YOUR Character Quirks

S. Eli · Jan 30, 2015

So I looked and didn't find a post like this (sorry if there is one)...

What are the weird things you do in your life? What are that quirks that are specific(ish) to you? I thought this could be fun, and a good resource for character creation.

I guess I could start:

I hate bubbles and was afraid of them until I was ten.

A more helpful quirk? My antisocial behaviors manifest in many ways, one surprising way is that children's movies about best friends with the line "well then I guess I'm not your friend anymore" make me cry more than any character death could.

Anyone else?

K.L. Bennett · Jan 30, 2015

I hate even numbers. Well, actually, I hate numbers that aren't prime numbers. So even though 2 is even, it's also prime, so it gets a pass. Something about the fact that prime numbers are only divisible by 1 and themselves really appeals to me. Like, they're much stronger and more self-assured than those weak little composite numbers that'll let anyone divide them up in any number of ways.

......what?

Marlys · Jan 30, 2015

When I was little, I read a piece in Grit about a woman who looked into a mirror and saw the face of the devil looking back at her. Well into adulthood, I couldn't look into a mirror at night. I mean, I could brush my teeth in front of a mirror in a brightly-lit bathroom, but in shadows or darkness, no effing way. If I had to pass one, say, in the hallway, I would hold up my hand to shield my peripheral vision so I couldn't even get a glimpse.

I'm mostly better now.

mrsmig · Jan 30, 2015

If I'm driving and see Canada Geese in flight, I'll either wave at them or touch my car's roof interior for good luck. If they're heading in the same direction as me, that's super lucky. Oddly, geese on the ground don't give me the same sense of good fortune; in fact, I don't particularly like Canada Geese up close.

Maggie Maxwell · Jan 30, 2015

I put syrup on my fried eggs.

I straight-up refuse to enter an exit. If the automatic door says Exit, it's for exiting only, even if it opens when I walk by. If the arrow on the ground says go down the right path in the parking garage and every other person in the garage goes down the left, I'm still going to the right. It's always bugged me. Even when I was a little girl, I'd get on my mom about going into a pharmacy through the wrong door. Don't even ask my opinion about the people I see using the roundabout outside my office the wrong way.

I can watch the goriest stuff in a horror movie without a problem, but I close my eyes through anyone getting a shot or anyone cutting a finger or palm open. No no no thank you.

Alpha Echo · Jan 30, 2015

I have to make sure DVDs/CDs are put back in their cases (or in the DVD books we have) with the label in the correct direction. No sideways labels!

I make egg whites in the microwave, and I really like them with turkey meatballs and syrup. (Thanks TAMaxwell for making me think of that).

I'll put anything on a pile of shredded lettuce, from vegetables to fish, from pasta sauce to soy sauce. Lettuce = my pasta.

J.S.Fairey · Jan 30, 2015

Different parts of a meal that aren't supposed to be together can't touch on my plate. So, for example, if I had sausage, chips, and peas, no sausage can touch the chips or the peas ect ect. Don't know why, just don't like it.

Marlys · Jan 30, 2015

J.S.Fairey said:
Different parts of a meal that aren't supposed to be together can't touch on my plate. So, for example, if I had sausage, chips, and peas, no sausage can touch the chips or the peas ect ect. Don't know why, just don't like it.

Now I want sausage, chips, and peas.

Sorry. Carry on.

M.S. Wiggins · Jan 30, 2015

K.L. Bennett said:
I hate even numbers. Well, actually, I hate numbers that aren't prime numbers. So even though 2 is even, it's also prime, so it gets a pass. Something about the fact that prime numbers are only divisible by 1 and themselves really appeals to me. Like, they're much stronger and more self-assured than those weak little composite numbers that'll let anyone divide them up in any number of ways.

......what?

How very odd...I thought I was alone. Good to know someone else has this similar quirk.

Another quirk I have is that I'm always right. (At least, I think I am!)

Maze Runner · Jan 30, 2015

Funny, I don't like odd #s. They leave you feeling so unresolved. I'll take all your 2s and 4s and 8s, and trade you all these 1s and 3s and 5s that are really starting to weird me out. What is wrong with some people?

