"In a sense, living alone represents the self let loose"
March 7, 2012 11:32 AM   Subscribe

You live alone, what weird habits and other quirks do you have because of it? Second part, what tips?

So I just read this The Freedom, and Perils, of Living Alone - NYT article and it's funny because I live alone and once I thought about it I do a lot of odd things I think I would never do if I had a roommate.

.. sooo Hive, what weird habits and other quirks do you have because you live alone? What things drive you to not have a roommate? And with that what tips do you have that have made living alone so enjoyable?
posted by xicana63 to Human Relations (9 answers total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: This needs to be framed pretty differently if it's not basically chatfilter. Maybe redraft it and give it a clearer "here is the problem I'm trying to solve" go next week. -- cortex

 
I don't know that I would characterize this as a weird habit, but I am naked a lot.
posted by AlliKat75 at 11:36 AM on March 7, 2012 [1 favorite]


I'm much less self-conscious about yelling at people on TV. Very liberating. Don't discount the cathartic effects of a good shout.
posted by Aquaman at 11:37 AM on March 7, 2012


None of the things described in the article seem particularly "quirky" to me. I think weirdish people are just weirdish people, whether they live alone or with others.

I have lived alone for several years, and I think the "quirkiest" thing I do is be naked a lot. I also will often have the television and music on at the same time, but I did that when living with other people, too.
posted by shamash at 11:42 AM on March 7, 2012


Agreed with shamash. This is just an article about weird people.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 11:43 AM on March 7, 2012


Talking to the cats. My one cat has been sick, and when I brought him home after a good news visit with the vet, I informed him all day that he didn't have a fever. " Guess what! You don't have a fever. You! Yes, you. No fever at all." If anyone else were there, how could they possibly put up with that.
posted by sweetkid at 11:44 AM on March 7, 2012


I got married years ago, but am an only child and had lived alone for some time before my husband came along. I'll tell you the two hardest things I had to try to give up: having conversations with people who are not there (which I still do, not only like imaginary work conversations, but also when I'm writing fiction I will converse with or on behalf of my characters. I do all this in a bare whisper, but with full gestures. I look like an idiot and try not to get caught.), and using the bathroom with the door open.

(Someone will claim it's totally cool to use the bathroom in front of your spouse, but I prefer a bit of privacy. Human privacy, anyway, since my pets tend to watch and/or take advantage of my immobility for petting purposes.)

I also had to get over my hatred of things being moved/touched by other people. Not having siblings has made me especially possessive of space. If I put my keys down *there*, I expect them to be *there* when I look for them. When I come home from work, I still freeze for a second if something has moved since I left, because someone's in the house. And then I remember that yes, there is, and he has the right to move a candle slightly to the left if he wants.
posted by Lyn Never at 11:44 AM on March 7, 2012


i tend to be less able to handle noise from other people in my apartment when I don't want noise from other people. I have trouble sleeping with others around. I eat too much- I'm pretty sure i'd eat a lot less if I had people around because then I'd feel guilty.
posted by saraindc at 11:45 AM on March 7, 2012


Recursive talking to yourself. Talking to yourself, realizing it, noting out loud that you are talking to yourself, then realizing that you just did it again.
posted by Babblesort at 11:46 AM on March 7, 2012 [1 favorite]




« Older Movies with proud fathers?   |   Thingamabobs? I've got (more than) twenty! Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.