Quote: roscoff @ August 20 2008, 12:37 AM BST6. Is quite understandable
As demonstrated by the tale of 'The Fart' in The Thousand and One Nights
Foibles and Idiosyncrasies - don't be shy Page 4
An edited list from me. If I posted the full horror on the internet I would I doubt I would survive very long. "They" would get me.
1: Certain noises make me freak out. Angle grinders make me physically violent and swear. They only need to be within earshot, if they are close to me things get really intense and I become quite upset. Luckily I have recently bought an MP3 player and have learnt to put that on if an angle grinder starts. For some reason this summer has been particularly bad for people grinding things.
2: I share the fear of wasps that others have here but mine has evolved into a fear of anything in the vicinity that might sound like a wasp. I was on a bus once and heard the sound of a wasp buzzing in my ear. I screamed and demanded that the driver stop the bus as I needed to get off NOW. He came to an emergency halt and in the silence that followed I realised that I had been terrified by someone strimming their front garden.
3: I have two guinea pigs and a back garden with no lawn. Therefore I have to pick grass and greenery for them every other day. Or they will die.
4: I cannot handle offal of any kind and the mere sight of meat makes me nauseous. I guess that rules out any serial killing if battery dies on my MP3 player. I blame this particilar foible on drugs as it developed one evening many moons ago when I was very stoned on hash and watching Casualty. I am now a vegetarian because of this phobia. It's a bit pissy in my view as I used to love a chicken madras and a kebab.
5: I cannot sleep without air ventilating the room so the bedroom door must be open or I will suffocate. If I have a male visitor (ahem) and they shut the door and insist on it remaining so, this constitutes a dumpable offence. Yes, I have actually dumped a bloke because he shut the door to my bedroom. We were in flagrante delecto *sic* and all I could do was stare at the sodding closed door.
1 I find normal conversation unpleasant and dificult. In the past I've worked with the mentally unwell, severly learning disabled and people with profound autism. I've always found it extrremely easy to talk naturally with them. Supposedly ordinairy people I find it hard to talk to.
2 I can't stand making eye contact.
3 I hate to know what the last meal was that was eaten by some one who died.
4 Otherwise I am completely unsqueamish; everything from cleaning bodily excretions to eating offal, handling dead things no hang up. I often have to try to fake reactions.
5 I can't bear the sound of dry leaves being swept, but I don't mind fingers on a black board.
6 I like alot of kids cartoons in an unironic way.
7 I can listen to the same piece of music 1000s of times, sometimes a piece under a minute.
8 I mull over arguments and mistakes from decades ago.
9 I am not comfortable around babies and small children.
10 I can play chess, but I don't think I ever won a game. I can't plan a move ahead.
11 I can memorise any number upto 15 digits by reducing it to it's prime numbers. Often just for fun.
12 If I'm bored I prepare arguments in my head for fun.
13 I have a phobia of posting letters.
14 I like meat, alot. It's the texture, especially if it's very rare.
15 I also like chillis alot and have at times carried a bottle of tabasco around.
16 I hate returning to old things, this includes never taking the same route twice in a row.
17 I find ice cream vans, clowns and simple jokes sinister.
18 There are very few things in life I view that I don't automatically try and make into a joke.
19 I don't mind wasps, but have a deep and total loathing for mosquitos. Especially the noise they make.
Quote: Timbo @ August 20 2008, 12:47 AM BSTYou will all be converts:
I think it's widely accepted squatting is the best position.
But I'd need a back support so I didn't fall backwards into my own waste.
I'm baffled. Do most people do a poo standing up?
Quote: Graham Bandage @ August 20 2008, 9:51 AM BSTI'm baffled. Do most people do a poo standing up?
No, sitting.
But sitting and squatting are different.
Squatting is like the way a dog does it. And I don't mean shaking and on a patch of grass.
I'm not sure about this squatting lark. I reckon piles are a small price to pay for a reduced risk of splashback.
While we're on foibles and idiosyncrasies, I always put my trousers on after my socks, unless I've been swimming.
I'm hoping this will be therapeutic as I can't afford a real shrink:
1) When I'm walking out and about, in my mind I construct whole conversations with people in which I am invariably more witty and eloquent than in real life. In RL, when I do have a conversation or an event happens, I re-run it with how I SHOULD have handled it. Can easily recall feelings of embarrassment.
2) When I get a new album, I quickly lose patience with a few songs, then it tends to whittle down to a couple of songs that I'll repeat constantly. I often listen to different instruments in more detail each time I play the track.
3) I fear wasps and spiders - especially the ones with tiny bodies and long, spindly legs.
4) I like even numbers, to the extent I'll put the volume to the nearest comfortable one. I especially like "20". I often add the numbers of the time on my clock radio together, and count letters in a word/words in a sentence.
5) I have a good memory for "020 (and old 0181)" landline numbers once I've dialled them a few times - to the extent I can remember no's for family who have been dead over a decade and primary school friends. I also remember my old hexadecimal number for my router, library card code, etc.
6) I'm terrible at recognising places and hence working out directions. Am fine with a map once I know which direction I'm facing.
