Absurdity

For me I always break down words into number of letters, then first letter. So if I recently meet a lot of 5 letter people like Clark, Cindy, and Jerry I'll get them all mixed up, and then especially Clark and Cindy. Or whenever I can't think of a word, it's on the tip of my tongue, I can usually know how many letters are in the word. Like today I had trouble with gate, but I knew it was a 4 letter word, then that it started with "g" after a bit of thinking.

Another game I did a lot as a kid was when I was done talking everything had to end divisible by ten. I would count all the words I'm about to say, rephrase things to make sure it always ended in a "full hand". Part of why I was so quiet as a kid, I was always thinking about what I would say instead of saying it. Then it just became custom not to talk. I still find myself doing this, counting number or words or phrases, my favourite being phrases that are "full hand" phrases. I'd run them through my head again and again sometimes, just because they are so oddly satisfying. Like I like "paprika", so then for it to be "complete and satisfying" I think of phrases like "some paprika on the soup". Or if a phrase ends in like a seven, I might pair it with a "3" phrase, or I'll repeat it in my head 3 times, then add a "9" word or phrase to complete everything.

I was constantly fidgeting with my hands in school doing this.