My buddy Gori “tagged” me to do this fun little thing that has you list six quirks about yourself. Since I have the computer skills of a caveman, I don’t know how to tag six more people, so I’ll just ask them at the end of listing my six quirks 
. Here’s Gori’s post:
http://gorigirl.com/why-is-the-goat-wearing-a-sweater-six-unspectacular-quirks-meme
And my own responses:
1. I’m the only American who gains weight in India. It’s true. I get food poisoning like 4 times a year in the States, but in India? Perfect bill of abdominal health…so perfect I stuff myself with the delicious food and grow extra curry filled padding. It baffles even the best of travelers in India.
2. I would probably date 2/3 of the guys on Beauty and the Geek.
3. I don’t like to share my soup with my boyfriend or anyone else for that matter. One day, R kindly asked me if I’d like to try some of his soup and I responded coldly: “I don’t share soup.” The whole idea of licking someone’s soup utensil repulses me.
4. I have taken a whiz in some of the most creative, exotic places in the world. I’m not sure if this is because I never made it past the phallic stage, or if it’s simply a survival skill (I do have to pee… A LOT).
5. Whenever I am chatting with more traditional Indians I often catch myself jerking my head, side to side, often as they do when they speak. Some people call this “The Indian Head Bob.” I’ve seen it many times and now I tend to subconsciously participate in it (not every Indian does this of course, but I’ve noticed a definite pattern). Sometimes I even do the “Head Bob” when I’m just talking about Indian culture in general.
*Other things I find myself doing when interacting with more traditional Indians: doing the “hand flip” and saying “Ok ok ok” over and over.
And my final quirk…
6. Have you MET my boyfriend?
OK now….
6mile
Ara
CaliforniaTransplant
JukeboxJournal
sf
D
Ok now I know some of you don’t have a blog, so if you want you can just reply with your quirks in my comments section… no one HAS to do these either!!! Hhehe…
June 4, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Ok…as I have been tagged, I must respond. And since my blog is a bit dusty these days, I’ll just post in this comments section if nobody minds! My six quirks (by NO means an exhaustive list!) are as follows:
1) Whenever I pump gas, I top off the tank to make sure the total price ends in a 7. I always pump the handle to get the total to end up as $53.27 or $81.47. This began when I was in high school, and wanted to see how much attention my dad was paying to my credit card bills…if he didn’t notice that all the gas prices ended in “7″ then I could probably get away with a frivolous charge here and there, for comic books or cd’s, without too much worry. Of course, now that I pay my own credit card bills, it serves no purpose, I just do it out of habit and believe it to bring me luck.
2) I have horrible luck when it comes to traveling or performing chores. Just this past weekend, I stepped out to perform three simple tasks: Get a gift certificate to a restaurant, get passport pics taken, and laminate some index cards. The restaurant, the drugstore, and the Kinko’s ALL had equipment failures, necessitating I go to a second location…twice the legwork, twice the time, and twice the aggravation. Seems that quirk #1 has not been successful in bringing me luck…
3) I do not mix my rice and curry. In the part of India I’m from, it is pretty universal that, when eating a meal of rice and various curries, you mix the rice and curry together on your plate using your hand and THEN eat it. For some reason, I believe this to be a waste of time, and don’t do it. Instead, I take a small bit of rice and a small bit of curry, then pop the two-toned morsel into my mouth. By allowing my mouth to do the mixing as I chew, I have saved myself…hmmm…maybe 12 minutes over the span of my lifetime? Efficiency, thy name is R…
4) I wash my hands after handling a garbage bag. This makes sense after handling a full garbage bag, but even after placing a fresh, clean, new garbage bag into the wastebasket, I still feel the need to wash my hands. Oddly, this is not the case when placing a plastic shopping back into a smaller wastebasket. Why? I think it is because the shopping bag, while still serving the same purpose, does not have the word ‘garbage’ in its name.
5) I cannot live without lip balm. The sensation of my lips chapping drives me to distraction, and I cannot concentrate until they are moistened.
And MY final quirk…
6) Have you MET my girlfriend?!?!
June 4, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Aw! You quirky kids are too cute! You were made for each other!
Here’s mine:
1. I like to take lint out of dryers. I don’t know why but I do. I don’t even mind if it’s some one else’s lint, I still like removing it from the dryer.
