Thursday Thirteen: Thirteen Harmless (I Hope) Quirks

• When I unload the dishwasher I like to leave all the drawers and cabinet doors open once I've put something in them.  When I've finished putting away all the dishes I like to work my way around the kitchen, slamming doors and drawers.

• I let the garbage disposal fill up until the sink won't drain any more; then I run the disposer and watch the water bubble up from the sink.

• I always start brushing my lower left molars first.  This started when I was a kid and the dentist warned me I was working on a cavity there.  I eventually got the cavity but I still start my brushing there anyway.  If I start anywhere else I lose track of where I've been.

• As I'm getting dressed I make a mental list of everything I have left to do and recite it in my head over and over, eliminating tasks from the list as each is completed.

• I'm such an incurable copy editor that I have to read almost everything twice because the first time I'm prospecting for errors.

• I never drink while I eat, which can be annoying for people who don't know me very well since they think we're finished and ready to pay the bill and skedaddle, but I'm suddenly trying to down an entire iced tea in one gulp.

• I'm fixated on recycling.  My family has voted me "Most Likely To Fish A Soda Can Out Of The Trash".

• I fixate on puns.  For example, has anyone besides me noticed the probably unintended irony in the name of the Republican candidate for vice president's supposed favorite consignment shop: "Out of the Closet"?

• I still imagine myself as thin as I was when I was really thin, just as I imagine that my kitchen table and counter are clear of junk, and how my kitchen will look when I finally get around to making the adjacent playroom into a hearth room.

• I harbor a certain amount of passive-aggression when it comes to paying bills and preparing taxes, as if ignoring them will make them go away, and surprise!  It doesn't.

• I can't stand to "waste" classical music.  If I'm driving and listening to one of my favorites and I arrive home, I have to run inside and switch on the radio to hear the rest of the piece.

• Stevie Nicks's voice gives me the willies and makes me want to run screaming from the room.

• So does ketchup.