Do you have any dumb little rituals?

by Kurt
21 replies
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Is there anything that you have to do in a certain way or have superstitions?

It's not a superstition, but I have to put on my shoes and socks in this order:
L sock
L shoe
R sock
R shoe

If I don't do it in that order, my body twitches and contorts for 5 minutes afterwards...I'm actually getting anxious right now just thinking about doing it wrong.
  • Profile picture of the author thunderbird
    I don't, yet the thought of going to a fortune teller scares me.
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    • Profile picture of the author Bill Farnham
      I always check the rear view mirrors before I back out of a parking space.

      Call me compulsive...:p
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  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    WOW KURT! That TWITCHING, YIKES!!!!

    I put my socks on, THEN my pants, THEN my shoes. Obviously, it would be hard to put my shoes on before my pants or socks, and it is easier to pull my socks up, etc... without my pants on.

    But I DO do some things a bit odd. Taking a shower, I do everything else before my head. PROBABLY because it means I don't have to worry about the potential my eyes can get irritated early on. I tend to take 5 napkins before I leave. When washing with liquid soap, I put the soap on up to my wrists, work it in, and rinse off with HOT water. If it is bar soap, I wet my hands, work the bar soap into a lather, and treat it like liquid soap.

    Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    I have to put on a white dress shirt before I can write. It doesn't need to be ironed, or buttoned at all, but I have to have it on. I always wear one for rock hunting, too, unless the weather is cold.

    I also have to have coffee and look over my emails and twitter and stuff before I can think about what I need to do seriously for the day.
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    Sal
    When the Roads and Paths end, learn to guide yourself through the wilderness
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  • Profile picture of the author KenThompson
    Peculiar.

    Hmmm... rituals. I don't think I have any. Can't think of any.

    Yeah, Steve. About that twitching thing of Kurt's. I just knew
    Kurt was a twitcher. Probably got it from driving crazies around
    Las Vegas in his cab.

    Sal? About the writing with your shirt unbuttoned? Ummm...


    Ken
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    • Profile picture of the author seasoned
      Originally Posted by KenThompson View Post

      Yeah, Steve. About that twitching thing of Kurt's. I just knew
      Kurt was a twitcher. Probably got it from driving crazies around
      Las Vegas in his cab.
      Yeah, I forgot about that! Taxi cab drivers make ME nervous, etc... It is a good thing I usually knew where I was going ******AND****** how to get there.

      I guess I could see how even I would make one nervous. But the stereotype of many taxicab drivers not being american or being able to speak english very well is true.

      Steve
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      • Profile picture of the author LynnM
        I have to check behind the headboard for spiders before getting into bed. Strangely, spiders don't really bother me otherwise.
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  • Profile picture of the author Patrician
    It started innocently enough but I still think it is weird.

    It is because I have always lived in small spaces that I have to be perfectly organized - (you could break your neck tripping over junk). but the point is they are 'loose ends' which I can't stand.

    'everything has a place and everything in its place' - it is kind of weird to look around and not one thing is ever messy here.

    I have a million things crammed in a million places, but I know where most things are. Once in a while I go through areas and 'purge' things I haven't seen in a few years.

    Steve - I wash my face last and the reason for that is so that I have maximum time for steam first.

    I watch a few programs on OCD, hoarding and addictions and I find I have some very minor things that bother me - but I will tell you nothing that anyone has said here is anywhere near what OCD is really about. It is a horrible thing.

    They get like anxiety attacks and then some ritual like tapping on the wall supposedly protects them from whatever they are afraid of. They do it constantly and have multiple rituals until they can't function because they are so preoccupied with the rituals.

    With the cleaning thing (lots of OCD people have this one) I do have some of these like for instance I used to laugh like hell that my mother washed doorknobs and light switches - however #1 I know now that serious staph and other germs can be on those doorknobs not to mention viruses, #2 if you put your hands then in your eyes or mouth you are toast.

    But worse, I have learned how to open doors with my elbows and wrists in public places so I don't get my hands contaminated.

    Watching me come out of a public bathroom is probably hilarious - don't touch the knobs on the water faucets (germs) grab a paper towel and use that to touch the knobs - dispense soap with elbow, wash dry and then back out with hands in the air like in surgery, use the paper towel to open the door and then find somewhere to dump it.

    Sometimes I am the female Felix Unger.
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  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    Patrician,

    I used to be VERY OCD. I moved into a new place MUCH larger than I "needed". One reason? So I could FINALLY clean everything UP. What did I do when I moved in?

    1. Bought a desk and a new computer, and put EVERY file I could find on it nice and neat.
    2. Too all cables and put them in the same place.
    3. I bought a lateral cabinet, and sorted 20 YEARS of files into it. They JUST fit!
    4. Meanwhile, I shreded several old papers, etc...

    As a kid, used to be VERY neat!

    ALSO, I HATE shaking hands, for the reason you state. Frankly, if I succumbed to all my tendencies, I would not be able to eat. I have LOTS of pet peaves like the idiots that figure those disposable gloves are to protect THEM. They will use dirty rags to clean big messes, etc... with their gloves and go right back to making food. One woman sneezed on some food, made a joke about how I probably don't want it anymore, and was VERY upset when I told her she was right! She actually seemed SURPRISED!

