i am neurotic.

When I shake something, like salt or pepper, I randomly come up with a number of times I’m going to shake it and rhythmically count up to that. Like if the number that pops into my head is 7, I’ll shake it “1-2-3-4-5-6-7″ times. But if I decide that particular number of shakes isn’t enough, I won’t just change my mind on the fly and continue up to a higher number, like “…8-9-10.” I’ll start over again at 1 and count up to 7 again. I’ll repeat the pattern until it’s enough.

Every time I eat a gummy candy, I try to keep it in my mouth with out chewing it. If I do bite it, I lose.

There are a handful of local stores that I frequent about once a week or more. When I go to these stores, I have to park in the same area. At each store , I have a favorite row or area and each time I go I must park in that place. If its full, I go home and come again another time. If someone else is driving , I get very upset if they refuse to park in that same area.

My husband hums when he brushes his teeth. I’ve pointed this out to him on numerous occassions – he still thinks I’m making it up.

I’m not a clean freak… But every night when I get ready to go to bed, I always get a brand new bath towel. The “old” towels were only used once, but i just HAVE to get a new one. My mom ends up complaining that she can’t keep up with the laundry for some reason and there are no more towels half way through the week..

I must change the sponge every time I do the dishes. I hate sponges, and our dishwasher is broken. It makes me gag, and I’d rather leave the dishes in the sink for a week before I use an old sponge. Even though that has probably more germs sitting there.

I cannot stand anything that has odd numbers in it. For example, if one of my classroom numbers ends in an odd number that’s all I think about all class. My alarm clock must be set on an even number at all times, as well. I can’t stand the fact my birthday is 7/11.

Every time I go by a wall or something, and I touch it, I have to touch it for the amount of times that I am old. For example, if I poke a wall, and I’m currently 20 years old, I have to poke it 20 times. And if by some coincidence I miss one, I have to star over until I have touched it 20 times in a row.

After I learned that REM (rapid-eye movement) sleep is the type of sleep that makes you truly rested and that the first cycle of it happens within an hour and a half of continuous sleep, my naps now have to be a minimum of ninety minutes. If I get woken up in the middle of the nap, and thus am not able to get my daily amount of nap REM sleep, I get extremely upset that I wasted my time and end up feeling especially tired the rest of the day.

Whenever I chop or dice produce (especially vegetables), each piece must be the same size. I will sit there chopping for as long as it takes to make sure they look the same.