I should stop being so weird.

Quirks, we all have them. A peculiarity of behavior that we can’t explain or understand, really. Some are cute, others weirdishly charming and some downright bizarre. Most of mine were acquired during childhood and they have been honed to perfection these 20-some years. I can control them if I need to (like when I’m trying to impress a guy or at an important meeting) but not for long because after a while, I get all irritable and twitchy.

Here’s my list of all time favorite quirks.

1. Walking in between the lines of tiles in the pavement. I absolutely have to avoid stepping on the lines, even if I end up walking like a very uncoordinated gargoyle. Two small steps, then one large step, and so on. Depending on the size of the tiles, I modify my steps so that they’re just right. If I manage to complete the whole pavement line-free, I win!

2. Eating my fishball skin first before eating the meat. Same goes for Ferrero Rochers and those 9-layer cakes. I’m very systematic about my eating habits and one time, the husband took a huge random bite out of my 9-layer cake while I was meticulously peeling off layer by layer. Let’s just say that I was really upset at having my masterpiece destroyed.

3. Always going for the left side first. I brush my teeth from left to right. I wear my left shoe first. I always clean my left ear first. I cut my left fingernails first. Starting from the right just makes me very uncomfortable.

4. Counting my candy. This is so subconscious and most of the time, I don’t even realize I’m doing it until I reach 25, by which time I’m all like “shoots, I’m doing it again, stop counting, stop, stop it!” I count every single m&m while I eat them and when I’m done, I count everything that’s left in the bag. Multiple times.

5. Singing in the shower. Seriously, I can’t help it. I don’t sing at the top of my voice because that’s just too weird, but I do it just loud enough for me to hear. And also, when the song is really groovy, I dance. Stop judging me.

The list is way longer than that but some will go with me to my grave because it falls under the bizarre-shit-nobody-should-ever-know category. Anyway, I’ve recently discovered that Tru has a list of very interesting quirks as well. Things like these:

1. He doesn’t eat soft food. He used to eat porridge and mashed up baby food as a baby but one day he just decided that it was totally gross. I think it gives him a weird feeling in his mouth and food he stays away from include mashed potatoes, chee cheong fun, porridge, and peanut butter. Yes, he hates peanut butter. I gave it to him once and he scrunched up his face and shivered like he had never tasted anything so foul in his life.

2. I’m not allowed face out when I’m patting him to sleep on my bed. That creeps him out big time. Every time I face away from him, he climbs over, grabs my face and tells me to “turn around” so that he can see me looking at him while he sleeps.

3. He’s got to have all his toys lined up beside him on the bed before going to sleep. There’s the precious blanket, Kirsten’s duck (good thing I have 3), his 3 care bears, his Playskool butterfly car, his giant Tweety Bird soft toy (that thing is almost as big as him) and his group of assorted bears. He gets upset when they’re not in their proper places and if one of them is missing, he screams bloody murder until it’s found.

Right now the quirks are still cute enough for me to go all googly-woogly about instead of screaming “What’s wrong with you??? Stop being so weird!!!” And if I ever do, that would just be me calling the kettle black, wouldn’t it? You know what they say after all, the apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree.