side veiw of his whole body and his strand of hair actually makes up his body, and his body is disappearing with a pile of "body yarn" below him and it fades out right when it gets to his neck.

Wow that was a really long, run-on sentence...

Sean
Posted by: Higgonaitor, February 20th, 2006, 10:54pm; Reply: 14
My most OCD thing that I do, is whenever I see footprints in the snow, I have to walk so that my left foot makes a footprint to the left of the right footprint, and so on.  This makes it look like someone was hopping down the sidewalk.  I always do this, and it really slows me down.
Posted by: Jimbo, February 20th, 2006, 11:01pm; Reply: 15
I have two OC ways.

1: I pick at my lip with my teeth when I am typing or I'm nervous.

2: I run my fingers through my hair or just touch it once every minute pretty much.
Posted by: Shelton, February 21st, 2006, 12:40am; Reply: 16
I have a terrible habit of telling people that nonsense words mean expletives in Polish when they really don't.

It's a horrible, horrible sickness.
Posted by: -Ben-, February 21st, 2006, 12:43am; Reply: 17
If I change the volume on the TV, it has to be on a round number.

EG> If it's on 34, I change it back to 30, no matter how hard to hear it may be.
Posted by: George Willson, February 21st, 2006, 1:04am; Reply: 18
I alphabetize or otherwise organize things into categories that make sense to me. CD's are in artist order, including soundtracks. This means that Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Hunchback, and Pocahontas are all grouped in with Little Shop of Horrors because Alan Menken wrote the music. Makes my wife crazy. DVDs are by title, except when they involve either a series which I will put in release year order or personal preference. This means that all the James Bond movies are sorted into release year order, and so are the Alfred Hitchcocks...I go crazy when they put two movies on one disc, one from 1926 and another from 1938...I force myself to go with the one on the spine while making a note that one of the films is permanently out of order.

I MUST finish what I'm working on, or complete it to a level at which I have decided to stop. If I don't finish it, it eats at me.

I have a deal with putting other things into orders as well. I found the novel Dracula online and I went through the ENTIRE NOVEL and placed all the entries into chronological order, so Mina's letters and Dr. Seward's diary cross over each other as well as Jonathan Harker's journal from when he was in Transylvania. It's a wil way to read it.

I did watch Memento in reverse order, and found it to be a whole different movie with the most boring first act on record. I am currently capturing the Lord of the Rings to reorder all the scenes into chronological order in Moviemaker as well as planning to capture Kill Bill and do the same thing.

I have to make sure the wheels in my car are straight when I park. I check email incessantly as well as come onto this site endlessly when I should be doing other things.
Posted by: greg, February 21st, 2006, 1:13am; Reply: 19

Quoted from tomson


I check my voice mail a bazillion times/day, and since I started coming here I haven't written anything on FREELANCER (my serious thing) so I'm thinking about leaving. This place is great, but I'm writing this instead of a car chase.


:-/


Tomson, you can't leave.  You will never leave.  MUWAHAHAHAHA.
Posted by: Helio, February 21st, 2006, 8:21am; Reply: 20
Hey guys, silence! I need to work! haha!
Posted by: Zombie Sean, February 21st, 2006, 8:31am; Reply: 21
Yeah this is probably the site I visit most every day. There are great people here and it's fun reading their scripts.

Another one:

There is a telephone next to me on my desk. Whenever someone has called, there is always a red light shining above "New Call Line 1" and it bothers me so much that I either have to press the arrow buttons to go through them to make the light turn off, or just remove all the messages at once to make the light come off. I just hate it so much! :P

Sean
Posted by: Rob S., February 21st, 2006, 9:41pm; Reply: 22
I always check to see if the refrigerator door is closed.
I always check to see if I logged out of the computer I use at the computer lab in my school.  Even after I leave the room, I go back and check it.
I always check and double check to see if I have my pack of Ice Breakers mints.  
Posted by: George Willson, February 21st, 2006, 9:56pm; Reply: 23

Quoted from tomson
Horror: You join SS, become a chat room whore, decide you have to leave in order to get things done, miss the people washing their hands, fluffing pillows, drumming with their fingers, sharpening pencils, James Bond, Bert, and everyone else and members arguing about nothing. You return and you get locked in a thread where a kid tells you what's right and wrong. You want to scream, but this site has no sound.


You know what? I don't think that one's been done to death yet. Seriously. At the very least, it would make a really interesting short, but if it could be fleshed out, that might make a really interesting feature. Psychological effects of a forum...

Posted by: Higgonaitor, February 21st, 2006, 10:01pm; Reply: 24

Quoted from George Willson
I found the novel Dracula online and I went through the ENTIRE NOVEL and placed all the entries into chronological order, so Mina's letters and Dr. Seward's diary cross over each other as well as Jonathan Harker's journal from when he was in Transylvania. It's a wil way to read it.


Do you still have this?  I would love to read it like that.
That was a great book.  Heres an interesting tidbit: Both novels "A Tale of Two Cities" and "Dracula" have a charaxter named Lucy who get proposed to three times in one day.  Coincidence?
Posted by: George Willson, February 21st, 2006, 10:03pm; Reply: 25

Quoted from Higgonaitor
Do you still have this (Dracula in chronological order)?  I would love to read it like that.


