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New ToyFare gig, plus QUIRKY SURVEY!

I'm hearing loads of "mehs" and "blehs" in response to the new Transformers flick, but I dunno...you've gotta go into it without the expectation that this was made for Transfans, because it simply wasn't. There are millions of Transformers fans, certainly, but there's a big difference between someone who remembers those cooool transforming cars and someone who remembers that Autobot Seaspray talked funny and once had a human girlfriend. The movie was NOT made for the latter type of fan, because there are not enough of those fans to support a gigantic motion picture.

My take: With or without the Transformers ties, a big budget summer flick featuring robot cars pounding the shit out of robot airplanes is probably more worth seeing than debating. The fact that it has those ties is just gravy for those of us who care. Not saying it'll be great, but unlike the Star Wars prequels, I'm not going to walk into the theater feeling like I'm owed what I wished for.

This is how I help myself hedge expectations when people tell me that it's less a movie about Transformers and more a movie about John Turturro making balloon animals.


It's with that perfect segue that I inform you of my latest ToyFare gig -- I'm in issue #120, which is an all Transformers blowout, with a page-long feature about Transformers: The Movie. Not the new one. The old one. The one that's animated. The one with a reverbing Wheelie. Read about the five best moments in the movie, along with sidebars on "Scramble City" and the age old dream battle of Unicron versus the Death Star. Looks like they had to chop out some copy to make space, but so long as the byline stands and the check clears, I'll head into tomorrow just as convictionless as before.

I have to admit, I'm pretty pumped about the Summer Megaparty. (See the previous entry if you don't know what in the fuck I'm talking about.) I've spent most of the night spinning in my chair, looking around my junkyard office for different things to write about. Then I thought about how I could hop in my car with my laptop, drive down the street and review the neighbor's weird lawn ornaments. X-E became whatever it became, but it was built on the freedom to turn anything into content. I'm psyched.

I'll probably let tomorrow slide without a new entry so we can enter the Megaparty cleanly, and knowing that, maybe it's a good time for a survey.

In the comments, list five of your weirdest quirks. Don't fake it. Think about the weird stuff you do, whether it paints you gold or black, and tell the world. Or at least, tell the small part of the world that sifts through comments on my blog. Here's five of mine:

  • I love V8 juice, but I hate drinking it whenever someone else is in the room. When I'm alone, I have visions of the Juiceman and of beautiful beds of tomatoes and parsley. When my concentration breaks, all I can think about is how there must be bits of soil and worms somewhere in the juice.
  • I can write just as quickly upside-down and backwards as I can the standard way. Hard to explain, but picture me leaning across the table and writing you a note. You wouldn't have to flip the paper over to read it. I'm very proud of this.
  • I cannot tie shoelaces. I never learned how. I have trouble with most knots, but shoelaces especially. I rarely buy sneakers for this reason.
  • I have absolutely no appreciation for music. I've listened to the same dozen or so artists/groups for the last decade. Nothing else can get in the rotation and I have no idea why.
  • I'm left-handed, but unlike most left-handers, I've never been able to learn how to use scissors with my right hand. It makes me feel contorted. Thus, I'm very poor at cutting things out with scissors. Perhaps I should invest in a specialty scissor.

Your turn!

Posted by Matt on 06/18/2007. E-mail me!



Discussion Thread: 381 comments

1 3 4 5 6 7 16

I havn’t posted in close to a year or so, but I just coulldn’t pass this one up.

