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Tuesday, October 5, 2010

OCD or Crazy?


OCD or Crazy?

The other day, I was listening to the morning show on my commute to work and I heard a segment about deciding whether certain habits were either crazy or just plain old OCD.  The DJs asked listeners to call in and tell them about any habit of theirs and the DJs would vote on which category it fell into.  I sat there wondering if the fine line between the two was really all that fine of a line.  I mean, I think crazy is pretty easy to tell from OCD. 

…Then, people started calling in.

Without going into detail, some certifiably crazy and OCD people called in.  It got me thinking.  Is there anything I do that’s borderline OCD/crazy?  Probably.  Although, it took me a while to think of a habit to question.  Here it is.  I guess y’all can be the judges. 

For me, the volume on the TV always has to be an even number.  To clarify, when changing the volume on my TV, a number and a bar both pop up to display what level (number) the volume is at.  The higher the number, the louder the TV is.  Well, inexplicably, I can’t leave it on an odd number.  It has to be even.  I usually keep it at 18 or 20, but never 17, 19, or 21.  And when the kids are watching a movie, I put the volume to 28 or 30, not 29. 

I’m not going to go bonkers if the volume is an odd number and I can definitely force myself to change it to one, but I’ll always make it even out of habit.  Sometimes, I’ll hold the volume up or down button for a little bit to change the volume quickly, but if it lands on an odd number, I just as quickly adjust it to an even.  I suppose I just feel at peace when it’s even.  If someone were to ask me why, I wouldn’t have an answer for them. 

So is that crazy?  Or OCD?  Do you have any of said borderline habits?

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

So what do you do when you're at another person's home and you see they have the volume at an odd number? If you go ape shit, I'd say you were somewhat crazy... If you are mildly uncomfortable, OCD. That's my therapeutic opinion! ;)

Cole Garrett said...

@ Bi I look away, so I don't have to see. LOL. Just kidding. I probably wouldn't do anything. :P

Boxxy said...

My starbucks cup, lid, and heat guard thingy have to be in perfect alignment before i can drink it. ...it makes it taste better...

Sam said...

I think if you were to see someone else put it at an odd number and be able to control yourself from changing it, then it's just a quirk you have but not classified as an OCD. Though I'm not a doctor, so what do I know? :)

I guess one thing I do that has OCD tendencies is that I can't have other people touch pills I'm about to swallow. Like if I ask someone for Motrin, I will specifically tell them to bring me the bottle and not put the pills in their hands to bring to me. If it's someone I'm really close to and they don't do it, I'll go get the bottle myself and make them throw those pills away. Just because I'm stubborn though, not OCD. If someone I didn't know too well did that, I would take them just fine.

Girly said...

I totally do the volume thing, too, though I can tolerate odd numbers when in an increment of five.

Also, whenever I get down to the last fifteen or so gummy bears in a bag I have to pull the colors out and separate them and then eat the excess ones until I have the same number of all flavors. Then I go through a weird system of eating them so that my favorite flavors are the last ones I taste. (I'm pretty sure I annoyed my roommate last night because we were watching a TV show and I would only give her my lemon gummy bears. If she had asked, I probably would have given her one of the others.)

Cole Garrett said...

@ Boxxy I used to work at Starbucks. I knew a few customers like that. We always made sure to line everything up for those people in particular.

@ Sam I think I'd rather take pills other people haven't touched either. (I don't know if I'd throw them away if someone brought them to me, though. LOL.)

@ Girly I think we'd get along great. If any odd numbers ARE acceptable to me, they would also be multiples of 5. And I do the same thing with my M&Ms that you do with gummy bears. I can't help my self. :)

Gina said...

Similar to the volume thing- why do we always microwave things in 5 second intervals? My husband heats up a sandwich and gets mad "Ugh, 45 seconds is too short, there's a cold spot in the middle, but 50 seconds is too long! What am I supposed to do?!?" Well, 47 seconds is a thought. And he looked at me like I was bananas.

I agree with the first comment; if you're uncomfortable, it's probably OCD. If you wig out, you're nuts.

I cannot write with different colors of ink. Like if I have to add something to my grocery list, I go find the pen I was writing with earlier so there isn't one line of blue ink with all the rest in black.

Joy said...

I do all of these things... <:-/

Things have to be in increments of five or even numbers - otherwise, I shift my weight and focus on something else.

I CAN write in different colors of ink, but I have to have a pattern in the colors. I should send you a snapshot of this week's to-do list, because I even coordinated the colors that I used to cross things off as I finished them. Not because I'm crazy or anything... I just like the colors!

Also, I automatically sort crayons/markers/pens/colored things in rainbow order. Anyone else do that? And can anyone else tell the difference between Crayola's Blue-Green and Green-Blue crayons WITHOUT looking at the labels?

'Cause I can. :)

THUNDERCAT said...

I'm crazy for sure! I would say organizing my every item I own by color is OCD...but I flip out if they are touched...more crazy than anything. My room looks like a rainbow took a huge dump in there o.O

Leigh said...

LOL I'm exactly the same about the television volume. I also have a specific order in which I do my shower routine. If I forget a step, I have to start over again. Crazy, I know.

AmberLaShell said...

I think that it sounds just a bit OCD to me...

Also, that sounds like a Kidd Kradick bit,,, 106.1????

Read my blog @ amberlashell.com

Elle said...

Well I'm perfect, so no. (Hah... Jussst kidding)

My ex was pretty OCD and I used to have a great time purposely doing things to toy with him (probably why he broke up with me). For example, I'd angle the place mats just slightly off kilter or stack bowls in piles of 2 and 3 rather than 4 and 4. He'd fix them without even realizing it and I'd be left cracking up!

Cole Garrett said...

@ Amber Yep, LOL, Kidd Kraddick.

@ Jess I'm glad I'm not the only one. (Inky, too)

@ Elle That's just cruel. I have a way I like to put my dishes away, too. :)

Christine said...

This is crazy...there's no OCD about it. My husband actually has the same habit, but with odd numbers. TV has to be on an odd number volume level, he has to eat his chicken nuggets in odd numbers, etc.

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