Open Thread Posted by Oaktown Girl, 19 Oct 2007 05:26 pm

Open Thread (#21)

What’s Your Quirk?

I’m part of the ho-hum right handed majority. In honor of the MLB playoffs, let’s just say if my profile were on a baseball card, it would look like this -
Bats: Right.
Throws: Right.

Yes, there’s no doubt about it. I’m absolutely, positively, right handed.

Except when I’m left-handed.

No, I’m not ambidextrous. I’m what you might call, “selectively left-handed”, and there’s absolutely no rhyme or reason to the things that are a struggle for me to do with my right hand, or can ONLY do with my left. Here’s a partial list:

-Using a fork (but get this…not a spoon!!)
-Using chopsticks (cannot do at all with right hand. Not. At. All.)
-Using a computer mouse
-Brushing my teeth
-Using the telephone (speaking, not dialing)
-Wrist watch (goes on the right hand so I can fasten the buckle with my left - no can do the other way around).

Mostly this lefty quirk presents itself in the workplace when someone else has to use my computer for whatever reason. They sit at my chair, and their right hand fumbles for a mouse that isn’t there. Then comes the befuddled glance at the location where the mouse should be, and then they give me “the look”. “The look” is, “Oh yeah. You’re one of them“. Usually “the look” is a jokingly derisive smirk, though sometimes it’s frustrated exasperation. I offer to move the mouse to the other side, but, “No, no. It’s OK” - and they cross their right arm across their body all the way to the other side of the keyboard to use the mouse. It looks like they are trying to play a game of seated “Twister”, and it’s brutal to watch.

So here’s the question: What’s your quirk? Are you the only Jets fan in a family of Giants fans? Do you have two differently colored eyes? Sexually attracted to Republicans? Behavioral, physical, mental, doesn’t matter. Go ahead and share. Nothing’s too big, too small, or too weird. I want to hear about you, but no points deducted for talking about someone else’s quirk. For all I know, your quirk is that you’re a person of incredibly high integrity, except for the fact that you’re a horrible gossip.

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Responses to “Open Thread (#21)”

  1. on 19 Oct 2007 at 7:00 pm 1. black dog barking said …

    Bats: Left
    Throws: Left

    That’s some quirky right-handedness. My experience is that right-handers sport the watch on the left hand; most lefties’ watches ride starboard, maybe 2 to 1. You are the second right-right of my experience.

    Do you use a left-handed mouse or a right-handed mouse on the left side of the keyboard? Do you have to transpose right-click and left-click? BTW, I use a right-hand mouse. Seems weird to tie up your good hand pointing and clicking.

    I’ve adopted and dropped bunches of quirk over the years, am now at a stage where I’ve quit those behaviors that require any sort of energy to maintain. For the past 3 or 4 years I’ve eaten lunch at the same fast-food Mexican place every day, 52 weeks/yr. It’s good, cheap, and I don’t have to ponder lunch. For a couple of years I had the same thing every day but now I mix it up.

    For a brief period a couple of decades back I adopted a rather quirky smile — whenever I felt like smiling I’d open my mouth as wide as I could showing teeth and tonsils. When my first born woke up in the nursery his dad bent over him with mouth wide open (really, really wide). He opened his baby mouth wide, no teeth. I stopped doing this when I noticed that baby Christopher would open his mouth in a big O at odd times, for no apparent reason. Quirks have consequences.

  2. on 19 Oct 2007 at 7:38 pm 2. spyder said …

    Something for your weekend afternoon enjoyment… Which way are you???

  3. on 19 Oct 2007 at 8:07 pm 3. Kiera said …

    Throws: Right
    Bats: Switch
    Fork: Switch
    Chopsticks: Right
    Writes: Mostly right, but can manage left

    Brain Side Test: Right 60%; Left 40%

    It’s funny, most people think I empty things out of pots with serving spoons using the “wrong hands” for a “rightie”

    The “D-Man” is a left hander, but he wears his watch on the left hand. This is because most of the equipment he works with is made to be accessed with the right hand, so he’d have to take his watch off all the time if he wore it on his right arm like most lefties.

    Other quirks:

    I spell the last word in a sentence out in my head when I’m stressed or anxious. It’s an OCD thing, I guess.

    I married a republican who owns guns. I know, sigh. But he does despise bushco and the guns are mostly antiques from his dad and grandparents.

    I have a sword and knife collection (so I guess I can’t complain too much about the guns).

