i am neurotic.

As a kid, I played the Mario game for Super Nintendo. Particularly I remember the ghosts on some levels, the ones whom would stop once you looked at them. These levels were dark. So every time I’m in a dark room, I have to exit it facing the darkness, otherwise, the 64bit ghosts will slowly walk towards me.

I can only bite a Triscuit if my teeth are aligned with the direction of the grains on the cracker.

i have to sleep with my TV on and when i start getting sleepy, i turn the volume down to 3 or 4 and put the timer on for 2 hours, just so i know it will still be on as i’m falling asleep. it’s not the noise, its the light.

When driving up to a light that is green, and has been green, I always get nervous that it will turn yellow as I’m approaching it or traveling beneath it. In an effort to stop this from happening, I blow the light a kiss.

I get disgusted when I’m filling up my water bottle at the fountain and the water pressure drops when someone flushes a toilet in the nearby bathroom. I don’t like being reminded that the water used to flush toilets and the water I’m drinking come from the same source, even though I know it’s clean and perfectly safe to drink.

everyday when I get home from work I walk in and immediately pick up everything on the floor and have to vacuum (mostly kids toys). I will continue to vacuum until I can clearly see the lines in the carpet produced by the vacuum. Then I can sit down and relax.

When I use plastic hangars for my clothes, their color has to match whatever is hanging on them, otherwise I’d just as soon leave them on the floor. Metal hangars are good for shirts, but tend to leave nearly-as-bad crease marks in pants.

I absolutely CANNOT stand glitter. It is the herpes of Arts and Crafts. I hate the way that it gets everywhere and sticks to everything. If I ever get even a speck of glitter on me, I feel the absolute need to take a shower and wash all my clothes. Last year, my friend inadvertently got me a birthday card that had glitter on it. I freaked out. We are no longer friends.

I have to have exactly 24 Black Warrior pencils in the pencil cup on my desk, and they all must face me so that I can read the writing on them. I also have a separate cup just for Uni-ball signo pens, of which there must be ten, and all of which must have the capped end pointing down.

When I was in grade school, I always had to brush my pencil erasings away and then blow them away to make sure they were all gone. I didn’t realize this was an issue until someone much older than me brushed their pencil erasings away in front of me but did not blow them away. I panicked and attempted to blow their pencil erasings away. They looked at me as though I had a second head.