I'm it.

I have been tagged by Gloria so here goes. I am supposed to list five idiosyncracies. Only five?

1. I am a collector.
This is not a positive thing. This is just a nice way of saying that I am a packrat. Like the typical Cancer, I have great difficulty in letting go. This is not limited to possessions. Oh no. I like to collect people too. Why else would I still be friends with the ex? The breakup was painful and I cried for months. Well maybe one month. Then I acted out. This involved lots of dancing on bars and all the other fun things you do when you have lots to drink. One day I realized that I was in the fastlane to self destruction and could only keep going at this pace for another year tops. That's when the ex became my friend again. I just couldn't imagine him not being a part of my life in some way. It's kind of how I feel about my Paddington bear and the box of Nancy Drew mysteries.

2. As as result of being a packrat, I believe in organized chaos.
I am a control freak. Everything has it's place. The biggest example of this is the flatware. Flatware should not be just thrown into the appropriate slot in the drawer. No. It must be neatly and precisely stacked within its space. If it is not, then I will have to stand there and rearrange it. This behavior used to drive my mom nuts when I was in high school. She has learned now though and stacks her flatware in a similar manner. I say similar because she has still has not mastered the symmetry of the teaspoon stacks. (She owns extra teaspoons and so they have to be placed in two stacks. Does she care that one stack contains 7 while the other contains 9? Of course not. It just about sends me over the edge.)

3. I should have been a librarian.
I have a large collection of books and music. There is order here as well.

Music is alphabetized by artist. If there are multiple recordings from a single artist, then they must be in chronological order.

Books are organized similarly. However, books are first sorted by genre and then alphabetized. Just like the music, multiple works from the same author must be in chronological order. When in doubt I use the copyright dates. This was lots of fun when I had to put the 30 or so Agatha Christie novels I own in order. Sometimes I mix them up just for the satisfaction of putting them back in order.

Visitors are free to remove music or books from the shelves. They are not allowed to put said items back though as they will invariably put them in the wrong place. Of course if you want to drive me mad, then go ahead and do it.

4. I remember "useless" information.
This makes me a prime candidate to be on Jeopardy. Why do I remember the stuff? Who knows. Perhaps it's because in childhood my father and I bonded over our knowledge of trivia. (I am still the only person who can beat him at Trivial Pursuit.) Now I justify it because it gives me lots to talk about at cocktail parties.

5. I don't do lines.
I will wait in lines if I really must. I just don't believe that some of us should have to. If I can find a way to get around waiting in a line, then I'll do it. OK. There are some limitations but you get the idea. Perhaps it's an inflated sense of self that leads me to it. I have shocked friends with this tendency in the past. They seem to think that I am such a nice person. I am. I just don't feel the need to mix with the "little people" at times. Isn't that what VIP is for? (Feel free to call me a bitch. I like to think of it as a compliment.) Perhaps I just did too much clubbing in the 80s when it was easy to get an inflated ego. It was after all the accessory to have back then.

Enough about me already. Guess it's my turn to tag someone else. Guess the only one who is left is Joe. I would tag Daniel but he doesn't seem to be reading much these days.