Dirty little secrets

*Random thought alert* As any self-respecting nerd knows, the 6th Harry Potter movie is being released in U.S. theatres at midnight tonight. SQUEE. Sadly, I'm not going, 'cause I don't wanna go alone and only my 12 year old son shares the obsession. I used to belong to a local HP fan club but, really--I had to quit because they were way too rowdy and not nearly nerdy enough for my taste. No offense guys, but the messy drunken parties were freaking me out. Anyway, so my husband comes home today, brings me an HP movie quiz. I know about 80% of the answers right off the bat. Now the other 20% are starting to get to me--I have to finish that quiz. I have to get the best grade, have to win. I am that competitive and obsessive. I do think it's weird that my hubby is actually encouraging me to watch all 5 HP movies tonight before we go watch the 6th one tomorrow. Usually he is very discouraging about my nerdiness and childish obsessions. I should be asking why he suddenly decides to support my habits. But those unanswered quiz questions are pickin' at my brain. The urge to go ape over HP again is rising...rising....

But that's not what this blog is about. What it's really about is, last night I registered on WrongPlanet.com

It's supposed to be a forum mostly for Aspies (but it's really okay for anyone to sign up). So I try to find a couple threads I can post on, you know, break the ice and such. I found an interesting one about obsessions (obsessing about a "special interest" is a character trait most aspies share). The idea was, the next person to post should try to "out-weird" the previous poster by elaborating on their own bizarre obsession.

Around page 25 it got a bit too weird, what with all the talk of straps, neoprene, sweat and...I won't go on about it. I kind of got intimidated and did not post my own.

So here they are.

The regulars (tried and true, years pass and still they have a pull on me)

• beads, I try to thin out the collection by making jewelry with 'em. I mostly like to touch them. I like to touch lots of things. I know that sounds kind of dirty but the sensation of touching different things with my fingers, different textures--it pleases me. It's weird because I don't much like being touched. So strange...
  
• France
• England
• sand, I collect sand from nearly every place I visit. I then like to categorize it, catalogue it, bottle it, label it, display it and move the displays around. I love to touch the sand, too. Just dip my finger in the bottle and feel it.
• Borax, I like the way it smells
• the way my husband's truck smells. Yeah, I have a weird obsession with smells, too. I like to go to my spice cabinet (and believe me, it's quite full) and just smell them all.
  
• mangos
  
• pale skin :) love that one, it looks like some people are cold to the touch, like they're made of marble, like a statue. That is fascinating to me. Then again, so is very, very dark skin.
  
• accents, and trying to figure out where a person is from just by hearing their accent (I make an on-going game of it and give myself points--sometimes in the middle of a person's speech I'll just blurt out something like "Detroit!" or "Aberdeen!")
  
• Furuba
• places I'm going in the near future (lately, that would be Cabo San Lucas)
• Slytherin, snakes, green & silver
  

Past loves (got tired of these and had to dump 'em)

• monarch Butterflies
• the Valenzetti equation
• making numbered lists of things
  
• stock market--memorizing co. abbreviations, stats, watching the numbers ALL DAY
• watch bands, I used to collect them for some unknown reason
• Benjamin Linus (from LOST)
  
• scrubbing things
• anagrams
  
• those tiny stickers on produce items that tell you what the item is and where it's from. True story: for a long time I collected as many of those as I could on a large piece of paper which I then proudly displayed on my fridge until my husband told me it was "too weird" and I had to throw it away ::sob::
  

Obsession of the moment (this is a good one, it might make it into the "regulars")

• Japan/anything having to do with the Japanese language & culture

I will admit, I do have a very obsessive personality. I have had a lifetime's worth (30 years) of practice keeping it hidden, though. If you meet me, I promise, you'll have no clue that I really obsess over the things I mentioned. I know how boring it is for people who have to hear about LOST or sand over and over again, every day. My poor hubby. My poor, poor son. But I think they find me "quirky" at the very least. They put up with me. It must not be too bad.