Hope there’s not already a thread on this. Ah well…
Any unique or funny habits that anyone would like to share?

I personally always wear a thick winter jacket, even in summer. I sleep with a massive comforter, even on the hottest nights (though I always leave my feet free. Those get hot). I also brush before I eat (I don’t know if that’s the norm or if I’m in the minority).

Anyone else?

I usually drum on whatever surface I find, to the great annoyance of those who’re near me: that’s why A few months ago I decided to study percussions! I wanted to study the tabla, but I don’t have 30 years to spare, so I settled for west-african traditional drums (djembe and the like).
I don’t specifically brush my teeth before meals, but I do use mouthwash anytime I feel I’m getting coffin breath: if only my colleagues would do the same…
I tend to pun a lot, then end up explaining them every signle time, whih kinda detracts from the fun…
I also consciously try to use new, seldom-used words, especially in English: why say “look” when you can say “behold”?

I am aiming to be the best cracker ever

But can you crack your knuckles by making a fist? That is a pro technique, although I guess it’s my only pro technique, since I can’t crack any of those other parts on purpose.

All of my joints crack! If I keep my hand still for 5-10 minutes, my fingers will crack as soon as I clench my fist, so I’m a pro in that respect… I don’t like to do it, especially on my neck, but it’s that or be painfully stuck into awkward/painful/movement-impairing joint configurations. In the morning, just getting out of bed is a cracking symphony, then I have to pull on my left wrist to unstick my elbow and be able to move my forearm to its full extent without pain…

From what I’ve managed to understand (what with being a doctor’s son and so on…), the cracking is due to air bubbles, trapped in the spaces between bones and tendons and miscellaneous orgsnic matter, collapsing. It has a great deal to do with cavitation (which is a very BAD thing that can happen to pumps, turbine, impellers and the like), but the fact that we are made of living, self-repairing tissue should somewhat mitigate the damage, if any is done.
It’s, of course, better if you don’t, but personally I don’t think I want to live NOW (I’m still technically young) with constant pain for fear of getting arthritis when I’m older. Hell, I might get it anyway (my mum’s got it and she never so much as popped a finger joint in her life!), so screw it!

Leg shaker here too… OMG I never realised I was such a freak!!!

Bah, wtf, I’m happy enough not tp care much… ;)

I drum on hard surfaces all the time.
After I got my braces, I started licking my teeth all the time, which can be quite embarrassing. Say, for instance, you’re staring out into space, and someone (perhaps unintentionally) and you run your tongue slowly over your teeth. Yeah, quite awkward.
I always have a song in my head. Not necessarily stuck, buy it’s always in there somewhere. That’s all I can think of for now… ;)

No matter if I’m lying in bed or sitting or standing, I pretty much constantly move my feet, tapping or shuffling or shifting my weight from one foot to the other. It compensates for customary lack of movement in every other part of my body. :P I also regularly walk and talk in my sleep. Hopefully so far I’ve not said anything embarrassing, because my sisters get a kick out of listening to me.

I always twirl my hair. My family thinks it’s the most annoying thing. And I sing.

I have a nervous tic of constantly hooking my hair behind my ear. I talk to myself constantly, and hold regular conversations with my lamp. (Don’t judge me, don’t judge me! I’m mostly sane! Well, sometimes!)

And much to my shame, the Hoedown Throwdown is currently stuck in my head. Jeni, this is all your fault. GERROFF ME GERROFF ME GERROFF ME.

You’d be amazed at the regrettable lack of tabla players in an Italian city at the Slovenian border…

Plus, traditional west-african music is not meant to be played alone, so that means you NEED to have fun with other ppl… It’s extremely rewarding and fun!

I am forever touching my fringe.

@ Steph: “I sing to myself when I walk down deserted streets.”

me too! I also talk to myself when alone but (I think) I’m not crazy. I mkostly sing thw two Boradway musicals I like best, ‘JC Superstar’ and ‘War Of The Worlds’. When I’m takling, it’s usually worldbuilding stuff, or sometimes pretending I’m being interviewed about my work, and thus forcing myself to justify particular details of my world.

I have a very mild form of OCD, so I do things like obsessively pick at my fingernails until there’s literally nothing that I’m able to pick at (i.e., right down to where the nail is attached to the skin). I also occasionally start ding something random like rubbing my knee, but have to mentally really work to stop doing it. Sometimes it’s a real struggle to stop something.

Please don’t post pictures! I don’t want to see.