Tazlima · Jan 30, 2015

I remember all kinds of stuff about people's names (i.e. the number of letters and syllables, the pattern of consonants vs. vowels), but am horrendous at remembering the name itself, even if it's someone I've know for a long time.

Example: In high school, I had the same math teacher two years in a row. Toward the end of this time period, I brought him up in a conversation but couldn't remember his name. I told my companion, "It has six letters, two syllables, starts with an 'F,' and has something to do with birds."

All that, but I couldn't think of the name "Fowler."

This tendency also frequently causes me to confuse names that sound nothing alike because they have a similar pattern of letters: i.e. Carol and Helen.

.....

I also have prosopagnosia (face-blindness), which has caused countless social gaffes over the years. Between the two issues, I rarely call anyone by name. Prosopagnosia is interesting, since when someone approaches me out in public, I don't know if I know that person or not. I've developed a wide array of coping mechanisms to handle the issue, which I suppose are quirks in their own right. (For example, I make it a point to have a different nick-name for every major component of my life. That way I can determine where someone knows me from by which name they use).

It was particularly awkward during my customer service days. If customers moved a few feet down the counter or stepped outside and came back in, I always thought they were someone new and addressed them as such.

RightHoJeeves · Jan 30, 2015

I have a slight obsession with 5 cent coins (AUD). I always have one in my pocket, because I have a slightly over active imagination and constantly play with it. It's to the point where I'll be in my office at work, doing some task, but have the coin in one hand and my mind will be half focused on the coin.

I quite often fall asleep with 5 cent coins in my bed, and then the next day I find them actually stuck into my skin.

Katharine Tree · Jan 30, 2015

As I child, I taught myself to instantly alphabetize the letters in words. It took a lot of practice, but I did it constantly--in school, in the car, while watching television--and eventually I got fast.

I once saw a woman get on Oprah for being able to do this. I was robbed.

C.bronco · Jan 30, 2015

I love diet soda, and call all diet sodas Diet Pepsi, as they should be.

AshleyEpidemic · Jan 30, 2015

I am terrified of butterflies. If they come near me I freak out. I went into a butterfly room to see what it was like and my fear of butterflies which at the time had just been discomfort turned to outright fear. No butterflies.

I'm also not too fond of birds. I don't like the way they just take off and fly. They squawk and poop. And agh. I don't like them flying over me or near me.

I guess this might mean that I'm afraid of creatures that fly. I do enjoy plays and soaring through the air though.

RackinRocky · Jan 30, 2015

Like Maze Runner, I HAVE to have everything in even numbers. An even number of knocks on a door, an even number of food items--for example 2 or 4 cookies as opposed to 1 or 3. What is really interesting is something Dr. Phil said on one of his shows in the past few months. That people who prefer even numbers steer clear of the number 6. I do that! I also noticed Maze Runner mentioned the numbers 2, 4, and 8. (Also my favorites). 22 and 48 are very good numbers. I do believe these "quirks" are really a component of some sort of OCD. I find this topic fascinating.

Brightdreamer · Jan 30, 2015

Weird? Everything I do is perfectly normal and rational.

It's everyone else who's weird...

Maze Runner · Jan 30, 2015

RackinRocky said:
I also noticed Maze Runner mentioned the numbers 2, 4, and 8. (Also my favorites). 22 and 48 are very good numbers. I do believe these "quirks" are really a component of some sort of OCD. I find this topic fascinating.

Isn't that wild? I was conscious of skipping the 6, and I did it anyway.

24 happens to be my personal favorite number. But I have all kinds of things with numbers, like house addresses that add up to 12. I tend to add numbers together, and I think some combinations are luckier than others.

thepicpic · Jan 30, 2015

Alpha Echo said:
I have to make sure DVDs/CDs are put back in their cases (or in the DVD books we have) with the label in the correct direction. No sideways labels!

I'm with you there, with one caveat: if it's a disc I'm still partway through (for series) I'll put it in sideways, so I know I'm not done.

