I returned to the old neighborhood on Thurs. to get a haircut. For over 30 years, nobody but Tom has cut my hair. It's easy to cut my hair now. In my youth, I often walked in to get a haircut & would return home with an estimate.

Tom has a friend who sometimes wanders into the barber shop to talk to him. The friend is obsessive-compulsive & as he begins talking, he takes it upon himself to sweep up all the hair on the floor.

Then, each time any of my hair falls on the floor, the friend sweeps it up immediately, waiting like a vulture for it to drop.

I'm used to it now, so it's easy not to laugh. It's also sad. The guy needs help.

Joe, it's worse than you think. That guy is a mad scientist who is collecting your hair samples to extract DNA to clone another you! I read it in the Enquirer, so it must be true.
Either that, or his CHIA pet is broken and he's making a CHIA pet toupee.

LOL! You all better hope it's for the chia pet. Just imagine message boards all over the internet with 2 of me on 'em....

<img src="http://www.arlo.net/ubb/smilies/eek.gif" width=15 height=15>

<img src="http://www.arlo.net/ubb/smilies/uhoh.gif" width=15 height=15>

originally posted by p. pittsburgh joe...

"Then, each time any of my hair falls on the floor, the friend sweeps it up immediately, waiting like a vulture for it to drop."

what's so strange about that?

Welllll, y'know......it's strange coz the guy just can't stand to see a piece of hair on the floor, even for a second, & one expects a barber shop to have hair on the floor.

First, it'd be more efficient to just wait until the haircut is done, & then sweep up all the hair. When I was a teen, I worked in a fast food restaurant where we had a saying: "Don't work against yourself."

Second, he's not even an owner or an employee of the barber shop! How many people do you know who wake up in the morning & decide to take a walk to the neighborhood barber shop & sweep the floor???

well, i was being a tad facetious, i concede it. i guess it's a matter of degree...it's good you could laugh, but it would be better (for him) if he could laugh too. some symptoms are so disturbing though, that no one can laugh. in a way, it's kinda good that he's out, talking with his friend and sweeping the floor...isolation is bad.

i knew someone who at one time had a severe bout (way worse than what was typical for this person) very disturbing syptoms...and that's about all i have to say about that.

It's a good time to point out that the gentleman I'm discussing seems otherwise normal, but he just hates dirty floors, & that I wouldn't make fun of anybody who had a mental defect. I see obsessive/compulsiveness (at least his case) as more of a personality trait than a mental defect. He has a thing about floors, I have a thing about never wanting to be late for things, but nobody would suggest I was insane, any evidence to the contrary on this or other message boards notwithstanding.

But the real reason I've returned to my Mundane thread is to discuss my high school yearbook. (I sense a quiver of delightful anticipation throughout the internet with that last statement.)

One of the kids was looking thru it a few nights ago, as he always does whenever he needs some laughs. Whenever I look at it, I start to remember things or people that I haven't thought of in years.

There was a picture of the preseminary students. I knew 2 of the guys in it, never knew that they had ever wanted to be priests, & know for a fact that neither ever became a priest. One got a girl pregnant. The other is addicted to crack.

Then there was the picture of Ace Radovich...

See, when I was a kid, growing up in the city, about all we did back then was play baseball in the back alley, from sunrise to sundown.

A couple times each summer we'd challenge the kids in the alley 2 blocks away from our alley to some baseball games, maybe a best-of-7 series. Our team used to clobber them pretty good. When our rivals left, beaten, they'd holler at us, "Next time, we're gonna get Ace!!!"

We'd yell back, "G'wan & get Ace! We're not scared of him!"

They played against us many times, but never with Ace, & each time we beat 'em, they'd threaten to come back & play us with Ace on their team. And we'd say that we weren't scared of Ace.

Ace was Ace Radovich, a good ball player who was a couple of years older than us. We never did play against Ace. But we weren't scared of him.

So, having been reminded of the existence of Ace, just for fun, I decided to put "Ace Radovich" into Google & see what popped up.

Damn near fell off my chair.

Turns out that Ace has a baseball field named after him. At Edinboro University.

I guess we shoulda been scared.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by P. Pittsburgh Joe:

...I see obsessive/compulsiveness (at least his case) as more of a personality trait than a mental defect. He has a thing about floors, I have a thing about never wanting to be late for things, but nobody would suggest I was insane, any evidence to the contrary on this or other message boards notwithstanding.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

that would be more like, obsessive compulsive personality disorder <img src="http://www.arlo.net/ubb/smilies/smile.gif" width=15 height=15> a different thing.

neither one is the same as being insane, although (in the case of obsessive compulsive disorder) one might fear losing one's mind and going mad.

anyway, i'm not jumping on your case, i'm just telling you what i know.

now, back to your regularly scheduled program already in progress...

..mmm...interesting thread....i had this friend who kept her apartment very neat.....but what i especially remember is that she used to line her magazines on the coffee table all in rows...just so....not a problem, really, only it used to drive me kinda crazy.....seeing those magazines sitting there so orderly and all.....couldn't stop thinking about it until i moved one an inch or 2 out of line....wow, what a relief...

...so i guess we both were strange....
whatever, she's a great friend.....<img src="http://www.arlo.net/ubb/smilies/smile.gif" width=15 height=15>...

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by agnes:

anyway, i'm not jumping on your case, i'm just telling you what i know.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I didn't interpret it that you were jumping on my case, so don't worry. Nothing was taken the wrong way.

I'm a slob pretty much all of the time, so I guess I'm healthy and have no disorders?

larry!!!! i was going to say before, but figured, naaah...but now since you ask <img src="http://www.arlo.net/ubb/smilies/smile.gif" width=15 height=15>
ocd doesn't necessarily translate "neat freak", it could take a different route and one could actually be just the opposite (that's the short version). but i still think you're ok...you're just too weird not to be! <img src="http://www.arlo.net/ubb/smilies/smile.gif" width=15 height=15>