So I was musing the other day: WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE?
You all know me. And if you don't, allow me to introduce myself.
You all know me. And if you don't, allow me to introduce myself.
Hello. My name is Jo, and I have OCD.
I gargle with Purell,
My hands are always sopping with hand sani,
I snort Comet,
And I mainline Clorox.
OK, now you know me. So who are you? I have around 130+ hits a day, which I suppose is fair to middling for this young blog, so I want to know who's hitting me. Wouldn't you want to know that?
So introduce yourself! Come say hi! You can post anonymously if you want, but tell me a few things about you! Tell me who you are, even if you think I already know who you are.
- What's your name? Or what shall I call you?
- How did you find my blog?
- Do I know you in real life?
- How long have you been reading it?
- What keeps your reading it/what do you like about it?
- Or perhaps you think it's a train wreck/what do you hate about it? :P
- Do you like Tenacious D?
- Can you rub your belly and pat your head?
- Can you touch your tongue to your nose? GROSS! Stop this at ONCE! BOOGINS!
- Do you have obsessions or compulsions yourself?
- DO you think I'm completely, completely nutbar or have you learned a few useful tricks while reading my blog?
- Have I changed your outlook in any way?
- Y'know, just give me some info about who's reading my nonsense. I'd like to know more! I love my fans and readers so much! And I want to know who you anonymous fuckers are.
Anyway, hi!!
Hello, Jo, my name is Janice, and I have a blog called The (not so) Special Mother.
ReplyDeleteI have fed on your insanity the way a fat kid eats cake.
Hahahahaha! Just kidding. (sort of) I am one of your hits almost daily. I will not rehash my own mental deficiencies here with you now, because you are quite familiar with a lot of them. We have become quite the blog buddies (sounds dirty, doesn't it?) during the last few months, and for that, I am glad.
But my husband is really going to be pissed at you when I won't get off the boat into the lake this summer!
Lots of love to you, my OCD companion!
Hello, Janice, it's nice to meet you. ;)
ReplyDeleteI am so glad we've become blog buddies. You are one of my best finds!
Oh, and I am saving you and your husband from certain death, by scaring you off lakes. :)
xoxoxo, friend!!
Hi Jo! My name is Katherine. Someone shared a link to your blog in a facebook group that I belong to, and I've been reading it ever since (a few weeks, maybe?). I keep reading because I had/have OCD and I think you're hilarious. (I think most OCDers are hilarious. David Sedaris, anyone?) I have no strong feelings re: Tenacious D, but I can rub my belly and pat my head. I just tried to touch my tongue to my nose, despite your admonishment, and failed--I guess my OCD isn't as bad as yours. I'm pretty sure I exited the womb and immediately started doing things in sets of three, but I wasn't formally diagnosed with OCD until I was 18. The maximum recommended dose of prozac and some simple cognitive therapy got my compulsions under control, but I continue to battle anxiety and still obsess about stuff from time to time. I think you're slightly nuts, but I think everyone is slightly nuts, so I guess I really just think you're normal in a somewhat unique way. You do not know me in real life, but now you know me virtually. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat's your name? Or what shall I call you?
ReplyDeletemy name is sherilin. you can call me sherilin (pronounced like carolyn, but with a SH)
How did you find my blog?
i can't remember how i found your blog. maybe i followed a comment you left somewhere & landed here.
Do I know you in real life?
nope.
How long have you been reading it?
couple months
What keeps your reading it/what do you like about it?
i like that you can laugh at yourself, but still stick to your guns.
Or perhaps you think it's a train wreck/what do you hate about it? :P
i think you go a bit overboard with the germ phobias, but who cares? we all have our areas where we go overboard. that's what keeps life interesting.
Katherine: YOU ROCK! Thank you for taking the time to introduce yourself! Ooooh, I do things in threes, too. I never mentioned that here. And I'm on Prozac too, now 60 mg. Has it helped you? And can I ask, what kinds of cognitive behavioral therapy do you do? I've been seeing a CBTherapist for a couple months, and we haven't even really DONE anything. She hasn't given me and tools or practices to use. Ergh. Anyway, so nice to meet you! :)
ReplyDeleteCarolyn but with a SH: I <3 you, girl. You too are one of my best finds. :)
Hi Jo!!! I have been reading your blog since the day you started it. My real name is Amy. I am "mrs_to_you" on lj, and if you are on twitter, I am "mylifethusfar". I also have a blog under the same name. :)
ReplyDeleteI honestly can't remember how we met on lj but unfortunately we have never met in real life. (sad panda)
I love your blog! Really gets me thinking and makes me realize how gross my house is and how lucky I am that no one has gotten sick from it. LOL...not really. Every time I wipe off my kitchen or bathroom counters I always say to myself, "Is this what Jo would do?". I also find myself saying "what would Jo do?" in a ton of situations. Then I smile to myself and come right back here to see if you have posted anything new.
