Thursday Thirteen # 14

13 WAYS THAT I'M ANALLY RETENTIVE (Obsessive-Compulsive)

1. English grammar, spelling and pronunciation. Mine isn't exactly perfect but I make an effort to.. If I'm not sure how a word is spelled or pronounced or what it means, I immediately look it up in the dictionary. And when I'm writing, I try to use proper grammar and syntax. I also have this bad habit of nitpicking other people's English when I'm reading their blog posts, e-mails and blurbs. Sometimes, when a friend mispronounces a word, I automatically blurt out the correct pronunciation and feel mortified about it right after.

2. Sharing my make-up. I have a very good friend who always asks to use my compact or lipstick whenever we're out together and she needs to powder her nose. Ick! I cringe at the thought of her facial oil and dirt sticking to my sponge. I don't know how to decline without offending her though so I let her use it anyway but I'm stuck with a shiny face after that because I won't use it anymore. Not until I get to wash my sponge.

3. Keeping my hands clean. Being a nurse, having clean hands is a must. And even outside the workplace, I still make it a point to keep them clean. I either clean them with hand sanitizer or I wash them. I've become even more OC about it since I had my baby that's why the skin on my hands now tend to be dry even if I moisturize.

4. Monetary bills. In my wallet, I always arrange my money in this manner: face front, smaller bill to larger bill and older to crisper new notes.

5. Hangers in my closet. I always group same-colored and same-type hangers together.

6. Books on a shelf or bookstand. They must be arranged according to their category, smaller & thinner books then the thicker & larger ones, paperback then hardbound ones.

7. Where I write. I always write on the line. It drives me crazy to see people writing above it.

8. Photos in a photo album. When I'm sticking my pictures in an album, I place them according to their chronological order. The snapshots tell a story, don't they?

9. Where I throw my trash. I cannot tolerate it when I see people hurling their empty soda cans or paper cups or other litter outside their car windows. Keep your car rubbish-free but the streets dirty, tsk, tsk! If I have any trash that needs to be disposed of, I keep it until I find a rubbish bin where I can throw it. Singapore has very strict laws about littering and I wish other countries would follow suit!

10. The way my food is arranged on my plate. I actually wasn't aware of this until about two years ago when a colleague pointed it out to me while we were having our lunch break. There's always a space between my rice and my other viands. I don't let them touch each other because I hate it when a sauce bleeds into another. And if I have two or three different dishes on my plate, I make it a point to take a spoonful of each alternately as I eat.

11. Arrangement of clothes in my closet. For clothes that I keep on hangers, I keep them from short to long, casual to dressy, lighter to darker hues, same shades together. For the ones that I keep folded, like shirts, round-necked ones are kept together and piled according to their color and whether they're printed or not. Same goes for V-necked, collared and other styles. Pants and slacks get the same treatment.

12. The way I eat. If I'm eating a burger, I begin biting from one side until I reach the other end. It's the same when I'm eating cake. I slice it from one side and make my way to the other side. Or, if I'm eating something that has a lot of stuff in it like fruit salad, I pick and eat my least favorite fruits first and save the best for last. Silly of me, I know *sheepish grin*.

13. What I keep in my pockets at work. When I'm on duty, I always keep in my pockets a small calculator with commonly used formulae written on small post-its and stuck onto the inside of the cover, blunt-edged scissors, 2 ballpoint pens (black & red ink), a small pocket notebook, goggles and my stethoscope. And a small bottle of hand lotion, hehe. I feel unsettled if I don't have all my "artillery" with me.