Weird
We’re all weird in one way or another. Don’t go shaking your head saying Not me. I know you’re lying. We’ve all got at least one thing that’s normal for other people and just doesn’t sit right with us.
One friend can’t handle the word moist. Say it around her and she gets goosebumps. This same friend is from Wisconsin and doesn’t like cheese. Go figure.
Another friend checks her pulse after drinking. In her single days, she used to go home, lay down in bed with two fingers to her neck, measuring how fast her heart was racing. I’m not sure if she does it to this day.
Another (male) friend can’t stand open toed shoes. In the summertime, when I wear them pretty much all the time, I can’t walk by him without a funny look or nasty comment.
See, weird! What about me, you ask? I’ll be the first to admit I’ve got all kinds of weird traits. But, today I’m going to focus on one. I am totally weird when it comes to expired food.
- Chunky milk makes me want to hurl (and I’ve never been a puker, so that’s big).
- I won’t even eat an apple that is one day past it’s perfect ripeness.
- Forget about it if the apple shows bruising.
- I will not cut around it. I throw it away.
- Touching wilted lettuce gives me the shakes.
- The other night, I literally did a dance around the kitchen trying to shake off the feeling of barely touching some wet and soggy and unedible lettuce.
I’m not sure where this issue comes from. I blame nurture and nature. Growing up, my mom was pretty darn stringent about throwing food away after the expiration had passed. It really didn’t matter if the food was otherwise fine. She’d throw milk away to make room for a new bottle. And she’d get rid of luncheon meat if we didn’t eat it within a week. As a child, she really sheltered me from the nastier side of food (though I’m pretty sure keeping me in isolation wasn’t her primary goal in purging our refrigerator).
But, that can’t be the only reason. I refuse to put blame solely on my mother. I know I must be wired for this kind of weirdness. Because really, my childhood was not so traumatic as to force me into silly rain-like dances whenever I touch a funny looking food. In my head, I know there’s nothing wrong with the food. But, something misfires between thinking about it and going to touch it. My body refutes the knowledge of my head. My body revolts.
What about you – what are your weird traits and can you trace their cause?
February 2nd, 2010 at 5:14 am
I can’t stand touching paper towels. I used to be totally fine with it. I used them for everything from napkins to plates to rags. Then my boyfriend now husband told me about how he doesn’t like using paper towels for anything besides cleaning because they are so rough and absorbent that he can literally feel them sucking the moisture out of his body through his hands. I laughed at him. But the next time I touched a paper towel – I could feel it! Aaaaagh! The moisture is being sucked out of me! So now, paper towels are totally ruined for me. Bizarre, right?
February 2nd, 2010 at 6:37 am
I should take a picture of the two bananas I have with me and send them to you. They are COVERED in brown spots and bruises. YUMMY! I guess this is where we differ, Nilsa ;)
Weird traits? I have weird things that I do… but weird traits… well, I don’t like to use cotton balls because of the way they feel when you rub them between your fingers. Not sure where that came from. Hmm. That is all I can think of :(
February 2nd, 2010 at 8:36 am
I have a really “strong stomach”. I mean, I puke pretty easily, but things don’t “gross me out”. Someone can puke on me, throw maggots in my face and have explosive diarrhea in my presence and I can still function. But if a dish or a fork sits in the sink more than 5 minutes, I can’t wash it. I would actually throw it away rather than have to touch it. When I cook, I have to wash everything as I go because I can’t go back and do it at the end without gagging. But if we are eating and the dishes don’t make it to the sink right away – they could stay on the table for a week and I would still wash them. But once it makes it to the sink, it has to be washed immediately.
I think it has to do with seeing sinks – at maybe my parents or friend’s hones – where they let a pot soak in soapy water. And little pieces of food are floating in there. GROSS.
I also have an unreasonable fear of midgets. They are the scariest thing in the world!
February 2nd, 2010 at 8:48 am
ha! im the same way about bananas that you are about apples. also lunch meat- i dont even eat it anymore, but i hate when it’s in the fridge past a week. ick.
hmm… my weird traits? (there are heaps, im sure!)…i don’t like when people eat hard candies around me. it drives me nutso. i can’t set my alarm on an normal time, like say, 6:15. it has to be 6:14 or 6:17.
February 2nd, 2010 at 9:03 am
Wow. I have to clean the bathroom over the toilet because touching the stuff in the bathroom makes me throw up. Like, I throw up so much, I just sit over the toilet. This is also while I am wearing as close to a hazmat suit as I can get.
February 2nd, 2010 at 9:37 am
I can’t stand the smell of tuna fish. If my hubs has to have it, I can’t be in the house and he has to air it out afterward, it makes me vomit-y.
I am sure I have other quirks, but the Hubs would be best to ask about them
February 2nd, 2010 at 9:40 am
Touching raw chicken… I love to eat it, don’t love to touch it. I get super grossed out by that.
I also unnecessarily freak out about bugs, particular spiders and especially if they are in something they shouldn’t be (shoe, shirt, bed). Fortunately this pretty much never happens but sometimes even the thought freaks me out.
February 2nd, 2010 at 9:48 am
i was reading your post and thinking, “did I tell her about my word ‘moist’ thing?”. yes, i too have that. i can hardly stand to type it, as i’m sure the sound of the word is in my head when i’m doing that.
oh, i have PLENTY of weird, i’m not hiding it from anybody. i curl my eyelashes with a spoon, i hate the word moist, i only read books that have a certain look to them, i don’t know how to explain that look, but it’s the way that a cover is on it (i know…weird), i have an irrational fear that when i get up every night that there is a man walking around the house with night vision goggles and can see me and may, just may, hit me on the head. this is just a random sampling. there are plenty more
February 2nd, 2010 at 10:06 am
hmmmm. this is a good question. i know i have PLENTY of them, i just can’t think of one now…..
i’m intrigued by the comment above me saying that she curls her eyelashes with a spoon!
February 2nd, 2010 at 10:35 am
Shrimp feels like it’s still alive when I bite into it and it makes me gag. That, and the sound of someone eating carrots and how it comes out their nose? The sound. Not the carrots. I have thrown up from it before.
February 2nd, 2010 at 10:49 am
I’m the same with food that’s expired though recently have had a couple run ins with moldy bread or bad chicken (BARF).
I have this thing where if someone rolls the window down in the car, I have to roll the opposite one down. I HAVE TO.
February 2nd, 2010 at 11:42 am
I can’t slide my finger down the edge of a book (the page side, not spine) without shivering – it makes me CRINGE! I also tend to wake up at 4am and tidy any clothes up that are poking out my drawers. And I completely agree with you when it comes to bruised apples, or bruised anything for that matter, I won’t touch it.
February 2nd, 2010 at 11:44 am
I will not drink milk if it’s not ice cold. I don’t like apples that aren’t crunchy, and will throw one away if it’s not. I also toss things immediately after the date is up, even if they still might be good. I’m sure I have more, but those are the ones I can think of right now.
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:01 pm
I have the apple thing, except mine is with bananas. I like them when they’re slightly tinged with green. Anything after that nauseates me.
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:04 pm
- i like tomatos when they are chopped up into bits in something (like a taco or homemade spaghetti sauce), but not in slices on a burger or a salad.
- if ‘fresh’ veggies or fruit are more than a day old from the grocer’s i will not likely eat them. i am like you in the whole ‘ if its bruised, damaged, wilty, it goes in the trash’ school of thought. i once threw away a costco box of grapes because there was small web in the corner of the box. i wasn’t taking any chances with these spider-grapes.
- i cant eat any cooked meat/fish/seafood that looks like it did when it was alive.
- my fiancee cannot stand cotton balls, so when i want to punish him, i hide his smokes in a bag of them. mwha ha ha
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:35 pm
This is so odd, I was twittering about this last night! I was trying to fix a chicken for Mister by moving it from the pan it came in, into one that was oven safe so I could heat it up. I touched it and was almost sick! I tried to move it in a way where it wasn’t…like a weird little corpse but I couldn’t do it! That the arms kinda moved and it was so squishy and heavy…
And then I realized why I was having so much trouble. I’ve been vegetarian for 18 years and I’m only 24 years old. I grew up in a vegetarian house. That was the second time I’ve ever touched chicken in my life. How weird is that?? At least I’m just inexperienced, not a total wuss lol
February 2nd, 2010 at 1:25 pm
I smell everything before I drink it. This can be traced from the very traumatic experience of taking a large gulp of spoilt milk. It happened years ago but I still shiver when I think of it.