1. I have an illogical fear/displeasure of cotton balls. I cannot take the cotton out of medicine bottles, nor can I stand when anyone is holding it around me. It makes me curl my lips around my teeth and I speak in a strange way, and I have absolutely no control over it. I also break out in gooseflesh all over my body at the mere mention of cotton. In fact this was very hard to write.
2. I am either allergic to or highly sensitive to vanilla purfumes and scented candles. Any fake vanilla scent will cause me to immediately stuff up. My eyes swell shut and my throat closes. In stores where these things are on display, I have to avoid. If I have to but make-up, I will have my husband or daughter scout to make sure that there is no purfume near it lest I encounter the vanilla beasts. Contrary to this, I can eat any food that contains vanilla flavoring, without the slightest problem.
3. I eat the chocolate off of three-muskateers bars before I eat the center. It takes me close to an hour of careful chocolate removal before I will eat the soft creamy interior. Likewise I eat the chocolate and caramel off of twix bars before the cookie. This often causes problems with my spouse.
4. I know every scene, line, phrase, and pause of the movie National Lampoons Vacation, even though I have no special love of it. I still haven’t figured out why this is, but if I were asked to do so right this minute I could give a beginning to end exact detail of the entire movie including what is in each scene and what each actor is wearing.
5. I can NOT stand to have more than one noise making device on at once. My husband can listen to music, download things off of the internet and watch television all at the same time. This drives me to total and utter insanity to the point where I will leave my house and go for a walk even if its the middle of the night. Likewise if someone is speaking to me I will turn off whatever I am watching or listening to because the two noises together make me feel psychotic. Rarely will I turn the radio on in the car if someone is riding with me because I know we will be speaking to each other the whole time.

*Bonus: I love any kind of plain pasta with ketchup, butter, salt and pepper on it. It is quite possibly my favorite meal.

Chestnuts roasted by bloodybrilliantme @ 06/19/2007 1:55 PM


1. Whenever I listen to music, I always picture myself singing the singing the song or playing the concert. That’s why I never like anything done by a female artist.

2. I was a Star wars nut; I collected everything Star Wars related until the prequels came out. I was so disappointed and betrayed with Episode one, I sold everything and never looked back.

3. I buy and played every online MMO game and dropped it week later. I get obsessed about the next one coming out and do the same as soon as it comes out.

4. I get board really easily and ask people of things to do and never do them.

Chestnuts roasted by Speed @ 06/19/2007 2:05 PM


OK-Here it goes:

1. I’m still scared of the dark, to an extent. I think it’s not being able to see what’s around me. Not that I’ll ever admit it to someone I’m in the dark with.

1a. On top of that, using a flashlight in the dark makes it ten times worse.
1b. Also, wheelchairs in the dark scare the everloving piss out of me. I blame the movie “The Changeling”.

2. I have absolutely no problem frenching my wife, but can’t stand to share a spoon or fork with her, especially if it’s after something like pudding or ice cream.

3. According to the wife, I’m a sleep nose-picker. Like, deep in there. I was mortified when she told me, but she just laughs it off (to hide her growing disgust, I’m sure).

4.I like apples, but can’t stand apple sauce because of the texture. For the same reason, I’ve never been able to eat flan.

5. And like fistpittingnork, I’m also what you could call a sexsomniac. Although I’ve never viewed it as anything sinister, or even something I would ever, ever feel the need to ‘confess’ to family or friends about like I had some kind of problem. I never thought of it as any different than walking, talking, laughing/growling(like an old roommate), or any number of things a lot of us do when we’re sleeping.

Chestnuts roasted by jokunok @ 06/19/2007 2:12 PM


1. I develop an unnatural attatchment to pens. I will grab an ordinary (bic or whatever) pen, put it in my pocket, and carry it around with me at all times until it runs dry. If I lend it to someone and they don’t return it or *gasp* lose it I become manic. I feel naked and inconsolable until I get a new one.

2. If I am eating a hamburger I will hod it with two hands and not put it down until it is finished. I think this stems from a fear that the burger will fall apart if I let go of it.

3. I am almost constantly in motion. Usually this manifests as a “nervous knee,” but it can be any body part. Sometimes my fingers clench and unclench of their own volition. I seriously worry about Parkinson’s on occasion.

4. I unconsciously mimic TV or movie characters. If I am watching something with any kind of a strong personality, I will develop those same traits (accents, style of speech, tone/mood, etc.) until I realize I’m doing it and make a concerted effort to stop.

5. I talk to myself. Not just little chats, but if I am alone I will often break out into whole nonsensical conversations complete with silly voices and dancing. Come to think of it, it’s not just when I’m alone.

Oh, yeah. I could definitely do more of these.

Chestnuts roasted by Rhino @ 06/19/2007 2:17 PM


I can’t believe I forgot this. This doesn’t apply now, but when I was young one of my top 5 favorite shows was Fraggle Rock.

