# I just have to...



## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Do any of you have a harmless but compelling hobby, such as collecting matchboxes, or else a superstition such as not treading on the lines on the pavement; or a habit you must follow? (But nothing too serious, please!)

An example: as a child, I was continually counting in my head, to see how high I could go. And as an adult, I have to correct my typing, including posts on TC, so that it's in neat full lines if possible. I hate one or two sloppy words hanging over the end of the paragraph or page. I'll condense and re-condense to avoid that.

I've never collected anything, though I do like to own all the books in favourite series. 

How about you? Do share!


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## Wood (Feb 21, 2013)

I like to respond to trite posts on internet forums.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

I must confess that I don't like stepping on cracks of any kind, but I never had a superstition for it. It's just I hate the feeling of a crack under my feet, it never feels comfortable. When I'm walking on heavily tiled ground with lots of indentations, I like to step in the tiles and not the cracks as much as possible. I've had this habit ever since I was little. Nowadays I guess I don't mind as much, but I still do it if I can, particularly sidewalks. Like stepping over a puddle, I step over cracks.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

When someone else has put the cutlery in its place for me (my wife, on visits, in restaurants), I simply have to shift them even if it is just a few mm.


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## BlazeGlory (Jan 16, 2013)

hayd said:


> I like to respond to trite posts on internet forums.


It's so sad. We just don't have anything better to do.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

Ingenue said:


> Do any of you have a harmless but compelling hobby, such as collecting matchboxes, or else a superstition such as not treading on the lines on the pavement; or a habit you must follow? (But nothing too serious, please!)
> 
> An example: as a child, I was continually counting in my head, to see how high I could go. And as an adult, I have to correct my typing, including posts on TC, so that it's in neat full lines if possible. I hate one or two sloppy words hanging over the end of the paragraph or page. I'll condense and re-condense to avoid that.
> 
> ...


If I'm shaking pills or candy out of a bottle, and one lands in my hand, but another one drops or flies out unintentionally, I always put my intended one back in, and consume the one that flew out, because it "wanted" to be chosen more.


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## BlazeGlory (Jan 16, 2013)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> I must confess that I don't like stepping on cracks of any kind, but I never had a superstition for it. It's just I hate the feeling of a crack under my feet, it never feels comfortable. When I'm walking on heavily tiled ground with lots of indentations, I like to step in the tiles and not the cracks as much as possible. I've had this habit ever since I was little. Nowadays I guess I don't mind as much, but I still do it if I can, particularly sidewalks. Like stepping over a puddle, I step over cracks.


Reminds me of one of my favorite movies.


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

I always check that the sink has been emptied (of cutlery) when we are washing up. Nothing too serious, just checking how many of everything we use and how many I've put away, neatly and tidily in correct order.

For some reason, my wife finds this annoying.


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

I just have to... Listen to music.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

My sisters & I are always annoying people by saying sorry, usually for nothing at all, just that we're worried we may have offended someone. My elder sister has a superstition that she has to be the last one to say goodbye on a phone call. So she says 'Goodbye', then I say it, then she says it again and we hang up. If I forget and put the phone down after my goodbye, she rings me back again, so we can go through the ritual again.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Man, my ticks have partly be supressed lately because there have been just too many of them and too many people to deal with who would distance themselves from me upon seeing them.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

I'll fess up: I have a penchant for glass, any glass (rippled, textured, industrial dimpled with chicken wire in it), clear and translucent colored anything, really, whether it is Gem, Mineral, enamel glaze on earthenware or metal. I am a Champeen Bead Stringer, too. The finest scale stuff intrigues me as much or more as the medium or large.

The greatest manifestation (taking little room in my little studio) is a smallish collection of antique / vintage Venetian and Bohemian / Czech glass beads, mainly those made as currency to trade for goods in Africa and elsewhere outside of Europe. (no Magister Ludi games going on here, at least with the physical stuff.)

If I go into a tile store, a stone merchant's, etc. Pavlovian dog-like, my mouth starts to water.

The other penchant, though I own very little, I could drool all over my shirt if I walk into an architectural salvage place. Lead me to your old wrought iron, your collection of cool newel posts, vintage lighting, the room with doors in it, the wood paneling department, etc. Just don't let me bring my checkbook.

Add to that the found rusted metal object, now in an abstract from due to loss of some of its mass - not to be found in stores, as not advertised on T.V.)

Lastly, mottled and distressed accidental accumulations of paint on about any surface, a lamppost, a wall. Those, I "Collect" by photo with my phone. (O.K. there are a few distressed boards hung up on my walls 

Thanks. I feel better now.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

millionrainbows said:


> If I'm shaking pills or candy out of a bottle, and one lands in my hand, but another one drops or flies out unintentionally, I always put my intended one back in, and consume the one that flew out, because it "wanted" to be chosen more.


