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?