Don't really care about Tenacious D.
I can rub my belly and pat my head. Can you rub your head and pat your belly?
I don't even want to try putting my tongue near my nose. That's just gross!
Amy: I think we met through your BFF...?
ReplyDeleteBut no matter how we met, I'm sure glad we did! And I looooove that you think, "WWJD"? Hilarious and awesome.
I can rub my head and pat my belly, but only with my left hand on my head and right on my belly. The opposite doesn't work for me. :)
I'm Helen, I'm from the Uk and am Founder of a family life stories website.
ReplyDeleteYou make me laugh so I keep coming back. I am not diagnosed OCD but I do write a lot of lists. Does that count?
Http://SaveEveryStep.wordpress.com
Http://www.SaveEveryStep.com
I cannot remember how I stumbled upon your blog but am happy I did. You're damn funny and that's all I'm looking for when wasting time reading about other people's lives on the internet.
ReplyDeleteI don't suffer from OCD but ironically know tons about it due to the fact that I was a pharmaceutical sales person and peddled Paxil for years! We sales folks had to hear more than our fair share about depression, anxiety and OCD. I self-diagnosed myself with some afflictions but soon realized I was fairly normal once I learned about the lives of others suffering from really crappy, tough stuff from the psychiatrists in my territory.
I keep reading your blog simply because you're a witty writer and you make me laugh...not at you, just with you. I'm going to start a blog (nothing to do with OCD) but perhaps one you may enjoy...will keep you posted. Until then, stay clean and wash often...but not too much. That's really bad advice, I know.
Rachel
ReplyDeleteLiving with Emetophobia blog/Facebook group
No
Since December, when I spent one night reading every post
It makes me feel less like a freak :)
Not a train wreck
Love Jack Black, not so much Tenacious D
Yes
Yes (and it always freaked out my middle school students)
I have Emetophobia and a *slight* addiction to hand sanitizers
You ruined Cracket Barrel or me, but I still let my kid play in the Chick Fil A playground!
Hi Jo, Katherine again. I was on 80 mg of prozac, but I can't remember if I took 80 mg once a day or twice. It was a shit ton of prozac. The 90 day mail order supply came in the biggest prescription bottle I've ever seen. This was back in 1998, thus the foggy memory. SSRIs make my hands shake pretty bad, so I took the high dose for a year and then my shrink spent two years tapering me off of it. The cognitive therapy (assigned by the shrink, and not a cognitive therapist) is ridiculously simple. Wear a rubberband on your wrist and snap it hard enough to smart when you have the urge to act on a compulsion. I was quite adept at performing my compulsions in my imagination--cause you know your family will think you're nuts if you really flick the lights on and off 21 times--so after a few days I started wearing an imaginary rubberband on my wrist instead of a real one and found it just as effective. The trick still works for me a decade later. When under a lot of stress I find myself worrying about plugs partially hanging out of sockets and other OCD things and the imaginary rubberband snaps (haha--pun) me out of it.
ReplyDeleteHi Love...You know me as your stalker and generally probably the most disgusting person who follows your blog.
ReplyDeleteI am Thea (prounounced Tia. I am sure that rocked your world, right?). you may call me the Queen of all Things Awesome and Amazing. Or you can call me Thea, T, T-Money, or T-Nice. Whatevs.
I think I found you thru a hop but no idea.
I am fascinated by your OCD and am bascially the complete opposite. I subscribe to the germ theory (or whatever you call it) and am proud to say my child has not been too sick in her short life. Don't hate on me too much. I am okay with being gross.
I can pat my belly and rub my head.
I love the movie about hte Guitar Pick. Hilar.
I heart your blog :) and hope you have just 1/100th of the laughs reading mine that i get reading yours.
LOL I really have no idea how I found your blog. But I should admit that I might be the antithesis of OCD. I mean, I am not gross. I don't ingest things that are knowingly dirty but I have been known to violate many of the commonly accepted rules of cleanliness. I like to live dangerously! But with that said, I love your blog. You make me smile even though sometimes it is a smile of disbelief is is a smile nonetheless! I am Maria from www.lifelossandotherthings.blogspot.com :)
ReplyDeleteHelen: So glad you are here. You have a very cool website as well!
ReplyDeleteSuzanne: Thanks for sharing some info about yourself! I've been on Paxil before. Worked pretty well for depression, although I've not tried it for my OCD. Oh, and DEF keep me posted about your own blog! :)
Rachel: hahaha about Cracker Barrel. Sorry, but I'm not really sorry. ;) Oh, and I'm sure you read my post about my own emetophobia? Keep on keepin on with the hand sani. :)
Katherine: I'm on 60 mg once a day. So far it has taken the edge off my intrusive thoughts, but nothing has touched my actual OCD/germaphobia. Fascinating about the rubber band--so simple! Anyway, glad to have you here. :)
T-Dawg: You, my sweet, have just shattered my mind. I always thought you were Thee-uh. Now I shall have to refer to you evermore as Tia. I love you and your blog, and I consider you my Perfect Foil.
