OCD

I have a thing with numbers.

I like even numbers. I don't like odd numbers unless they are divisible by five. However, being a prime number does not give an odd number enough bonus points for me to like it.

I hoped and prayed that my kids would be born on days with numbers that I liked. Who wants to constantly have to remember a distasteful number?! Eric was born on the 23rd in 1971 of all years, which was almost a deal-breaker. Of course, I had already fallen in love with him before I knew about his unfortunate numberage, so I chose to overlook the fact.

My kids cooperated pretty well. All except for Ethan, that is. His birthday is September 7th. Considering he was ten days late, however, I was eager to welcome him whenever he would come! Luckily, he also had a fantastic year to be born in....2000! Who wouldn't like that?!

Having a pattern that involves the numbers is major bonus points! My girls almost made a pattern with their birthdays, and I still cringe to think how close they came!! Heidi was born on March 15th, Elise on April 15th, and Erica on.....May 14th.

My phone number growing up made a fantastic pattern. It was 336-5325. Notice the 3+3=6, 5-3=2, and 3+2=5! I loved that phone number!!! My parents still have it, by the way.

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Numbers are not my only thing.

I also have a thing with colors.

I like a lot of different colors, but a good color combination is vital!

At work we mark our instruments with colored bands to indicate which room they belong in, or which set-up they go with. The whole system is a great idea. It keeps us organized and gets our instruments back to our rooms in a timely manner. I have run into a few problems with this system, however.

In January I started a new job, and was able to start some new instrument set-ups for my room. The unfortunate part of this was that I was assigned a color I absolutely detest for my instruments. It's this terrible bright green. Not cheary apple-green, or mellow sage-green, it's a nasty dirty green that doesn't look good with anything. Yuck.

But then there was the coup de gras. Our hygiene trays each have a three-color combination to quickly differentiate between each set-up. And some of them were so hideous!!! I mean, who wants to see the bumble-bee colors (along with this ancient brown-colored tape to add further insult) over and over and over....?! I couldn't handle it!! Every time I got that tray I would grumble and gripe to myself, until I finally started just putting it back. I refused to use it anymore. Let the other hygienist who chose to band this unfortunate set so grotesquely, use it instead!!

Now some of these bands have been in place a loooong time. When instruments are autoclaved over and over again, the bands start to discolor and eventually get brittle and break. This happened on a few trays, so I started to reband them. And then I noticed how great the new ones looked, so I couldn't help but banding the rest of the group so they all matched. Then I started surrepticiously banding them in my own color combinations!! Then I had to reband all the instrument sets so that they all matched and looked good!

This took me several days, here and there, rebanding another set-up. I didn't think anyone was really noticing, or cared for that matter, until I started noticing my coworkers laughing at me. "Uh oh....she's banding again!!"


And then one of them asked, "I wonder if OCD is contagious?"