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[Wellington]

I wouldn't say I have full blown OCDs... but damn if they aren't close to them. I didn't really notice until I was out at E3 this year.

The first one that affects me quite a bit is that my hands must be clean. I'm not frantically washing them every few minutes, but every couple of hours or after doing something out of the ordinary. Like I mentioned, at E3, I couldn't just go from kiosk to kiosk and then at the end call it a day or grab lunch or whatever. Just think about how many people touched the same controllers you did, and how many of them were picking their noses or asses, or how many of them didn't wash their hands when they went to the bathroom. Ugh. It's the first thing I do when I get home from work or anywhere else, must keep my games/keyboard germ free.

Another weird one is that I cannot go to bed until everyone else in the household or room or whatever is asleep. Maybe I'm being overprotective or overly paranoid, but I want to know that everyone is safe asleep, and I want to know that they won't get up in the middle of the night and shave my head or something. I gotta be up in about 4 hours yet here I am typing away since my mom is up.

Lastly, my bed MUST be made. Someone had posted a topic about their being an earwig in their bed not long ago.... ughgoshdggsg... perish the thought. a made bed is a clean bed is a critter free bed. My mother finally got to me with all her talk of that shit when I was a kid.

Anyone else got some weird shit they obsess over? How do I get rid of these? :0

 

[-Fightnfire-]

When I was a kid it was numbers. Everything I did had to somehow be tied to the number four. If something was two steps away I'd make it four and so on. This went on from about age 8 until 15 or so, everyonce in a while I'll still catch myself doing it. 23 now.

 

[yoshifumi]

no but i'm really anal about making sure things are secure...i check the stove and oven like 5 times if somebody's been using them, i check to see if the gas is off on the grill after somebody uses it, even if they tell me they turned it off. stupid stuff like that.

 

[AirBrian]

My shoes have to be in the same place when I take them off.

When I leave, I systematically check every room to make sure everything is off (i.e. ceiling fans, computers, etc.) and close the blinds.

The remote controls (reciever and TiVo) must be in certain spots when not in use; same with the cordless phone and cell phone.

I don't have OCD, but I'm certainly anal.

 

[arter_2]

yeah i cant look at the ground if thier are tiled patterns cuase if i do i get in the whole step in the crack thing or trying not to touch certain colors game. i can get past this, its not a whole ocd break down thing but it annoys me if i step in the cracks. so now i dont look down if im in that situation.

 

[Pachinko]

I'd say I'm anal about some things, I refuse to leave my car unlocked even if I'm just pumping gas into it.

When I leave the house I check 2 or 3 times to make sure the door is locked and I tend to like having clean hands. ON the whole though I"m a somewhat messy individual...

 

[jiggle]

When I'm in a store, I can never buy just 1 thing. It has to be two or more, or non at all. And if non at all, I will have trouble leaving the place...

When eating out, I cannot be the first person, of the group, to walk into the resturant.

 

[Wellington]

Fuck that's another thing. Whenever I would leave my car I'd have to go back 3-4 times to make sure the door is locked. I could be blocks away bt I will always convince myself to go back. It's made me late so many times.

 

[Cloudy]

I always double and triple-check stuff. Like setting my alarm clock, checking the address on a package before I mail it, locking doors (home and car) and checking if I left the car lights on etc. I'm really paranoid about stuff like that. Why can't I just do it once like everyone else without thinking I messed up ? I need help lol

 

[Jim Bowie]

I'd say I'm anal about some things, I refuse to leave my car unlocked even if I'm just pumping gas into it.

Speaking of pumping gas, as soon as I'm done pumping the gas, I screw back on the gas cap. Then, everytime I start to pull away, I put the car back into park and run back to make sure that the gas cap was indeed put on. I can't control it, either.

 

[-Fightnfire-]

Oh one more thing, I also sit for hours on end clicking the refresh button to this website. I get up go to the kitchen, bathroom, bedroom ... only to find myself scurrying back to click ...."refresh".....

 

[Mason]

I always have to make sure things are secure. I always check to make sure my car door is locked, the gas cap is on, the door of my house is locked, something is unplugged, whatever. I used to do it in multiples of four (like I would pull on the car door four times to make sure it's locked), but now I find myself doing things exactly ten times.