Oh my gosh, I do lots of those things!
I constantly talk to my self when i’m alone (which is actually quite often because I’m an only child) or really upset. I’m also a leg shaker, I pick at my fingernails until there’s nothing left to pick at, and there’s always a song in my head.
I also eat all the time especially when i’m bored or reading which essentially is all the time. I didn’t realise I was such a freak! (sobs in a corner)

I find it really hard to sit still; I’m a frequent leg shaker and surface tapper. While listening to music I always follow the percussion with my toes, feet, or teeth. When I’m thinking about story ideas I have to be pacing, it’s nearly impossible for me to think about plots when I’m not moving. :o

I also have some nervous tics but since they’re involuntary they don’t really count.

I have to have my feet covered up to sleep. I pull the blanket up to my chin and can’t sleep if my arms are out. I straighten things a lot. When sitting still, I bounce my leg up and down. When I’m excited about what I’m talking about, I think I get an adrenaline rush because I get all shaky. I like to touch surfaces with both hands to even it out. I have the aggressive conversations I would like to have with people in my head instead because I don’t want to fight, but I do imagine how they would react. When I pass people when walking, I put my hair behind my ears.

I’m the same as Northmark, unless its below freezing, I keep my feet out, and I just lay on my stomach with my limbs hanging wherever.

I have to have the light switches at the correct positions.

On the topic of light switches, whenever I enter the bathroom to take a shower, I flip the light switch, regardless of whether or not the light is already on. Only when I go to take a shower, though.

I feel the need to touch anything that is blue if it isn’t a cloth-like material, especially if it is also shiny. I know that sounds dumb, but I do. And most of the time I will touch it if no one is looking.

I have to move in some way or another, whether it be leg-shaking or just twiddling my thumbs.

I’m also double-jointed in my arms, and, much to the disgust of others, I have to bend them as far out as possible when I stretch because I don’t get the “feel good” sensation from stretching otherwise.

Har har, my knees bend backwards quite a lot further than most people’s, so it’s quite fun to creep people out that way. :D

Mission accomplished, then.

I am always moving, be it my ankles rotating or my fingers tapping or doing a little jig. I’m frequently asked if I have to use the bathroom.
I can dislocate my shoulders at will, and my left hip can pop out somewhat (like gripping your index finger and rotating it into the rest of your hand, the way the joint pops). My eyebrows are in almost constant motion, and I get a twitch on the left side of my face, like I’m about to smile.
Can crack my jaw.
Whistle and hum randomly.
I go “Ch-ch-chhh ch-ch-chhh” when I’m idle.
I broke my left clavicle, so I have a large lump there.
I can move my ears up and down.
My left ankle cracks whenever I take a step.
I’m really just a lot like Northmark. I read somewhere that the movements are common in teenagers, because the part of our brains that houses motor skills is rewiring.
And, that’s all that I can think of right now.

@ Puppet
I know a guy who can hit his finger on a table and the joint bends backwards.

@ swenson
Or when the light switches are all in different modes, but the lights still on or off. I have two switches for each light, and it bothers me when they’re all wonky like that.

Well, there’s three in a row, and I like them to be all the same way, and then there’s two in a row, and I like them to be the opposite way as the triplets.

When posting backgrounds or pictures, I like everything to fade to a single color, so it ‘floats’ in my screen, without any ugly borders and lines.

I also cannot go on the internet without going somewhere that doesn’t have to do with my homework or whatever.

During car trips, I blink in sync with the lines on the road.

My glasses also must be clean as possible. I don’t understand how people can stand having filthy glasses; it’s like trying to see through a fog of filth.

I wear pants. I never wear shorts. If I am wearing shorts, something terrible is/has happening/happened.

Are they in English?

I can’t let other people put my glasses on my face. They just do it the wrong way, and it feels weird.

I always have to take them off and put them back on myself, haha.

Are they in English?

Yes.

Yeah I have the glasses thing to. I’m sure its fairly universal.

Well, then that’s insane!

I thought as much.

:P

I’m not ticklish at all, but if people tickle me I either a) fake it or b) get a placebo effect where I laugh because I know I should be ticklish.

@Elanor

>I can also rotate my left wrist and hand 360 degrees 180 degrees both ways.

Fixed.

My thumbs are double-jointed.

So are mine.

When speaking on the phone, I have to be pacing around. I just cannot sit still.. unless I’m on some really lengthy conversation, which rarely happens.

Also when playing games or doing something, there needs to be TV in the background. I’ll put in some Simpsons and then go play something just so there’s noise. However, it can’t be music, nor while I’m reading.

When speaking on the phone, I have to be pacing around.

Same here. I can’t sit still for a very long time either…

I’ve developed the leg-shaking habit.

Pics or it didn’t happen, Elanor.

I feel for you, Snow White Queen. I get red spots at random points. They disappear whenever.

=(