Past Myspace Blog "Living With Amy"

October 4, 2007 - Thursday

So, I'm really enjoying living with my sister. We have so much in common, not just attitudes and things we like, but also some funny, random "compulsions". One day, we were walking in a parking lot and Amy asked, "Dawn, do you ever have a random desire to key a car?" Now, you might think this is a funny question, but it just so happens that the week before I had passed a lovely gold Lexus at Wal-mart and had the strange sensation of wanting to know what it felt like to scratch a long line across it with my keys. . . .Of course we both know that we would never do such a thing, but how funny that we've both felt the desire (or maybe this is not uncommon and it is only funny because we voiced the desire).

Another day, we were walking into a store and there were several locked boxes in view. Several of them had keys in them. I heard her verbalize, "No! Keep walking!" I asked her what she was thinking and she said, "Did you see those keys, I wanted to grab them and hide them in some random place in the store." Another thing I know she would never do, but it was so funny to hear her say it out loud.

One day, I was commenting about these funny things and she said, "Oh, here's another one! When I was in Oregon and we were on a boat watching for whales, I had a strange compulsion to jump out of the boat!" This is funny because when I was in London on a "cruise" on the Thames river, I had a similar compulsion. The fact that the tour guide said the river was so contaminated that just being in the water would kill you stopped me. Here's what stopped Amy. She imagined several scenarios. First, she imagined being eaten by a whale. . .Now, she knows that whales don't eat humans, but they do have big mouths and what if she were just swallowed whole. . . that would not be pleasant. Second, what if she jumped out of the boat and to her dismay there was a whale right there .. . and what if the whale turned around and flipped it's tail and hit her in the head. . . and if she got hit in the head and drowned, that would be sad and she would die and everyone would be sad (and then she probably imagined her funeral. . . as everyone cried that she got hit in the head with the tail of whale).

It cracks me up! Most people may get random compulsions, but just think, "No, that's not a good idea." But Amy thinks, "No, that's not a good idea", then imagines all sorts of funny (or serious) scenarios about why it isn't a good idea. I told her she should write a book about all of these things that she thinks about. She said that would be funny and she would include in the forward that those reading the book shouldn't worry because she was undergoing psychological treatment. Then she started to talk about all the people who would read her book and the psychiatrists and psychologists who would analyze her thoughts. . . .and they would come up with a new disorder and name it after her. . . it would be called the "Amerator" Disorder and when people asked, she would say, "I have the "Amerator" disorder. . . oh, you have panic disorder. . . too bad, I wish you could have "Amerator" disorder. . .it's much funner".

She cracks me up!