    I’m an empathic psychic and healer. Yes, really. Ask Oaktown Girl. She’s seen/experienced the evidence.

    Is that quirky enough to make Oaktown Girl look normal?

  4. on 19 Oct 2007 at 8:41 pm 4. Oaktown Girl said …

    Sweet Lord Astaroth, Black Dog. I’m sure glad you stopped that wide open mouth thing! But hat tip to you–that’s one mighty quirky quirk. Well, either that, or just a really irritating habit that if I’d been around you, I’d have had to kill you as a service to society.

    As the WAAGNFNP Minister of Justice, and therefore All-Knowing arbiter of what constitutes a “quirk”, I say that empathic/psychic/healer skills and talents are not a quirk. Now, if you’re scooping contents out of a serving bowl with your non-dominant hand, that’s quirky.

    Shall we call OCD habits “quirks”? For the purposes of this discussion, let’s say yes. As long as no one’s hurting themselves or someone else because of it, we can enjoy it as interesting and amusing.

    I spell the last word in a sentence out in my head when I’m stressed or anxious. It’s an OCD thing, I guess.

    Funny, when I first read this I was thinking that you do it while you are typing at your computer. Then I realized you must mean you do it when you’re talking to people. [P-E-O-P-L-E!]. *snort!*

    And Kiera, you most certainly are not sexually attracted to Republicans, you just happened to marry one - therefore, not a quirk. But the D-man is a Republican by “identity politics” only, bolstered (if not begun) by the so-called Reagan Revolution that roped in many a young White male. But like many “good” Republicans, ask him honest (not push-poll) questions issue by issue, and you’re likely to find someone who’s actually much closer to being a Democrat (one of the reasons why he got lucky enough to get you for a bride!).

  5. on 19 Oct 2007 at 9:11 pm 5. Kiera said …

    Funny, when I first read this I was thinking that you do it while you are typing at your computer. Then I realized you must mean you do it when you’re talking to people.

    Nope, it’s when I’m thinking something out…how I should deal with a situation, what I should say, working through the issue. “Maybe the best choice would be to go later t.o.n.i.g.h.t.” Or something to that effect.

    Yes, you’re right about the D-Man. He got sucked in by Reagan, then started to move leftish after Bush I, then got sick of Davis and swung back the other way. Sigh. He also had no sympathy with Clinton’s cheating on his wife and especially about him lying about it. Local democrats have also been terribly disapointing, morally and ethically speaking. It’s kind of like Hawaii, the “good old boy” network is actually in the democratic party (they’re republicans in disguise).

  6. on 20 Oct 2007 at 12:50 am 6. Oaktown Girl said …

    Do you use a left-handed mouse or a right-handed mouse on the left side of the keyboard?

    Black Dog - I forgot to answer your question. I didn’t even know there was such thing as a left handed mouse! I just drag, loop, tug, pull, whatever it takes to get the mouse to the left side of the computer. I “right click” with my index finger and “left click” with my middle finger (had to think about that for a second - it’s so automatic).

    You’ll like this - my boss (the CEO) is a righty who mouses left (just like you, Black Dog, in reverse). Why? Because he read somewhere you can be something like 3% more efficient that way. See, that’s why he’s a CEO…and I’m not. But it did give us a nice little bonding moment when I first got the job and he discovered I mouse left but am right handed.

    I like Stewie as CEO:

  7. on 20 Oct 2007 at 12:45 pm 7. christian h. said …

    Oaktown Girl’s boss is priceless. 3 percent more efficient?? What does that even mean?

    I’m a lefty, but can use the mouse both ways, usally do it righthanded.

    I kick the ball with my right foot (sorry, in Europe that’s more important than how we bat - never done that, so I wouldn’t know.)

    My main quirk is that I concentrate too much on whatever I’m doing at a time which leads me to forget about anything else - it makes no difference if it is something important or not. This is not so good when walking in a high-traffic zone like a city. It’s a bit of a mircale I haven’t been run over yet, actually.

  8. on 20 Oct 2007 at 1:33 pm 8. Oaktown Girl said …

    christian h -
    kicks: right
    throws: left…but like a girl.

    Ha! Just thought I’d throw out that classic sexist American insult at you since you’re going all European on us.

    3 percent more efficient?? What does that even mean?

    See? The fact that you don’t know is why you’re not a CEO. And yeah, I can see you, head down focused on reading/doing something while walking in traffic, causing accidents all around you as cars swerve to avoid you and crash into vegetable carts and other pedestrians.

