Things that don't define me....

But you need to know about me all the same.
Lately it seems like I am running into a lot more people who don't really know me well enough to know the little things about me. Aquaintences mostly, some parents from sports, new friends from other places.
Things about me you need to know, but I normally don't just tell everyone because these things don't define me:

I am legally deaf. If I am staring at your mouth moving, it's not because you have something in your teeth. If you mumble, are male or have a deep voice, chances are I can't hear you. If I just smile and nod and don't answer when you ask me something, I didn't hear you. If I say something that doesn't make sense, I misheard you.

I am bisexual. I like men and women. Gay jokes are not ok around me. A good portion of my family is gay. I take offense. 'Gay' is not a word to describe something bad. If you say 'That's so gay' or something like that, I will call you out. Same with the word 'retarded'. There are people in the world, awesome people, who don't deserve to have to hear that word spewed from the mouths of hateful, callous people.

I am demophobic. I don't like large groups of people, and I really really really dislike being touched, especially by strangers, so don't be offended if I jerk away from you even if it's an accidental brush.

I am an athiest. I don't believe in your god or anyone elses god. I do believe in people, and I believe they answer to themselves in the long run.

I have OCD. Not the TV parody, haha, joke about it OCD, the I count everything I do and do everything in series of sets and numbers and repetitive patterns. No, I don't clean alot, in fact I am pretty messy. There are several types of OCD, and what you see on TV, the germophobes, that's actually the most rare form. Many people say 'I am OCD about that', or 'I am so OCD', and they have no idea what it's like to live that way. It's like nails on a chalkboard to hear it. For someone to say 'I have OCD' when they have never been diagnosed with anything but strep throat in their lives, it makes me want to punch them in their teeth.

Now you know.

:P