 

[White Man]

I have an above average level of paranoia. It's subsided in recent weeks since I've had more pressing things to set my mind on. It still creeps up on me. I don't know. It'll come back, but I hope that in this downtime I come up with some strategy to make it not as distracting when it does start up again.

I'm pretty neurotic all-around. I think it's because I'm obsessed with making people believe what they want to believe (in person, at least). I'm kind of like this twisted little actor, and I think my brain kicks itself because of this.

 

[Meier]

I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to work I am doing.. but that's about it. If anything though, I think I'd have some sort of ADHD.

 

[ArcadeStickMonk]

The first one that affects me quite a bit is that my hands must be clean. I'm not frantically washing them every few minutes, but every couple of hours or after doing something out of the ordinary. Like I mentioned, at E3, I couldn't just go from kiosk to kiosk and then at the end call it a day or grab lunch or whatever. Just think about how many people touched the same controllers you did, and how many of them were picking their noses or asses, or how many of them didn't wash their hands when they went to the bathroom. Ugh. It's the first thing I do when I get home from work or anywhere else, must keep my games/keyboard germ free.

This ain't weird. I was next in line during the early days of MVC2 and saw that the guy right in front of me had unzipped to get a good scratch in before he grabbed the Happ stick.

I always wash before I eat, before I game, and as soon as I come home. Make my visitors wash up too.

 

[Dan]

I'm a compulsive counter, and I 'suffer' from a few other non-traditional symptoms of OCD. It's possible that I could be diagnosed with fullblown OCD, but I really don't care one way or another, as I'm pretty much opposed to the medication that would be prescribed. Basically the compulsive counting thing just boils down to the fact that I count everything. When driving I count off telephone poles or trees or whatever, usually by 5s. Or I count my steps when walking. Or I count the number of tiles in my shower, horizontally, vertically and total, and I have the urge to do so every day, even if such numbers are etched into my mind.

If I'm not completely absorbed in what I'm reading my mind wanders a little and starts counting things there, like the number of words in a line, the number of letters in words, the number of lines in a paragraph, etc. That can make it difficult to read things for classes I'm not particularly interested in. The counting is also often done in tandem with finding symmetries.

Stuff like that. It's rather bizarre and distracting, especially since I'm well aware it's not a conscious act, I just notice myself doing it often. It can be relatively frustrating however.

 

[tree fiddy]

I almost always double-check, sometimes triple-check, stuff like setting my alarm, locking the door, turning off the pc, etc. even though I did it right the first time. I can't help it.

 

[Nikashi]

If I'm waiting for a bus or something I'll literally count down the seconds for something to do.

So if it's supposed to show up in 5 mins, I start counting down from 300..

300, 299, 298, etc..

I've successfully counted down from 1800 to zero while waiting a half hour

 

[bjork]

I don't really notice myself doing these things, I just know that I overthink everything.

 

[Grimlock]

Every time I come to my car, I walk around it at least once to check for anything odd-even if it's pouring outside. My car got hit once in a parking lot and I didn't notice the dent until I got home. Ever since then...

 

[Chrono]

I pause anime to "summarize" what has happened so far.. I do this several times when a new development happnes. and if the anime doesn't make a big fuss over it I pause for a LONG time just thinking it over and over as if to make it more "confirmed." .. man when I expect something to happen and it turns out to not be what it is, like a character I thought x which turned out to be Y, I FREAK OUT. It's like I worry the anime will "change" in my head because of what I thought. I think and think as if I could get a way to "delete" my old thoughts.. and get sad and negative for no reason.. then wonder why i'm sad and negative and pull out memories and experiences I wish I don't and just think and think and think until I do nothing for hours but feel bad.


This "habit" is part of me and is infested into everything I do. I think about this EVERY DAY to try and "rationalize" it or "beat" it. pausing anime is just one symptom of something very bigger with me and very messed up. When I hear /read something like "crap" It gets in my head with this disgusting feeling; I shake my head like crazy trying to "make it go" but it "busts in" every time I do something like watch anime or play games or study..

 

[Miguel]

I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to work I am doing.. but that's about it. If anything though, I think I'd have some sort of ADHD.

"You've made me proud."

and CK, you're not alone in the "not going to sleep til everyone else is" I do that too. We should get together and see who gives in first.

 

[Trevelyon]

I'm highly sanitary, I shower at least twice if not three times a day. I'm constantly brushing my teeth & washing my hands at every chance, I change my bed sheets every second day & I clean the toilet seat and flush it before I use it, every time.

