Here is something I have learned: people live by rules. I know you think um, duh, the law, school rules etc. But I mean that people live by a strict set of personal rules they make for themselves sans the what other people tell them to do. Oh outside sources influence these rules, but they don't dictate them, I suppose you could call them habits, but I think they go beyond habit. And I'm not talking about morals either, these are the quirky things we make ourselves live by because we think it's what makes a good life or what a pretty life looks like in our heads or because we're all a little bit crazy (as well as racist, which this piece is not,in fact about). . .I'm not judging this process, heck I even do it, I just think it's amusing. So next time someone tells you that they hate rules and think they're dumb, you can just smile at them because 1. that's a rule 2. all people set some kind of boundary for themselves. Let me just tell you about some:
My roommate has a rule that she can't eat the same thing twice in one day. It's nearly an impossibility, so when other people do it she has an issue over it (and she tries to hide it . . .but when you live with someone for almost eight months it gets hard to miss what they're really thinking, but maybe that's just me). Today my other roomie told her to have peanut butter toast, but she can't because she had it for breakfast, I'm pretty sure she physically can't. A rule she lives by.
A girl upstairs hates celebrating her birthday, she says it's fake and she hates getting gifts because she never gets what she wants. She doesn't like the attention, she lives by a rule: to keep the spotlight off of herself.
My darling friend has a strict code of conduct when it comes to color and especially color pairing. No black with brown (this would be The Big No-no) no navy with black (because you'll look like a bruise) no white bottoms (skirts, pants, and dresses) when it is cold/snowy/wintertime. Nothing too psycho or neon paired together, because you'll look obnoxious and heinous (which really is true, isn't it?). This rule is directly related to her dressing rules (if people have no other rules, they most definitely have these, most lists are extensive and have very complex and subtle 'but' clauses and appendices lettered A-Q, these are the most fascinating of all personal codes of conduct to me).
I guess one of mine is that I wear socks to bed when I spend the night at a hotel. I never ever sleep with socks any other time, but I basically have to in a hotel . . .ok if I'm going to be completely candid, sigh, I don't (generally) go barefoot at all in hotels, except (albeit reluctantly) in the shower. But wearing the socks to bed is beyond legit, and not . . .really not, it's not a raional thought, but it's how I feel. So here: I have a fear that I'll be particularly active in the night, make the bottom sheet come loose and then I'll feel the hotel mattress . . .ICKY. There's is just something about that idea that makes me just get the ever-lovin' heebie-jeebies. So there you go, a wierd thing I live by, quite staunchly, I think if none of the above illustrated the point I was trying to get out in the universe, my rule did it.
Oh and I have a set of three precious and perfect little ringlets bouncing directly next to my right ear.