A taxonomy of tics

Since it's been circulating and a few people have put out general invites to talk about six weird (I prefer "interesting" or "unusual" things about yourself, I thought I'd give it a go. Turned out this was harder than I thought, though...

1. I love alliteration, almost to the point of pain (please see the post title above for confirmation of this fact). I think something insane like 90% (or more) of the papers that I've written academically have involved intentional alliteration in the title. It just sounds better to me. In case you were wondering, my titles also tend to be a comprised of a short alliteration, followed by a colon and then a more specific elaboration of the title. Of course, now that I write this I feel completely stuck in some sort of academic rut and feel the need to rethink my whole academic strategy.

2. I cannot stand to have my belly button touched. I can barely stand to touch it myself, and it's worse when other people try. It totally skeeves me out - I don't know why, but it feels increibly weird and gross and I just can't deal. Even the though of having it touched kinda makes me shudder. *shudder*

3. I absolutely love the taste of herb and garlic cream cheese on cinnamon raisin bagels. I totally cannot explain this, but I find it to be yummy.

4. I am petrified of anything to do with my eyes. It's lessened enough over the past few years that I can deal with gel eyedrops if I can put them in myself, but really, that's about as good as it gets. When I was three, I went to the eye doctor, and they needed to put in eye drops. I freaked, and dad had to haul me into the exam room by my legs, while I was clinging, cartoon-fashion, to the edge of the door. In subsequent years, I recall them sedating me a few times before taking me in for the annual appointment. I really am better about it now (or, honestly, probably just better at hiding it, so long as no one checks out my blood pressure when I'm there), but anything to do with eyes in general - my own, or those on TV or in books or whatever - is just plain old no good.

5. I can't watch horror or suspense films (oh, heck, I can't even read Agatha Christie books right before bed). I have a hugely overactive imagination and, if I do, it goes haywire, especially at night. Once, in undergrad, I watched a scary movie with friends. Despite the fact that my matress was on the floor at the time, when I went up to bed I had to jump onto the mattress from a few feet away so that anything that was underneath wouldn't be able to get me. I was 22. I don't think it was until the next year that I had to get someone to take me to the bathroom after another scary movie. I think it was at that point that I learned my lesson, and just stopped. While it might be incredibly amusing for the people around me, the ensuing stress is just not so much fun.

6. I can't deal with crowds of people. Or shopping malls. Or, worse yet, both. In the middle of crowds, even small ones, I start to freak out and really need to keep myself focused just to get out in one piece without losing it. Once, when I happened to have my sweetie's cell phone with me, I got caught in a massive crowd of people near his office and I called him. I sounded so distressed on the phone, just from the crowd, that he could hear it in my voice and was worried about me (such a sweetie!) I avoid malls like the plague now, and the few times that I actually make it into one only serve to remind me how much I dislike them and crowds of people.

I'm not really one for tagging people, but go wild, if you want to.