Sock Numbering
I’ve been reading several blog posts and comments here lately about Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. This is a subject that, unfortunately (for my children mainly), I am rather well versed in.
I honestly never knew I was OC until my doctor handed me a pamphlet about Paxil and said, “Here, read this, it sounds like they wrote this specifically for you.”
I was genuinely taken aback. I mean who the hell knew that numbering your children’s socks was not normal? I certainly didn’t. I thought it was rather clever on my part since there are so many various degrees of staining that can take place on boy’s white socks. You have the red clay stain, black dirt stains, wore my socks outside without shoes on stains, etc.
I think that it’s pretty damn obvious that sock numbering has its benefits. When you do so, each sock in the pair is sure to be at same level of stainhood and it makes it easy to sequester that pair and deem it no longer worthy to be known as anything but play socks.. “Boys.. sock pair #13 is now designated as play socks only.”
It was his third degree questioning routine about me not letting them leave the house unless the sock numbers matched exactly or at least matched in certain combinations, that gave me a moment’s pause and the time I needed to realize that he just might have a point. He claimed that while he could understand how numbering my children’s socks might be beneficial in numerous ways.. that not allowing them leave the house unless these combinations were met, was just downright freaky and far from normal, and keeping them out of school because of it was just WRONG.
So, of course I needed to explain my theory, but each time I spoke he wrote something down on his little prescription pad. I explained.. “Well I’ll let them leave if they have a 5 and a 10, but I wouldn’t be able to let them go out wearing a 2 and 4.”
He asked. “Well what’s wrong with a 2 and a 4, if a 5 and a 10 are okay? They are both halves. I don’t understand where the difference is.”
So I told him, “Because 5 and 10 are both rounded numbers. You know.. round to the nearest 5 or the nearest 10? But a 2 and a 4 are just even.. nothing more.. just even.” He wrote something on his little pad.
Then he asked if there were other allowed combinations and I told him, “Of course there are! There are 10 and 20, 5 and 15, 15 and 20, and of course 3 and 6.” He jotted some more and said..
“Okay, I see the pattern with all of them being rounded numbers, but you lost me with 3 and 6. What is so special about those numbers? They are just a half, nothing more.. just a half, like you said about 2 and 4.”
I said, “Right! But these numbers are 3 and 6 so they are different.” He jotted some more and I started getting nervous. When I’m nervous I tend to ramble, so I just went ahead and explained, “3 is half of 6, but 3 is odd and 6 is even, so that makes them similar to a 2 and 4 combo or a 4 and 8, yet vastly different at the same time. See? Do you understand? They are, therefore, unique in their own way, just like a rounded combo.” He jotted some more.
Finally I couldn’t take it anymore and I broke down and asked him, “What do you keep writing?” That’s when he handed me the little Paxil pamphlet, said it sounded like they had written it for me and added.. “At first I thought we would start you off with 10mg, but the more you spoke the more I realized that was just not going to be enough.”
I walked out of there with a prescription for a month’s supply of Paxil.. 40mg of Paxil a day! I found it rather embarrassing to be honest with you and decided right then and there that I would never tell him about playing Electronic Yahtzee so long while sitting on the toilet that I was starting to fear a development of hemorrhoids..
Playing & playing, until I won at least 3 in a row with scores ending in a 5.
Oh my goodness, you are hysterical LOL!!! However, I can sadly relate to this scenario.
I only use an odd # of exclamation marks or …’s in an ellipsis, otherwise, I’m off balance LOL. For whatever reason, I hate even #’s and only prefer odd #’s.
I do not # my children’s socks, but I do try to match them very carefully when I fold the laundry so the amount of staining is the same in one pair. I also count how many pairs of underwear & socks they take with them if they go on a sleepover or to camp, and boy I tell you, there better be the same # of them when they come home or it could blow my whole day, LOL.
Sorry GL, but welcome to the OCD Club!
Wow, that was pretty funny, not that I’m laughing at your problem. And I thought I was OCD. My mom & grandmother count things, I trace shapes in my head….constantly, Walking down the hall, at red lights, in my living room watching TV, right now.
My brother will only get out of bed if the alarm reads an even number. If is it 8:01, he will lay there until is turns over to 8:02.
Hmm, I have the exact opposite problem, I have no organization whatsoever.
I have a small dustbuster-type vaccuum in my car. When the kids drop some cookie crumbs or whatever, I need to pull over and vaccuum them up. Anybody else find this weird?
Michelle
GL…I’ve heard you speak of this disorder many times. LOL…And no it’s not funny! My only symptom of OCD (that I can think of at the moment), is the TV and the PC volume. It has to be an even number. LOL!
