Lots of air guitar using an old Darryl Strawberry Little League bat; drinking directly from the juice carton; singing Maria Callas arias to the dog; skateboarding indoors. I have a girlfriend of five years, and if we lived together, she wouldn't put up with any of this.

I am now living alone as I start my first job post-grad school. So far the only thing I do differently is pee with the door open and listen to NPR way more. Maybe I will develop quirks over time?

Ah, I read this last week!

“Among her domestic oddities: running in place during TV commercials; speaking conversational French to herself while making breakfast (she listens to a language CD); singing Journey songs in the shower; and removing only the clothes she needs from her dryer, thus turning it into a makeshift dresser.”

I do ALL of these things. It's like they spied on me to write this article.

I live alone but will be getting a place with my boyfriend in a few months. It's been fun having absolute reign over my little lair (Singing to the cat, clothing and closed door optional bathroom runs, eating whatever I want for dinner) but sometimes I really just want to open the door, drop my purse, and immediately start ranting about my day to an actual person. Not that I do that often, but when I do it feels sooo good. Plus I like to cook and having another person to cook for gives me an excuse to make something nice.

Why would you close the bathroom door if you are alone in the house? I live with my young daughter, and we basically never close doors if it's just us in the house.

I read the article and I seem quite ordinary by comparison with these people. I must just be boring. Sigh.

I use my wand (Harry Potter prop) as a microphone ALL the time. I talk to my cat in different languages.

And I have been known to dance.

Prior to moving in with my boyfriend-now-husband, I

-Peed with the door open.
-Put my dirty dishes in the refrigerator when I couldn't wash them immediately.
-Ate straight from the refrigerator or sometimes over the sink. (It reduced the amount of dirty dishes!)
-Took up the entire bed

I warn my boyfriend that should we move in together, there will be a period of re-civilizing myself because I admit I live like a caveman bachelor at times.

I will eat straight out of the pot or pan I just cooked dinner in while at my computer, and that's if I don't just decide to have beer and cake for dinner. I sing to myself constantly. I stay up late playing video games and yelling at them. I kiss the cats on the head. If I'm not going out, I wear unflattering PJs all weekend only changing to put on fresh PJs the next day. And I do also pee with the door open to listen to NPR.

I put on old 33 records at 45 speed...it sounds ridiculous but it always makes me smile!

I've loved alone for the last 15 years and love it, not sure I could go back to living with someone else.

I only clean when things get to the point of annoying me or people are coming round. I can play Skyrim for 8-10 hours at a stretch with only food and bathroom breaks. I can spend 3-4 hours in the bath reading listening to music.

Admittedly this is selfish and I'd probably be a better person if I lived with someone else but would I be as happy?

I lived alone for a dozen years, from college until my fiance moved in. Then I referred to myself as, "Loba, the Wolf Woman: They brought her in from the wilderness and taught her how to live with Man."

When my partner travels for work I revert back to singledom, which means painting walls on a whim and at inappropriate times (11pm on a Tuesday? Why not!), singing along loudly to Once More With Feeling over and over again, and peeing with the door open.

Although I've never lived alone indefinitely and don't want to do, I enjoyed a number of solo quirks during weeks my husband had to work abroad. I rearranged the furniture experimentally, invented fun recipes, and had unconventional meals.

I just returned to living alone from having my sibling and his wife living with me for 6 months. It so freeing to be able to run around the house in varied stages of undress in the morning or while getting ready, chat with my cat while taking a bath with the door open, dance to movies in the living room, and just be myself. However, while these habits change when I have guests, they don't change that much when I have a boyfriend over, he can see me in my varied states of undress ;)

I don't live alone, but I do work at home by myself for most of the day - about 10-12 hours. I think the strangest thing I do is, more often than not, I do not turn on any music or the radio. I love silence.

True, living with my guy inhibits quirky behavior comparatively little. Hypothetically, living with offspring or non-romantic guests would restrict quirkiness much more, somewhat like living with parents did.

pee with the door open, coupled or not

there are actually few things I alter drastically depending on my living situation. I'm of the mind that my man should really know me. Not in a tacky way, but damn it, if I feel like listening to slayer when I bake cookies, why should I have to hide that?

I do cook more when I'm coupled. Farting is probably the main thing I try to avoid (always, but especially with a man around).