I worry about myself sometimes.

 

[metsallica]

I have played Animal Crossing every day since it came out in the US (9/16/02). Does that count?

 

[Ollie Pooch]

yeah i cant look at the ground if thier are tiled patterns cuase if i do i get in the whole step in the crack thing or trying not to touch certain colors game. i can get past this, its not a whole ocd break down thing but it annoys me if i step in the cracks. so now i dont look down if im in that situation.

HAH i do the same thing every now and then - when i was little i had this thing where in the hallway of our house (tiled, no less) i used to only be able to step on a certain amount of tiles or the 'thing chasing me' would get me.

oh and i always used to have like a shape in my head and count it out like a tshirt shape.. 1-across.. 2-up... 3-across...4-up... 5-left

i have NO idea what the fuck was goin on there possibly due to primary school use of 'logo' that text-based drawing program on apple IIe's

 

[Miguel]

I pretend I'm a Knight (chess) when I walk on tile. Move up 3 over 1. Over 3, up 1. Etc....i'm weird

 

[teepo]

sometiems i gotta double check if i locked my doors of if i did something correctly. latly i havn;t though.

 

[Lemurnator]

I have a thing for wanting it pitch black darkness when i go to sleep. I don't like my alarm clock because the light is too bright and I once had a VCR next to my bed that blinked 12:00 and nearly drove me insane. I'd cover up the alarm clock with a piece of clothing and put a VHS in front of the blinking vcr.

You know those stereos that have a freaken light show for a display? I hate those things.


My family calls me OCD because of the measures I take to sleep in darkness.

...like a bat.

 

[Dragmire]

*reads thread* ...Weird. It's all math's fault. It can be boring enough, but then it has to go and screw up people's minds. Anyway, I don't have OCD, at least not like anyone here. For example, I'm very germ conscious, but I'm okay just letting it go without washing my hands until it's time to eat or something. I have good control over my behavior, as I can take control over annoying habits or compulsions if I try. After an initially frustrating bout with the habit/compulsion for maybe a day or so, it usually doesn't bother me. And I don't check or recheck things over and over. I think I used to be pretty compulsive when I was young, but I grew out of it or something.

But perhaps I am compulsively musical. I've always got a beat or melody going in my head, and I often click my teeth in my mouth to some beat. I kind of move my lower jaw left and right and make beats with the different sides of my teeth. I think it's because I like hearing the beat and it keeps my hands and body free. But sometimes I end up grinding my teeth. While driving I can relate to counting telephone poles because I click my teeth when poles or cars pass the part between the windshield and my window. I've noticed this habit before, but never thought much of it. But it's kind of annoying when driving, so I'm going to try to quit.

Dan, why are you opposed to medication? Is it the nature of the medication, or the fact that medication kind of 'changes' you, or makes you less 'real'? If it's the latter, I just want to say that I had the same issues with medication for my depression. I ended up accepting the medication more easily than I had thought I would, especially after talking to the doctor about my apprehension. Even if I'm less real now, which doesn't feel even slightly true, my life is a lot more tolerable now. Really, I wouldn't be able to stand it if I had your compulsion. Hopefully there's something you can do about it. Sometimes trying to fix it on your own (like with my depression) just isn't enough because there's a chemical element to it that you just can't change without medicine.

 

[Belfast]

Hmmm.....yeah, I do the double-checking thing with locking my car. I gotta hit the lock button on my remote about 10 times before I'm satisfied.

Also, I'm in the "go to the store, have to buy something" group. Maybe I have ADD or something, but I have the tendency to lose interest in things pretty quickly. Maybe its why I don't finish most of my games. But in order to keep things moving along smoothly, I have to buy new crap to play with or watch or otherwise occupy my attention. And when I go to the store and can't buy anything or can't find anything I really want, I get disappointed.

Also, masturbation.

 

[gofreak]

I pause anime to "summarize" what has happened so far.. I do this several times when a new development happnes. and if the anime doesn't make a big fuss over it I pause for a LONG time just thinking it over and over as if to make it more "confirmed." ..

