Quirks

[Hephaestus]

This isn't about your quirks. It's about quirks you've noticed in others that either endeared them to you, or made them unstandable.

I had a math teacher at university (shocking!) who demonstrated two interesting quirks as I spoke with him after class and in office hours. The first, was when he paused our conversation to scoop a bee off the walkway and place it on a nearby bush. The second was when, in his office, he opened the bottom drawer of a filing cabinet and revealed it was full of ripe bananas.

Full. Of bananas.

It was the most awesome filing cabinet I ever saw and someday, I will have one just like it.

[Blorg]

My (previous) neighbor kept the ashes of all her previous pets-- at least 5 of them-- in vases on a shelf in her living room. Also, she told me that if she knew she was dying, she would have her current dog put down, because she wanted to die before the dog did (in order to spare it emotional pain, apparently).

Another neighbor cut off all the branches of the ten or so trees that surrounded his house. They used to be beautiful trees. Is that a quirk? I don't know what to call it.

My high school physics teacher kept a pouch around his waist that he filled with pumpkin seeds. During class, when he was sitting at his desk, he would periodically reach in, deshell/eat a few, and put the shells back in the pouch.

[LordLatch]

My (previous) neighbor kept the ashes of all her previous pets-- at least 5 of them-- in vases on a shelf in her living room. Also, she told me that if she knew she was dying, she would have her current dog put down, because she wanted to die before the dog did (in order to spare it emotional pain, apparently).

Were any of them fish? Because fish ash sounds cool.

[Blorg]

Were any of them fish? Because fish ash sounds cool.

Idk.

Yes, it does-- it would be all glittery and colorful from the scales.

[Hephaestus]

I thought it sounded cool because fish ash is mostly a homonym with fishes. Which would lead to a strange but more potent intimidation technique where your target awakens, covered with soot, only to realize they've been sleeping with the fish ash.

[Mxx]

Oddly enough, I can only really think of quirks of animals that were endearing to me. Our dog in Virginia had a very distinctive pitter-patter walk and sound on floors. She seemed to know this, and it seemed that sometimes she liked to sneak off upstairs without us knowing. You would look up and see her sneaking upstairs on the pads of her feet, not making a sound. I could never understand why she did that, it's not like she wasn't allowed upstairs. Just one of many anecdotal quirks of animals I've loved.

[Hephaestus]

Oddly enough, I can only really think of quirks of animals that were endearing to me.

You're more likely to remember the quirks of life-forms you want to be around. I bet if I flipped it from "Quirks" to "Odious Personal Habits", you could melt the keys off your keyboard with flurrious typing.

On animal quirks, I had an extremely quirky dog. If people were standing around talking, he'd insert himself to the conversation circle by standing on his hind legs and joining. He unnerved a guest or two by visibly following the flow of conversation--though objectively, it hardly takes much to notice which person is making noise from moment to moment or have an interest in watching the source of a noise.

He, like Snoopy, preferred to sleep on top of doghouses, and was often fount sprawled on the back of the couch.

He was anorexic. Specifically, an exercise bulimic. I say this because for half of his meal, he would grab individual pieces of kibble, and toss and chase them around the room a few times. The second half of his meal was usually eaten by another dog who finished long before he ever would.

He chewed his ankles when he was anxious. He did this by laying down with his forepaws crossed in front of him. When done gnawing one ankle, he'd recross his paws--using his mouth to lift and move his paws like disks in a very short game of Towers of Hanoi.

He also was busted a time or two for staring at women's breasts.


But at least, when bored, he didn't open the toolchest, find a hammer, and start tossing it at the house. Totally different dog.

[skip]

When my friend's dog snorts or sneezes, which can be a very loud, almost violent physical act, my friend always says in response, "Snort!" I asked her why but she says she doesn't know.

[Mxx]

Growing up, every night my sister would check under the covers before getting into bed. Now, to my knowledge, this wasn't because she had the misfortune of sharing a bed with spider, it was just a huge fear of hers. Nor did we live in an area where it is in fact a good idea to check your shoes for scorpions before putting them on. Having a bit of a sadistic streak, one day I made a very rudimentary spider shape from brown paper and placed it under the covers at the foot of her bed. That night, she went through her motions, and at first she didn't even react as she was clearly expecting a clean bill of white sheets. This was followed a few seconds later by a frenzy of flying hands, covers, sheets, pillows and a quivering of muted shrieks. For some reason her expressions of fear have always been hilarious to me. (Even to this day). They are truly comical though - kind of like this guy's reaction to the earthquake.

Next time we're in touch, I need to ask her if she still does that.