Maria: I'm so glad to know you read and enjoy my blog! Maybe I will rub off on you a little, and you on me. :)
Thanks, y'alls, for thinking I'm a funny funny girl! This is my goal. :)
Perfect Foil. I love it.
ReplyDeleteThe Dirty Yin to your squeaky clean Yang. (he he she said Yang. Like Wang)
I am honored.
PS...have I ever told you I don't believe in hand sanitizer? Did that make you cry a little??? My new plan is to reveal my dirties only a tiny bit at a time. I don't want you to disown me.
PPS...I am not ashamed to say that I had to google 'foil' to make sure I understood exactly what you meant. Sad considering I was an english major. My brain is mush *sob* its probably brain eating bacteria from my lack of sani useage.
1. I shall be known as Chesea.
ReplyDelete2. You told me about it.
3. You think you do...
4. Today? For about 5 minutes.
5. I think you are hilarious and I like to laugh at your illness.
6. I do indeed like Tenacious D!
7. Yes, I CAN rub my belly and pat my head.
8. I can touch my tongue to my nose, but I choose to use my power for good.
9. I am obsessed with you and reading this blog.
10. I have learned several new tricks! Reading this has made me more aware of germs and such, and I find myself washing my hands more often...
I AM YOUR BIGGEST FAN! :)
1. You know me as BK...and other things.
ReplyDelete2. You told me about it on a different blog. :)
3. No, our friendship is entirely virtual, yet entirely awesome, and I'm pretty sure if I were ever in your neck of the woods I'd try to arrange a hang out.
4. This blog: 6 months or so? Other blogs: ...longer than that. Like what...5/6 years?
5. Your awesomeness and totally candid approach to your OCD.
6. "This is Bach, & it rocks, it's a rock block of Bach, that I learnt in the school, called the school of hard knocks."
7. Yes.
8. No. And ick.
9. I collect things...I collect collections. Yoda, rocks, books...
10. I think I use more hand sanitizer since I started reading your blog. I can't SEE the germs, like you can, but I am probably slightly more aware. And I have a tendency to think "What would Jo do..." Oh, and when I see hand sani on sale, I get the urge to call you, but I don't have your number and you're too far away for it to be effective. (Note: I went to the amish country store with my mom a couple weekends ago & they had a whole shopping cart full of Purell on sale at the front of the store, 4/$1. But it was probably expired...do you think expired hand sani still works at all? What part of it expires?)
I am not doing it a third time....just not! Your blog hates me and that is why I ALWAYS give up commenting.
ReplyDeleteHi joe,bob here,non-ocd,engine fixing house building guy from some surely dirty place lol i found your blog while looking up a pic of "sniffing pantie" ( not for myself-don't judge lol) but as a crack/joke against a friend of mine whom i caught sniffing a pair of said panties ! ( i know nasty right?) anyway,you used a pic of that somewhere,i read the caption and saved the page....why ? i love the crazy that is our world and you allow a window into a true depth of it...i feel something for you but i dont want to call it pity or sorry for you( dont take that the wrong way,please) there is something powerful about you! i love your stories and they make me smile ALOT :) i plan on catching up to where you are today ( i read in the evenings) i like tenacious d,cant like my nose,and even though i dont suffer from ocd,ive got many many problems too. the ENTIRE world is stacked with them...at least you can face and recognize them,for that you are a beacon of light and hope for the rest of us crazy fuckers out here sliding on a hot tin slide....thank you! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment! I'm glad you enjoy this blog. I really should update it soon. :/
DeleteOh, and let's not further discuss the search term you used to find this blog. :)
Do you still want to know about people who are reading this post from over a year ago?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Hannah, and I don't remember how I found your blog. I always have a bunch of tabs open in my browser at a time, your blog is in a couple of them at the moment but I don't remember when I opened those ones. I'm pretty sure I don't know you in real life. I've been reading it since I opened the tabs, I guess. You're funny and you make me feel less weird for doing some of the things I do.
I do like Tenacious D, and I can rub my belly and pat my head at the same time (it works better if the left hand does the head patting and the right hand does the belly rubbing, but I can sort of do it the other way too). I don't want to lick my nose.
I was diagnosed with OCD when I was 15 but I don't know if I still have it now, I'm not seeing a doctor or anything about it (I kind of developed a phobia of mental health professionals from being forced to see ones I hated as a teenager).
Well hi Hannah! Ugh, I sort of seem to have given up on this blog, haven't I? Good to know people still like it.
DeleteWhat kind of OCD did you have? And I know how you feel...I absolutely DREAD seeing doctors.