    But now it’s time to focus up on the important thing: Can we please have Cleveland knock the red sox out for the season tonight? Game time 5pm MOJ time on Fox. (Don’t know if that is first pitch or the start of 20-30 minutes of pre-game hype).

    On the college football scene, the Minister of Justice is hoping her Cal Bears can pull themselves together after last week’s EPIC debacle against MOOAD Minister spyder’s UCLA Bruins.

  9. on 20 Oct 2007 at 2:03 pm 9. christian h. said …

    I do “throw like a girl.” In related news, when we had to do shot-put (or whatever it’s called in English) in highschool, I barely avoided having that lump of metal fall onto my feet…

    And indeed, somebody crush those Red Sox, please.

  10. on 20 Oct 2007 at 3:18 pm 10. Oaktown Girl said …

    (or whatever it’s called in English)

    You know what? No one’s ever heard a lick of German out of you, christian. I’m beginning to think your whole German-born, England raised, US Math Professor thing is an elaborate fraud. Why can’t you just sew a Canadian patch to your backpack like everyone else and be done with it?

    [Yes I’m grumpy because Cal is looking like they haven’t recovered from last week’s EPIC debacle.] *sigh*

  11. on 20 Oct 2007 at 3:58 pm 11. christian h. said …

    England raised?? I’ve been to the UK for a total of about 3 weeks in my life ;). No, German born and raised, before I went off to the US. That doesn’t mean I’m not a fraud, of course.

    Jeez, UCLA just returned an interception for a touchdown. Yuck.

  12. on 20 Oct 2007 at 4:00 pm 12. James Killus said …

    Most people consider my most obvious quirk to be the fact that I wear a cap almost all the time. I am willing to say that it is to cover up the advance of male pattern baldness, but actually, it’s because I find the glare of overhead lighting gives me eyestrain.

    Outside, I wear usually sunglasses even on cloudy days. The caps, long sleeve shirts, and long pants also supposedly protect my fair skin from the sun, so naturally the skin cancer I got on my finger is the one kind that is completely unrelated to sun exposure.

  13. on 20 Oct 2007 at 4:05 pm 13. Oaktown Girl said …

    Ugh. Another crushing defeat for Cal - once again in a position to win despite numerous gaffs, and snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. And so ends the season as far as any possible national glory goes.

    christian (#11) - see, this is what happens when you tell a complex web of lies - you can’t keep them straight.

    LET’S GO CLEVELAND!! (Smash the red sox!)

  14. on 20 Oct 2007 at 4:09 pm 14. christian h. said …

    christian (#11) - see, this is what happens when you tell a complex web of lies - you can’t keep them straight.

    Very true indeed. But luckily, the Bush administration has shown the way out: just keep lying more. For example, I’m just going to point out that Cal actually won the game today. Only defeatocrats would possibly doubt that.

  15. on 20 Oct 2007 at 5:37 pm 15. Oaktown Girl said …

    Ha! Well done - I like it!

    Well, the Cleveland game just started. That right wing pro-war nutball Schilling had an easy first inning. I hope that will be the last easy one he has. SHELL SCHILLING!!

  16. on 20 Oct 2007 at 5:55 pm 16. christian h. said …

    Shit. And to think I actually told some Bostonians how to get where they were going today. Should have sent them into the lake.

  17. on 20 Oct 2007 at 5:55 pm 17. JP Stormcrow said …

    Bat: R Throw: L
    But I am semi-ambi. Mine tends to split along arm versus wrist - Left for writing, eating and frisbee, most everything else I do righty.

    Quirks? Gee, why …no, none .. None at all, I am perfectly normal I tell you! Who have you been talking to? Out with it!

    Holy Fuck! Survive Ramirez w/bases loaded and then a Grand Slam to J D Drew!!

    Normal I tell you ! NORMAL! 5#@*(%F&*##@##
    .. NO QUIRKS!!

    Ok, better now. Sorry about the Bears .. Ohio State survives two turnovers for touchdowns within a minute in a game they otherwise dominated.

    ..J D mfing Drew …

  18. on 20 Oct 2007 at 5:56 pm 18. JP Stormcrow said …

    Actually I meant Bat R Throw R.

    Baseball be berrry berry bad to me…

  19. on 20 Oct 2007 at 6:04 pm 19. christian h. said …

    Well, at least they got one back. This isn’t over - Schilling, when he isn’t shilling for Bush, isn’t who he used to be. But really, J - most - D - overpaid - Red Sox - Drew??? F***ing hell.

