OCD OR ANAL

Just a quick addendum to my last post about the bug zappers. Brighid pounced on the idea as a great thing to send our soldiers in Afghanistan.  There is a program called ANY SOLDIER.COM   where you can send packages to a volunteer soldier who will in turn deliver it to soldiers that don't get much mail.  What a great way to help our boys who put it all on the line for us every day. Brighid says they have such a problem with flies in Afghanistan  This gadget should give them some fun times defending themselves against the pests during down time.  Check out the program. Such a great idea. 

I have noticed a trend lately as a watcher of late night TV.   No I am not a night owl, in fact, I have the bed time of a low energy 8 year old.  I'm just a DVR abuser. I much prefer watching the recording and being able to  zoom through commercials the next day. 

If it is something time relevant like my baseball games. I start to record it, turn off the TV and come back about half an hour later to watch.  Then I can fast forward through the commercials and pitching changes. Oops, is that OCD or anal? I tend to hope it is intelligent and efficient watching but have my doubts.     

My late night watching consists of enjoying  the monologues for a chuckle and staying tuned in only when an interesting to me guest is scheduled. I probably only watch a total of 20 minutes of late night TV.   

It is there however that I have noticed a trait that has become more and more apparent, at least among the rich and famous. The rich and famous use to filter their lives so that we only got to see the good parts, no warts.  The iffy parts were reserved for the gossip rags and paparazzi to expose.  

Now it seems to have become fashionable to admit to all kinds of conditions that were once considered flaws. I personally think that is a healthy trend and helps those of us not so rich and famous to be comfortable with our quirks.

According to Wikipedia: Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder characterized by intrusive thoughts that produce uneasiness, apprehension, fear, or worry that trigger repetitive behaviors aimed at reducing the associated anxiety. 

OCD years ago was not so eagerly admitted to as it is today. It has morphed into a benign  and rather cute condition today thanks to celebrities openly discussing their particular forms of it.   I do believe the now defunct TV show Monk, opened up the dialogue on OCD, making it appear to be  a funny, usually harmless condition.   I am sure to those actually suffering life altering forms of it think otherwise. 

According to Disabled World,  the list  of celebrities with OCD is quite long including people like Donald Trump, Cameron Diaz, Howie Mandel, Leonardo DiCaprio, Justin Timberlake, Anderson Cooper and Penelope Cruz. History is littered with the OCD great from Churchill to Einstein. 

As I heard of the particular forms it takes with some people, I started to feel a little left out. Some refer to it as the "rich person's disease".  Maybe that is my problem. I just don't have  enough money to be properly obsessive.    I thought and thought but could not think of a single OCD trait to claim. How sad to be too poor for OCD and Republicanism. Sheesh.

Then I remembered my post on being  Persnickety. Perhaps the two terms are similar?? As I reread my persnickety (also known as anal) traits, it dawned on my that I can likely claim a form of OCD with my frantic obsession of ridding magazines of those annoying cardboard inserts before reading the first word.  

Phew, pretty sure that qualifies since they do cause me anxiety till they are properly removed.  Now I realize that most of us have some of these traits but they are so ingrained in our lives that we are not aware of them. 

Sadly for some people OCD is almost crippling but for the rest of us, it is just something to work around and discuss over coffee, cocktails or on late night TV. 

Do you harbor some OCD traits?  I promise I won't tell.