AS or OCD?

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So this just came up in another forum "What do your notebooks look like?" and now I'm curious...

When I get stressed, I write lists...grocery lists with estimated prices, my movie collection in alphabetical order, movies I want to buy in alphabetical order, music pieces I want to learn (in alphabetical order by composer) things I need to do in the order in which I need to do them, etc. After I've written enough lists, I feel less stressed. This seems OCD-ish to me, but my shrink says that it fits ok with AS, with which I've already been dx'd. (In case you can't tell, I'm a big fan of alphabetizing...everything on my Facebook page...and my dorm room... is alphabetized too^.^)

Thoughts? I guess it doesn't matter that much, but I'm vaguely curious.

I think OCD can be very different for each person. I arrange things i.e. make sure that everything in my apartment is in the "right" place and checking on it several times, knowing that no-one has moved it. A friend checks continuously that there are no wrinkles on her bedding and another will drive around the block where he lives to see if his garage door is really closed - asked him what he would do if he drives past and it's suddenly open

I do the same thing. The content isn't usually important; what's important is that it's a LIST!

It could be OCD, but it doesn't need to be. I've grown up making lists, categorizing things, organizing objects, and even walking in certain patterns (cracks are good luck) and touching objects symmetrically, as if the balance of the universe depends on my movements. I think it's more a way of being stimulated than a way of casting out thoughts, since I derive pleasure from some of it (making it different it from true obsessive behavior). I don't fit the profile for OCD.

Simple test:

OCD: you do some type of compulsion for you feel something bad will happen if you don't do it; you don't like doing it, but it alleviates anxiety

AS: you do some type of "ritual" for it's always been done that way, and you just feel uncomfortable when it's not done that exact same way each time