Just how Obsessive-compulsive are you?

[The Grim Squeaker]

What's the most "obsessive-compulsive" way you've acted in life?

The idea for this thread came to me after realizing that for the past 3.5 months, I've gone to the same restaurant outside work ~2-4 days every week, (unless the line is more than 3 people outside the entrance), where I always order the exact same thing. (Hamburger, medium-well with Onions, cabbage salad and chips ["French fries"]). I tried on of their specials once or twice, then kept on with the hamburger .

The rest of the time, I'm moderately obsessive, I suffered from facial ticks quite strongly in the past (blinking a lot, fingernails et').
Still, my worst bit in thbis regard is that I don't only make sure not to step on cracks or lines in the pavement, I make sure to have the same number of "whole" flagstones crossed per foot, and when the sizes are uneven or smaller than the foot, I start repositioning my steps to make sure the area of whole flagstones covered by each leg is the same.
Still, I don't do it all the time. Usually. Only on the way to school and at home, really! .

With all the great, if worrying mentalities here, this should get a few responses .

[Havok]

I tend to have these periods of super organization... I also keep my money in serial numbered order and based on where the bills came from.

[Boyish-Tigerlilly]

I use my phone alarm instead of my real alarm, but I am paranoid, so I need to check and set-reset it for a given time at least three times to make sure I did it. I also set all three alarms and follow the same procedure. I can never get to sleep well if I don't do that, because I am then up wondering if one will work or if I forgot something.

[Rye]

I get OCD over squeezing spots. if I feel a bump out of place on my skin, it takes real effort to leave it alone. Consequentially I have a load of red dots over my skin where I've been squeezing it.

[Crazedwraith]

Well my housemate recently described my habit of occisionally piling up coins in order of size. (biggest first obviously) as OCD I personally think thats bollocks.

[Frank Hipper]

I can't stop washing my hands, because they smell like my mother...



...seriously, though, I'm somewhat OCD when it comes to getting dishes clean, but for the life of me I can't see how that particular quirk is a negative.

[ArmorPierce]

A lot of people don't realize that all those little things they do and quirks they have is a form of OCD. Pretty much everyone is ocd about something.

[JLTucker]

When I am about to go to sleep, I take off my socks and I make sure the right sock is on the right and the left sock is on the left. I also make sure I close my eyes on an increment of five on the clock (for instance, 12:00 or 12:05). I also alphabetize my CDs and DVDs. If I have more than one album for an artist, I put those in order by their release. The same goes for DVDs in a series.

[aerius]

I need to grab my fiancée's butt and play with her tits several times a day. I also need to snuggle with her in bed or else I don't sleep very well.

[Schuyler Colfax]

I have this thing with loose skin. If the skin is peeling a little around my finger nails I just get a nail clip and clip it off. When ever I'm changing the character skills on guild wars I like to do all of them instead of the one that I do. I can't take a quick shower. There's some other stuff but none of it is coming to mind right now.

[aerius]

Driving through rain & getting my car dirty has reminded me of a couple things, keeping my car windows clean and keeping all the lights clean as well. I am goddamn obsessive about it, I get pissed when there's a few water spots or specks of dirt on my car windows, and every time I park my car in the garage after it rains I'm using a squeegee to get all the water off the windows & lights so I don't get water spots. The rest of the car could be covered with dirt, salt, and who knows what else, but the windows & lights will always be spotlessly clean.

[Durandal]

What's the most "obsessive-compulsive" way you've acted in life?

The idea for this thread came to me after realizing that for the past 3.5 months, I've gone to the same restaurant outside work ~2-4 days every week, (unless the line is more than 3 people outside the entrance), where I always order the exact same thing. (Hamburger, medium-well with Onions, cabbage salad and chips ["French fries"]). I tried on of their specials once or twice, then kept on with the hamburger .

That's not obsessive-compulsive. That's developing a comfortable routine.

The rest of the time, I'm moderately obsessive, I suffered from facial ticks quite strongly in the past (blinking a lot, fingernails et').
Still, my worst bit in thbis regard is that I don't only make sure not to step on cracks or lines in the pavement, I make sure to have the same number of "whole" flagstones crossed per foot, and when the sizes are uneven or smaller than the foot, I start repositioning my steps to make sure the area of whole flagstones covered by each leg is the same.
Still, I don't do it all the time. Usually. Only on the way to school and at home, really!