Of course I still have it. I used it that way in writing Fempiror Movie 4. I'll email it to you.
Posted by: Jimbo, February 21st, 2006, 10:59pm; Reply: 26
I have OCD for Carmen Electra...

You wanna' see my room? Lol... I have four posters of her in my room... And more...
Posted by: Impulse, February 21st, 2006, 11:20pm; Reply: 27

Quoted from George Willson
I alphabetize or otherwise organize things into categories that make sense to me. CD's are in artist order, including soundtracks. This means that Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Hunchback, and Pocahontas are all grouped in with Little Shop of Horrors because Alan Menken wrote the music. Makes my wife crazy. DVDs are by title, except when they involve either a series which I will put in release year order or personal preference. This means that all the James Bond movies are sorted into release year order, and so are the Alfred Hitchcocks...I go crazy when they put two movies on one disc, one from 1926 and another from 1938...I force myself to go with the one on the spine while making a note that one of the films is permanently out of order.


That's not obsessive. That's organizing. I do that too. Except my TV series are alphabetized on a separate shelf by title. I don't know why I alphabetize my Tape/DVD/CD rack and not my bookshelves. But my CDs are all alphabetized to Last Name, First name if it's an artist's name like Gavin DeGraw or just alphabetized by band name. Then, if I have more than one CD by the same artist, I put them in the order in which they were released. Like my Matchbox Twenty albums. My DVDs and videos are alphabetized by title, even my recorded tapes, depending on what I have recorded on them. It's kind of confusing, because I have more than one show/movie on one tape. Then I alphabetize by what program is recorded first.

Oh, and usually, I don't touch doorknobs if it's at all possible. But if I do, I have to open doors just as the door is closing. Like, if the door is swinging close, I catch the doorknob before it does. I have no idea why.
Posted by: Lon, February 22nd, 2006, 12:31am; Reply: 28
I have so many little "things" that my girlfriend often tells me I should be committed.

- I have to count the steps anytime I walk up or down the stairs to my apartment.  There are nineteen steps.  There've always been nineteen steps the entire 4+ years I've lived here.  Yet I have to count them each time I go up or down them.

- When I eat, I eat one thing in full at a time.  I don't skip back and forth between sides or entrees.  

- When I'm bored I play drum beats with my teeth.

- I talk to my cat as though he were human.  Sure, lots of people talk to their pets, but...I call mine "son" and regularly hold conversations with him.  

- Not since I was in highschool have I ever had a full night's sleep, straight through.  I wake up about every two to two and a half hours, automatic, then spend about ten minutes falling back asleep.  Yet those two to two and a half hours that I am asleep, it takes a howitzer to wake me up.

- As my long-suffering girlfriend has often pointed out, I worry and fret over the smallest and most inconsequential things -- yet life-altering events, major incidences, injuries, drastic occurences, etc., I hardly bat an eye at.

Just a few and believe me, they are quite literally just the tip of the iceberg.
Posted by: George Willson, February 22nd, 2006, 1:29am; Reply: 29

Quoted from Lon
- When I eat, I eat one thing in full at a time.  I don't skip back and forth between sides or entrees.


I tend to eat everything on my plate, and then take a drink. In a restaurant, I will drink 2 or 3 glasses of soda before the meal, drink nothing during the meal, and then drink again after it.

I never noticed I did this until someone pointed it out to me.
Posted by: guyjackson (Guest), February 22nd, 2006, 1:51am; Reply: 30
You people are wierd...
Posted by: George Willson, February 22nd, 2006, 1:56am; Reply: 31
What's your point?  :P
Posted by: Zombie Sean, March 25th, 2006, 3:12pm; Reply: 32
Yeah I just recently found another OC thing in me and it's when I lay my backpack on the ground against the wall, and if it falls over, I have to set it back up against the wall. It really bothers me.

Sean
Posted by: the goose, March 25th, 2006, 4:06pm; Reply: 33


I am a worrier. I hardly think a week goes by where I don't have a "big worry", usually I miss an hour or so of sleep worrying about it and then nothing comes off it. That in fact what I was worrying about didn't happen or wasn't half as bad as I thought. This is an extremley annoying habit.

Also my mind has a habit of creating random challenges for me. Like for instance the other day I was out biking and a car was coming up behind and my mind told me that if I managed to get past a "30" sign before the car overtook me then I'd receive the order I was waiting for the next day (when it was suppose to arrive a week earlier).

The only thing is I nearly always forget about the rewards so when they do or don't happen it doesn't really bother me.
Posted by: KenneyP, March 25th, 2006, 4:30pm; Reply: 34
I have to wash my hands a lot.
Nobody is allowed to touch my food, if they do I won't eat it.
When eating cookies I always eat the whole pack but leave 1 cookie behind.
I never eat out of a pack that's already been opened, take an open bag of chips for example, never in my life!
At home I need lots of kleenex, I waste lots of them, most of them go into the garbage can witout even being used.
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