I do try and get Jason’s socks paired up evenly on the staining. But…looks like I won’t be doing his laundry much longer. He might be moving to a place of his own soon.
And Michelle yes, I find that a bit odd. I may wait at least until I got home or even the weekend to vaccuum the crumbs up. lol
@ Gypsy.. I can relate on that underwear thing. One of mine is happy with regular old boxers.. he never loses or leaves his anywhere. My younger son, has to have American Eagle boxers and those darn things are expensive.. he is continually “losing” his when he goes on overnighters.
What blows my mind is they never get returned.. who in the hell wants someone else’s underwear no matter how many times they wash it.. that just has a HUGE eeww factor in it for me.
@ SonjaB… Wow! That’s a new one on me. I haven’t ever traced shapes, but now that the seed has been planted, I’m sure I will, haha. I can’t hear alarm clocks go off, but I do the time thing like your brother with other things.. like setting the timer on my oven.. I won’t push the little doohickey to start the timer until its on a rounded number.
That can seriously delay dinner at times.
@ Hammer… I envy you! I long to be unorganized with certain things. Not all of them mind you.. but things like having all the cans in my cabinets facing out and lined up evenly.. I would love for that organizational quirk to disappear.
@ Michelle… Oh Michelle, Michelle, Michelle.. remind me to never let you in my car. I fear you would be unable to cope. We spend lots of time in the car.. and it shows. It really, really shows! so to answer your question.. hell yeah I find that weird.. but I’m not one that can cast stones (unless I can count them first).
@ WAH Opps… Poor you.. soon you will have to live with the knowledge that Jason is probably not even wearing matching socks, lol.
Although, if he does like my brothers and I did when we first moved out.. Mom will still be doing his laundry, lol.
I have no OCD at all.
I do match socks according to stain and/or wear patterns.
I count count count count count. (notice there are the 5)
I have to leave and enter rooms with my right foot. If I don’t I have to go back and start over. (looking like quite the fool in many a store)
If I go up/down stairs wrong foot first, again, back to the beginning and start over.
I feel for you though and am so glad I don’t suffer with such an affliction!
@ Freebies.. Yep.. sounds like you are free & clear of any strange afflictions that’s for sure. I envy you.
Btw.. might want to watch your step on escalators and be extra careful to put the “right” foot forward.
I put the two blue socks together, and the two green socks together, and the white socks all in a group together, when folding the clothes.
Then just to be perverse, I put one blue sock in one drawer, and the other blue sock in another drawer (preferably in different room) sometimes I put one sock on a high shelf in a closet.
Then I have more fun when it is time to get dressed, and I get a workout, bending, stretching, going from room to room…
Wanna come over and number my socks?
Theyyy’rrrreee un-numbered….they needdddd numbering…
Steve~
@ Ched and Steve…
Thank you both so much!!
You have just severely ruined my day, as well as my faith in mankind.
I’ll probably have nightmares about ya’lls socks.
OMG! I just went to your site Steve!! That header is absolutely fantastic! I love that! Very cool.
Off to read all about your non-OC self now…
Wow, funny post! I get really annoyed when people read magazines and they scrunch up all the corners and bend pages and things like that. I don’t know why. It just really annoys me!
Helen
I have two different types of ankle socks. Even though they look the same except for the part around the ankle, I cannot wear one type and the other type together. They have to be exactly the same!
Also, if I just get done cleaning and someone makes a mess, even one little crumb, it has to be picked up! It’s worse when I’m cleaning because someone is coming over. Of course, after having my son, I eventually had to just get over it. Now with another one on the way, I’ll really have to get used to the mess!
Maybe everyone in some way has OCD - please make me feel better! hehe
Is there a problem with being OC?
OC is just another name for being super organized.
You go girl!
@ Helen… I can relate to that one for sure! I rarely read magazines but do read tons of books. When I get through with them you cannot tell they have been read. There are no creases in the spine, no dog-eared pages.. it looks brand new.
I remember having my little girl in my lap while reading. She was around 3 at the time. She sneezed this huge gob of slimy snot all over the page I was on. I thought I was going to die. Ended up throwing it away and getting a new copy.
@ Alisha… Of course I don’t blame you in the least for not wearing those look alike but horribly non-matching socks. And I had to let some of my anxiety over cleaning slide too. When you have little ones running around it’s impossible to keep things clean.. hell in this house it’s impossible to keep things in one piece.
@ Ryan.. I have said this before and I find I must say it again. I LOVE YOU. You are absolutely right! There is nothing wrong with sock numbering, alphabetizing your canned goods, counting nonstop, washing your hand 100 times a day, having 20 backups of your sites in various formats, etc., etc., etc.