That's more OCD, but it's not so bad that it interferes with your daily life. In my case, I'll get up in the middle of the night to straighten the sheets on my bed if either side is hanging further down than the other. I also constantly have to reposition the clasp on my necklace so that it's at the back of my neck. I'm also compelled to do things in a very specific order and can't stand lack of cleanliness, especially on my person. I get very uncomfortable if I've gone more than a day without a shower or changing clothes.

It also causes physical discomfort (chill going up my spine in most cases) for me to see Hummers, Escalades and other gigantic SUVs on the road because I'm disgusted by them. (One of the hallmarks of OCD is being easily revolted or disgusted by a particular thing.) This also goes for PT Cruisers, Scion XBs and most pickup trucks.

I also have to eat things in a specific order. If I have a plate consisting of turkey, mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables, I eat the vegetables first. Then the potatoes. Then the turkey. I don't know what my rationale behind this ordering is.

Then there are smaller things, like how I arrange objects by size in a symmetrical way and that kind of thing.

[Flagg]

Let's see, I have to check to make sure my fly isn't down like once every 5 minutes.

I have to check my watch at least once every 3 minutes.

Even though I know goddamned well that I locked my car door, can clearly remember doing so, and am halfway to the store in the parking lot, I have to turn around and go back to make absolutely sure.

[General Zod]

I'm extremely anal retentive about the naming convention for my music playlists and tv shows, and tend to go through my lists every so often. I'm also very uptight about how my dvds, games etc are organied and get slightly annoyed if they're not in their proper order.

[Stark]

I need to grab my fiancée's butt and play with her tits several times a day. I also need to snuggle with her in bed or else I don't sleep very well.

I have to point and laugh at lame posturing on the internet. Like most compulsions this is an anxiety-management tool. Forcing 'controlled' 'order' on the world isn't uncommon, it's just amusing what soothes people.

Hey, some people push gravel around a little plate.

[Darth Massacrus]

my OCD: I always set my clocks five minutes fast so that I'm never late for anything (clock, electronics, alarms, car, phone, computer, ect).

[Adrian Laguna]

I also have to eat things in a specific order. If I have a plate consisting of turkey, mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables, I eat the vegetables first. Then the potatoes. Then the turkey. I don't know what my rationale behind this ordering is.

When I was younger I would do that, but not because I felt compelled to. It was personal choice. I would start with the parts I liked the least and work-up to the parts I liked most. Generally this would mean veggies first and meat last, though there were exceptions. I've dropped this practice in exchange for just working on the whole plate at the same time. It occurs to me that you probably do it for the same reason I did, leaving the best for last.

[defanatic]

I will make my wrists go crunch every couple of minutes.

I check my watch with similar regularity. When my watch broke, I spent a few weeks checking my wrists and becoming steadily more agitated until I found out what the time was.

[Teebs]

When I'm walking I want my steps to go in patterns of 4 with crossing over cracks and such and if I don't stop myself I keep making bigger and bigger multiples of 4. That being said, I can stop myself without any real effort, it just starts happening if I let my mind wander. I did find it much harder to stop when I was younger.

[Qwerty 42]

my OCD: I always set my clocks five minutes fast so that I'm never late for anything (clock, electronics, alarms, car, phone, computer, ect).

I've tried this on rare occasions if I had something really, really important going on, and it never did work. I always managed to remember I had five minutes

[hongi]

I sleep on the floor (no, that isn't the OCD part). One side of my bedroom is taken up by these series of sliding wardrobe doors with mirrors on them. They take up an entire wall. Whenever I go to sleep, I have to close the sliding doors, leaving no gap in between. I don't know why, but it unsettles me. I swear I can still see the dark gaps even when I turn out all the lights.

I also open the window before I go to sleep and there's a mosquito net. I just stare out at the stars for a couple of seconds, breathing in the scent of the flowers right outside, before I go to sleep. It's something I like to do, but I don't think I could get to sleep otherwise. It's all part of my sleeping routine.

