What's the strangest/quirkiest way you didn't follow a norm?

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Basically, what's the strangest/quirkiest thing you've ever done that surprises NTs since it breaks "social norms"?

In Freshman year of college, I had an obnoxious roommate that I didn't like since he was always loud. Plus, I wanted to read my new Spider-Man 3 adult novelization. Thus, I decided to stay in my car, parked in the campus parking lot, reading the book and even ordered a pizza - to be delivered to my car during the middle of winter.

NTs are often surprised that someone would ever do something like that, but I don't find it strange - just logical: avoid roommate, little sound to annoy me (college libraries can get loud and busy), food, and my car can be comfortable.

There are a lot that I can't remember off the top of my head similar to the example you described, where something seems logical to me but apparently isn't "common sense" to NTs. One thing I do is write with my hand in a fist. I taught myself how to write the "normal" way, but I still write best in a fist (although I don't write very well either way).

The other day I rescued a rather big fly that was hovering against the window trying to get out. I got a tissue and gently grabbed the fly with it, then I set it free outside.
Most NTs would just kill a fly but I like flies. I know they land on poop but that still doesn't make me want to kill them.

I developed a velomobile, but instead of using separate parts for frame, suspension, and springs, I made them as a continuous structure. Most NTs only noticed I was driving something odd. I dropped out of high school, went to the library, and was invited to lecture to graduating engineers. I have never owned a TV or videogame. I dress for practicality, not appearance. I once spent a week making special clamps, etc, instead of hiring a helper for a month. However, maybe my most consistent quirk has been always planning my cuts to minimize waste. I am also in many other minority groups - bicyclist, vegan, voluntary simplicity, etc. These somewhat group together, but each one reduces my full peer group, and I don't fit in well enough to make friends in any of them.
My wife and I once received a letter accusing us in one paragraph of being nazis, and in another calling us communists. To me, the two terms cancelled out, making the letter neutral. My wife was less philosophical about it.

Many people would consider my interest in tennis odd, because they like the more popular sports and would consider my interest in Denis Istomin more unusual yet.

I don't remember why or how it began, but from toddlerhood all the way into my preteens i would never eat my food if anyone else touched it using the eating utensils they had already put in their mouths. It was, to me, contaminated somehow. People would purposely stick their fork or spoon in my food just to see it happen. And so i would just not touch any of it then even if i felt very hungry. I also (still) can not deal with certain food textures at all---- gristle on chicken/turkey is a no-go. Cant chew even accidentally because i can hear it if i bite it. Clams have griity stuff in them that simply won't make it into the mouth. And (ALL) Fat/gooeys on a steak must be carefully cut away or the steak is a total loss for me. These things feel WRONG, cannot eat them.

That's partly how I ended up being vegetarian.

Wearing socks in sandals. I do that every day. No idea why it's considered mildly inappropriate, because it's super comfy; it keeps your feet from getting rubbed when going for a long walk, the socks don't get wet and smelly from sweat, and it's great when the weather's too warm for shoes, but wearing sandals only gives you cold feet.

I hold my pencil in an odd way (resting it on my ring finger while gripping it with my first three fingers), they tried to break me of that during elementary school, but I resisted. Hehe.

To give one example.

I wore a football helmet and shoulder pads to school one day in 8th grade.

I consider the floor as viable a seat as a chair.
I scribbled on a math test with colored pencils once because the stark black-and-white contrast was weirding my eyes and making it hard to read.
I've carried my measuring tape from sixth grade with me for many years. The library has a sign that says "No smoking within 25 feet." I saw an old guy smoking too close. So I got out my measuring tape and had him move 25 feet away.
I will frequently giggle at mental images in Bible study, and the pastor will say, "Not literally, Abbie."
I use things for things other than their intended purpose.
Mostly I do things that make others look at me funny, but I don't bother remembering most because to my mind they're the ones being odd for not seeing the logic of my actions.

Of course! What is wrong with those people?!
I only drank from someone else's drink once, and that was my mom's, and I was hiking and desperately thirsty. Any hint of saliva-sharing is a no-no.


Oh, yeah! Plus how are you supposed to show people your great socks unless wearing them with sandals?

The actions you chose to solve the distraction you had seem perfectly logical to me. I would have enjoyed myself immensely had I been in your situation and had done the same thing, for two reasons: 1) I would have accomplished my goal of reading and eating in solitude and comfort. 2) I would have triumphed over that obstacle that was your roommate who would have otherwise hindered me from constructively enjoying myself.


Keeping on a school theme with me:

I went to a private school for a year which had a dress code requiring boys to wear dress shirts tucked in. I couldn't stand the feeling of the dress shirts and worse, having the shirts clinging to my torso as they did was very uncomfortable for me. I devised a way of keeping my shirts un-tucked but folding them under to gave an appearance from a distance at least of being tucked in.

Inventing a different planet in grade school and a back story that I was actually formed from the planet leader's vomit rather than actually being the offspring of my earthly parents and creating an alien name that I insisted my classmates call me. They obliged and for at least three years, that's what I was called.

I too started to hold my pencil in an atypical manner early on. To this day, I hold a pencil with my thumb, pointer and middle finger while keeping my ring and little fingers stick straight on the paper. I got "F"s in penmanship all through grade school as a result. Almost no one can read my writing unless I take great pains to focus intently on each letter and word to write legibly.

Holy crap! That was funny because of the whiplash I got from your reaction and your wife's. When I read your reaction I thought "yeah, that makes sense" just to suddenly have counterbalanced by your wife's reaction.

I remember in college, I was having a conversation with one of my classmates and he talked about our history teacher and he really hated her. He called her a fascist and a communist in the same breath and I told him "You know that doesn't make much sense, right?" and he goes "It doesn't matter. She some how makes it possible."

I actually really liked this teacher's class though. He was just mad that she expected everyone to show up on time, basically. Wow! The unfairness of those expectations...

One thing I do is I'll eat an entire apple with disregard to the core because...it kind of doesn't exist. I mean, there's a middle part with seeds in it, but everything is edible. Whenever I do that in front of somebody and they see the entire apple is gone the reaction is always funny.

There might be other things I do but someone else would have to point them out to me. My brother told me it's genuinely hard to know if I'm being weird intentionally or if I'm just weird. Well, all I can say is...I never noticed I was acting weird, haha

I see people's faces in the faces of analog clocks, and when I tell people this they think i'm touched in the head. I refuse to use the word "Hertz" to refer to anything other than radio frequency EM radiation, sound waves I stubbornly refer to in frequency, as "cycles per second." whenever I eat a sandwich, it is always crust-first, in circles- thus getting the yuck outta the way in favor of the delicious middle.

I went to a private school for my sophomore high school year because public school was too painful.
I was waiting in a classroom with a bunch of other girls one day and everybody was standing around talking.

I was just standing by myself but i suddenly became aware that i didn't know how i should be standing.
So I invented a posture and just stood there in that weird posture for the remaining time we were in that room.

One of the other girls at the school said she would pray for me. I went back to public school the next year.
I didn't do too well back in public school and they had a psychiatrist come to school to talk to me but he ended up walking out on me.
I was so weird. I think I've gotten much better since then.

I believe there is only one correct volume to listen to a given recording, which is the volume at which it was recorded in the studio or original performance venue. any louder is abuse of the hearing mechanism and equipment [and neighbors! ] and any quieter means lower-level details in the mix will be masked by the louder bits and you won't hear all the music.