February 2nd, 2010 at 1:58 pm
hmm.. there are very few things that make me have physical reactions like that. i have a VERY strong stomach :-) nails on a chalkboard make me wig out, but i think that’s kind of the case for everyone! ooh, i know one. i can’t STAND anyone sticking their finger in my belly button. it COMPLETELY squicks me out and i can’t take it.
February 2nd, 2010 at 2:02 pm
I think the being disgusted by spoiled milk is totally normal. I can tell you that when you take a big gulp of it you aren’t expecting to be spoiled — this was at a hotel when I was 15, so a while ago — it is one of the worst things. If I still have milk in the fridge and it’s past its expiration date, I have to have my husband dispose of it because I just can’t take the chance that it is spoiled.
I am kind of like you with veggies too. I usually buy bagged lettuce and baby spinach and I never use it more than two or three days later than the date I opened it (per the instructions on the bag). I actually don’t eat lettuce if there is any kind of browning. Also, I can’t go for bananas whose peels are overly brown. I don’t know where this comes from because my mom is definitely not crazy about these things. It makes me feel wasteful sometimes.
February 2nd, 2010 at 2:13 pm
OMG, I have so many food issues, it’s ridiculous. Nothing ever past an expiration date, nothing that looks or smells even slightly strange, nothing that’s been left out, nothing that’s starting to look “off” (apples with a bruise, slightly browned lettuce, etc.). My mom is a fanatic, but my Grandmother nearly died of E. Coli poisoning this year, and I had a severe case of salmonella as a child so it’s no wonder I have food issues.
February 2nd, 2010 at 3:02 pm
Oh, I have a lot of those weird things. The one my husband gives me the most grief for though is that the sheets & comforter on the bed must be perfectly smooth by my feet or I can’t sleep. I end up remaking the bed every night, just for that. I don’t know why.
February 2nd, 2010 at 3:31 pm
My husband can’t be in the same room where milk and water have been put together. Gives him the willies.
As for me, I get the CREEPS and literally shake when I am around other clipping their nails in public (and the office counts). My boss does it every day. Aiyaya! I also prefer not to touch meat. Any kind of meat, including dog treats. Guess it’s the vegetarian in me that creeps out.
February 2nd, 2010 at 3:59 pm
oh my gosh, yes! i refuse to eat any food past its expiration date or if it’s been sitting for a week, no matter how much i paid for it.
also, i can’t sleep if i don’t have some sort of blanket on me, even if it’s a thousand degrees, i need the weight of it or i don’t feel safe. or something.
for some reason, when certain people chew crunchy things, like apples or chips, i immediately get irritated. like to the point where i just want to shoot laser eyes at them and make them chew in a different room or spit it out. my mom happens to be one of these people. i can’t even function when she’s crunching away next to me. but when my boyfriend does it, nothing. doesn’t bother me at all.
i’m sure there are loads more, but you’d have to ask my boyfriend…he’s pretty good about keeping tabs on the things that wig me out so that they don’t happen around me, haha.
February 2nd, 2010 at 4:20 pm
I believe I am the epitome of weird. You need to meet me in person and you’ll see. However I will make you laugh.
Some of my weird traits:
-CANNOT stand drops of water on the floor. I HAVE to wipe it off immediately.
-Must clean the toilet twice a week.
-Will throw out any and all expired food.
I know Matt can tell you about all of my quirks. He has them memorized.
February 2nd, 2010 at 6:08 pm
I don’t have too many food quirks. Sure I throw out food when it expires, but I’ve been known to eat a yogurt that expired two days earlier and if there is only one wilted piece of lettuce in the package, I’ll just pick it out and eat the rest.
I do however dislike some foods which other people absolutely LOVE: Mushrooms, broccoli and raw coconut. YUCK!
I like my coffee or tea to be piping hot. Once it cools off I don’t like it anymore and often will put it in the microwave to heat it back up.
When I leave the house in the morning I have to say goodbye to my cat and tell her to have a good day.
My boyfriend will attest to this last one… I hate feet. I can’t stand them touching me. I just think they are gross. We will be laying in bed and I will push his legs over if his feet are touching mine or if we are on the couch I will put a blanket between our feet so they don’t touch!
Weird!
February 2nd, 2010 at 7:05 pm
Moist is one of the worst words ever. I’m sorry, but every time I hear it, I think of breastfeeding. That icky moist sound I became acclimated with when my niece was born. Does this make me weird? Probably.
