Neurotic Raccoon

My mom calls my dad a neurotic raccoon... jokingly.... sort of. He just has little quirks. Like after locking the car he has to pull on the door handle in bursts of five. OneTwoThreeFourFive (pause) OneTwoThreeFourFive (pause) OneTwoThreeFourFive. Then around to the other door. "Dad, the car automatically locks!" Its no use. After pulling on the door handles he has to run his fingers along the top crease of the window. "Dad, its the middle of winter.... in Cleveland. The windows have not been rolled down." No avail. Back to the other side to repeat the process again. I shit you not.

But I can't judge. For some reason when I'm at lunch at work, I like everything on the table to be at right angles. My phone's askew? I must straighten it. When taking out my bookmark from whatever cheesy romantic novel I'm reading (yesterday I was reading "Grave Witch" - today I started on "Styx's Storm" ~~ on an aside, who wouldn't want a Fae boyfriend or a Wolfman? ) I have to lay it neatly parallel to my phone. Mind you, I can function without being this precise, but I don't like to. I won't go into a seizure of panic if I don't fix it or anything. I read somewhere that the little stupid things we do aren't a big deal as long as they don't take up more than an hour of our day. If you have to spend more than that on your little quirks otherwise you will lose your effin mind, then you might want to seek help. You probably have OCD. Another thing - I have a paperclip holder with a separator in the middle. I keep the little paperclips on one side and the big ones on the other. If one happens to travel over to the other side without my permission, I HAVE to take the naughty little trespasser back home. I just have to. Call it OCD or whatever you like. There will be no little paperclips dunking with the big ones. Not allowed.

Its weird how our brains work. I think I also (crave?) repetition. In the shower I wash myself in the same order, every day, without fail. Throw something extra in the mix and I get all confused. I might even forget to wash something. What? Throw a pumice stone in the mix? But where will I fit it in? After I wash my face naturally. Before or after I wash my hair? Shave my legs? Armpits? Ahh... so much to consider. Anywho, back to repetition. I heard a song the other day, and I liked it - A LOT! In fact, although I've never used the i-tunes app on my phone, I brought it up and downloaded my veeerry firrst soong!!! YAY! The song is called "Mercy" by Band of Annuals.

I love when I find a song that makes me stop and say "wow!". Makes me want to pick up a guitar and learn how to play. Makes me want to carry a notebook around to jot down deep meaningful song lyrics. Yeah.... so I listened to the song for about three days. Steady repeat. No joke.  It was so simple, soft, soothing yet sad, lullaballic (like a lullaby ~ I can make up words if I want to). I liked his voice, the lyrics (about a drifter), really everything about it. I was tempted to look up more of their songs, but I really hate doing that.

Every time I hear a song that makes me go "Holy Shit! That's good! I think this could change my life!" I hear another song and am vastly disappointed. How can you go from drastic life changing genius lyrics to a song about... I don't know... getting ass or brawlin in a club or drugs?? I mean really!? So I haven't looked up any more of their music because I don't want to be let down. Weird, huh? Thinking back, I asked my mom when I was about 8 or 10 if Santa/The Tooth Fairy were real. She asked me if I really wanted to know. I thought about for a good while.... and said no. I didn't want to hear it. Guess not much has changed.

So ~ when I finally make my venture to Alaska (like in the movie "Into the Wild" except by vehicle instead of on foot/raft) this will be the music I listen to: Matchbox 20, Rob Thomas, Breaking Benjamin, Jim Bianco, Concrete Blonde, and "Mercy" by Band of Annuals. Maybe some Anna Nalick and 3 Doors Down too, for variety. I just might let Elvis in too. We'll see.

Listen, enjoy, and repeat. Heavy on the repeat.