My mom enjoyed playing Solitaire on the computer.  She spent a lot of time playing game after game.  After she became so sick that she couldn’t sit at the computer anymore, I bought her a little handheld Solitaire game.  The screen was smaller and only displayed in monochrome.  She refused to play it.   I learned how to play it so I could show her how easy it was play.  She chose not to learn.

However, once I started playing it I could not stop.  It wouldn’t be so bad if I could play a couple of games and then let it go for the evening.  Not me.  I have to play it until I win.  The other night I went to bed an hour after my drop-dead bedtime (the time I have to be asleep by or else I’m pretty much a zombie at work the next day) because I couldn’t win a single game.  I kept telling myself, “One more and then I’ll quit.”  Then I’d get thisclose to winning and I’d have to try again.

On the flip side, I’m disappointed if I win after the first game.  Then what do I do for the rest of the evening?

You may not be able to tell in this photo, but it is flashing “You win” in the upper corner.  I guess that’s why I have time to blog.

I’m disclosing a lot of personal information about my quirks but what the heck; I might as well share one more.  There are very few candies that I enjoy eating.  Skittles and Starburst are among my favorites.  But I don’t just stick my fingers in the bag and pull out any flavor willy-nilly.  Oh no, not me.  I first take the time to separate the candy.

You probably want to diagnose me right about now.  But let me explain.  I’m not a candy racist – I don’t separate by color.  I separate by flavor.  See, there’s a hierarchy of flavors for both Skittles and Starburst.  Poor lemon and lime, they are always on the bottom.  I think the sole purpose for their existence is so we can enjoy the other flavors that much more.  The next level is where the orange and strawberry hangout.  And the top level is reserved for the grape Skittle or the pink Starburst.

I’m a ‘save the best for last’ kind of gal which means I begin eating the bottom tier.  My plan is to work my way up.  A couple of flaws in this system I haven’t quite worked out.  Problem 1 – I usually am tired of eating the candy before I make it halfway through the second level.  This leads to problem 2 – other people enjoy (steal) my pile of purple Skittles before I get to them.  They enjoy the “fruits of my labors” if you will.  Not cool.

Both of my habits I listed don’t make me odd.  They just make me quirky.  I don’t need an official diagnosis to know I’m a little abnormal.  And I can live with that.