LOL. ever inanimate object in the universe is a sentient being. You are an animist!


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

clavichorder said:


> Man, my ticks have partly be supressed lately because there have been just too many of them and too many people to deal with who would distance themselves from me upon seeing them.


Aw, go ahead, choose one. Confess. You've already let everyone know "you're weird." I think to be on TC qualifies as weird already, so jump on in, the water's fine.


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## Cheyenne (Aug 6, 2012)

I just have to end phone conversations quickly. I even race myself to see if I can finish them within a minute. Good for the phone-bill, 'suppose.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Burroughs said:


> I just have to... Listen to music.


I know right?? I just can't help it sometimes!


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## schuberkovich (Apr 7, 2013)

I just have to sniff the paper whenever I read a book (old or new) or a magazine. I just love the smell


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## Ramako (Apr 28, 2012)

I often cultivate tics semi-consciously, like sitting at the 'correct' table at breakfast, or not stepping on the cracks while walking down the pavement. It keeps my mind occupied, or helps the wheels of socialising moving, which I have enough problems with anyway, although I'm getting better. I can easily turn them off if I want.

Slightly deviating from the OP, I have also been told by someone that they have never seen a face brighten so much so quickly as when, in the midst of a conversation about people and what they were doing and all sorts of dull things like that (my mind had been wandering for some time) I suddenly heard someone mention the word 'Haydn'.


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## BlazeGlory (Jan 16, 2013)

Ingenue said:


> An example: as a child, I was continually counting in my head, to see how high I could go.


I've been doing that since I was a kid also. I'm up to 300 billion 950 million 420,---------Oh darn, I lost count. Now I have to start over. 1, 2, 3 .........


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

BlazeGlory said:


> ---------Oh darn, I lost count. Now I have to start over. 1, 2, 3 .........


And that's exactly what always happened to me!


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Ramako said:


> Slightly deviating from the OP, I have also been told by someone that they have never seen a face brighten so much so quickly as when, in the midst of a conversation about people and what they were doing and all sorts of dull things like that (my mind had been wandering for some time) I suddenly heard someone mention the word 'Haydn'.


I would have that reaction too, only with other composer:
 "Did someone say Glazunov??"


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

PetrB said:


> Aw, go ahead, choose one. Confess. You've already let everyone know "you're weird." I think to be on TC qualifies as weird already, so jump on in, the water's fine.


Unfortunately, I think I've gotten boring these days...

I just have to not eat cheese or drink milk despite no allergens or moral issues with it.(its fine if its cooked into food, milk that is, not cheese no way) And riding the bus is a pain so I walk everywhere even if its 8 miles some days. In general, I do not know how to stop very quickly and gracefully.

For a while I actually did have a 'compulsion to compose' that came as the result of not wanting to practice my piano pieces. And generally, if there is something I really have to do and am dreading doing, I have a strong compulsion to go no. 2(in the bathroom, of course).


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Ramako said:


> I often cultivate tics semi-consciously, like sitting at the 'correct' table at breakfast, or not stepping on the cracks while walking down the pavement. It keeps my mind occupied, or helps the wheels of socialising moving, which I have enough problems with anyway, although I'm getting better. I can easily turn them off if I want.
> 
> Slightly deviating from the OP, I have also been told by someone that they have never seen a face brighten so much so quickly as when, in the midst of a conversation about people and what they were doing and all sorts of dull things like that (my mind had been wandering for some time) I suddenly heard someone mention the word 'Haydn'.


You hit the nail on the head with cultivating them semi consciously. And they are hard to remove once they get in you.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I don't go to bed without mussing my hair up. I'm pretty sure it's rooted in the funerals I attended when I was a kid; I noticed people in coffins had their hair perfectly combed. 

Another strange hobby/compulsion I have is, I'm a sucker for complete works sets. Not the huge all-Bach or Beethoven sets (okay, I would if I had the money) but if it's in my price range, I usually snap it up.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

My partner collects porcelain and ceramic pigs- got them every where in the house, does that say something about me?


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## BlazeGlory (Jan 16, 2013)

EddieRUKiddingVarese said:


> My partner collects porcelain and ceramic pigs- got them every where in the house, does that say something about me?


Not necessarily. Unless they're rigged to explode when you touch them.


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## Ondine (Aug 24, 2012)

This is quite odd. When I need to leave home for any reason I return one, two, three, four, five and six times just to see if I have turn off the coffee maker or the stove. 

Well, maybe no six times but more than once, yes.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

I give people odd compliments on their appearance and they look at me funny.


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## Turangalîla (Jan 29, 2012)

I must always eat beets on a separate plate, or else the pink colour will touch the other food.

