Keepers of the Truth

Ok, I was tagged. So this means that I have to actually look at myself close enough to point out 6 things about me which I find quirky. I have thought about this for a while and then I sat down to make my list. I had trouble coming up with 6 things. Not because I don't think I'm quirky, but to name thing is difficult. I finally came up with my list and began to write this blog and the list kept growing and growing... Then I looked at it and thought it was much more of a listing of my faults than my quirks. But really does it matter all that much? To quote Pink Floyd, "And if I open my heart you, show you my weak side, what would you do?" Here they are:

1) I'm VERY OCD. I have to really watch myself to keep from going over the edge. To give some examples, I'm a counter. I count steps, I count change, I count poles along the side of the road... Oh, and the money in my wallet all has to face the same direction and not be folded (Don't do folded pages in books either, have to straighten out pages (Although I do sometimes mark with a fold)).

1.5) This leads me to being a control freak. I almost made this a seperate entry, but then I realized that one was related to the other so I put them together. Because I like things just so, I want to be the one to do everything or watch over everyone so that things are just so (not like the stories though, cause those are good in a different way.).

1.5.5) I speak and think and write paranthetically (I also can't spell, but that's later in the list). Took me a while to realize I did this and then I read the book The Mezzanine which is all in footnotes and said, "I do that!" I even wrote a story like that once. I guess that's because I'm a multitasker (Ack, that's later too. I need to move on).

2) I have to read every day or else I get grumpy. I try and get in 50 pages a day or roughly 1 hour. Sometimes I get more or less, but I try. You can tell if I don't have a book to read though. Not that it's happened to me lately (Oh, my library is almost done!!) I don't care how much sleep I may lose because of my reading, I'll read over sleep most days. It's a nighttime ritual. I'll keep the rest of the ritual to myself. Some may know it. Some call it "Cave time". Whatever, it keeps me sane, so don't knock it!

3) I have to have a cover on all my pens, or retract the ink. Some people will put down a pen and leave the cover off. Can't do it. In fact I click open and shut my pen each time I check one thing off my list. I think this really falls under #1, but then again it is quirky.

3.5) I tend to overthink just about everything. That is usally what is happening right before I make the usual wrong choice about most things. I was playing a game one time where you have to name someone at the table who fits in with the quirk or whatever you are given. Someone named me as the most likely to think I was getting a good deal when I was being ripped off. I don't necessarily disagree with that because I do overthink things. This is one of the reasons I don't have much posted up here because I think I should write something and then I spend too much time trying to make it perfect instead of just posting it and realizing that noone is readin it anyway. It doesn't make my life as an artist very easy.

4) I have a pseudo-photographic memory. I can remember tons of things almost exactly like they happened. I remember conversations that I really have no reason to remember. My brothers call me a lier all the time because I remember things that happened when we were little, but it's true, I remember them. I can see the places the conversations took place. I don't know what they might be wearing because I don't notice those things, but I know it took place in the basement or whatever. I remember one conversation I had with BaldMan one summer we were working together. I remember where we were when he said what he said. It is just weird. Yes, it was a very wise statement. He makes them all the time, so I don't know why this conversation sticks in my head, but it does. I don't really know why most of the things stick in my head. Some are big, life changing events, but some, like the baldman conversation is just two guys talking. I wish I could control it, but it's a subconsious thing. I know if I read something and think about something else, I will remember what I read down to the place on the page (For a limited time only, act now!).

5) I'm a multiprocessor. I can't just do one thing at a time. I have to have more than one thing going on at all times or else I get bored. My wife used to joke because I would have the TV on, 3 IM windows going, a game running on the other computer (I have two computers side by side I use for different things), and I'd be talking to her all at the same time. If I needed to, I could quote almost word for word from any of the inputs I'd be getting when challanged I wasn't paying attention. It kills me to just sit down and watch TV. I have to be doing something else (Usually that is sleeping). I can't wait till I get wireless networking in my house so I can be online while I watch TV. I guess that is one reason I like my job and I do well at it. There are always 5 things going on and I have to be on top of all of them or else it crashes.

6) Spelling. Can't do it. Just like Hans Christian Anderson and many other people who went on to becoming famous authors. It gives me hope, but not alot.

6.5) I am the only person I know who is dislexic with the letters b and p. It's especially bad when I'm typing. And I'm a touch typist so there is no visual cause for it except the image in my mind.

7) I'm a starer, but I'm horrible when it comes to