    I even tend to sit away from others.

    So don't think you're alone!

    Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author Patrician
    hehe Steve you remind me of this time - it is a good one for a joke about newbies that would come from the tech support helpdesk

    Back in the 1980s.

    I labeled every port on the back of my CPU and every corresponding cable was coded alphabetically to match. This was back when you had lots of external devices.

    I was terrified that something would come unplugged and I wouldn't know how to put it back. LOL. Like it took a while to recognize the 'teeth' in the male/female ports n' plugs only go in one way.

    blush.

    hehehe i am so proud of my tangled up cords now.
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      I have quite a few actually. Most of them revolve around a certain routine.

      For example, on most mornings, I get up at 7 AM, wait 30 minutes and have
      to start eating breakfast at 7:30 exactly and must wait 2 minutes in between
      each spoonful of cereal until I am all done.

      Weird stuff like that.

      I guess people would say I'm OCD. I am...very.

      When I record my original songs, it has to be absolutely the way I want it.
      If one note isn't the way I want, even if it still sounds good, I redo the part.

      I'm truly afraid that one day, I am going to drive myself mad.

      Ironically, with some things, I am totally "fly by the seat of my pants.'

      For example, with playing of video games, which I've been doing a lot
      lately, I never know what games I'm going to play what days or time of
      day.

      In many ways, I love the randomness of parts of my life.

      For example, when I put a CD on in the car, I use shuffle mode, so I don't
      know what I'm going to hear. Same with my MP3 player.

      That's why my favorite video games are maze games where I have no idea
      where I'm going or what's going to happen.

      Of course, after you play them a few times, the randomness factor is all
      gone.

      Sometimes, I'll go for a ride and play flip the coin to see where I'm going to
      go. I will often do this when picking a restaurant to eat at. I've found some
      really cool places to eat doing this that I would have never gone to
      otherwise.

      Parts of my life are so ordered that it's almost unhealthy.

      Other parts are so random that, well, they could become unhealthy if I
      ever end up driving into a bad neighborhood...which I've done.

      Needless to say, my life is never dull. While many things during my day are
      planned, many things are so random that I literally never know how the
      day will end.

      Oh, turning on the computer. I have 2 of them. I always turn on the main
      power switch first, then the UPS, then the Windows 2000 PC and then the
      Windows XP PC, in that order. I will then turn off the Windows 2000 PC
      first and the Windows XP PC last. Until recently, I had all my games on
      the Windows 2000 PC, but because Star Craft wouldn't play on it, I had
      to install it on the XP.

      This was traumatic for me because I hate installing games on that PC
      because it's my work PC and if anything ever happened to it, I'd be toast.

      If I think of any other dumb rituals, I'll come back and post them. I'm sure
      there are plenty more.
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  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    Patrician,

    There were these two companies that created this neat standard for parallel ports. It was INTERNATIONAL, and around for about a DECADE! IBM decided to ABANDON it, and use the DB25 connector that was LESS capable, harder the use, and reserved for SERIAL DEVICES! And what were the two companies that created that parallel connector that IBM abandoned for NO reason?

    CENTRONICS(Inventor of the dot matrix printer)
    AND a little company named ******IBM******!

    And what was the name of that connector? The IBM/CENTRONICS connector!

    Dr. An Wang, Robert Howard and Prentice Robinson developed the Centronics parallel interface at Wang Laboratories. Wang had a surplus stock of 20,000 Amphenol 36-pin micro ribbon connectors that were originally used for one of their early calculators. The connector has become so closely associated with Centronics that it is now popularly known as the “Centronics connector”. The Centronics parallel interface quickly became an industry de facto standard. Manufacturers of the time tended to use various connectors on the system side, so a variety of cables were required. When IBM implemented the parallel interface on the IBM PC, they used the DB25F connector at the PC-end of the interface, creating the now familiar parallel cable with a DB25M at one end and a 36 pin micro ribbon connector at the other
    It is CONCEIVABLE that switching the connectors, serial and parallel, COULD cause port or computer damage. LUCKILY that is unlikely, because serial devices usually have the same gender as the IBM PC parallel connector, so you generally couldn't plug both sides in. But I HATED it! The neat clips that took a split second to use were now replaced with the thunb screws that could take minutes. The simple obvious parallel was now replaced with one that looks serial because it IS a connector made for serial ports. THEN, they used the same connector for the mouse and the keyboard. YEECH! It was bad enough that an rj11/12 plug(used for modem to phone connection) could plug into an RJ45 jack(used for ethernet x2t internet connections). At least the rj11/12 and rj45 were established standards.

    So I can understand your wanting to label them. I had to keep turning the computer around to plug them in. I used to be able to, when they used the old standards, do them by TOUCH. and could literally do them BLINDFOLDED.

