#64 - Eccentricity

#64 - Eccentricity

Eccentricity is fun & tempting -- for this Sunday Scribbling I'd like you to:

a) admit any eccentricities you may have, or wish you had, or any you might choose to cultivate;
b) write about eccentric people you know or have heard or read about;

or, the most fun:

c) devise a bunch of eccentricities for yourself, for fun -- either for your old age, or now. Imagine you've inherited a mansion and a fortune, and now it's your job to become an eccentric. You know, like having a pet pot-bellied pig that goes with you everywhere, and always wearing jodhpurs and riding boots (I had a boss that did that, though he owned a restaurant and didn't ride horses; he looked like a male Yoko Ono in riding attire).

Have fun! Invent your weirdest self.

I took KG's The "Eccentricity Quotient" Quiz: and scored a 5 out of ten. A 5 says that: You’re a bit weird, and must work much harder at it. Being eccentric that is.

I've alway thought of myself as normal as sliced bread, and this test confirms that. On the other hand I do exhibit some behaviors that could definitely qualify me to fit into the Quirky category.

Being colorblind and male has caused me to appear odd in public, but I believe that is genetic, not eccentric. To illustrate; Friday I needed to send a blood sample to the lab to obtain a type and crossmatch for blood for my patient. I looked at the list of required tube colors for the different test the lab does. My reference card told me that a red top tube was required for a T&X. So dutifully, after drawing a sample of the patient's blood, put it into a red topped tube, and sent it to the lab. Shortly the aide returned to tell me that the lab no longer uses red topped tubes. A T&X goes in a purple top. Frustrated but still in need of a T&X I proceeded to draw another sample. This was no easy task since the patient was devoid of ship shape veins. I succeeded in obtaining the second sample and put it in what I thought was a purple top tube. Quicker than you can say Jack Robinson, the aid was back, retelling me that the lab required a purple top not the blue top I had sent down. In fact, this time they sent a purple top tube back with her. At this point, embarrassed and irritated I requested that the lab tech come to the OR to draw the sample. She did this and I realized that in the future I would save time and headache by having the lab tech come in the first place.


While she was there I said, "first I sent a red top tube, then I sent a blue top tube. If you had just mixed the red top with the blue top you'd have gotten a purple top." ;-)
Quirky sense of humor? Yes.
Eccentric? Nah, I don't think so.

I like to sing. I sing everywhere. I frequently greet my patients with a song. "Getting to know you" is a common one. "I'll be seeing you" is another. I do requests of course. And most notably I'm known for make up my own lyrics. Often ribald but sometimes just funny. I've been known to get up and deliver an entire song while standing in the middle of the crowded cafeteria. From time to time I'll recite, in public, from memory, Hamlet's soliloquy.


Given my druthers I'd prefer to dress daily in either a frock coat or a renaissance doublet. Since I'm only quirky and not eccentric, I would only dress thus if on a dare or at Halloween.


There'll be no artistic, musical, scientific or literary master pieces coming from me in the near future, if ever. That leaves me free to produce voluminous mediocrity and revel in it, for there'll be no expectation of excellence. I have no desire to be a genius or to be famous or infamous.
P.S. I like to write a novel that would be as successful as Dan Brown's DaVinci Code!

I do think I could make the world a better place to live....You don't need to be a genius to figure that on out.
Just follow the Golden rule.