I’m just a very organized person with extremely clean hands and uncanny mathematical skills.
OCD? Me? Hell no!
I’m just a perfectionist! Which probably translates to OCD…;)
LOL @ WorkAtHomeSpace.. I know you are a perfectionist, but I can’t relate to that, because I’m not at all.
I just like to do things like measure spaces, padding, font sizes and whatnot on websites I make down to the exact pixel just for fun, not to make sure everything is even and perfectly aligned how a perfectionist would.
It’s a fun hobby and not at all stressful, lol.. I recommend it to everyone.
FYI: If anyone else likes to do that.. you know, just as a hobby.. Firefox has a really cool extension called Measure It listed under web design and development.
I have mostly only black socks. I line them up and match them according to darkness (number of washes), thickness, length, rib style…my ex would like to mismatch them to drive me nutty….i would just leave them lined on the sofa all night long waiting for their match…this is why he’s my ex.
@ notfearingchange… Good riddance to him! He obviously didn’t deserve you.
It is so nice to see so many people with sock quirks. I love it! Can’t wait to tell my doctor.
LMAO @ Cathy! Please do share what your doctor’s comments are. Thanks.
I’m really curious to know. lol
GL–Do all of your can labels face the same way too? You rock! Mine do as well and they must be perfectly aligned. My cereal boxes & dry packaged foods MUST all be facing the same way on the shelves too.
I prefer to make my bed (if it wasn’t made earlier in the morning) before getting in to sleep, I have to clean a dirty countertop before working on it even if it will become dirty again, all items in the pantry, cupboards, medicine cabinet etc. have their OWN spot (and they better stay there LOL) and did you know no one in the whole world cleans the way I do? LOL, such a curse I tell ya.
OMG! I’m so there with Measure It! OMG! It’s gonna drive me batty. Thanks A LOT (*sarcasm alert*) Lady for feeding my perfectionistic habit. LOL!
@ Gypsy.. I used to do most if the things you mentioned before Paxil.. okay darn it.. I still do. What can I say, old habits die hard.
@ WorkAtHomeSpace.. LOL.. I’m so sorry! Not.
Actually Measure It will save you tons of time. Instead of eyeballing it and wondering.. is that left side 2px narrower than the right.. Measure It! Then you will know right away, no more obsessing.
Wow, that is intense. I heard you mention this before but I had no idea it was like that. I thought that it was organization. I put letters on my kids socks. Just ABCD….A-Alissa, B=Brandon, C=Catie, D=Dylon. I don’t get into the whole even/odd or number combo that is just toi confusing and I never made it past basic math in high school anyway! I would just confuse the shit out of myself with that. Then I would need medication for confusion and panic because my system didn’t even work for me! That would take me to a whole new level of medically necessary therapy and a butt load of medication to fix my already psychotic problem. Wow….I’m glad I got that off my chest. Let me know when you want to chat about this again….I feel stress relief as we talk. Hang on, I need a valium! LOL
@ Krystal.. LOL.. I have two words for you.. Screw valium, get Paxil. Okay that was 4 words but see.. Paxil works.. it didn’t bother me at all.
Seriously though, I have had some OC moments….like counting things when I’m walking or thinking too much about a certain thing. Anyway, it’s all good. You do what you have to do to keep you sane even if some of the things you do are a little insane!
My worst thing is not really sock numbering.. I have just always caught a lot of slack for it and it’s what led my doctor to his diagnosis.
My main problem is really not being able to let things go. I get something on my mind and I just obsess over it. It’s like I can’t move past it at all.
It wouldn’t be so bad if it was actual issues or things that have taken place.. then it would be somewhat justified. My obsession is usually based on the “What if’s” surrounding a situation and playing out every scenario imaginable in my mind, analyzing it and deciding what to do in case “What if” happens.
I spend a great deal of time worrying and fretting over things that never end up taking place, lol.
[…] I might have to hunt down one of our regular visitors here.. (hmm… maybe I should keep her nameless.. pffft to hell with that.. KRYSTAL). That blasted woman deserves any amount of bodily harm I deem necessary and would like to afflict on her not so fair person. She knew the score, had read my Sock Numbering post.. but I suppose she thought it would be fun to… […]
Now that’s hysterical! Do you number your own socks too?
@ Cool.. well hell! I was hoping my socks wouldn’t be mentioned. Since you just had to go and bring them up..
First off I wear a lot of black, so I have a lot of black socks and my black Sharpie doesn’t show up on them, so those I just have to take a chance with.
My white socks however, lol.. they are indeed numbered. They also have letters on them, L or R for yes.. you guessed it, left and right.
So mine look like this L1 & R1, L2 & R2, etc.