I have this major OCD habit of always having to go back (on the web) and read things again because I'm afraid I missed something. I hate the feeling of missing key words or phrases. I can't explain it, I just need to know everything. For example I'm casually reading through a movie review and then move to another window, but then a certain phrase from the review gets stuck in my mind and I just have to go back and re-read it. Sometimes I do this three times in a row, opening, closing windows and hitting the back button like an idiot.

I'm sure I have more OCD tendencies but they're probably so ingrained into my daily habits that I don't notice them.

[tim31]

This one's low-rent as far as obsession's concerned, but even if it's three ply toilet paper, I still fold it double before use.

my OCD: I always set my clocks five minutes fast so that I'm never late for anything (clock, electronics, alarms, car, phone, computer, ect).

I've tried this on rare occasions if I had something really, really important going on, and it never did work. I always managed to remember I had five minutes

Yep. Does not work.

[Chardok]

Set your clock to some random digit of fastness. just close your eyes and hold in the minute button. then, just walk away, don't even look at the clock.

I'm OCD about proper function. ESPECIALLY about my vacuum cleaner. I want my vacuum cleaner to work at 100% efficiency all the time (I know, of course this is not possible, but I digress). To this end, I empty the dirt tank after every 2 vaccums, and clean the filter. once a month I take the whole vacuum cleaner apart and clean it. I vacuum my carpet at LEAST once a day (Sometimes twice).

I cannot STAND rattles in my car. when I go over a bump, I'd better hear a thump and that's it. if there's anything extra, I will tear down the whole car to figure it out where it is and lock it down. (I took out the rear seat and rear deck cover once to get to a loose screw in one of my speakers because the rattle bugged me so much...but I seemed to be the only one who heard it.)

My Dishwasher must whoosh properly, with a steady, audible whoosh. if it does not, I must find out why and fix it. Also, my dishwasher MUST be loaded in a way that allows maximum infiltration of water jets to the lower and upper rack. To this end, I am the only one in the house allowed to do dishes because if the dishwasher doesn't sound right (for instance, if it's improperly loaded and there is an odd or out-of-place splash, or the whoosh is wrong) I go bananas.

[18-Till-I-Die]

I have a "hoarding disorder", or compulsive hoarding, the proper name or so i'm told.

Basically i cant really throw anything out. It's hard to describe to other people, when i do they look at me like i grew an extra head, you probably will too reading this. But imagine standing by a trash can with an old sock...you lost the other sock, it's worthless, it's not even useful as a sock really anymore...but you cant throw it away. The second you try suddenly your mind starts rationalizing why you shouldnt: you may find the other sock, it can be a good rag, you may get injured and need to tie off the wound. It sounds crazy cause it is. At the end, you just cant throw it away so you keep it even though you dont need it.

I have boxes that things came in years ago, stacked up in the corner of my room, because i can sit here and name a dozen (utterly illogical) reasons that i may, someday, theoretically need them all. I cant throw them away cause i'll feel like i did something stupid, like i'll need them seconds later, if i do; whenever someone else throws my stuff away i practically have a panic attack.

And i know how crazy this sounds but unfortunately i dont have the time or money to get therapy.

[Rye]

I also constantly have to reposition the clasp on my necklace so that it's at the back of my neck.

I used to do that when I wore the odd necklace too, but I think it was more because if the clasp was anywhere else, it'd work down to the thing being dangled and then fuck up the symmetry and put it off balance.

I'm also compelled to do things in a very specific order and can't stand lack of cleanliness, especially on my person. I get very uncomfortable if I've gone more than a day without a shower or changing clothes.

Wait a minute, I'm sure you once said you don't wash your hands often after going to the toilet, even after a shit. Now, don't ask me why I remember that of course, (I have no idea) but does it bother you now?

I also have to eat things in a specific order. If I have a plate consisting of turkey, mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables, I eat the vegetables first. Then the potatoes. Then the turkey. I don't know what my rationale behind this ordering is.

I do that. I think as a child I was taught to expect vegetables to be crap (perhaps they actually did taste bad) so now I prioritise getting them out of the way and work up to the best part of the meal, which is obviously the gravy-soaked meat.

Oddly, I'll go against that routine every now and again because I impulsively want to eat the meat first and it appeases that part of my mind and the part that wants to rebel against stupid demands. In a similar fashion, when I house sit, I keep every room pretty tidy, but mine looks like a bomb has hit it. I also get horribly anxious when someone else has been in my room and tidied it.