Remember the opening credit clip where the camera went through that hole to show everybody working inside? Well one time when I was taking a bath I realized I could hear noises when I went under water, which I’m sure is pipes, vents, etc.., but back then, I swore it was little guys (not necessarily Fraggles) in the walls of my house, working.

After that bath, I never watched the opening clip, yet I continued to love and watch Fraggle Rock.

Chestnuts roasted by fistpittingnork @ 06/19/2007 2:22 PM


-Hate people who wear flip flops and sandals.if possible I would make socks mandatory

-All of my CD’s are arranged in alphabetical order by group,and that is the order in which I must listen to them. same with DVD’S

-Aside from the occasional beer,I have no desire to try any other form of alcohol.

-Never was curious about drugs.

-can’t swallow any pill,no matter how small.always afraid of choking to death.all medicine if possible must be in liquid form.

-At home I watch every tv show and movie with the closed captions on just because i’m afraid i’ll miss a crucial piece of dialogue. I feel something is missing if i’m in a movie theater and have nothing to read on screen

Chestnuts roasted by ThrGrid @ 06/19/2007 2:26 PM


Oh, joy!
hmmm…

1. I turn bright red extremely often. No, you don’t understand. BRIGHT, with blotches all over my chest and completely red cheeks, along with sweating and (duh) embarrassment/nervousness. This happens when people I don’t know talk to me or when it’s just a member of the opposite sex whom I’m not friends with (most of ‘em). It happens in supermarkets paying for food (or any store, rather) and even when a teacher addresses me in class. Presentations go horribly, and god-dammit I fear that I have Social Anxiety Disorder.
…sorry. Probably the thing I hate most about myself.

2. I know it’s bad, but I “clean” my ears with Q-tips at least once a day, usually more. Probably why I have terrible hearing.

3. I frequently remember my (utterly bizarre and random) dreams; almost every night, and must report them to others. That is, unless they’re… well, you know.

4. I have a slight fear of heights. That is, I have fear of falling off of high stuff (like bleachers or something). And yet, I love rollercoasters and themepark rides and hope to skydive one day.

5. When I’m wearing shoes sometimes, usually in school, I get this incredible feeling that I have to crack my big toes. So I discreetly take my shoe off and do so against the floor.

Chestnuts roasted by JackSieMasz @ 06/19/2007 2:28 PM


jokunok

1b. Also, wheelchairs in the dark scare the everloving piss out of me. I blame the movie “The Changeling”.

If you’re the type who likes to be scared a little when facing your fears, have you seen the “Rubber Johnny” video by Chris Cunningham/Aphex Twin? If not, you might enjoy it.

2. I have absolutely no problem frenching my wife, but can’t stand to share a spoon or fork with her, especially if it’s after something like pudding or ice cream.

I’m the same way. I don’t mind heavily kissing a girl, but if that same girl wanted a drink of my coffee, milk, or a bite of ice cream, pudding, cereral, etc… I couldn’t do it. If it’s anything that’ll leave gooey backwash or those little gooey half spit/half [milk, ice cream, etc...] lines on a spoon, then I’m finished with that meal. Though I’m perfectly fine if she wants a drink of my dr pepper or a bite of my pizza.

Chestnuts roasted by fistpittingnork @ 06/19/2007 2:30 PM


6. I compulsively check my email accounts, blogs, web stats, Google Adsense stats, Alexa ranking, MySpaces, and Google and Technorati myself. I’ve been known to waste an entire day doing this in rotation while I try to think of things I should be doing instead. I think I’m afraid one day I’ll get this huge surge of popularity and I won’t be around for the chaos.

7. When I’m online I will randomly get up, walk down the hall, circle the kitchen, and sit back down. Even in the middle of AIM convos.

8. I’m extremely vain. I photograph myself all the time, stare at myself in the mirror, and am positively fucking in love with myself.

9. Occasionally I’ll have verbal malfunctions. Somewhere between my brain and my mouth the words just get stuck, swapped, jumbled or God only knows what. It’s even happened in video blogs, but hopefully not enough for anyone to really notice.