  20. on 20 Oct 2007 at 6:16 pm 20. JP Stormcrow said …

    I think I might sit this one out with a good book…

  21. on 20 Oct 2007 at 6:40 pm 21. spyder said …

    But luckily, the Bush administration has shown the way out: just keep lying more.

    They do this relying on never having to release any of the documents, electronic correspondence, “secret” executive orders, and any other relevant artifacts that historians might use to prove just how vile and hideous they really were. Or they do what Hash Limpwrist and Wobbly O’Liely do when someone suggests that they said something inappropriate; simply reedit the audio evidence and transcripts saying “Hey, what are you talking about?”

    Well i really have nothing to say about some football game played in California today. But i am of course grateful that once again a Trojan prevented another mistake by god’s squad of semen encrusted leprechauns.

    Off to see a play tonight about York, Captain William Clark’s black “manservant who accompanied the expedition across this continent. Part of our Bioneers weekend conference activities.

    And well, i have no choice but to watch ABC while i eat dinner, Illini versus Wolverines seems a more entertaining graphic novel than all those guys in white running across the little, white, irregular pentagon.

  22. on 21 Oct 2007 at 10:26 am 22. Bill Benzon said …

    Secret plans stolen from RNC HQ by valiant WAAGNFNP Irregulars:

  23. on 21 Oct 2007 at 12:35 pm 23. Oaktown Girl said …

    Hey - anybody else think Bill’s quirk is writing bizarre text on walls and then photographing it? Lovely colors in that pic by the way, Bill.

    Well, I went to a chamber music concert last night, but I didn’t get out of the house in time to miss the grand fr*@##$%in’ slam. (I did, however, torture myself by going to my car at intermission to see if what the final damage was:12-2 if memory serves). What the hell happened to Cleveland’s pitcher? It wouldn’t hurt so badly if frickin’ “Schilling For Bush” (thanks, christian) wasn’t the recipient of all the glory.

    Between that and the Cal Bears playing like clowns yesterday, I need a damn baseball bat for myself… and someone to blame. Right now I’m blamin’ JP, cuz they’re his team.

    *starts swinging bat purposefully*

    Well, let’s just hope it’s one of those things where the red sox fans are giving hope (and now, overwhelming confidence) only to have it yanked out from under them in the end. If not tonight, in the World Series.

  24. on 21 Oct 2007 at 1:47 pm 24. christian h. said …

    I did, however, torture myself by going to my car at intermission to see if what the final damage was:12-2 if memory serves

    I have the same kind of problem. Because I never give up hope, any plan like “I’ll got to bed, this game is over” just won’t work. I just can’t sleep, and will get up every five minutes to watch in horrified fascination. Damn it! If they have to loose, it could at least be a quick, two and half hour pitching duel.

    May I ask what was given at the concert?

  25. on 21 Oct 2007 at 4:08 pm 25. black dog barking said …

    As there is no game clock in baseball, in theory there are no safe leads. In MLB practice, most leads are safe. A few years back (2003) both the Cubs and the Red Sox blew playoff game leads of three runs with no one on base, one out in the 8th inning. Baseball Prospectus reported that over the previous 30 years such leads stood 14 out of every 15 times. There were nearly 7,000 specific cases tallied.

    According to this guy Geoff, 12 runs in the biggest lead blown in MLB history, “accomplished” twice — in 1911 and 1925. Geoff says that in 1901 Cleveland was down 13 to 5, no one on base, two outs in the ninth and rallied to win the game 14-13. 1901 was the first year for the current Cleveland franchise.

    On July 28, 2001, Pittsburgh, down six, no one on base, two outs in the ninth, rallied to beat Houston 9-8.

  26. on 21 Oct 2007 at 5:12 pm 26. JP Stormcrow said …

    As there is no game clock in baseball, in theory there are no safe leads

    Although it does make for longish games - I find this to be a feature not a bug in baseball. You must “win” the last encounter. But the game that really has this in spades is Tennis. It is always hanging on the brink. (in fact in many situations in Tennis you need to win “2 in a row” (either points or games)to close out). This to me makes it the most “nervy” of all games.

  27. on 21 Oct 2007 at 8:39 pm 27. Kiera said …

    It’s bottom of the 8th and it’s looking grim. I’m heading for The TRUNK now to save the MOJ the bother of sending me there. Sigh.

