Since this hobby can bring out the OCD in some people I thought I’d start an OCD tread (sorry if one already exists). It would be interesting to hear of some issues people have out there.

I’ll start with a friend of mine who has quite a few “issues.” To me the funniest one is that she has to eat one portion on her plate at a time and won’t eat any of the foods if while on the plate they touch each other. So for example on a plate with meat, potatoes and veggies she’ll eat all the veggies then all the potatoes and then the meat. If any of them tough each other she won’t eat that part, pushing it to the side. I still can’t figure out how she eats things like soup, spaghetti etc. . ., but she claims those are just one type of food, but the spaghetti better not touch the garlic bread.

I too have a "friend" who couldn't do his job as well as he does without some level of OCD. Computers like strict adherence to rules, and perfectly formatted data. Although he sometimes does find it hard to finish projects because the level of order required to finally call it done just isn't achievable.

He sometimes wonders what life would be like without the driving need to reverse the entropy around him, but also worries that without those compulsions he'd cease to be himself.

Now that's a great storyline right there!

I know people with that issue. I don't have a problem with different foods touching, but I do tend to eat each part of the meal separately. I have a little of each every once in a while, but yeah, the tendency is to have it progress from one part of the meal to the next.

At work I also have my tendencies, but again, it's not a rigid outline. I tend to do certain things in a certain order, but I do change it up according to priorities.

Here's an odd one. It seems most OCD behavior I've seen portrayed by Hollywood would have a serious problem with dust gathering on a surface. But that doesn't bother me, er I mean my friend, at all. Dust deposited by natural forces is considered orderly to me. But if someone were to disturb that dust in the least, the whole surface would have to be cleaned.

That's normal, right?

Pretty harmless, unless you go around looking for irregularly cleaned surfaces and then compulsively clean them. As with all psychiatric disorders, the answer depends on how intense something is and, most importantly, whether it adversely affects your quality of life.

My friends make fun of me when they see me doing quirky things, but yeah, it has a minimal effect on my day-to-day life.

Check out this line of Xs with one missing.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX

There's not one missing, but a non-equal number of Xs on either side of the gap.

Is the x really "missing" or did it just go to the bathroom?

My friend says if you're REALLY OCD, you'd have to refer to it as "CDO" so that the letters are in alphabetical order.

Chris, The Perfect is the enemy of The Good. Trust me on this.

Google: Quentin Crisp on Dust

Sidewalk crack # 47. Don't step on it!! Oh, God, Oh no! Two more mistakes and the cat won't recover. #48, 49, 50, 51... Oh, look at that red bright red truck. And there's another one.... 3, 4, 5...

No, no, no! Not if the letters have to be arranged by shape.
"OCD" is closed, open, closed. CDO just can't work in this situation. It can only be one way, It has to be this way!.....14, 15, 16, 17....

I was looking at OCD vs. CDO, and I too agree the balance is all off with the later.

I don't step on cracks in the sidewalk, but for me it has become almost instinctual--still my friends watch my feet in amazement.

Everyone with personal preferences should be labeled and medicated.

Isn't that what grade school and high school are for?

Fixed it.

Nailed it, Dean! If everyone else would take psych meds, they wouldn't aggravate so much that I have to.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit this whole f'n mess!

HEHEHE!

I see a lot of my OCD's slipping away as I age. I don't think this worked for (the aviator guy, forgot hist name). I step on cracks on purpose now. I don't mind so much if my food touches. I can see a messy spot and not let it bother me so much (though I still have an urge to clean it).

I think being a computer programmer has cured me of that for the most part. Sometimes good enough is good enough. It doesn't have to be perfect.

Mine's slowly getting worse. I've just got to figure out how to make as much money as Howard Hughes before I start collecting my own urine.

Jane Seymour does that, too. But she has another "use" for it as part of her diet.

I never could understand why Howard Hughes collected his own urine in bottles. The only thing I can think of is he thought the bathroom must of been too unclean to use. And if that is the case, where are all the piles of the other? Talk about unclean.

I'd worry if you did.

You put the space in the wrong place, but I fixed it-
XXXXXXXXXXXXX X XXXXXXXXXXXXX

I have a weird eating habit. It doesn't matter what I'm eating, I will pick out what seems to be the "best bite" of the item and eat it last. For example...while eating a chocolate chip cookie, I'll examine it first, and then save the section with the most chocolate chips for last. I've got more, but this is the only one I'm willing to share publicly.

Mary, you are not alone. I do that too. It's good to finish on a high note.

Really!?! Then it's just the two of you. That's right. No one else in the whole world could ever be that twisted. You people are very sick and need help.

Mary, you should tell people that you take out the best part of EVERY cookie in the bag, count them three times, throw them away, and only eat the parts you don't like, and it's been like that ever since you stopped cutting.

Does anyone else eat the crappy part of the cake out first, then eat the pile of icing left around the outside afterwards?

Yeah, I sort of do that.

OCDs don't necessarily have to be twisted. One more I can mention is I MUST put on lip balm before going to bed. If I don't have any lip balm available, I will find a substitute like lotion or a dab of oil. It bothers me THAT much to go to bed with dry lips.

when i've got a big craving for sugar and don't want to gain a lot of weight, i eat many dozens of donut holes and then lie down on the bed to let it pass easier.

is that normal or twisted?
my mummy says no.

Whenever I order mussels at a restaurant, I will always nest the shells inside one another as I eat. When I'm done, there will be a long chain of nested mussels looking something like this:

"Nested Mussels" would be a good name for a band.

So would "Mary's Last Bite".

Of course. Millions of people do. They're called "children."

Brought back great memories. As a child, I would eat all the cake, leaving a monstrous mound of chocolate frosting for the last bite. Just before stuffing that last bite into my mouth, my father would point at something out the window and I would turn to see what interested him. I would turn back to find my mound of yummy sugar missing and my father with a full mouth and delighted grin. Naturally, I assumed the worst.

Fortunately, my father was NOT an ogre. After allowing me to suffer for an appropriate length of time, he would produce the missing frosting which had been neatly hidden beneath a napkin while I agonized and raged. For some reason he thought this hysterically humorous. I had other opinions.

While I no longer indulge in the practice of saving all the frosting for the last bite, I do enjoy those bites where I can maneuver my fork to get more frosting than cake in any given bite.

We once got my mother-in-law a "cake" made entirely of frosting. True story.

And next you're gonna tell us that you can make a souffle entirely of beer.

OH MUTHA!! Get me one of those. YUMMY!

...and Jack will start a new thread "Stories from the ER" soon after

Yes, but I'll be smiling as I write.

I once, as a kid, took the left over maraschino, and stirred them into the left over chocolate frosting. Ate the whole thing with a spoon.

OOOOOOOOOOO! Sounds wonderful!!!!!!!