2. I bowl over-handed. And even if I bowl on a Wii, I still bowl over-handed.
3. I’m not necessarily superstitious, but I do like superstitions. Whenever I drive past a graveyard, I always stick my thumbs up until I’ve made it past because I read in a book somewhere to do that for good luck. I also lift my feet up when going over train tracks for good luck. I even do it when I’m driving (which probably isn’t all that safe).
4. I’ve read “The Namesake” at least 10 times cover to cover and have the biggest crush on Gogol (By the way, he’s a little different in the book than in the movie.) Early on in our relationship, I made M read the book and told him he’d have to compete with Gogol if he wanted to win my heart.
5. I’ve always been attracted to Indian men. During my dating life, all my friends knew this and were constantly on the look out for me. They used to say, “Hey CT! There’s a “SIM” at two o’clock. “SIM” was our code for “Sexy Indian Man”.
6. There are many, many things that I love dearly about M. But one odd thing I love about him is the scent of him. He ALWAYS smells good to me. Even after he’s been out running and is sweaty and gross, he stills smells good. And during times when we are at Indian functions and I don’t have the luxury of embracing him or holding his hand, if I just go over to him and breathe in his scent, I get the same feeling of comfort and reassurance that I do from his hug. Sometimes he asks me what I’m doing, and I say “I’m just breathing you. That’s all.”
June 4, 2008 at 4:59 pm
OMG, LOLOLOLOLLLOLOLLL….
Somehow I KNEW you would be a Professional Sniffer!
June 4, 2008 at 7:38 pm
Ok, I guess I’ll join in, since I’m just waiting around waiting for a client to get back to me. Here are mine:
1. I’m a little bit OCD about certain things. All of my CDs and DVDs have to be in alphabetical order at all times. What’s more, the discs have to be right side up inside the case. If someone else puts a disk back in the case, I will open it up and fix it if it’s upside down.
2. Related to the OCD I mentioned in #1, when I’m highlighting a book or writing in my calendar, the pen color must always be consistent unless I have specifically color-coded it. If I have no choice but to write in a non-matching color, I will go back later, white it out, and fix it.
3. I’ve been crocheting since I was 8 years old, and I want to learn to knit, but my grandmother (who taught me to crochet) won’t teach me to knit because she hates it.
4. I like to dance, but I’m really bad at it (picture Elaine from Seinfeld) so I usually won’t dance in front of people. I let loose in front of G, though — I’m constantly flailing about our apartment to the music in my head. He thinks it’s adorable, which is one of the many reasons I love him.
5. I hate highway driving and will take back roads whenever possible, even if it takes slightly longer. If it’s significantly longer, I’ll suck it up and deal with the highway but will complain the whole way.
6. When I’m feeling sick to my stomach (whether I’m really sick or drinking sick), I have to sleep on the cold tiles of the bathroom floor. It’s the only thing that makes me feel better.
June 4, 2008 at 7:55 pm
NK, Im also one of those ppl who catches easily to other peoples body language, especially IN india. I have to force myself not to speak with an Indian accent!
June 5, 2008 at 6:33 am
CT..that’s great. For some reason, although CS and I just friends now, I LOVE the smell of him too LOL. He kind of smells like cloves, and honestly, I just don’t have a great sense of smell, so I can’t smell a lot of things….
I’ll post my quirks over on my blog for you guys to read hehe..esp since I’ve been a slacker hehe ;o)
June 5, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Ara— I definitely need a CS update!!!
June 6, 2008 at 3:29 am
1. Heads up Pennies – Whenever I see a penny on the ground, I always check to see if its heads or tails. I must pick up a heads up pennies where ever I am. I’ve even stopped in the middle of bustling NYC city sidewalk traffic to bend over to pick up a penny. They’re good luck you know
2. Going through yellow lights. Whenever I go through a yellow light I’ll kiss my hand and touch the ceiling of the car. I’m not sure why. I’ve been accused of doing it for an extra minute of good sex or something silly like that but I just do it for the heck of it. The funny thing is I’ve gotten my boyfriend and my best friend to start doing it too! Hehe.
3. If I’m not at least 5 minutes early to a meeting/event/commitment or whatever I feel late. I’m paranoid about being late. Luckily, with all of the Indian friends in my life I’m slowly becoming accustomed to IST (Indian Standard Time). So lateness (or should I say casualness) doesn’t freak me out as much as it did in the past.
4. I’ve only ever dated/ been attracted Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical engineering majors… Just never really been attracted to anyone else. I love geek/nerds/smart guys!!