10. Despite having a kinda deep natural voice, I sing as a soprano. In high school chorus, I was with the higher sopranos.

Chestnuts roasted by Mystie @ 06/19/2007 3:02 PM


Someone had to mention The Fox and the Hound didn’t they? And it’s raining here; I’ll be depressed all day.

I think it’s great so many of us share the same things, especially the ability to, without effort, memorize songs/movies and become research and information hogs. My friends claim to find it annoying, but who gets a call when they need to know that useless bit of info? Exactly….

My part 2:
6. I ‘sleep watch’ TV. I may fall asleep watching Adult Swim but will wake up and my hand will be on the remote and I have changed the channel. Usually it winds up on the news or a History type channel, but more often than not it winds up on We or Lifetime. I think my sleeping self might have something to tell me.
7. I am also a huge daydream planner. I will also plan years ahead and obsessively daydream about those plans and the things that may or may not happen. I also do interviews in my head about my career or the things I’ve worked on. Glad I’m not the only one doing this ;) . I also think it was an only child thing: I had many imaginary worlds and scenarios that I created. The biggest was the universe my Legos lived in; the entire house became a planet, each room a country, so on and so forth. And all my toy lines had to have a reason for being around, like the Autobots’ purpose was to protect the Lego people from the Decepticons. And there was always some huge all inclusive back story that tied it all together.
8. Sometimes what happens in real life becomes a part of my dreams. Usually, it’s simple stuff, like the most common thing is that my alarm radio will be going off, but the music will become the song playing in my dream, at a restaurant, in the car, at a concert, whatever. Worse cases are like when I dreamed I fell into a pit of fire ants and was being bitten. When I woke up, there were fire ants all over my arm. That’s some Freddy shit right there.
9. When we go out to eat I am only comfortable if we are sitting in a secluded part of the restaurant or if I can sit where I am facing a majority of the place. In relation, certain people have to be on certain sides of me, like when sitting in a movie. It’s not a male/female thing, it actually depends on the individual.
10. If I see something (movie, cd, toy, etc.) or know something is out in a store that I even barely want, it will bug me to death until I go and buy it. I also have urges to spend money sometimes; doesn’t matter what I buy. But I hate wasting money, so many times I feel guilty after buying things that I later realize are useless.

Chestnuts roasted by Shuanfu @ 06/19/2007 3:27 PM


Jen, I’m 20 and I’m just learning how to drive.

I also can’t swallow pills. I have this insane fear of choking. Everytime I go to the states, I stock up on liquid Tylenol, because we don’t have it here. Not in Toronto, anyway.

Chestnuts roasted by nina @ 06/19/2007 3:31 PM


Oh god, I accidentally forgot to order no mayo on my sandwich today. Luckily I was able to salvage by wiping it off with a napkin thanks to a protective lettuce layer. If it was from somewhere like Carl’s Jr. where they drench the thing in mayo, forget it. I honestly don’t understand how anyone could ever enjoy slimy globs of rancid smelling mayonaise ruining their burger. I don’t get you ketchup haters, though.
I love this thread, but we’re all completely insane.

Chestnuts roasted by squee4242 @ 06/19/2007 3:44 PM


Man, I could do 5 just on food quirks alone! OCD makes for some great ones.

1)I have to listen to CDs/MP3s–even mixed ones–on random. Otherwise, I know what song is coming up next and it totally destroys the enjoyment for me.

2) I hate drinking water. It makes my mouth dry. I can’t explain why and everyone thinks I am crazy but drinking water makes me want to throw up. As a small child, I got into some medicine and the doctor told my mom to give me Ipecac syrup to make me vomit. Several spoonfulls later, I still hadn’t vomited. So the doctor told her to try to make me drink as much water as possible to help dilute the medicine. Two sips and URP. Been that way ever since.

3) I cannot have my alarm clock set to the actual time. I have to set it for some time randomly in the future–it’s best when I don’t even really know how much difference there is between the real time and the time on the clock. Then I set the clock for 9am if I have to get up for work the next day. Always 9am even though I actually have to be up no later than 5:30am. It usually works out because the clock is almost always at least 4 hours fast. It goes off and I snooze until I have to get up. This probably makes no sense but it’s how I operate.