I take approximately fifteen minutes to wash my glasses every morning so that they are _perfectly_ clean, glistening, and particle-free. I also remove them every five minutes to give them a top-up.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Taggart said:


> I always check that the sink has been emptied (of cutlery) when we are washing up. Nothing too serious, just checking how many of everything we use and how many I've put away, neatly and tidily in correct order.
> 
> For some reason, my wife finds this annoying.


I can't imagine why !


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Ondine said:


> This is quite odd. When I need to leave home for any reason I return one, two, three, four, five and six times just to see if I have turn off the coffee maker or the stove.
> 
> Well, maybe no six times but more than once, yes.


I have the same nervous worry; once, years ago, I was walking out in town when I didn't wonder, I *knew* that I'd left the bath tap running. I sprinted all the way home and it was just about to tip over the sides and flood the bathroom. So now I can't even tell myself, 'don't be silly, of course you switched off the gas/radiator/water heater et al...'


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

CarterJohnsonPiano said:


> I must always eat beets on a separate plate, or else the pink colour will touch the other food.
> 
> I take approximately fifteen minutes to wash my glasses every morning so that they are _perfectly_ clean, glistening, and particle-free. I also remove them every five minutes to give them a top-up.


It is seriously time to more than consider switching to disposable contact lenses. 
Don't worry, you'll find something else to exercise that tic upon / with


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

BlazeGlory said:


> Not necessarily. Unless they're rigged to explode when you touch them.


Thanks for the tip - I'll look more carefully next time.


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## BlazeGlory (Jan 16, 2013)

Ondine said:


> This is quite odd. When I need to leave home for any reason I return one, two, three, four, five and six times just to see if I have turn off the coffee maker or the stove.


Occasionally, I must return home, after driving several blocks, to verify that I have closed the garage door or locked the house door. Also, now that I am in my golden years, when I notice a young woman smiling at me I must check to make sure my fly is not open.


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## BlazeGlory (Jan 16, 2013)

I just have to-er- excuse me for a moment---OK I'm back. I just have to use the bathroom.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Manxfeeder said:


> I don't go to bed without mussing my hair up. I'm pretty sure it's rooted in the funerals I attended when I was a kid; I noticed people in coffins had their hair perfectly combed.


I just love this! So 'the Man' can't come & get you if your hair is messy. You must never comb it again!

It reminds me of Bess of Hardwick (Elizabethan wardress of Mary, Queen of Scots). A fortune-teller told her that she would never die as long as she was building, so she spent her life adding extensions & building new halls. She lived to over eighty (a great age then) but died while her builders were laid off during a hard frost...

Live long & prosper, Manxfeeder, with or without neat hair.


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

_repeat_ is the default setting on my iPod.


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## WavesOfParadox (Aug 5, 2012)

Depending on my mood, I either avoid stepping on cracks, or I intentionally step on them.


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## BlazeGlory (Jan 16, 2013)

WavesOfParadox said:


> Depending on my mood, I either avoid stepping on cracks, or I intentionally step on them.


Sometimes when I'm in an extremely bad mood I make cracks.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

My mother used to never let her feet hit the floor without slippers, and she had to put them on in a certain order.

They say Schoenberg was real obsessed with numbers.


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## Turangalîla (Jan 29, 2012)

PetrB said:


> It is seriously time to more than consider switching to disposable contact lenses.
> Don't worry, you'll find something else to exercise that tic upon / with


I _do_ have disposable contact lenses! I switch between them depending on whether I'm Eusebius or Florestan that day...


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## BlazeGlory (Jan 16, 2013)

millionrainbows said:


> My mother used to never let her feet hit the floor without slippers, and she had to put them on in a certain order.


Let me guess. Toes first?


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

..wash my hands between each thing I touch when I cook or bake...

/ptr


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## drpraetorus (Aug 9, 2012)

I cannot leave a piece of music to which I am listening, unfinished. I have to hear the whole thing. I must go through each piece on my iPod shuffle, in whatever order it is presented, before starting again or interrupting the shuffle. This guarantees that each piece will get equal playtime. I never drink water from the bathroom sink spigot.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

drpraetorus said:


> I cannot leave a piece of music to which I am listening, unfinished. I have to hear the whole thing. I must go through each piece on my iPod shuffle, in whatever order it is presented, before starting again or interrupting the shuffle. This guarantees that each piece will get equal playtime. I never drink water from the bathroom sink spigot.


Are these two pieces of information connected in some beguiling, esoteric way?


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

What a strange crowd we have here.


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

moody said:


> What a strange crowd we have here.


Takes one to know one.


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## BlazeGlory (Jan 16, 2013)

moody said:


> What a strange crowd we have here.


Your just figuring that out now?


