Is Living Alone Making You Weird?

[WomenMoveMe]

I think I started out weird. But indeed, living alone for twelve plus years does tend to exacerbate weirdnesses.

I make up little songs about the most mundane things I am doing, and torture my animals with them. I think their favorite is the 'time to feed the girls' song!

When lounging about the house, I wear some incredibly horrible outfits. I seem to only dress half of me for the most part. I will put on a nice shirt and no pants or I will put on nice pants, but no shirt. Sometimes just boxers, boat shoes, and black T-shirt (I call this a "B" day). I just can't seem to pull an entire ensemble together.

I often sleep sideways on the bed or upside down (feet where head should be or vice versa). Just to break up the monotony.

My stovetop must be pristine, while a small spill in the fridge can languish for a couple of days. Countertops must be uncluttered, yet the kitchen island will be littered with canned food cause I like to read the labels when I eat.

I have an entire kitchen drawer designated for candy and nothing else is allowed to be in that drawer. I do not buy candy for the drawer. So it sits, never to fulfill it's destiny.

I could go on and on, but will keep the truly odd things that are me, for me.

[Parker]

Originally Posted by WomenMoveMe

I make up little songs about the most mundane things I am doing, and torture my animals with them. I think their favorite is the 'time to feed the girls' song!

Thank god I am not the only one who does this. lol

Mainly my songs are *for* my dogs though, so I basically just make little songs out of their names, which they seem to love, which makes me do it more, and on and on it goes.

[The JD]

I was a weird little child, and I certainly didn't live alone growing up. But yeah, with no one around to modify the behaviors, my eccentricity tends to flourish.

I know every restaurant that will deliver to my house. I've ordered a pizza at 11PM just because I wanted a coca-cola.

Originally Posted by WomenMoveMe

I make up little songs about the most mundane things I am doing, and torture my animals with them. I think their favorite is the 'time to feed the girls' song!

Yes! Whenever my chihuahua rolls on his back and bends his body around in the shape of a comma, I break out into a rousing chorus of "comma comma comma comma comma chihuahua" (sung to the tune of Karma Chameleon).

And really, it seems more eccentric to close the bathroom door when you're the only one home...though maybe I'll start doing it now that I know the possible consequences.

With all of us stepping forward to admit this stuff, maybe it's not so weird after all?

[UofMfan]

I don't think living alone makes me weird.

Looking at the list of things from the article, only one fits my life and that is leaving the bathroom door open.

Personally, I think that living alone has made me perhaps less tolerant of other people's quirkiness. I tend to be very organized and living alone has made me even more so.

I do love being able to do what I please, when I please and that is hard to give up. I tend to plan my days but I can change plans at my whim. I love spending Sundays in boxers and a t-shirt while watching movies, reading a book, or whatever I feel like doing.

I love eating my meals wherever I want to, usually at my desk, and eating whatever I feel like eating, which is normally ordered in.

When I had a dog I used to talk to him all the time, throw ideas around and see what inspired me, it worked really well. I loved seeing his face move from side to side when I did that.

Living alone is great, I love my own company and to be able to come home, change into my home clothes, relax and find the zen and solace that I get being inside my own mind and in my space.

[deedarino]

Sometimes I eat cereal out of the one of the big mixing bowls in the cupboard because:

1. I like lots of milk with my cereal
2. I don't feel like washing dishes
3. I want to.

[Cuddles]

~ walking around naked at 2am eating peanut butter from a jar while drinking OJ from the carton

At 2am I'm dead asleep... and I'm not a PB fan =P

~ unique sleep habit cycles without a routine schedule

Yup

~ weird meal habits i.e. eating the same thing for breakfast, lunch and supper (hey, it was on sale) or having doritos as a meal

I'll do that living single or not; I'm a creature of habit!

~ leaving the bathroom door open (which apparently is a habit we might take with us when we visit others)

GUILTY! Guilty as charged! Well I wanna be able to hear the voices on the TV duh!

~running stuff by our pets who are notorious good listeners

I run stuff by to my computer from time to time... does that count?

~drinking champagne in the shower at 8am

I don't like champagne... nor do I drink or eat in the shower... how can you??

~washing vegetables while showering

Yuck... NO!

~playing video games for days without sleeping

Been there, done that, got the fat to show it!

~unique home only outfits

I got that, single or not.

[BoDy*ShOt]

I will be living by myself for the first time in a very. very. long time in the next week or so... i'll get back to you w how weirder I've become ;-s

[Gentle Tiger]

I am a loner by nature. I enjoy living alone. I need space. Does it make me weird? Hmm... Well, I do talk to myself. But I know how to behave when outside. That being said, I have had to catch myself when making quirky noises. I am very particular about my space, how things are organized and cleaned. I wouldn't say I'm a neat freak but others might.

Some might consider my eating habits weird. They seem normal to me. lol I eat what I want, however I want, when I want. If I feel like using a mixing bowl for my cereal or whatever I'm eating I do. If I feel like using a nice plate I do. Closing doors to use the bathroom? Why? There's no one here. But I remember my manners when outside of my house. As for clothing, I will just say I am always comfortable and leave it at that. *smirk*

But isn't this what being grown is about? Having your own place where you set the rules and are 100% free to be you without judgment? I'm a quirky guy and living alone means enjoy being quirky in peace no matter what that looks like on any given day.