5. I out -spice my Indian friends.. I order Thai food like a spicy level 7 and watch my indian friend who ordered a spicy level 4 sweat while he eats. when I’m with a group of Indian friends I sometimes have to convince the the waiter that yes I really do want my indian/thai/mexican food spicy (NOT MILD PLEASE!!) while some of my Indian friends go for milder… (also interesting note, I’m often the only vegetarian in the group even when I’m the only american in a large group of Indians).
5.5 Must mention that 90% of my friends in the city I live in are Indian… I guess it comes with the industry I work in…
(this isn’t really a quirk but needed to add for a few of the others to make sense)
6. I only drink soy milk at home (I haven’t bought milk in like YEARS!) but if I have starbucks or coffee anywhere else I always order with milk.
June 8, 2008 at 5:09 am
Well, as for a CS update. We’re just really good friends, and that is all. I still have feelings for him, I won’t lie, but I am very good at repressing such things, and going on with my life. I’ve been teaching him how to drive LOL. I told him, he has to drive at LEAST 7 hours worth in one week before he can go take the test. I’m doing him like they did us in Driver’s Education class. He discovered just how hard learning to drive really is. I made him drive on the winding country roads, and then I took him to a really screwy parking lot at one of the schools.
I just simply enjoy having him around for company, but I don’t spend all of my free time with just him. I spend it with several other friends as well. Plus, on facebook, there’s an application called “are you interested?” I’ve been flirting with some cute guys on there… for some reason, they mostly seem to be Indian or Hispanic though. I think I definitely have an affinity towards brown skin for some reason… hehe 
I do not want to lose CS as a friend, because we’re really close as friends, but I am not about to sit around and wait on someone that may or may not have feelings for me one day either. I have places to go and people to see 
CS is really NOT ready for any type of steady relationship with anyone. He’s been talking it out of his system about his ex when he feels the need, which is fine..and I do the same when I feel the need to vent LOL. He’s still stuck on this idea of us going to a club, but when my schedule has permitted it, I’ve been MIA with the itchies. I am NOT getting hot and sweaty dancing to break out in further rashes..it’s just not that important to me LOL. Plus, I’ve been buckling down studying for the PCAT
June 8, 2008 at 11:04 am
I have an habit of saying ,ok ok ok, when I speak to desis. I think its akin to peps here nodding heads saying ” hu hu, hu hu , hu hu”
I love R’s 1) thats totally kool.
D’ and I thought I had OCD, you sound super duper organized.
whats with being attracted to Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical engineering majors , just curious.
June 8, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Ha Ha… I’m attached to CS, CE, and EE.. Because they’re smart… and we’ll probably 98% of the guys I’ve been around since I’ve graduated high school have been that type since I’m CE myself
June 8, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Heh – there are a lot of quirks I identify with here: eating spicier food than the Indians I’m dining with, removing lint, dancing like a crazy fool around the house (so! much! fun!).
CT, I’d be interested in hearing *how* you bowl over-handed. I’m having difficulty picturing the mechanic of it. And NK, I didn’t have the slightest bit of stomach upset in India either – ended up gaining 4 or 5 pounds in just a few weeks.
June 9, 2008 at 3:56 am
Speaking of Indian food, CS and I went to the Indian food store that has a little restaurant in it. I wanted to try goat byriani.. sorry can’t spell. Last time I had the chicken, and it was good, but they didn’t have any coriander/cilantro in it. This time, when I opened it as my apartment, I saw tiny green leaves all throughout. *Sigh* so I was unable to eat it, so I put in in the fridge, and will prob give to CS for dinner tomorrow. I don’t want it to go to waste, and I am still disappointed. I have never tried goat anything, and I hear it’s really good. Oh well, wasn’t meant to be this time round.
June 9, 2008 at 4:05 am
R, as to your #4 and 5, I am totally with you on these two. The more my lips get chapped, the worse I make it by constantly unconsciously licking them. The stuff I find that has worked best for me is Blistex DCT in a little round, pink jar. Being a trumpet player, my lips have always chapped easily. This stuff works wonders on healing my lips in a matter of hours
D, I ALSO in the same boat with you on #1. My mom does it too LOL. VHS, DVD, and CD’s, all in alphabetical order, and seasonal CD’s in a totally different, alphabetical case. As for your #6, tiles are lovely, but since they’re not available in my apartment, if I can just soak in cold bathtub water, it helps me as well. I discovered that when I was very ill with gallstones. I was worse with gallstones than any woman ever thought about being compared to those that have had morning sickness LOL.
