you down with OCD? yeah you know me!

i have OCD. i was diagnosed with it when i was about 13 and it's taken on various forms. my specific brand is known as trichotillomania, or "trich" for those in the nerdy know. it derives its name from the greek "thrix" which means" hair," "tillein" which means "to pull," and of course, "mania" which means "madness" or "frenzy." if you haven't quite guessed by now, my form of OCD means that i pull out my hair. this particular type of OCD affects about 1-2% of the US population but because it's a bit gross and not as cleanly cute as handwashing it doesn't really get broadcast-"hey check out my lack of arm hair, yeah, i did that!" i'm pretty lucky, many people that have this form of OCD have bald spots, no eyelashes and other hair strangeness. i used to take medication but i was able to relax enough without so i haven't needed it in years but i do still have this form of OCD. it's not going anywhere and i guess that's ok. having an obsessive personality can manifest itself in different ways, extremely intense but short lived relationships (no pbf, not those kind of relationships), brief and focused periods of interest on random things-what would you like to know about...civil war reenactment, mesoamerican indians, seashells of the gulf coast? none of this is harmful, it's just a part of my personality. i have to schedule myself or else i will get nothing done because i will get very focused on one specific thing i have coming up. i often lay in bed and write elaborate letters to people that will never make it to paper. sometimes i just blog.