I do this, with books and games. Like, with a book, I often go back and reread the last couple of pages, just so it's set in my mind, so I've taken it all in. Similarly, with games, I'll concentrate really hard on what's happening, what's happened to date etc.. go over and over it in my mind until I'm happy I've "got it" fully. At the movies, I'll also find myself focussing and thinking over the film really hard so I've "taken it all in" only to then find I've got a blank of about 5 minutes in the movie because of all the thinking. I'd like to think I'm just savouring the experiences, but sometimes it gets a little overwhelming

I also can't go to sleep if others are up and about. I also cannot stand a dripping tap - if I hear a tap dripping, I MUST go and stop it before I can continue on doing what I'm doing. My bedroom is pretty close to the bathroom, so it happens a fair bit.

 

[Cerebral Palsy]

I pace back and forth constantly when I get bored. And I'm always chewing on a pen.

 

[Blackie]

I exhibit a lot of OCD behavior.

I triple and quadruple check locking doors, my alarm clock, test answers, etc.
I always avoid stepping on cracks, as if my doom will be triggered by touching one.
I have this weird thing where I randomly decide I have to look at this certain person, or throw a rock at a certain branch of a tree, or jump over a certain bench, or else my future will be ruined. And I always do whatever I've randomly decided is necessary for my survival.
If I accidently press a finger against another finger, I have to press all of my fingers in a pyramid like pattern. So I press the pinky once, next finger twice, middle thrice, back down to 1.
I stay up late and read every single thread of gaming age and 4 other popular messageboards, every day.
I read books nonstop from cover to cover, no matter the length. One time I read about 3000 pages straight in a couple days.
When I decide to get in shape I do it hardcore. I do hours of jogging, basketball, weightlifting, swimming, etc every day, usually around 6 hours daily. And I eat only the best food, no junkfood or butter or anything that even seems remotely unhealthy.
I compulsively flirt with and try to get every attractive girls phone number I meet. I got 10 numbers in one day once when I really couldn't stop myself. I usually don't even call them.
If I study, I do it nonstop for hours until I have everything memorized to the point that I can recite pages and pages of notes back. If I feel like slacking off, I don't go to any classes, do any homework, or even leave my room for weeks. Sometimes I don't see direct sunlight for days.

That's all I can think of for now, but it's probably enough.

 

[GDGF]

I used to, but I trained myself out of it for the most part.
My mom (god bless her) must wash her hands pretty much before and after she does any task. I don't want to be like that.

When I was a child, I had to do things in even numbers. I arbitrarily slapped my leg, so I would have to slap the other or I would feel 'unbalanced' so to speak

I used to pick up any forigen object I found on the ground , lest it cause some wild chain reaction accident if/when someone stepped on it (or so I believed)

I had to double/tripple check everything, (doors, stovetops, etc.) or I would be concerned for the rest of the day.

I also did the whole 'don't step on the crack' thing, but I considered that more of a game

With the exception of the occasional double/tripple check, I don't exibit OCD behavior anymore, but it took work to break myself of these habits. No shrinks. No intervention. Just recognition that this was not 'natural' behavior, and a willingness to put an end to it.
It's not easy, but you can do it if you try.

 

[keeblerdrow]

Lastly, my bed MUST be made. Someone had posted a topic about their being an earwig in their bed not long ago.... ughgoshdggsg... perish the thought. a made bed is a clean bed is a critter free bed.

NOT true. The earwig was in my MADE bed. They prefer dark places during the daytime and between the sheets is as dark as anything.

 

[shuri]

I double, triple-check everything work-related I do. It's quite fucking crazy lemme tell you

 

[Lakitu]

Before I go bed I have to check:

-The door.
-The gas.
-The back door.
-All the lights upstairs absolutely have to be off (besides the bathrooms); allowing me to get some sleep.
-I have to check the kitchen doesn't have any potential hazards.
-All the plugs have to be off.
-The nessecary windows have to be shut and the nessecary windows have to be open.

I know... it's bad.

 

[buck naked]

Blackie, that's pretty extreme =)

I am pretty picky about clean hands - not touching face/mouth, always washing them after going to the bathroom, always before eating, always when I come home, always after eating, always after touching my cat or dog.

Another thing is going to the toilet, I HATE going to the toilet while people are within earshot. I think I'm both spoilt with having my own bathroom at my house plus having some scarring experiances hearing other people go to the toilet.