[genghisfawn]

So... I thought I wanted to reply, but honestly, my weirdnesses are mine. They are weird and probably make me unappealing on so many levels, but I'm glad to see that some of my eccentricities are shared by others (bathroom door open, eating out of jars, declaiming ingredients lists as one would a monologue, etc.)

Maybe there are things I do which I don't find weird, but others would. That's the scary bit!

[aishah]

i forgot to add! one of my other weirdnesses is that i eat on nice dishes all the time. when i first moved into my new place i couldn't bring a lot of my previous possessions, including cheap dishes. i got a few plastic plates just in case until i got settled, then my neighbor gave me two huge boxes of gorgeous antique chinese dishes, cups, and bowls. and a friend gave me some crystal plates. and i figure why let them sit around and go un-used? lol so if you eat dinner at my house you'll get the fancy schmancy stuff. even if it's just for pizza.

i sleep on a mattress on the floor and i actually like it that way. i have a bed frame with box springs but when i moved the bed from room to room the box springs wouldn't fit around the corners. so i tried to convert the bed frame into a platform bed. that didn't work out so well. so i just put the frame in a closet and now i sleep on the floor. i'm looking into buying a new platform bed (i want a bigger bed) at some point, but i'd still prefer for it to be low to the ground even if not on the ground. sometimes getting up and down is hard, but on the upside it encourages my crippled behind to stretch in the mornings.

i'm not sure if this is weird but i close all the doors when i'm sleeping. open doors kinda freak me out.

i do get lonely a lot with working from home and living alone. i love living alone for work purposes - i get a lot more done than when i had roommates or when i'm with a partner. but i can go days without seeing anyone, which is really unhealthy for me. i try to get out as much as possible.

[Kobi]

I never saw the things I did as odd or weird or related to living alone. To me, it has always been my preferences for me in my space.

I like eating when I am hungry rather than on a schedule. I sleep when I am tired, not at prescribed hours.

I buy household stuff to suit my preferences. So, if you show up unexpectedly, the only things you will have to drink is coffee or bottled water. And if you want a sandwich, I have cheese and condiments - if you want bread and cold cuts with it, you had better bring them.

I do close the bathroom door. It is the only reprieve I get from the cat. If I abuse this privilege she allows me, I will see paws making their way under the door.

In warm weather I do go topless. However, I have learned to keep a shirt by the door, and after flashing the maintenance guys one too many times, I do shut the blinds.

I sing the theme song to the Jetsons in the shower including the sound effects. It used to be the rubber ducky song.

So much for projecting a certain image eh?

[Hack]

Technically, I don't live alone. I have a housemate, who is also one of my best mates, but he isn't here about 50 percent of the time because his work takes him out of town or out of state quite often.

Living alone doesn't make me weird. I've never really been bothered by it. It does make me lazy about inside chores (I love doing work outside), as some of have mentioned. I do chat with my dog from time to time. I like being able to lounge about in my boxers and a tshirt and watch baseball whenever I want. I like being able to have my own schedule, though lately I am not as good about sticking to it.

Lately, I have found myself having brief periods of acute loneliness. I've started working on it in therapy to try to determine the root of it. It has only started in the last couple of months. I think part of it is a lot of my local friends now have kids who are older and more involved in after-school things, like sports or the arts, and they are all wrapped up in that. And while I do occasionally go to a high school swim meet in support of my friends' daughter, I do miss our more care-free days of potlucks and cook-outs.

[femmennoir]

Unique home only outfits.......well, yes, mostly pyjama bottoms with whatever on top, and I will walk my dog wearing these, hoping not to be seen!
Running things past the above mentioned dog.......of course! she is a fountain of wisdom, and the two of us share conversations and snacks (we do so love foie gras on toasted rustic bread, with a flute of Champagne for me, but never in the shower)
Reading until 2 or 3 in the morning....all the time, and with a dog against my side
Breakfast for lunch or dinner............never! I do cook and enjoy doing so, almost as much as I enjoy eating. Besides, the wise dog enjoys my cooking!

Living alone, how glorious!

Elle*

[genghisfawn]

Okay... Here's an observation. Right now I am staying at my best friend's place with another close friend and my best friend's mom. We all live alone and are all the creative sort. Throughout the day we've spent mainly together, we've all silently yet mutually agreed that for a half hour, here and there, we need to retreat and do something solitary. Play a game, take a nap, read, knit, whatever. I mentioned it and nobody thought it was weird, apologised, etc. I'm going to assume that it's because we take these lapses of solitude as our way of personally regrouping whilst thrown together.

Oh, and all of us, within 5 minutes of getting in the door, take our bras off.

[deedarino]

Dressed in my "oh hell no only at home" wear, doing dishes with ipod in tow, my inner cuban/pole/?? dancer decided to come out. My cats think I am fantastic.

Kitchen is clean and the cats aren't talkin. EVER.