I can’t even begin to scratch my weird surface. Singing to the cats. Hand lotion OCD. An affinity for onion bagels with cream cheese and pickles. A love of getting my blood pressure taken with that squishy tight cuff. Stopping now…
February 2nd, 2010 at 7:09 pm
Weird, me? You mean beyond the fear of deer and stairs?
I have to cut up strawberries and can’t eat them off the stem because I once found a big green caterpillar in one in a Sizzler. It was about two decades ago and I’ve been cutting them up ever since.
February 2nd, 2010 at 9:11 pm
First off, your blog is adorable! I have total blog envy. Mine needs some serious sprucing up. Err, a total over haul, actually… it’s on the to do list for 2010…
Anyways, I have so many weird traits, I don’t even know where to start. For instance, I am super anal about the way my cord for my blow dryer & flat iron should be wrapped up. I have one way to do it, and it works really well (my cord is not at all twisted – twisted cords bug me – I cringe when I think about it). Anyways, if someone borrows my blow dryer and then wraps the cord around it, it bugs me so much so I have to discretely unwrap it & arrange the cord like I prefer.
God I am a psycho. I just re-read that & I sound half batty. I hope we can still be blog friends. :)
February 2nd, 2010 at 10:28 pm
Chunky milk is gross but I flat out REFUSE to eat a banana once it’s past ripe and has the spots on it. I literally will not eat it and would rather toss it out or bake with it. I love ripe bananas.
February 2nd, 2010 at 11:06 pm
When I was a kid, the one thing that would weird me out is to stand to the side of a mirror and point my finger multiple times so that each time, it was the only thing reflecting in the mirror. Used to freak me out, but I liked doing it. I tried the same thing recently (don’t ask me why) and while it wasn’t the level of freak, it reminded me that it was something that still elicited a sense of “ok, that’s freaky” Good thing no one else was around.
February 2nd, 2010 at 11:35 pm
I can totally handle bugs. Spiders, cockroaches etc dont even phase me even when I have to touch them with my hands. Put ANY kind of bug near my food and I FREAK OUT. Even TALK about bugs while I am eating and I’ll stop eating and wont eat again for hours. Funnily enough I regularly buy food and find dead ladybugs in my food which SO grosses me out!
My ‘thing I cant touch’ is anything with a chalky or rough feeling. Cant stand nail files, teracotta pots or pummice. Sends shivers down my spine!
I’m really fussy like you about foods too and its definitely from my mum. My in-laws are the total opposite and because of that they can travel anywhere and eat what they like and they never get a sick tum while I’ll be throwing up lol.
February 3rd, 2010 at 1:01 am
Oh, this is funny. I am the complete opposite (except for the chunky milk part. NASTY. And yet I love cottage cheese…weird.) Anyway, as long as it doesn’t smell bad or taste funny, I’ll eat it. Moldy cheese, moldy bread, eggs and milk that are past their date…it’s all fair game for me. But if the meat is discolored or slimy, the milk smells sour, and there’s too much mold on the cheese to cut around? I’ll throw it out :-)
But I don’t like wilted produce of any kind. I like it as fresh as possible.
February 3rd, 2010 at 9:19 am
I’m not a fan of wilty lettuce or moldy bread or cheese or chunky milk. I like to think I dont have weird habbits but lets face it, I have plenty. I have to have the toothpaste rolled up from the bottom, not just squeezed from the middle. I have to hear my car horn beep when I lock the door. If somone else locks it, chances are pretty good I’ll lock it again just to hear the horn.Oh and I hate the word boobies.
February 3rd, 2010 at 4:14 pm
I don’t have a problem cutting around the brown spots on an apple, but I’m right there with ya on wilted lettuce and curdled milk. Blech.
February 3rd, 2010 at 10:13 pm
I sometimes buy bruised vegetables (like green peppers) because I don’t want them to go to waste at the grocery store and know that others won’t pick them up. If I know that i am using it that night it doesn’t really bother me. Yes, I know, it’s weird.
February 3rd, 2010 at 10:14 pm
Apparently my dad is some sort of expired salad dressing connoisseur. Recently I found a bottle in his refrigerator that expired in 2007….and he still didn’t throw it away!!!! Thankfully his girlfriend always keeps a new bottle hidden in the pantry for meals that include my family.
February 4th, 2010 at 4:23 pm
I know people who don’t like the word moist, either. So funny…and weird!
February 8th, 2010 at 3:01 am
Argh! Chunky milk! Even just the THOUGHT of that makes me feel sick! EWWW!