June 10, 2008 at 8:52 am
I fall in the other 2% of those CE grads Pale_Desi *wink*.
I guess how hot you eat your food depends on which region you come from, Kashmiri food is know to be on the sweeter side. Mutton biryani is the best in the world ara
, its my fav kind. Goat meat is delicious.
I’m way disorganized compared to you guys, the only time I get my act together is during exam time. Grad school and bad grades are teaching me the hard way.
June 10, 2008 at 6:49 pm
=) Thanks for the suggestion, ara! I prefer Carmex as my balm of choice. I find the Blistex, while perhaps medically superior, has a slight taste that I don’t like…my dad swears by it, however! I can’t use his lip balm and he can’t use mine, so our house is full of little round containers of blue for him and yellow for me. I wonder if the chapped lips are from the trumpet playing? You and I, as trumpet players, seem to understand, but NK doesn’t seem to suffer from chapped lips at all…love reading all the lists people have been putting up here!
June 10, 2008 at 8:44 pm
GG, while most people bowl by releasing the ball with their palm face up and their hand on the underside of the ball, I release the ball with my palm face down and my hand on the top of the ball. Probably not technically over-handed but that’s what I call it. I’ve convinced myself that I have more ball control that way although I don’t think it’s made much difference in improving my lousy score.
ara – I’m just like you – not a good sense of smell except when it comes to M. I swear that if you blindfolded me and put me in a room full of people I could totally sniff him out.
P_D – I do the yellow light thing too – not sure why either. And I’m so jealous of your out-spicing capabilities! I am working on building up my tolerance level and have improved by leaps and bounds over the last year. I’ve finally gotten M and M’s mom to stop making me seperate less-spicy dishes. I thought I had finally proven myself to M when we went to a Thai restaurant the other night, and I took one bite the dish he ordered and had to chase it with every drop of liquid on our table as my eyes teared up. Now I feel I’m back to square one in proving my ability to handle spiciness! I swear I can take it – I’m no wimp!
June 11, 2008 at 6:00 am
R, I am not sure if it is from playing trumpet or what. I tried Carmex for years, and I think I finally just became immune to it. I tried the blue Blistex round container too…I think it says medicated or something. It simply doesn’t work on me. I special order the Blistex DCT (deep conditioning therapy) from one of our pharmacy wholesalers..that way I also get it cheaper than buying at other drugstores..hehe. It comes in a pink container..yeah, I’ve got them all over my apartment too
Here’s another little quirk I can do too. When my mom is shopping and off on another aisle, etc., I recognize the sound of her keys rattling or sound she makes when she makes this little cough sound. I don’t have to see her to KNOW it is her. Does that make sense? How weird is that one? Even when I didn’t know she was shopping in the store, if I heard that certain sound, I just KNEW it was her, and was almost always correct.
Next time 6mile, I’ll just have to make sure they do NOT put coriander/cilantro in it..I hear goat is delicious, but find it hard to make myself think of those little critters as food. I don’t eat lobster/crab/crawfish because they boil them alive.. they scream, and.. well, it makes me cry. I am so weird
June 11, 2008 at 6:35 pm
And I thought I was quirky… clearly you all have me beat… I’ve been traveling all over the midwest lately, finishing master’s, trying to get ready for a 5 week trip to SE Asia.. so if I’m kind of MIA, that’s it!
Thanks for all the fun comments on my blog!!
June 16, 2008 at 6:27 pm
[Sorry for the late reply! I have to remember to bookmark this.]
ara, you’re taking the PCAT? G is taking it this summer, too. He’s applying to PharmD programs this fall. Good luck! And you must really try goat minus the cilantro sometime, it’s delicious. The first couple of times I had it, I didn’t realize it was goat; I thought it was lamb. G’s family uses “mutton” interchangably to mean either goat or lamb, so I usually have to ask them to clarify.
6mile, I definitely don’t look organized to most people! I have what I like to call “organized mess.” Some things have to be done in a certain way, though.
June 16, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Almost forgot – have fun on your trip, NK!
June 17, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Thanks D–I don’t leave until the 29th. I’m curious about your story sometimes… were your guys’ parents tough at first and did you just kind of take the open, non-judgemental route all along? I’m curious about situations where the parents are really hardcore and how different people respond to that.
So far, things have been going well on my end…anywho, thanks for stopping by!!
June 19, 2008 at 3:35 am
Yes D, I am going to try and take it in August. Thanks! Good luck to him too!