Me & Howard Hughes

This is not a complete non-sequitor..........this is a knitting blog.  I knit, I watch movies while I knit.....so....

Have you ever seen a film that just stays with you and you find yourself thinking about little aspects of it at the oddest moments?  That's what happened with "The Aviator", the Leo DeCaprio starring flick about Howard Hughes.  First of all, I have to admit my naivete when it comes to Mr. Hughes.  I had no clue that he had influenced commercial aviation to such a large degree.  The man was truly driven.

Lying in a hospital bed with injuries from crashing in to a Beverly Hills home on one of his test runs....he redesigned the hospital bed! 

I also found his "OCD" or for those of you not in the know........."Obsessive Compulsive Disorder" ....well, I found that very interesting and started using it as a verb.  Like......"Oh, I'm just OCD-ing right now".  I do realize it is a VERY serious problem and I'm not making light of it at all.  But I did find myself worrying......

• the fact that I HAVE to have the looroll aka bogroll aka toilet paper hung so that it rolls down and not up.........I mean, I will change this in people's homes and in public restaurants.  It bugs me that much.   I keep telling myself it's logical.  You don't want the roll to go the other way, it just isn't logical, right?

  

• the fact that if we're out in a restaurant and some sort of beverage is served with a cup and saucer (cappuccino perhaps?) I MUST be sure there is no 'mess' under the cup.  This prevents drips landing on my clothes, you see.  This of course, extends to everyone at my table.  I have been known to lift people's cups and put napkins on their saucers if I see a spill going on there.  I think of it, once again as preventive and simply logical.
• the fact that as soon as I return from the Blockbuster Video, I must wash my hands with warm water and soap.  I think that is just common sense.  I mean, all those hands touching all those videos and you can hear everyone sniffling and sneezing and see them wiping their noses in the shop.  Ewwww.....it just grosses me out!  Logical again, right?
• My only true anxiety comes from the simple act of driving over a bridge. 

• 

  Any long bridge...say longer than 2 blocks....and I start to sweat and panic.  The Richmond Bridge in San Francisco is sheer torture and terror for me.  All started when I crashed my 1970 Mustang on a hill in a blizzard in the Arizona mountains.  Me and an 18 wheeler.  He won.  But that's another story.  Point is.....I've got this bizarre anxiety/panic attack that happens when I'm driving over bridges.  Very unsettling.

So those are my particular 'eccentricities'.  I do not for one moment think I have OCD at all nor am I belittling it.  But seeing the film did make me think about those little quirks and I sort of understood how it could all get bent out of shape. 

Basically, I feel like I have various odd things in common with Howard Hughes............thanks to him, my mom has a comfortable hospital bed in her living room and I am getting on a commercial flight and flying non-stop above the turbulence ....to go and visit her. 

What would Howard have done with knitting needles and yarn? 

Hats off to all the mad geniuses in the world..............

Comments

[Anna]

Why would anyone put the toilet roll going any other way than the one you show?!? It baffles me that people DON'T always put it that way!

The clean tea towels must go to the bottom of the pile in the cupboard and be used in rotation.

I have been known to walk back to my house to check the door is locked when I'm almost at the train station.

When I smoked I would pick up each stub from the ashtray and make sure it was cold and then put the ashtray in the sink before going to sleep at night.

You're not alone! :o)

Hope your journey is stress free and that you get to spend some good time with your Mother. Sending many hugs.

Anna

[Rachael]

I'm very obsessive about the toilet paper thing! The other thing is placing the empty roll in the rubbish, I have to do it, and it pisses me off to no end if it's not done. I get really upset when the loo paper is upside down in those lockup holders in public loos, and I can't make it right! Yes you are not alone!!!

[anne]

Oh I SO relate to your bridge anxeity. It doesn't even have to be a long bridge if I end up getting STUCK on it during a traffic jam.

I just love sitting on a bridge in Denver feeling it bounce and sway as the big trucks go by in the other direction and remembering the recent news reports about how many bridges in this country are ready to fall down....

[Libby]

I felt the same sort of relation to Hughes when I saw that movie too!! Definitely with the germ-phobia and the touching thing - and I've definitely had my isolation phases too - sans the bottles of pee. I always try to open public restroom doors with a piece of tissue or my pinkie finger...and if bare feet - someone else's or even my own - get anywhere near any part of my body...I have to wash.

Makes you wonder if we all have a little ocd in us, huh?

[lyn]

my husband and i struggle w/ that toilet paper issue every day...i am in complete agreement with you on the subject...can't say the same for my husband...the upstairs bathroom (master bath) has it my way...the downstairs bathroom (guest bath) has it his way...sheesh...the compromises we make in life...and love...

[jessica~]

I have not yet seen the movie but now I am intrigued. I like your question of what H. Hughes would do with needles and yarn. I wonder, indeed...

OCD is so overbearing it's unbeleivable. My brother is OCD and I remember it being maddening when we lived together. I don't have the same eccentricities as you, but we all have some. It helps build charachter, right? ;)