    Steven,

    The way you do the power is probably the best. If you turned on the UPS before the power, who knows? MOST are UPS, and switch to the battery if no AC is coming in. If you switched on the computer prior to the power, it would drain power. So you basically keep the battery charged, and make sure the UPS only switches if and when it has to. Granted it probably isn't THAT significant, but who knows.

    Power can be a funny thing. When I was a system admin on a VAX, the power supplies were all interconnected. Each box would come up fully before the next one came up, and then the CPU would boot. WHY? Because they were HUGE and all mechanical devices take a lot more power to start. So each would boot after the last settled down to an idle. If all started at once, it could actually trip a circuit breaker.

    BTW did you know that when the eee netbook has VERY little power it runs INCREDIBLY slow!? I have never seen any such change that was SO pronounced.

    Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author Patrician
    Wow you are bringing up memories Steve.

    My first computer course I ever took was on the Wang Word Processor - I think 1979-80 - where the hell did it go after I spent my last $400 on the course? LOL.

    Seriously I became an advanced user on Wang working contracts for Crocker Bank (remember that? eaten by Wells Fargo Bunk)

    then of course any word processor or word processing application was a breeze just by virtue of having used one of any flavor.

    Worked my way to Bank of America's Erma Boards, (B of A invented it) IBM terminal emulation /IBM 3270 - and then into data processing for translating PC transmissions through Tandem front end to IBM Mainframe.

    My last for fun course was Network+ (passed twice but didn't get the certificate) = (decided I am too old to be climbing under people's desks and in their ceilings) and took some of the MCSE courses - That is what I call FUN (Net+). Too bad about the 'use it or lose it' factor.

    Sorry to Kurt's socks - we have hi-jacked your thread into an 'off-topic', God forbid.

    OK back to obsessiveness.
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    • Profile picture of the author seasoned
      Originally Posted by Patrician View Post

      My first computer course I ever took was on the Wang Word Processor - I think 1979-80 - where the hell did it go after I spent my last $400 on the course? LOL.
      You think ****THAT**** is bad? I never understood how wang got such a good reputation. At my last job, I was asked to convert DIBOL code to COBOL. THEN, I was asked to convert it to WANG COBOL! I COULDN'T believe it! I said I thought they went bankrupt or something, etc.... ALAS, I converted it. We were JUST about to deliver it and GUESS what happened! GO ON, GUESS!!!!!!! YEP, THEY WENT BANKRUPT! The customer then wanted it to be converted to work on an IBM RS 6000 and APPEAR to be on a wang system! SERIOUSLY!

      Seriously I became an advanced user on Wang working contracts for Crocker Bank (remember that? eaten by Wells Fargo Bunk)
      BUNK? Was that intentional?

      As for hijacking the thread? I used to be REALLY obsessed about computers also. 8-( I guess this is to be expected.

      Steve
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      • Profile picture of the author Patrician
        Originally Posted by seasoned View Post


        BUNK? Was that intentional?


        Steve
        *********Yes*********
        ... and ICSM. heheheh
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  • Profile picture of the author Rosin
    lol,yup a little.but i don't think it dumb or rituals.everyone believes in something.no reason,but he keeps believing it.
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  • Profile picture of the author KenThompson
    Wow. Interesting stuff, folks. Truly.

    Steve and Steve? Felix and Felix?

    Steve (non-Wagenheim), I hope we meet someday. I'll
    shake your hand and do the two-handed thing so I'll be
    sure to contaminate both sides of your hand. Then I'll
    give you a big manly hug.

    Then I'll offer you one of those complementary towelette
    things that's folded a hundred times. You'll be just fine.


    Ken
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    • Profile picture of the author seasoned
      Originally Posted by KenThompson View Post

      Wow. Interesting stuff, folks. Truly.

      Steve and Steve? Felix and Felix?

      Steve (non-Wagenheim), I hope we meet someday. I'll
      shake your hand and do the two-handed thing so I'll be
      sure to contaminate both sides of your hand. Then I'll
      give you a big manly hug.

      Then I'll offer you one of those complementary towelette
      things that's folded a hundred times. You'll be just fine.


      Ken
      VERY FUNNY! Internally, I may feel like monk, Monk TV Series, Detective Monk Television Show - USA Network , but I don't generally let on that I feel that way.

      But it IS easy to find me in a crowded airport, if you get my drift!

      Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author Kenster
    This isnt that great but I...


    Need to take a shower immediately before getting into bed.
    Need to take a shower immediately after getting out of bed.
    Normally take 1-2 more showers in the day if I get sweaty.

    I'm getting better with the mid-day thing, but the first too are still needs!
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  • Profile picture of the author deloriagod
    When I get in my car I have to take everything out of my pockets. Garage door opener goes in the front cup holder, cell phone/ipod go in the back cup holder, anything else goes in the center console. Never used to take stuff out of my pockets until I got a 5 speed and had to use my legs more.
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    • Profile picture of the author healthconverter
      I drink coffee as soon as I get up.

      Oh, and I count steps as I walk up or down them. Once upon a time, it was so bad that if I knew I miscounted, I would have to walk back down and back up to recount twice. These days, I just pause for a minute if I know I miscounted, make a mental note of it and move on.
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