4) I have a paralyzing fear of looking at a non-covered window when it’s dark outside. Every window in my house is completely covered at all times so in case I don’t get to check it before night falls, I won’t be shocked if I walk by and see the window.

5) If I am watching a movie or commerical and the camera goes into something like sunglasses or an eyeball or a mouth or something, it will really mess with me if it doesn’t come back out that same opening. It stresses me because I know it can’t stay in there and I need to see it come back out. Even though I know nothing actually “went inside” of anything else, I obsess over it until I see it come out. Sometimes I have to convince myself that I DID see it come out just so I can go on.

And a bonus one:

6) I cannot stand the feeling of soap on my hands or feet. Cannot handle it. When I wash my hands or feet, I have to rinse them as soon as possible. I also cannot stand to have very dry hands. I’m very hard to please.

Chestnuts roasted by evilbeth @ 06/19/2007 3:44 PM


1. I drift in and out of obsessions. This comes in the forms of collections and shows/movies that I obsess over. I’ve never steadily collected any one thing, but I have many collections that I will obsess over, then ignore for a while, then obsess over again. These include Battle Beasts and My Little Ponies. I love 80s cartoons. All of them. I don’t particularly care what the plot is, I’m just addicted to that style of animation. Currently I’m also really into Metalocalypse.

2. I have lots of food-related quirks: I really REALLY like mixing sweet and salty foods. I dip pretzels in pudding, fries in milkshakes, etc. I put jelly on any fast food breakfast sandwiches. I also put barbecue potato chips on burgers. I HATE melted cheese except in its purest form, the sacred grilled cheese sandwich, which I make with strawberry jam. I refuse to eat hot cold cuts, so I allways order non-toasted club sandwiches. When i get hot sandwiches (Meatball sub, bbq, etc.) I open them up, eat the meat/tofu with a fork, and then eat the bread with sauce like a normal sandwich. I do something similar with pizza, I eat the toppings and cheese with a fork and then eat the crust last, but I only do that with some brands of pizza. There are some vegatables that I love cooked, but refuse to eat raw; tomatoes, onions, broccoli, spinach, garlic. Inversely I love raw celery and carrots but I don’t like cooked carrots and HATE cooked celery. I prefer diet soda to regular soda, and I will carefully pour sodas over ice, in a small stream, at the highest possible distance from the cup, in order to get as much of the fizz out as possible. I prefer meat to be as rare as possible.

3. Lots of people have issues with feet, keeping their feet covered, etc. I am the exact opposite. I hate wearing socks even if my feet are cold, I much prefer to be barefoot when indoors, and outside I usually wear sandals no matter what the weather is. I also hate sneakers with a passion. If I have to wear closed-toed shoes, I wear boots.

4. Since shoelaces seem to be a theme here… I am perfectly capable of tying my shoes, I just don’t. I slip my boots on and off without messing with the laces, not out of convenience or lazyness, but because the laces are completely shredded and impossible to untie. This may not seem like so much of a quirk except for the fact that I still haven’t boght new shoelaces. This is one of my obsessions. When it comes to shoes, I refuse to get new ones, or replace any part of them, until they have become completely unusable. If I have 2 pairs of shoes and the right one of one pair falls apart, I set the left one aside and wear the other pair until the left one of that pair falls apart, then wear the mismatched pair.

5. When I’m walking on a sidewalk, I have to alternate stepping on cracks with my left and right feet, therefore getting an equal number. This causes me to have an odd halting walk with very different step lengths. I’m sure it’s amusing to watch.

I have actually been diagnosed with OCD, so I could go on about the wierd things I do, But I’ll stick to 5 here.

Personal footnotes:

Donata05, I totally agree with you about textures… It has been an issue for me in the past, because I love finished ceramics, but I can’t stand to touch them before they’re glazed. Art class is allways interesting.

Wife of Timbo, I agree with you about beds. What kind of foot-trapping Nazis do they have making the beds in hotels? Can anyone actually sleep like that?

Jeff, I didn’t know shampoo was segregated by gender?

Formaldehyde Fayth, Synesthesia manifests itself in many ways. I both hear and taste colors.

