Here is my current list of reasons

WHY I AM IN THE RUNNING FOR WEIRDEST PERSON EVER:

01. My favorite meal -- the one I always request when Mom asks what I want on my birthday -- is liver, spinach, mashed potatoes, milk gravy, dinner rolls, and iced tea.

02. I bugged my sister until she bought me a socko paddle to play with here in the nursing home.

03. For the most part, I don't like steak.

04. I liked the movie Ishtar.

05. I'd rather have canned biscuits, boxed macaroni & cheese, and instant mashed potatoes instead of the homemade versions.

06. I'm afraid of being snapped by rubber bands.

07. I can't eat or drink anything hot. When I have hot chocolate, for example, I mix it with half the required boiling water and then finish with very cold milk.

08. I have never seen the movie Titanic, the series Heroes, or anything starring Jack Black, Steve Carrell, or Edward Norton.

09. I don't like mushrooms.

10. All the hangers in my closet must be hanging in the same direction.

11. I segregate jellybeans, M&Ms, etc. into color groups and then eat one group at a time.

12. One Christmas about 25 years ago, I heard a song called "We're a Bunch of Little Elves" on a local radio station, but no one else seems to have ever heard it. It included the lyrics "We're not cats or dogs or even human beans" and "Some elves are fat, some elves are fatter, but we're all invisible so it doesn't matter".

13. I get the heebie-jeebies if my food touches on the plate and yet I mix fried potatoes with my fried eggs, milk gravy and scrambled eggs, and I eat casseroles.

14. I keep a spreadsheet listing all the books I've read since the last week of June 1994, including statistics of average per month, most re-read book, etc.

15. I won't eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on whole wheat bread, only white. All other sandwiches are fine on brown.

16. I like to chew ice.

17. I can't eat 99.9% of all brands of sausage because even their mildest versions are much too spicy.

18. I prefer to keep blinds, curtains, etc. closed at all times to block sunlight.

19. I love candy corn but won't eat the "Indian" type with the brown on the top, not white, even though I know it is just coloring and the candy tastes the same.

20. I like oatmeal cookie dough far, far more than I like the actual baked cookies.

So what do you think, people? Am I the weirdest person ever?

Anne Teldy (whose socko paddle is actually a Dora the Explorer Paddle Ball)