With more important things like security, double/triple checking things, I'm really haphazard and I like being careless. Most of the time, nothing goes wrong, if anything does, it's an adventure =)

 

[Raxel]

When I was a kid my room HAD to be perfect before I went to sleep, that's about it. Now, it's all about time e.g. I can't sleep at 11:47, I have to wait until it's 11:50

 

[Scrow]

The first one that affects me quite a bit is that my hands must be clean. I'm not frantically washing them every few minutes, but every couple of hours or after doing something out of the ordinary. Like I mentioned, at E3, I couldn't just go from kiosk to kiosk and then at the end call it a day or grab lunch or whatever. Just think about how many people touched the same controllers you did, and how many of them were picking their noses or asses, or how many of them didn't wash their hands when they went to the bathroom. Ugh. It's the first thing I do when I get home from work or anywhere else, must keep my games/keyboard germ free.

I'm like this too. I like to keep my hands clean whenever I can. I wouldn't call it obsessive though.

Another weird one is that I cannot go to bed until everyone else in the household or room or whatever is asleep. Maybe I'm being overprotective or overly paranoid, but I want to know that everyone is safe asleep, and I want to know that they won't get up in the middle of the night and shave my head or something. I gotta be up in about 4 hours yet here I am typing away since my mom is up.

I do this too, though I don't do it because of paranoia or overprotectiveness, it just happens that way most of the time.

Lastly, my bed MUST be made. Someone had posted a topic about their being an earwig in their bed not long ago.... ughgoshdggsg... perish the thought. a made bed is a clean bed is a critter free bed. My mother finally got to me with all her talk of that shit when I was a kid.

The only time I make my bed is when my sheets are washed and I need to put them back on the bed. Technically, I never actually make my bed.

 

[Boogie9IGN]

yeah i cant look at the ground if thier are tiled patterns cuase if i do i get in the whole step in the crack thing or trying not to touch certain colors game. i can get past this, its not a whole ocd break down thing but it annoys me if i step in the cracks. so now i dont look down if im in that situation.

HAH i do the same thing every now and then - when i was little i had this thing where in the hallway of our house (tiled, no less) i used to only be able to step on a certain amount of tiles or the 'thing chasing me' would get me.

oh and i always used to have like a shape in my head and count it out like a tshirt shape.. 1-across.. 2-up... 3-across...4-up... 5-left

We r 1

 

[aku:jiki]

I exhibit a lot of OCD behavior.

I triple and quadruple check locking doors, my alarm clock, test answers, etc.
I always avoid stepping on cracks, as if my doom will be triggered by touching one.
I have this weird thing where I randomly decide I have to look at this certain person, or throw a rock at a certain branch of a tree, or jump over a certain bench, or else my future will be ruined. And I always do whatever I've randomly decided is necessary for my survival.
If I accidently press a finger against another finger, I have to press all of my fingers in a pyramid like pattern. So I press the pinky once, next finger twice, middle thrice, back down to 1.
I stay up late and read every single thread of gaming age and 4 other popular messageboards, every day.
I read books nonstop from cover to cover, no matter the length. One time I read about 3000 pages straight in a couple days.
When I decide to get in shape I do it hardcore. I do hours of jogging, basketball, weightlifting, swimming, etc every day, usually around 6 hours daily. And I eat only the best food, no junkfood or butter or anything that even seems remotely unhealthy.
I compulsively flirt with and try to get every attractive girls phone number I meet. I got 10 numbers in one day once when I really couldn't stop myself. I usually don't even call them.
If I study, I do it nonstop for hours until I have everything memorized to the point that I can recite pages and pages of notes back. If I feel like slacking off, I don't go to any classes, do any homework, or even leave my room for weeks. Sometimes I don't see direct sunlight for days.

That's all I can think of for now, but it's probably enough.

Man, your situation is extremely tricky. If I were you, I'd seek help for the whole throwing rocks or whatever thing (since I'm sure that has lead to an embarassing situation at least once), skip fingers, cracks and staying up late. But, damn, those others seem pretty great and it'd suck if they went lost with the treatment for the others (if it even works like that, I'm just saying).

Not trying to trivialize your situation or anything, but come on, forcing yourself to get 10 numbers in a day sounds awesome.

 

[gofreak]

The whole "having to do something in order to survive/or my future will be doomed" thing is a #1 sign that you're in dangerous territory OCD-wise.

 

[Tazznum1]

I have OCD.

If 1 is good, 40 is better. This is not good. I have an entire closet of bed sheets. I have this thing with sheets, I dont even understand it.