Nikki, I think I know what you’re talking about in number 1, tracing loops with your eyes? I do that too.

Jedoc, I prefer cold and rainy to hot and sunny too. I’ve never been to Scotland or Australia, so i’m not sure about that one, but If you’re defective, I guess I am too.

nina, that Watership Down/Star wars thing sounds amazing. I want to see the art!

fistpittingnork, I hate the liquid soap crap they have in most public bathrooms because it feels like it never gets completely rinsed off. This bothers me. I can’t deal with having any soap residue on my hands. I can’t use hand sanitizer without rinsing it off afterwards for the same reason.

Matt, Looking forward to the megaparty!

Chestnuts roasted by Hazzard @ 06/19/2007 3:58 PM


Wow it is absolutely amazing how many quirks I share with you guys, here are a few more off the top of my head.

1. I have to sleep with a glass of water on the table next to my bed. 9 times out of 10 I won’t touch it all night, but there is no chance in hell of me falling asleep unless I have the security of knowing there is a drink there for me if I wake up parched in the middle of the night.

2. I constantly imagine myself having a light saber. Similar to the earlier comment that someone always imagines themselves with a sword cutting down light poles etc. when they are driving.

3. I check my pockets a million times a day, and am OCD when it comes to organizing things in my pockets….wallet in back right, cell phone in front right, change/keys in front left, and any sort of paper, cards, etc in my back left…seriously i tap all of my pockets at least every 5 mins to make sure everything is still there in correct order.

4. To me, a day has never officially started unless I’ve had a shower. Call me a pretty-boy, but if I go a day without showering, it wasn’t a real day, it was like a sick day or something, I just feel gross and grubby and inhuman, I have seriously had a shower every morning for as long as I can remember.

5. Sometimes I think I am the central variable in some sort of scientific experiment that the rest of the world is in on and I am supposedly unaware of. Sort of like Jim Carey on the Truman show or something. Sometimes I honestly think that I am constantly being monitored and everyone in my life are just really good actors that are contributing to the experiment. pretty self centered and paranoid i know…

peas

Chestnuts roasted by Gweff @ 06/19/2007 4:00 PM


MEANWHILE….
I am fighing the urge to answer my cell phone with, “Go for Papa Palpatine!”

Chestnuts roasted by kingklash @ 06/19/2007 4:10 PM


I have a few more:

-I hate scented liquid soap. It triggers the OCD handwashing in that I need to get THAT off my hands.

-I’m also the type of person that can’t let go to anything. Abandonment issues I guess. It comes from people always throwing out my stuff when they don’t have my permission.

I get the same way when someone ELSE (ie, mom) tries to reorganize my room. This occurs once every 2 or 3 months or so. I had all my stuff where I wanted, and now everything is someplace else, and I get mad and I freak out.

-In my room and bedroom, I HAVE to have the door closed, or else I feel incredibly vulerable. Somehow today, the lock broke on my door and while trying to fix it…made it worse to the point where I have to get a new doorknob and I have to keep the door open. As I’m typing this I have a feeling of deep anxiety…basically almost freaking out.

This one mostly stems from my Gremlins Trauma and that the fear that someone can intrude at anytime when the door’s open, be it a parent, burgular, anything.

Damnit, I wanna close my door but I can’t!

Chestnuts roasted by Invader Norbert @ 06/19/2007 4:14 PM


Gweff

Regarding #5, my little brother thinks along the same lines. He’s 20 now, but there was a time from when he was about 8 until just a few years ago he was always wondering if his life was pre-scripted.

He wasn’t shy about admitting it, and he would honestly tell us he wonders if we’re even real. He would ask questions like:

“Are you even real?”

“Is my life a video tape that somebody is watching and I don’t know?”

“If I turn around, is ‘behind me’ even really there?” — This question almost had me wondering the same thing, that what if behind me wasn’t really there, that maybe the only thing that really exists in this world are the things within sight and sound of me and only me.

Of course common sense will quickly diminish that blaze, but still, that’s heavy stuff for a young child to be thinking.

Chestnuts roasted by fistpittingnork @ 06/19/2007 4:16 PM


I’ve got another weird eating quirk.

