Sudden Confusion

According to Dictionary.com:

ob·ses·sive-com·pul·sive (b-ssv-km-plsv, b-)
adj.

Relating to or characterized by a tendency to dwell on unwanted thoughts or ideas or perform certain repetitious rituals, especially as a defense against anxiety from unconscious conflicts: obsessive-compulsive behavior.

n.

An obsessive-compulsive person.

Over the last couple months, I've found myself completely entrenced by three separate novels.  The first one was The Pleasure of My Company, by Steve Martin.  The second was Pattern Recognition by William Gibson.  And today, I stopped by the library and picked up The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon.  You see, after 50 or so pages (only 2 chapters mind you!) I just could not get into Greenhouse Summer.  It felt like it was going nowhere.  So, I started into this book, and by the end of page 8, I knew I was hooked. A similar thing happened with the other two books mentioned.  Once I barely got started, I was completely hooked, and knew there was no quick way out.  One interesting thing about all three of these books is that the central character portrays various Obsessive-Compulsive traits. 

I think I've finally figured out exactly why I'm so drawn to these characters lately.  Maybe its because I myself possess many OC traits. Mine generally manifest themselves in harmless ways, such as; I always wash in the same order when showering (shampoo, face, body, conditioner) and then after the shower, the remainder of the morning proceeds in a given order as well (dry off, brush teeth, dress--underwear first, followed by shirt, pants, socks--right foot first--, shoes--right foot first).  I always drive the same route to work.  My wallet, keys and phone have specific pockets they belong in.  My keys always hang in the same place on the back of the door.  Its stuff like this.  Where, it doesn't really keep me from functioning as a normal human being, but if I happen to do any of these things out of order, it really seems to disrupt my entire day. 

So as you see, I think I find myself relating to many of the things that these characters do, because in many ways we are similar. The main character from Pattern Recognition, Cayce Pollard, continues on a normal life.  She knows how to control many of the OC traits she possesses, so I can relate more to her than the others.  One of the interesting things is many OCs know what their OC traits are, but are helpless to change them.  I certainly know what mine are, but I derive great comfort from knowing that they are there.  If I stray, I really start to feel uncomfortable.

What I really find most interesting, is in many other aspects of my life, I find diversity, change, and out-of-the-ordinary to be exciting and I embrace it.  And while I'm not the most spontaneous person, I do sometimes do things “on-the-spur-of-the-moment.”

Hmpf.  Again, this is part of my continuing introspection, that I mentioned a couple weeks ago.  Anyhow, like I said, I'm completely engulfed by this book now.  So we'll see how it proceeds.