You might be obsessive compulsive if...

It's FRIDAY! WOOOOHOOOO! I thought this day would never come. Has ever a week dragged more than this one? I think not. For some good old-fashioned anti-work fun, click here.

6 days to Nicaragua! HURRAHHHHH!

Last night I came to a startling realization. Every day I do EXACTLY the same thing! I get up at 10, whether I want to or not. I stumble out to the living room and turn on the computer. While it's booting up, I start the coffee brewing. Pick my profile and then wash my face. Stumble back to the computer and check my email, Mik's blog, Voodoo's blog, Colin's blog, MJ's blog. In that order. Then I pull up blogexplosion and in between editing paragraphs I surf for credits.

At precisely 11:15 I start slowly getting ready for work. I put my make up on in the exact same order each day. At precisely 12:15 I leave for work, 45 minutes before I have to get there. I always leave a 15 minute cushion in case of traffic. I plan my route before I leave the apartment, avoiding as many left-hand turns at uncontrolled intersections as possible.

I go to work. I try to forget I went to work. On the way home I flick my cigarette out the window (don't hate me!) at the exact same spot - the exit from Deerfoot Trail onto Memorial Drive. Then, I obsessively scan the back seat in the rearview, just in case the cigarette came back in the window, and keep checking the mirror to ensure there was no cop behind me to witness my crime.

I get home. I check my email. I watch back-to-back Frasiers and then The Wrong Coast. After The Wrong Coast, Himself goes to bed and I pop out onto the balcony for a cigarette and to read my book. Then I come in, turn off the lights, close all the cupboard doors in the kitchen and ensure twice the door is locked. I have a shower, during which my regime is militant: shampoo in, wash face while shampoo rinsing out as it conserves time. Then, I read for 30 minutes and it's lights out.

I do not EVER stray from this routine. So, I started to think about it last night, just playfully like. "Wow, I do the EXACT same thing every day..." And all of a sudden it hit me! I turn the coffee pot off three times, just so on the way to work I will remember it's off for sure and not race home, thinking I'm going to burn down the building. If I am not out the door by EXACTLY 12:15, I have a mini-panic attack and my heart starts to race. I'm a total germ phobe and refuse to open bathroom doors without my hands covered; I kick the flushy thing to flush the toilet. Could I be, in addition to everything else, a bit obsessive compulsive?

Today I tried to mix things up a bit. I got up at 9:30 insted of 10 and did 30 minutes of yoga and then studied Zen philosophy for 15 minutes by candle light. I checked the blogs in the reverse order. And here's the really weird one (that totally killed me for more than one reason...) instead of editing, I paid bills!

Now THAT is out of the ordinary for me. Just ask Telus - I'm no bill payer! I like to pay my bills quarterly, even when I'm on monthly billing. So, instead of writing this morning, I paid stupid bills. And I've forgotten to do half the things I normally do - simple things like putting on moisturizer. This routine mix-up has also thrown off my appetite, and I can hardly swallow my raisin bagel with cream cheese. I miss my routine, but fear ending up in a straight jacket in a padded cell, although I've always thought it might be fun to run around in one of those rooms for an hour or so, like those air-filled jumping apparatusususussss (say that when you're 12 beer in the hole...) so popular at children's birthdays.

Below are some more pics from Hali. I really have to go. Thanks to my new non-routine, I have 20 minutes until I must walk out the door and my hair is still in a towel...

Denise and me displaying our super fighting skills. Strangely, no one is frightened....

And then we turned on John. I'm still not really certain he deserved it...