If I’m eating at a table full of people, 99% of the time at a restaurant where everybody has ordered seperate meals, and somebody just reaches over and grabs a couple of my fries or forks themselves a bite of whatever is on my plate, it absolutely pisses me off to no end. I treat it as a blatant disrespect for my personal space and property, it has NOTHING to do with somebody using their dirty fork/hands to grab my food, because if they would just ask, I would never tell anybody no, unless it’s the last bite of something delicious, of course.

People now know to stay away from my plate unless they ask, because I would seriously be thrown into a bad mood because of it. There was one time my ex and I were eating with my brother and his girlfriend and my ex reached over and took one of my fries, my exact response was “if you wanted fucking fries why didn’t you order fucking fries?”

It surprises people because like I said, I’m not outwardly violent and I’m a very generous person, with money and possessions, so, like I said, it’s a respect thing, has nothing to do with your dirty hands/spitty fork touching my food, or me with the “this food is all mine, get your own” mentality.

Chestnuts roasted by fistpittingnork @ 06/19/2007 4:26 PM


fistpittingnork

If you’re the type who likes to be scared a little when facing your fears, have you seen the “Rubber Johnny” video by Chris Cunningham/Aphex Twin? If not, you might enjoy it.

Okay, I’ll hand it to you, that was creepy. Not too bad w/ the wheelchair creepiness, but still creepy.
I used to clean an office building late nights with a friend, and while hauling the trash to the dumpster outside I turned the corner and saw an old office chair that someone had tossed out. My latent fear of the dark, combined with my fear of wheelchairs, almost caused a heart attack.

Okay, five more:

6. I would still cry at ‘The Velveteen Rabbit’ if I had to read it.

7. I secretly consider myself a gifted artist, although lacking in practice, but have yet to do anything to develop it or seek some constructive way to utilize it, which is a constant source of irritation to my wife and, secretly, myself.

I have, however, just recently enrolled to pursue a graphic design/interactive design degree at a local college.

8. I’d hesitate to say I’m solely responsible, but when playing Cranium my team almost always wins, regardless of the mix of people and if we mix it up between games.

8. I love cold pizza or KFC for breakfast.

9. When in Puerto Rico working on a house we own and rent to vacationers, the wife and I were attacked by a crazy neighbor with a knife. Schizo and off his meds. I’m secretly proud that when attacked I swung the hammer I had in my hand rather than run away, but also guilty and ashamed that I couldn’t protect my wife, who is fine but ended up with five stitches on her hand.

Chestnuts roasted by Anonymous @ 06/19/2007 4:31 PM


Wow, this is a great thread. I am new here, so hopefully people will still read mine.

I share a lot of the same quirks that many of you have. I’ll try to think of my biggest…

I…

… will only hang toilet paper so that the sheets hang off the front of the roll. If it is hung backwards, where the sheets hang in the back, I will remove the roll and reverse it. This especially bothers me the rare times I use a public bathroom and the roll is hung incorrectly. Usually the dispenser is locked so I don’t have access to “fix” it. I am conviced that sometimes my girlfriend hangs it the incorrect way in our house just so she can see how long it takes me to fix it.

… have found when wide awake I rarely worry about death, be it my own or those that I care about. However, when going to bed and nearly asleep I am sometimes overcome by thoughts of my own death (or my family) to the point where I feel sick.

… like some others here, I have never done any illegal drug in my life. I don’t judge those that do too harshly, but I have never had the desire to try any of them. Even in college when opportunities were everywhere.

… am addicted to horror movies. I have a huge horror DVD collection and a near endless amount of useless horror trivia stuck in my head. This is probably the result of my dad showing me Romero’s Dawn of the Dead when I was around 7 years old.

… Bugs don’t bother me. Sure, I wouldn’t want to place a cockroach in my mouth or anything, but bugs truly don’t scare me. Spiders on the other hand awaken some primal fear buried deep inside. I am absolutely scared to death of spiders and around once a week will spray for them in my garage and near the outside of my front door. As silly as it sounds I find a sense of satisfaction in seeing them crawl away and die. It is like I feel as if they deserve it since they actually had the nerve to come onto my property and make me feel uncomfortable.