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## Ryan (Dec 29, 2012)

I just have to... Have it


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## Ryan (Dec 29, 2012)

Shoot civilians on Call Of Duty Modern Warfare, or else I don't feel like it's an accurate-realistic representation of US combat procedure and tactics


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## Ryan (Dec 29, 2012)

**** in the sink when in France, otherwise I can't say 'when in rome...'


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

Ryan said:


> **** in the sink when in France...


You clean your own dishes when on holiday? Hmmm....


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## BlazeGlory (Jan 16, 2013)

Ryan said:


> **** in the sink when in France





Kieran said:


> You clean your own dishes when on holiday? Hmmm....


That's it. Turn off the lights. The show's over.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

I have this overwhelming compulsion to prefer people with good manners. Odd, but engrained.

And I can't say I like it much when people jump in to distort a thread. Unexpected visitors can be most offputting...


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## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

I am very sensitive to noises and cannot handle ticking clocks if they are in a quiet room (I either heap pillows on them or, if there are no pillows handy, remove their batteries). I also can't fall asleep if I'm not wearing earplugs. And the the right kind of earplugs. I stock up on them. This is _probably_ the most neurotic thing about me.

Also, I have to roll up my sleeves to play piano. Can't do it with long sleeves.


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## jani (Jun 15, 2012)

Meaghan said:


> I am very sensitive to noises and cannot handle ticking clocks if they are in a quiet room (I either heap pillows on them or, if there are no pillows handy, remove their batteries). I also can't fall asleep if I'm not wearing earplugs. And the the right kind of earplugs. I stock up on them. This is _probably_ the most neurotic thing about me.
> 
> Also, I have to roll up my sleeves to play piano. Can't do it with long sleeves.


If all of that is true, you would be in the mad house by now if you would be on my place, because i have four little brothers. It= loads of noice from 7 am to 10 pm, fights etc...


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## BlazeGlory (Jan 16, 2013)

Meaghan said:


> Also, I have to roll up my sleeves to play piano. Can't do it with long sleeves.


Thanks for this post. I always thought I could not play the piano because I never took lessons. Maybe it's just because I wear long sleeve shirts.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

I 'just have to' keep posting & making up daft threads on Talk Classical.
But that's going to change now as I've installed my new Iron-Willed Blether-Inhibitor. :angel:


Edit: (12 hours later) It failed!
I still ended up in the top ten posters for the day. I blame Wimbledon.
Tomorrow I'm putting a new battery in the Inhibitor, and I'm keeping shtum. :angel:


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## BlazeGlory (Jan 16, 2013)

I just have to keep putting my foot in my mouth and at my age it's rather painful with the arthritis and whatnot.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

BlazeGlory said:


> I just have to keep putting my foot in my mouth and at my age it's rather painful with the arthritis and whatnot.


Ooh, I love your new Avatar and your signature!


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

BlazeGlory said:


> I just have to keep putting my foot in my mouth and at my age it's rather painful with the arthritis and whatnot.


Do you keep bumping into it?


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## BlazeGlory (Jan 16, 2013)

Taggart said:


> Do you keep bumping into it?
> View attachment 20479


Not anymore. I was using mine for a stepladder and it broke.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Every time I say I won't put any posts up, or not many, I excel myself and climb ever higher in the 'Top Posters' league.

Now I've started a new bad habit. Putting up a post, then almost immediately regretting it. I edit it, cut out the offending lines, come off - and find them quoted in somebody else's new post. 

They do say that Facebook is more addictive than hard drugs. 
But I say that Facebook is *baby food* compared with 'TalkClassical'! 

This woman needs help.


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

Ingenue said:


> This woman needs help.


She seems to be doing exceptionally well without any help from anybody. :tiphat:


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

I think of a green place at twilight, in the cool approaching darkness. My lungs burn pleasantly, like a child's exertion, and I await the darkness. This is my perfection. This is the place sought by all who seek...


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## Bix (Aug 12, 2010)

moody said:


> What a strange crowd we have here.


Well I'm in my flippin element here, working in mental health and all that. PM me if you need therapy


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

*I just have to...*_mmmmmmpppphhh! _Excuse me...


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

Bix said:


> Well I'm in my flippin element here, working in mental health and all that. PM me if you need therapy


Oh, there's that cute kitty again. I remember my profound disappointment when I attended my first cat show. "You mean to tell me _we can't pet them?_"


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Ingenue said:


> Every time I say I won't put any posts up, or not many, I excel myself and climb ever higher in the 'Top Posters' league.
> 
> Now I've started a new bad habit. Putting up a post, then almost immediately regretting it. I edit it, cut out the offending lines, come off - and find them quoted in somebody else's new post.
> 
> ...


When you put up posts I certainly regret it !


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