I pretty much do everything listed above. Pancakes at 3am. Sure. Bath at 1am. Why not? I watch TV on mute while playing records. I bust out random yoga poses whenever I want. I'm partial to laying in the middle of my living room floor and reading. I have an office, but my laptop hasn't been in that room in ages... actually, I haven't really either. I should probably dust. I could probably adjust most of my quirks to accommodate a significant other, but never again a roommate. I refuse to have to wear clothing in my house ever again if I don't want to.

I used to work in bed and just sleep with books and papers next to me. Sometimes I would reach out and put my hand on a cool, hard book in the middle of the night. It was soothing. Weird.

All of the above !! and talk to myself and to my plants in English !! (I'm Spanish native speaker)

The other night I had a handful of Doritos and a one of those little cakes you make by mixing water and mix in a bowl then placing in a microwave for dinner. Who's gonna stop me?! I do a lot of Liz Lemon stuff.

I just recently became single and have been living alone (with 3 cats). I've actually already looked at buying a dog, because I thought that would make it less quiet. Bad idea!

Other odd things I do with all my free time:

- drink milk out of the jug
- eat over the kitchen sink
- lots of egg and bacon dinners
- throw clothes in the dirty laundry if i'm just too lazy to put them away
- obsessive cleaning to kill time
- sing to the cats
- sing to myself
- sing to squirrels outside the window
- rearrange rooms and then find ways to spend the next few hours in it, just admiring it. last night i did this in the living room and decided to sleep on the couch because i loved the set up so much.

I was like Home Body. Before I got married, I lived alone, and usually never had on music or anything. I could concentrate better. Of course there were days when I had HGTV on for hours and hours half watching it whilst painting on my couch. I ALWAYS shut my bathroom door. I'm a privacy weirdo and even living alone I shut all my doors. And I always kept blinds and curtains closed, I like dark. I've taken all of these quirks into my marriage and it's been okay. Except hogging the bed flat on my stomach. not okay!

I really enjoyed living alone during my last couple years of college. I now have a roommate and sincerely miss using the bathroom with the door open, being naked, lying on the floor for any number of reasons, using the dishwasher as a drying rack, leaving partially completed craft projects around the apartment, eating sporadically, and doing impromptu workouts. I'd love to live alone again, but the next time I move will probably be when I get married. It sort of saddens me to think of it. ha

puhahaha, some of you are too funny.
My husband, before he got married used to put empty one gallon water jugs in the fridge so his fridge would be filled with empty water jugs...I asked him why he put empty ones in the fridge, he said, where else should I put them? O_o

I love living alone! I work from home and get up super early and listen to music on headphones all morning so I don't disturb my neighbors, so it's only my cats subjected to my poor sing a long Morrissey impersonations. I also make up songs for them and about things around the house "Where's the damn expiration date (on the greek yogurt)" total Grammy material right there.

All of this is done without pants.

first and foremost, never wear pants. I've been living alone for two years and am moving in with roommates soon....so I suppose I will find out what other quirky habits I have soon....

Hmm...
- talk to the cats
- run naked into the kitchen when I get a chocolate craving in the shower
- tear things apart and re-build them. or paint them. or throw them away.
- sleep later and later each night until I see the sunrise before I even go to bed
- eat cookies for a snack and chips for a meal
- use the dryer for clothes storage
- never ever close the bathroom door (i just found a closet behind that door!)
- general all-the-time dancing

I have lived alone for twenty years (except for a one year break). I LOVE IT, I get up super early on a Saturday morning have a cup of coffee or a diet pepsi, watch a little TV then go right back to bed if I want. I talk to my cat, ALOT. I do like to keep things tidy but sometimes things just sit there. When people walk into my home they usually say, yep this is a woman's home. Not that it's pink and frilly but it's all me!

I can't leave the bathroom door open. I just can't. Even if the hubs is gone for the weekend and I'm watching something good on TV that I can't miss. Never, ever is it left open. No. Just no.

I think the quirkiest things I did as a single lady involved weird food choices and dancing ALL. THE. TIME.

Wearing worn out bleach stained and ripped clothing with it's sole purpose being to keep me warm and comfortable. They are so bad I have to put on my street clothes to dump the trash or check the mailbox. I've tried dressing up at home but I'm never comfortable enough.

The TV and mirror are angled just right in my current apartment that I can watch TV from the bathroom when I leave the door open - I hardly use the pause button anymore.

When I lived alone I almost always ran around the apartment without pants. Fortunately, my husband shares my aversion to pants and we have nakedbabysundays (not really naked, just sans pants) on a fairly regular basis.

