Seven random things

In her entry Seven random things plucked from my brain, Craige takes on the challenge of revealing seven random things about herself. I’m typically not a fan of these types of exercises, but it did get me thinking. The problem is I somehow got the idea that the seven things should be either little-known (or unknown) to anyone else. You see why I thought this was a significant assignment!

But still I thought about it. Not about whether to do it or not, but what I’d write if I did do it. We’ve all got secrets, but it’s a fine line to walk. Our secrets are typically secret because we don’t want to tell others for good reason. So it’s difficult to walk up to the ‘freak-line,’ but not step over it. I’ll stay away from the line and start easy. Ready?

When I eat M&Ms, I always eat them in pairs. One for each side of the mouth, you know? But they also should be of the same colour. So I’ll start with brown, progress through the colours, and end with red or green. I do this with other sorts of multicoloured candies too. Smarties, jujubes, and other stuff like that.

I’ve had a serious crush on Toni Tennille since I was about eight years old and it shows no sign of letting up. For this, I know I’ll take flack from a co-worker, but that’s okay. What this co-worker doesn’t know is Tennille sang backup vocals on Pink Floyd’s The Wall, an album he holds in very high regard. How do you like them apples, Don?

I’m an arithmomaniac, a compulsive counter. While the compulsion is far milder than it was in the past, I still do count things. In grade school, I would count the parts of people’s faces: eyes, eye brows, ears, nose, mouth, and forehead. Nine parts. I knew my nine-times-table up to about twenty-five extremely well. Even counts are always better than odd ones so I’ll sometimes try to jigger the results to make it even. I realise the odd-count for faces is a big exception to this preference for even results. I rarely count any more, but I do find myself slipping into it at times, especially when a television show fails to hold my attention.

I keep my CDs in alphabetical order. I used to insist that when returning the disc to the jewel case, it be rotated so it could be easily read when opening the case. I’ve long since stopped doing this, however.

I always keep my apartment door locked unless I’m actually using the door. Whether I’m home or not, it’s locked. Jessica once told me that when she lived in an apartment, she’d leave the door unlocked when she went downstairs to do her laundry. This still boggles my mind. I’ll leave it unlocked when I’m disposing of my garbage, but the garbage chute is accessible from my own floor so I’m not even out of sight of my door. My parents perhaps were a little too security-conscious after having been robbed, and I seem to have picked up on it.

When I was very young, I had a decent handle on counting. I could count to 100 with no problem. The thing is, I was mistaken about how the number system worked above 100. For some reason, I thought the next number after 100 was 200, then 300, and so on. Sure it makes no sense, but I was five years old, okay? I also vividly remember learning of my mistake in kindergarten. I’m pleased that the discovery of the proper way to count did not involve my first revealing the way I thought it worked.

That’s only six. It’s just as well. I’ve done enough damage.