7) When on public transport / in crowded streets, I'll keep feeling for my wallet/keep my arm covering its pocket.
8) I feel sick when people pick one fingernail with another.
9) If duvet is over my neck when I'm asleep I can wake up with a feeling of being choked, but can't yet move, so have to patiently wait until my limbs can move.
10) I get vivid feelings of deja-vu; Once this feeling is first felt, I often feel like I knew the next few lines in the conversation, even when I try to say something different to confuse the "memory".
11) I can usually recognise spelling/grammatical errors and can get annoyed by this. A bit like Aaron appears to do. Don't feel compelled to make corrections in online chat though.
12) I find it awkward talking to young children because I don't want to talk down to them and if there are other adults present I feel they're judging me.
13) I become uncomfortable and shy if the group participating in a conversation exceeds a critical number - there's more chance someone will find my point "stupid".
14) I'm rubbish at chess, rarely recognise what the opponent is trying to do and can't plan ahead more than a move.
15) Much of what I read/hear gives me an idea for a joke/wordplay. I've only recently started writing them down as I have a terrible memory for them.
16) When I get REALLY tired, snippets of songs and conversations (even old ones or those I haven't heard for ages) will run through my head, overlapping each other (like in film sequences)
17) I'm now worried people will realise how idiosyncratic I am.
These are few things about me...
1) I don't believe anyone's landed on the moon.
2) I get extremely wound up very easily, but can forget all about it in a second. I don't hold grudges. Life's too short.
3) Being late is something I can't stand. In myself or in others. I will actually feel the Hulk growing inside me if someone is late.
4) I can't sleep unless my arms are above my head.
5) I can't walk over 3 drains in a row. 2 drains are good luck. I've been doing this for about 15 years.
6) I can't be friends with people who smell. It puts me off being near them, thus making friendship impossible.
7) When I listen to music, I only listen to the instruments playing or tune. I very rarely know the words to songs because of this.
8) I can't break rules... i.e. jumping on a train and not paying for a ticket, crossing streets after pressing the button...but not waiting for the green man, stealing (even little things from work).
9) In normal life, I often have preminitions of myself falling over and dying, or having something fall on me and dying. It's just a quick flash, but it often stops me walking the way I'm walking.
Quote: Rob0 @ August 20 2008, 11:00 AM BSTI fear wasps and spiders - especially the ones with tiny bodies and long, spindly legs.
I used to have a horror of ants. I put it down to watching as a young child an old western in which a cavalry trooper was buried up to his neck in an anthill. Wish I could remember which film it was in, as I would like to see it again, if only to convince myself that I am fully over it.
Quote: Rob0 @ August 20 2008, 11:00 AM BST9) If duvet is over my neck when I'm asleep I can wake up with a feeling of being choked, but can't yet move, so have to patiently wait until my limbs can move.
That's sleep paralysis, I get that occasionally.
(Without the whole duvet neck thing.)
Quote: EllieJP @ August 20 2008, 11:10 AM BST4) I can't sleep unless my arms are above my head.
Me too! And if I do fall asleep differently, I wake up with them there.
As long as you mean on the pillow, not up in the air. 
Quote: EllieJP @ August 20 2008, 11:10 AM BSTThese are few things about me...
1) I don't believe anyone's landed on the moon.
Now that one is weird. Why the certainty?
3) Being late is something I can't stand. In myself or in others. I will actually feel the Hulk growing inside me if someone is late.
That one is wholly rational.
6) I can't be friends with people who smell. It puts me off being near them, thus making friendship impossible.
How bad do they need to smell? Does this automatically count out all smokers?
Quote: zooo @ August 20 2008, 12:00 PM BSTThat's sleep paralysis, I get that occasionally.
(Without the whole duvet neck thing.)
Absolutely your brain produces a chemical that blocks messgaes to your limbs in your sleep.
Otherwise you'd be acting out your dreams.
In which case it's sleep walking.
Quote: zooo @ August 20 2008, 12:00 PM BSTMe too! And if I do fall asleep differently, I wake up with them there.
As long as you mean on the pillow, not up in the air.
Yar, on the pillow! But would be quite funny if in the air.
To Sooty
1) I don't believe anyone's landed on the moon.
Now that one is weird. Why the certainty? -
Just things I have read, seen etc. I think it's a hoax.
6) I can't be friends with people who smell. It puts me off being near them, thus making friendship impossible.
How bad do they need to smell? Does this automatically count out all smokers?
Smokers I can put up with, but just BO people...ewwww
I don't like not being able to see people's faces, so I find masks, burkas, etc extremely creepy.
I always have to find the quickest and most efficient way of doing anything. From which way to walk to the station (down to the most efficient place to cross the road, etc) to cooking a meal.
When working out I won't count over 20. So, if I'm doing 30 reps of something I'll count it as 2x15. 50 sit-ups are 2x 20 + 5.
I don't have a fear of any animals or bugs except fyling ants. I got a load of them stuck in my hair as a child and it was horrible.
Vodka doesn't suit me.