I will go nuts if I see that a picture is out of line, or if blinds are pulled up, but a little crooked....if one picture is a insy binsy bit higher or lower....

Wires are my enemy. So out of order, haywire...no organization. I hate wires. All wires. They just bug the hell out of me.

Fringes on rugs. ARrrrrrgggggggg..... dont get me started.

Dirty glass. Either dirty window, dirty mirrors...other people's glasses. I just want to rip them off their face and clean them.

Have to lock the car anytime I leave it. I can't leave it unlocked, even running in the house and it is in the driveway with the gates locked. Cant.

Then there is counting. If there are tiles on the floor or ceiling, it must be counted. Not over and over, just once just to know.

 

[Particle Physicist]

But perhaps I am compulsively musical. I've always got a beat or melody going in my head, and I often click my teeth in my mouth to some beat. I kind of move my lower jaw left and right and make beats with the different sides of my teeth. I think it's because I like hearing the beat and it keeps my hands and body free. But sometimes I end up grinding my teeth.

i do this as well... a friend of mine asked me once if i knew i grinded my teeth.. 'nope, im just making beats' .. i always have some sort of beat or tune going on in my head.. sometimes i even bob my head to the silent tune im hearing.. its kinda dorky. :/

i wouldnt say its ocd though..

 

[Tazznum1]

NO MORE WIRES AND CARPET FRINGE!!!!!!!!!!

 

[radios shipping overview]

If one hand gets wet, I MUST wet the other hand, and then dry both at the same time. I have a few other tendencies that I haven't been allowing myself to do for a while now, so they likely weren't that strong in the first place.

 

[Drinky Crow]

I have this stupid irrational paranoia where I can't abide ANY number that adds up in any way shape or form to 13 or one of its multiples. Like if I'm at the gas pump, I'll add and multiply the individual digits and if either the dollar amount or the total pumped comes out to a multiple of 13, I'll squeeze it one more time and recalculate it. If I'm at the store, I'll calculate the cost of my items plus tax and discounts to make sure it doesn't come out to 13, or, heaven forfend, 666 (or 6.66) before I buy it. No, I'm not religious. I have no idea when this started. Stupid human brain.

 

[human5892]

- I'm constantly, CONSTANTLY making beats with things. My hands, my feet, my teeth, etc. Incidentally, I don't know how to play the drums (although I've always wanted a set).

- As with Wellington, I have to be asleep after my girlfriend, no matter how tired I am. When I lived with my parents, this wasn't really an issue, so I'm not sure why it started all of a sudden when I moved out. Maybe because I always thought they would protect me if a robber broke in.

- I have really bad urban paranoia. Like, when I'm returning to my car when it's in a parking lot, I always have to look in the backseat to make sure nobody's hiding there. If there is someone standing near my car, my heart beats really fast and I tense up my body to prepare to run.

- I'm really sensitive about things smelling the least bit offensive. I have about nine different kinds of air freshener products in my house to combat any bad smells that might come about. I keep a pretty clean place (largely due to not wanting any bad odors to come about), but if there's something bad in the trash, or if my rat's cage starts to smell a bit, I'm all over it immediately. I also have a Glade Plug-In in every room.

- I generally like things to be "put away" in their proper places, especially before I leave the house. If I come home and there's a plate left out on the counter that I somehow missed or something, I get very disappointed with myself. Sometimes I even put the boxes to things away while I am using them -- I'll get a Game Boy game out, for example, put the game in my GBA, then put the box back while I play, even though it would make more sense to just keep the box by my side.

- My right pocket always must contain my wallet and keys, and my left must contain my phone and a little notebook I carry around. If this somehow gets switched, I fix it immediately.

I don't think I have OCD because I don't feel like I MUST do all of these things, but it's a fairly strong compulsion in most cases, nonetheless.

 

[wandering goat]

For the most part, I'm free of completely obsessive behaviour. If there's one thing I can add to this though, it's about headphone use. Whenever I watch a movie, play games, or listen to music on my computer with headphones on (which is most of the time) I always have to take them off every once in a while to make sure the sound's only going through the headphones and not the speakers. I mean, even if I checked half an hour ago, I'll likely need to check again even though I would (in most cases) be able to hear if it was going through the speakers. So I have some sort of headphone paranoia which I'm trying to get rid of.