… rarely eat outside due to the idea of a bug landing in my food. Yes, I know this may slightly contradict what I just said above, but it truly doesn’t. I don’t fear bugs, I just don’t want them in my food. If a fly lands in my plate of food I will be forced to throw the entire thing away. If I see flies buzzing around an outdoor buffet, I will be unable to eat any of the food.

… rarely act my age. If I had an endless amount of money I would own all of the DVDs of the shows I grew up watching like He-Man, Transformers, G.I. Joe, etc. Sometimes I worry that I am emotionally stunted in some way. Then I read websites like this and realize that I am far from alone.

… still own a few Pepsi Cool Cans from the very early ’90s. I have always had a “collectors” personality type and decided to stash of few of them away when I was a kid. Over the years I think a couple of them got tossed because somehow they ruptured and a gross, thick syrup leaked out everywhere in my closet (where they were stored). I am convinced that I still have at least one somewhere in storage at my parent’s house.

Chestnuts roasted by Magic Toe @ 06/19/2007 4:31 PM


whoops, forgot to type my name on that one.

Oh, and I know it’s been said, but ‘best thread ever.’

Chestnuts roasted by jokunok @ 06/19/2007 4:33 PM


Here it goes: Long time reader, first time poster. I always wanted to say/type that. On to the oddities:

1. I have never won a game of thumb wrestling in my life, ever. I have HUGE hands, and I’ve had girlfrieds absolutely kill me in every match.

2. I have arguments in my head against people in my life, just to get practice in case we happen to disagree upon the particular topic I’m debating with myself. The bright side is, people wonder why I’m so quick witted. The down side, when I do get a chance to participate in these pre-rehearsed arguments, I sound like I’ve memorized all my lines.

3. I am terrified on large bodies of water. You will never get me on a cruise. Yet, jumping out of an airplane is great fun and doesn’t scare me at all.

4, I put hot sauce on just about everything. Everything that’s not sweet at least.

5. I have a near encyclopedic knowledge of the most worthless information imaginable. Stuff that could help me win Jeopardy? Nope, I’ll remember stuff like the real story behind Lawn Jockeys. Seriously, I know how they came to be!

Keep up the good work! Thanks for my daily diversion:)

Chestnuts roasted by Nate @ 06/19/2007 4:35 PM


1 – I have to walk on a certain side of people. But it differs every day. some days it will be right others left, but I come close to freaking out if I’m not on the correct side. That drives my wife crazy.

2 – I can not walk on grates in the sidewalk. I fear they will break and I’ll fall onto the subway tracks. It doesn’t matter if the grate is too small to fit through.

3 – I converse with the innanimate objects at work. It started when I worked in a pizzaria in high school and talk to the ingrediants i nthe walk-in fridge. I’d talk to the dough as I was doing inventory at the end of the night. Currently I’m not getting along the Xerox machine at ym office. Fucker beeps at me every time I go near it.

4 – When I’m walking home from work or riding the streetcar, I’ll start thinking about different, um, realities, or futures for myself. Like, how I’d act in interviews if I were a hockey player, or if I were an MP. Sometimes conversations will get heated in my head and I’ll start making arm gestures.

5 – While I’m a slob at work and at home, the DVD’s and CD’s have to be in alphabetical order and chronological order. So it goes by band name, and then the band will be by album release date. It sounds normal but it takes me 20 min. every morning to find my watch and keys.

Chestnuts roasted by selvig @ 06/19/2007 4:38 PM


Oh, and I can not accept the tiniest of details on TV or in movies, but can accept the large wierd ones.

An example is I was watching Spongebob, and while i’m sitting there being fine with a talking kitchen sponge, and big pink starfish, and a squirrel in a spacesuit underwater, I freaked out when it started snowing. I mean, they were underwater!

And that is also the reason why I can’t see the Transformers movie. From the trailers and commercials, I’m noticing that the transformed robots are much larger than what they transform from. I haven’t seen the original cartoon in a while, but I don’t remember that happening. i know the toys didn’t do that.

Chestnuts roasted by selvig @ 06/19/2007 4:52 PM


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