i am neurotic.

I am a teacher and cannot stand to get any dust from chalk or whiteboard marker on me. When I use an eraser, if I get any marker or chalkdust on my fingers, I have to wash my hands (or wipe them off with a wet wipe if I can’t leave the room at that moment). I absolutely hate it when students use their hands or sleeves to erase the board! I also don’t like the pencil buildup I get on my hands from touching student papers. I wash my hands a lot at school.

When I ride the escalator, I cannot touch the handles/sides instead I stand really still while riding it.

When I eat colored candies (Skittles, M&Ms, etc.) I have to eat the red candies first because they’re my least favorite and I have to make sure the last candy in the bag isn’t red. Otherwise I have to get another bag so I can eat a “good” color and get the red taste out of my mouth.

I pick out the white umbilical thing of an egg before it is cooked. That thing always stays gooey. When you get it in a bite, it registers fairly high on the gag scale.

I have a problem with people’s feet touching things that don’t belong to them. Not because I don’t like feet, but because I feel like if your feet touch something that doesn’t belong to you, they will be very very dirty, and I can’t stand dirty feet.

I have a list of 150+ words and brand names that I really don’t like. I’m still finding new ones every so often. The words “moist” and “supple” are well at the top of the list. Some words sound horrible whether used as nouns or verbs (example: “tender”). I basically refuse to say these (and many other) words or use them in any sort of communication if at all possible.

I also cannot stand hairs on the bathroom tiles. Anytime I see any hairs I clean the floor. I usually wear flip flops or slippers to prevent any contamination. I’ll use wet wipes or I’ll scrub with windex and paper towel. I’m such a neat freak!

Every time I flush the toilet, I watch until the bowl has completely emptied out…I’m always afraid it will back up and overflow if I’m not watching.

I can’t handle getting water in my ears. Even in the shower. When I rinse my hair, I have to plug my ears. I don’t put my head under water when swimming not even with earplugs. Just thinking about that sound when water goes inside my ears makes me cringe.

I’m relaxing in the rub reading your book (given to me as a Christmas gift) but had to stop, get out of the tub and pick the remainder of the price tag off and clean any/all remaining glue before I could continue.