  28. on 21 Oct 2007 at 8:48 pm 28. JP Stormcrow said …

    Yeah, when Manny’s double play ball in the 1st took a bad hop for an RBI single I knew it was going to be along night. In th eend, I don’t think Cleveland really had the quality starters necessary.

  29. on 22 Oct 2007 at 6:21 am 29. Kiera said …

    The question now is, what or whom do we need to sacrifice to ensure that Colorado does?

    Dang, The TRUNK was cold last night.

  30. on 22 Oct 2007 at 10:47 am 30. Sven DiMilo said …

    bats: R
    throws: R
    kicks: R
    forks: R
    plays accordian: R (haven’t figured out all them damn buttons yet)
    shoves everted stomach back into abdominal cavity after vomiting: R

    quirk: I am actually a toad (Bufo sapiens)

  31. on 22 Oct 2007 at 11:10 am 31. Oaktown Girl said …

    Arrgh! So very busy at work this morning…no time to process last night’s baseball disaster (or today’s post from spyder). Will have to get to that later (need to “process” so I can “heal”). Hanging on to the hope that the evil red sox “nation” will be rightfully smited in the World Series.

    Boss is away, so I will take time for this:

    Sven: plays accordion: R

    Ha! There was a classic Far Side cartoon which I’m sure you’ll probably remember -

    Scene: celestial escalators - one going up to heaven, one going down to hell. The caption: “Welcome to Heaven - here’s your Wings. Welcome to Hell - here’s your accordion”.

    And here’s another accordion joke - timely because it also carries a baseball pun as well as a musical one:

    Q: What do you call it when you throw a viola into a dumpster and it lands on an accordion?
    A: Perfect Pitch!

  32. on 22 Oct 2007 at 11:27 am 32. Seattle said …

    Hey Oaktown Girl-the buzz is you all have set the southern end of your state on fire…again. Granted I’m probably behind the times.

  33. on 22 Oct 2007 at 11:44 am 33. Oaktown Girl said …

    Seattle -
    Naw, that wasn’t us Nor Cal’ers. That was probably Governor Ahnold doing what he needs to do to scrap up some “reconstruction” and “security” no-bid contracts for Rethuglican contractors. He’s got to kiss a little GOP ass to make up for the fact that he’s not an anti-choice hardliner or global warming denier.

    You’d think it’d be enough that he’s all about keeping the insurance companies firmly in the mix for any health care “reform” that goes through. That’s got to be worth millions if not billions in CA alone. But I guess for the GOP, it’s never enough.

  34. on 22 Oct 2007 at 11:55 am 34. Seattle said …

    Yeah, that’s a no-brainer. ; )

  35. on 22 Oct 2007 at 10:34 pm 35. Oaktown Girl said …

    Sven - all accordion jokes aside, I have the highest respect for any adult who commits themselves to learning an instrument, or a new instrument. The dedication it takes to try to squeeze that worthy endeavor into the average adult’s busy life (made more busy because most of us are working harder and longer for less pay and benefits) is tremendous.

    As far as my postmortem statement on Cleveland blowing a 3-1 series lead and losing the ALCS to the red sox — all I can say is that it brought up all my PTSD around all the A’s devastating loses this millennium, because I know all too well what Cleveland fans are feeling. So now I’ve gone from cheering for Cleveland to being pissed at them for bringing up painful sports fan PTSD. (I think whacking JP with a toy baseball bat will make me feel better).

    But I’m not so deflated and defeated that I can’t muster up the LOVE for the Rockies and bring the HATE for Boston in the World Series. I just need a day or so to rally.

  36. on 23 Oct 2007 at 10:52 am 36. Sven DiMilo said …

    I can actually play the thing (right-hand only) better than I can spell it. Just wait…someday I will be the hippest freejazz outbop accordion player in Die Welt!!!

  37. on 26 Oct 2007 at 11:36 am 37. Oaktown Girl said …

    In the better late than never department – re: Christian h. (#24) asking me about the concert I was at when I went to my car at intermission to check the baseball score…

    There’s a very good Bay Area quartet doing historically informed performances of the complete Haydn quartets over the next two seasons. It was a really good concert, and that means a lot coming from me because I know and play enough music that it makes inferior performances almost unbearable (students and amateurs accepted, of course). The link to the ensemble is here.

    You’d think 4 Haydn quartets in a row would be a bit tiresome, but surprisingly, no. Beyond the fact that live performances just tend to be more engaging in general, the quartets are not being given in order, so there was music from multiple eras of Haydn’s long and productive composing career.