It May Not Be OCD, But It Sure Feels Like It

I clean up the dishes at friend's houses

There’s a reason that our really good friends bought a house just down the street from my husband and me, and it’s not just because we arrive for visits with booze and deliciously bad-for-you snack items and all it takes to entertain us is to let us sit on your couch and make funny, snarky comments as you flip through the channels on your TV: we also do dishes.

Really, we do. We can’t help it. Whether we order takeout, or you cook us a meal, or we’re just nibbling on appetizers, when we’re all done eating and drinking, we’re drawn like a magnet to your kitchen. And while you’re in the other room, we’re rinsing off dishes and putting them in your dishwasher and washing (and possibly breaking — but that was a wine glass you hated anyway) any delicate items by hand.

Why? I have no clue. But don’t you want to hang out with us?

I only like even numbers*

2, 4, 6, and 8. Especially 2 and 4. I’m happier when things can be neatly divisible in half, and for some reason odd numbers don’t sit well with me.

This ridiculous oddity can manifest itself when I’m setting the temperature in my house, if I’m making a batch of cookies, if I’m setting my alarm, and so on. Especially if I’m bored.

*The only exception to this rule is that I do like double-digit numbers that end with 0 or 5. And any number more than two digits must end in 0.

God, this is exhausting.

I am obsessed with the number of unread items on my Google reader

For both work and personal reasons, I subscribe to lots and lots and lots of blogs. Google reader has saved my life; because rather than bookmarking each one in my browser and clicking on each and every one to see if they’ve been updated, I now have them all in one handy dandy place that allows me to see, at a glance, any new posts that I haven’t yet read.

But, now, it’s almost worse. Because once I see that bold number telling me how many unread items there are, I am compelled to read them all. Not even because I WANT to read them all, but moreso because I want my Google reader to be a nice and neat little space with 0 unread items. At all times. And when it’s not, I’m kindofsortofokayreally panicky. A little bit.