Err... I compulsively wash my hands? I mean a lot. As in 'triggered excema that won't go away until I get a grip' often.

phantasy · Jan 31, 2015

Ever since I was a kid, I imagine conversations with famous people and characters. Either just finding common ground or me explaining something to them and them reacting.

chompers · Jan 31, 2015

I've caught myself talking to myself. But apparently it's hereditary. I just recently caught my mom talking to herself. She didn't even know she was doing it.

pandaponies · Jan 31, 2015

*cracks knuckles* This'll be fun. >:]

I have an irrational fear/hatred of moths (butterflies are fine, but not moths). I almost never cry, but I shake uncontrollably when I'm upset (this is a genetic trait on my mom's side of the family, apparently!). I also get cold when I'm upset; if my college roommates came home and found me under a blanket, they'd immediately start asking if I was okay. I HATE doing dishes and my roommate has to pester me into it (I'll happily scrub a toilet or do basically any other chore; I don't know what I have against dishes but I just can't stand them). I'm a bit of a germophobe and wash my hands more often than your average person (friends tease me about it a bit). When left to my own devices without a schedule to follow, I accidentally become nocturnal. I tend to occasionally (...OK, maybe more than "occasionally") refuse to speak English when I'm drunk (I default to French but will throw in some Japanese or Arabic if I'm feeling comfortable/ambitious/showoffy) to the annoyance of my monolingual friends.

Linguistically, I overuse "super" as an adverb (ex. "I'm super tired." "That is super weird!" "Man, it's SUPER cold outside today.") and am also prone to abusing "one hundred percent" for completely/totally/definitely (ex. "I'm not a hundred percent sure," "That is one hundred percent unacceptable," "I am a hundred percent down for that!"). I'm also prone to hyperbole in general

. One of my most frequently used objections is "I'd rather shoot myself in the face [than do (x) activity]!" I have to watch that one around certain friends who have lost family members to gun-related suicides.

pandaponies · Jan 31, 2015

TAMaxwell said:
I straight-up refuse to enter an exit. If the automatic door says Exit, it's for exiting only, even if it opens when I walk by. If the arrow on the ground says go down the right path in the parking garage and every other person in the garage goes down the left, I'm still going to the right.

I can watch the goriest stuff in a horror movie without a problem, but I close my eyes through anyone getting a shot or anyone cutting a finger or palm open. No no no thank you.

THANK YOU. You are perfect and I love you. This drives me INSANE.

Hah, I'm the exact opposite here. Yours makes sense to me; in the movies, you know it's fake. I'm so used to watching veterinary procedures and having to give shots and bandage wounds (and being injured myself) that real life gore/blood doesn't faze me in the slightest, but I CANNOT for the life of me watch movie gore. I will shut my eyes through all of it. Give a shot IRL, boring, no problem. Movie closeups of needles piercing skin? Immediate nausea.

AshleyEpidemic · Jan 31, 2015

chompers said:
I've caught myself talking to myself. But apparently it's hereditary. I just recently caught my mom talking to herself. She didn't even know she was doing it.

k

I talk to myself too. It's very weird. I've done it since I was little. Only when no one is around though. Little conversations and encouragement. Sometimes I'm I, sometimes you. Now I feel like I'm going to be locked up.

Siri Kirpal · Jan 31, 2015

Sat Nam! (Literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

I sometimes chew on my tongue when I'm concentrating. Also, I often take sips of water and forget to swallow it; have even gone to make a phone call and realized I'd better swallow while the phone was ringing.

This is mostly gone now, but as a kid and young adult, I was phobic of being in front of an uncurtained window at dusk and after dark (but early morning was no problem).

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

YOUR Character Quirks

Custom User Title

A floopy flolloper

Resist. Love. Go outside.

Write. Write. Writey Write Write.

Making Einstein cry since 1994

I should be writing.

Resist. Love. Go outside.

"The Moving Finger writes..."

Þæt wæs god cyning

I have plans...

Did you see my bag?

Just Another Lazy Perfectionist

May or may not be a potato.

I write weird stories.

in ur boardz, correctin ur grammar

in ur boardz, correctin ur grammar

Did you see my bag?

Swan in Process