Things I did then or do now when my husband is away on business: Eating weird things or weird combos of things for meals, afternoon cocktails by myself on our front yard swing, singing and dancing with the dog, trying out new clothing combinations and then leaving my closet in shambles, doing exercises during commercials, sing-cooking (where you sing to yourself what you're doing...anyone...?)

My now-husband and I both lived alone for about five years each before we met. It made for quite a few dating quirks but if you live alone, you kind of get it about the other person. The two things that I had to kick when we move in together? Leaving the bathroom door open and completely rearranging the furniture every 2-3 months. The latter drove him absolutely batty when he'd come over while dating, even though it was my place. Hahah.

I enjoyed the comments as much or more so than the article. I found out I don't really have many bad habits compared to most. LOL

I guess my biggest is that I work from home as a graphic designer and artist, and so if you were to show up at my door unannounced, it is highly likely I will be in sleep pants and a tshirt.

If I wake up in the night I like being able to eat without disturbing anyone, and occasionally in the middle of the night I bake cookies. Probability is if I am up in the night I am working on a project that baffled me in the day.

I call my cooking 'dump cooking' because for the most part I do not follow a particular recipe. I see whats available and come up with something to fit (never had any complaints) and at the holidays people contact me to make their cookies, candy, and cheese balls.

Farting, talking to myself.

All the pant-less commentators reminded me of the scene from the movie "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe" where Zooey Deschanel went pant-less on a giant spaceship until Arthur Dent and Ford Perfect showed up and she ran to put one her fashionable space clothing attire before the men met her for the first time.

i've been solo a lot of years and i keep the bathroom door closed. some reflexes should stay sharp.

Yay, lots of dancers here. I loved to dance in my room for hours as a quirky tweenager.

@residentgeek: Yes! The comments for that article are classic. CLASSIC. I didn't think anything in the article was all that weird (it really just made me curious about why people think dancing around or making eggs for dinner can't be done if someone else is around. And if you have a pet and don't talk to it, what is wrong with you???). But the comments are a genuine, beautiful freakshow. My favorite is the guy who just removed his bathroom door altogether. That, my friends, is a real commitment to solo living.

Reading these have been fun!

When I was living alone I would play music louder, painted and ate more seaweed. The only time I can make anything with seaweed now is when my husband is away. He claims it stinks up the apartment!

My "quirky living alone habits" really haven't changed since moving in with my husband. In fact, he seems to prefer they continue and enjoys the show if I should suddenly decide to bust a dance move. We're perfectly comfortable engaging in whatever behavior/dress code that we want in front of each other. I'd say it's changed more not with couple-dome, but with parenthood. While the kids delight in mom and dad's "crazy" antics, we wouldn't really start installing hardwood in the middle of the night like we used to.

I still do all my weird things living with my boyfriend. Sing to myself, paint the bathroom at pm on a random weeknight, etc etc. The only thing it really changes is that I probably eat a little better.

Singing is great fun even offkey and amateur. I'd be sad if I had to give it up just because I don't live alone.

This surprises some people sometimes, but, I have NEVER lived alone. I'm 23, and went straight from living with my family until 18 to living with my boyfriend. A few roommates later we are still going strong, and still live together. But I have enough living quirks to flow over into that life. Including making up songs, dancing with the dog, and occasionally blasting pop hits from the nineties while cleaning. And talking to myself in a melting pot of Latin, German, Spanish and Italian. I also have a nasty habit of starting art projects in the middle of the night.

On the rare occasion I am home alone, I take that time to listen to the podcasts I love, but he can't stand, and lounge around in my short shorts. Oh and drink coffee. So much coffee. (He is insane and doesn't like the smell)

These comments are so great :)

Coincidentally, my BF is out of town for the week, so I've been indulging my quirks-

*Spontaneous, obsessive cleaning (he says this makes him nervous)
*Late-night baking
*Watching the same movies over and over
*Box macaroni and cheese dinners every night (organic, but still kinda embarrassing)
*Getting my dog "riled up" (he worries about the noise)
*Keeping the apartment tidy- pretty much impossible while he's home!

As for everyone's singing and pet conversations, I thought that stuff was normal? That's pretty much our everyday.

So glad to see everyone else develops weird habits too while living alone. I thought I was the only one!

hmm... I sing to the cats while wearing no pants and peeing with the door open, while my husband is home, and sometimes for guests. we like to keep it casual, i guess...

I never have to close the bathroom door. Good thing.

