more oddness of mine.
I thought of some more weirdness...

I'm in my thirties, but I like Tigger. I don't know why, but he makes me smile. I read the books when I was a kid, but it's not like I obsessively watch every Winnie The Pooh show on TV - I just like him and feel better when I am wearing the socks I have that have him on.

As a child, I had two imaginary friends - little two-foot high dragons called Puff and Snoot (no, I don't know why, either). Puff was green and friendly, but Snoot was red and tended to say nasty things about me. To me and Puff. Again, these were my imaginary friends. I was an odd child.

I have an irrational hatred of flip-flips when not at a beach - not a fear, but a genuine anger. Women in the cork-soled platform variety annoy me the most.

I took up the guitar at the age of 12 in order to be cool and impress girls. I then became so concerned that I wouldn't look cool if I made a mistake whilst playing that I practised at least 6 hours a day after school, never went out and didn't have a social life at all until I was 18 and left for University. I was, however, very good on the guitar. I now rarely pick it up because I have a life and don't want to lose it to hours of practice again.

I remember the PC vs Mac wars, the Amiga vs ST wars and the Nintendo vs Sega wars. I took active part in all of them - evangelising my preferred side to all and sundry. Bear in mind that I didn't own an ST or an Amiga, but I had two friends who had one of each respectively. I spent two years basically telling each of them that their computer was better than the others, listing the reasons, providing documentary evidence, etc. I had a PC and then a Macintosh, so it didn't bother me at all. Only later on did I realise the fact they had fallen out was because I'd turned a mild bit of banter into an all-out war waged with documentation, factual evidence and chilling logic in my attempts to be supportive of my friends.

I collected badges. Hundreds of them. I don't know why, but whenever I saw one going spare, I'd pick it up/buy it/ask for it. I never wore them, looked at them or thought about collecting for future value, etc. I forgot all about them for years until my mother informed me she still had the collection in the loft and did I want the two large boxes of them? I said no, she could bin the lot...

I have to put salt on before the vinegar on chips, otherwise I can't eat them.

I'm definitely bloody odd.
(Chad, Wed 5 Nov 2008, 17:00, 4 replies)

bad news
You're clearly a retard
(frankspencer, Wed 5 Nov 2008, 17:03, closed)

Snoot concerns me
(on many levels ...)

I'm no psychologist, but I'm sure having an imaginary friend who didn't like you would merit some kind of further exploration.

PS Just to rile you - I went to Sainsburys in flip flops earlier!
(Penguins_Made_Me_Do_It is a dolt ... and she don't care, Wed 5 Nov 2008, 18:09, closed)

imaginary friends...
I think, on reflection, that they were some sort of reflection on the state of my family at the time - my father had been injured in an accident, was struggling to cope with the fact he was 25% disabled, whilst also going cold turkey from an over-long run on valium. Suffice it to say, my early years were filled with arguments, rows and breaking furniture

I guess that the red (bad) dragon was just my way of normalising a relationship with the green one that seemed too peaceful. I guess psychologists would have a field day with me, but I turned out pretty well, al things considered.

Kids are, on balance, pretty weird.
(Chad, Wed 5 Nov 2008, 21:53, closed)

Nicely summed up!
Kids are weird... but you know that, so I'm sure you'll do a great job with your own!
(Penguins_Made_Me_Do_It is a dolt ... and she don't care, Thu 6 Nov 2008, 10:18, closed)