i am neurotic.

A posting on Passive Aggressive Notes from February 2008 captures the spirit of one of our very popular submission topics: left over time on the microwave.

Thanks to the reader who submitted this link.

”’(The student) told us that if you are in a sealed room with an electric fan, it will lower your body temperature and you will die.’”

Urban legend: That fan could be the death of you (Toronto Star) – Thank you to the reader who sent this in.

“An Ohio man with a hatred of paper money slapped down $8,000 in coins at a car dealership to buy a Chevrolet pick-up – then paid the rest by cheque.”

BBC News (Thanks to the reader who sent in this link)

Current Configuration has perfectly articulated and illustrated one of our more popular neuroses in his post Essential Life Lesson #1: Over is Right and Under is Wrong which was recently turned into a brochure.

The proper way to hang the toilet paper:

Routine excellence is Allen’s Secret (Boston Globe)

Ray Allen:

His pregame ritual does not waver: a nap from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m., a meal of chicken and white rice at 2:30, an arrival time at the gym at precisely 3:45 to stretch. Allen will shave his head, then walk out to the court at exactly 4:30. He will methodically take shots from both baselines, both elbows, and the top of the key.

This is how Ray Allen’s mind works. If there is a speck of paper on the floor in his house, he cannot walk by without picking it up. He has tried. He has purposely marched up the stairs without correcting the glaring imperfection, but he’s unable to eliminate the image from his mind until he goes back down, throws the scrap in the wastebasket, and restores order in his home.

When Ray Allen was 8, he had to drop in five lefty layups and five righty layups before he could leave the gym. Sometimes another team needed the floor and he’d run out of time before he could complete his ritual.

“I cried,” Allen says. “It messed up my day.”
Rajon Rondo:

Ray’s obsession with routine has struck a chord with Rondo, who confesses, “I probably have OCD myself.” The point guard must wash his hands twice at the nine-minute mark of every game. When teammates and fans high-five him, he offers a closed fist to ward off germs.