I talk to myself and my pets. This often carries over to when I'm outside with the pets, within earshot of the neighbors. Bad thing.

I almost never put on music at home. I'm glad I'm not the only one.

I'm surprised at all the people here who have changed their habits so much since moving in with an SO. I mean, what's the big deal about peeing with the door open or singing along with the radio? I think the only thing that I changed when I moved in with my boyfriend was that I try to eat in a little more balanced way now, since I know he tends to eat whatever I cook and I want him to be healthy. So not as much toast for dinner and that kind of thing. Still talk to myself and the cats constantly. :)

I feel so unoriginal now that I know cat conversation, open door peeing, and the not wearing of pants are pretty much de rigueur for living alone... I also keep the TV on but muted most of the time, except when I'm going to bed, in which case I put it on half mute, and I never turn off the lights when I leave the house at night, because I don't like to come home to a dark apartment.

I've also never lived completely alone (though I have had some absentee roommates), but my husband has been travelling a good bit over the past few months.

I have always thought of myself as a quiet person, but man, I have a LOT more to say to my cat when I don't have another person to converse with. And I sing a lot more.

Freedom to relax and get silly and quirky is part of what makes home special. People should be able to let their guards down and be themselves in their own homes, with or without roommates. At its best, home is where people can play at wearing different hats, whether baker, painter, or singer, where an occasional mess en route to creative accomplishment is OK. If that weren't happening, then I'd consider renegotiating house rules. Also, I sweet-talk my dogs in the garden daily. Neighbors who yell insults at their kids overhear me and hate it--a good thing!

What? You're supposed to only do the crazy stuff when you're alone?

In my house we all;

- Totally pee with the bathroom door open (in the winter, the house shifts in such a way that the bathroom door barely closes at all and spontaneously swings open when it does, anyway.)

- Talk to the cats.

- Eat over the sink/drinking from the carton/stealing a spoonful of PB.

- My own private empty-house habits include full-on skanking (the dance associated with ska music, not what you actually think it means) random dance routines in the living room, dancing with the vacuum, singing at the top of my lungs, and though I don't have to be alone for this-- spending an entire weekend in my pyjamas, if not going out.

Dear lord, we're a house full of cavepeople.

My husband lived alone for a few months before we got married and I moved in. When he lived there alone, the only furniture he had was a bug tube television circa the 1970s and a Victorian couch left by the previous tenant (my BFF, so it isn't gross). He had burritos and cream soda in the fridge. The TV and computer sat on the floor along with a garden gnome I inherited from the BFF because she left it because of a bad breakup.

I have never really lived alone, but I like to think that I keep my quirks going. I sing to my cats songs I make for them, dance with my daughter, rearrange furniture (he has learned to deal). My kid loses her Shit off I try to close the bathroom door. When I am home alone (very rare), I blast music as I clean or sit in complete silence.

My hubs and daughter join in the cat conversations. But once while alone, I belched so loudly that the dog downstairs was startled and started barking.

Please pardon the typos. I'm just getting used to a Swype keyboard.

I have to say, this is one of the more entertaining articles by AT in a while - kudos! And amen to the comment about the expiration date on the greek yogurt, it's like some twisted version of 'where's Waldo,' except it's 'where's the expiration date?'

Funny that although I lovelovelove having my own place to myself, I could not bring myself to buy a freestanding house - had to look for a condo/townhouse/apartment (finally settled on the townhouse - helloooo garage). I suppose that in the end, even though I must have my own space, I still need the company of other people around me!

Not to mention it's handy for calling upon cute neighbors to help with the heavy lifting. ;)

And yes. I pee with the door open. Unless it's daytime and my shades are up, in which case the direct view into the halfbath from the back window is... rather too perfectly aligned xD.

That article cracked me up, probably because I've long exhibited similar quirks. Though I don't exactly live alone (boyfriend has moved in), I'm alone often enough to: Leave the bathroom door open, use my kitchen counter for cooking/storage/mail/clothes/purses, never make my bed, burst out in random and short fits of dancing, TALK TO MYSELF and comment on my actions ("Where did you put that thing; why did you just do that?"). And more.

