While I’ve gotten better about having a borderline obsessive personality in regards to some things, I still have compulsive things I must do.  I know I’m not alone though.  Everyone’s got their quirks and pet peeves.  Here are some of mine.

This is more of a habit and preference, but I always remove the lemon and straw out of ice water when it’s given to me.  If I wanted a lemon in my water, I’d order lemonade.  And there simply is no reason to drink water through a straw.  Straws are for soda and milk.

The plastic covers that you get for fountain drink cups all have several “buttons” on the top that allow you to identify which drink is which.  Whether it’s 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 of these raised circles, I have to push all of them down.  Drinking my beverage is not an option until this step is complete.

Do NOT step on the back of my shoes.  While most of the time it’s not intentional, I hate it with a vengeance.  You will get a dirty look and a friendly reminder from me that I don’t like your invasion into my feet’s personal space.

With that being said, I do disobey some things a lot of people do.  For instance, I tend to walk ON sidewalk cracks.  My mom’s back isn’t broken yet, so I say “balderdash and poppycock” to that old rhyme.  Taking this disregard for this old wives tale to an even more dangerous level, I even step on the space between the elevator and the floor sometimes.  I still am paranoid that one day the elevator will drop as I’m walking out of it, splitting me in half.  I also tend to, if I’m trying to prolong the elevator door to be open, stick my leg into the closing doors but not my arm.  Somehow the arm seems to be a more valuable appendage to protect than a shoe-encased foot.

The pinnacle of obsessiveness peaked in my odd brain as a kid when I not only had to check for monsters under the bed (perfectly normal) but it had to be in even numbers.  And not just any even number – it had to be checked in multiples of four.  So if I wasn’t satisfied with peeking my head 4 straight times under the bed, I then had to do it four more times.  Of course, I was never devoured by monsters so there's no proof that my system wasn't what saved me from an untimely death by bedroom ogres.

I’m so much more normal now, despite what you peckers insist.