Love this article. Would certainly love to be in a relationship, but LOVE living alone. To celebrate being a singleton,
- I dance around my apartment, especially my kitchen, crazily whenever I want (no one around to give me weird looks for wiggling my butt or my bossom, or clucking like a chicken during my dancing)
- I have piles of things (books, dvds, papers, beading materials, etc) on my floor, and only I know the secret path through them (I am untidy, yes, but not dirty about my piles)
- I jump up and down a lot (just my garage below - yay!) Can never live with someone below me 'cuz the jumping up and down is a constant energy-reliever slash itch.
- I scream at my TV & burst out laughing at whatevs (nobody to get annoyed)
- I play my music really several decibels louder than good for hearing, & I snooze my alarm several times in the morning until I'm satisfied I'm truly awake,
- My dirty clothes spend a few days on my bathroom floor before they are transferred to the hamper
- 1/4 of my queen bed holds me, and the other 3/4 holds books, lists of things 2do, head ties, clothes, more books, music, occasionally, my PC (but trying to change the latter).
- and etc.
The freak show that I put in my apartment knows no bounds.
I <3 this article & reading about other people's quirkiness!

Oh yea, and my bras go on my door handles (bathroom & bedroom) and I have to remember to hide them when company visits.

I sit on the floor to eat, even though there are plenty of respectable eating spots in my house.

LOVE. LURRVVVVE this write-up, thanks =)
soon to be wedded, spent past six months fighting with husband-to-be bout our quirks, why we cant reduce his and how we simply must keep mine ...I WILL SURVIVE !!

Funny how even if I haven't lived alone except in college, I'm still enjoying my own quirky habits without any shame. So, yes, bath at every hour (1 AM ? Hot bath + good book), I also iron clothes at night if I can't sleep. And I watch a movie on my computer when I cook.

If talking and kissing cats is weird, both my husband and I are guilty. And there's the stupid things to do when you're in a couple: chasing each other with toothbrushes full of toothpaste, water fights around the kitchen sink of course (kid picked this one up too). I guess I've been in a pranksters' relationship for the last 10 years...

Most of these things seem specific to apartments. One of the things I miss about a larger house is having a room to myself, where no one cares if it looks like a green sheep parachuted into the sewing room and exploded.

I live with someone now, but work from home. Non-stop NPR and singing happens from 10-6. I will happily read with earplugs in and can sleep through midnight brownie baking and video games. The humans are fine. Boyfriend's cat needed to adjust.

All of the cat's stuff is in the bathroom (it is one of the biggest rooms in this tiny apartment), so a closed door was either a blockade between the cruel wasteland of the living room and the land of abundance, or created a trap with a human inside who was obviously going to eat the poor cat. It took a few weeks of just letting him yowl at the door before he got over it. Now he runs to join people in the bathroom.

I talk to the cat whether people are around or not, but I realize that "Kitty! Kitty? Kiiiiiiiiiiity. KITTEH! Kittykittykittykittykitty" would get tiresome quickly. It's the one word he reacts to at all, and not for lack of trying. Anything else is just random human noise that obviously does not concern him.

One of the VERY few good things about being widowed is letting my 'living alone' quirks back out. I was surprised that after 25 years together I went so quickly back to 'no pants' and dinner out of a saucepan (very embarrasing for a 50 yr old LOL).

Oh, and the crafts stuff out everywhere was a constant all my life. If I'm not working on something, I'm not happy.

I wander the apt in underwear, except in winter, when a tshirt might be necessary. (I keep the thermostat at 65F when I'm home, just so no one thinks I'm terribly wasteful.) I pretty much never close the bathroom door. Certain pots and pans live on the rangetop, but that's partly because kitchen storage is limited anyway. I wash underwear in the bathroom sink and leave it in the bathroom to dry. I sing constantly (although I don't make my own songs--I also sing loudly along with the radio in my car, but not so much when others are in the car with me, even if there's no conversation happening). When I lived in a 1br, I slept on the living room sofa (although it was actually an ikea beddinge) rather than in the bedroom. I'm on my 4th apt now (moving basically once a year), and I have since replaced via craigslist all my furniture from the 1st apt (some of which were craigslisted in the first place; very many items from my 2nd apt didn't survive either the cut). There was a lot of furniture rearrangement in apt 2 and 3, but I think I've hit on the right formula and layout for apt 4, so that could be a thing of the past. I'm a grad student so I keep strange hours and also cook very late at night when circumstances align.

I watch movies from the bathtub.

Seriously surprised at the small amount of farters out there. Really, people?! :)

every month i open the windows - no matter what the temp is outside, blast music, stack magazines on chaise and i kneel on the floor and read them while eating dry cereal from the box and drinking water from the gallon jug .... lol im sure i look like a complete psycho