Does Batman have OCPD?

via Wikimedia

In chat the other night, one of my online friends proposed that Batman might have OCPD.  (We'll leave the debate as to whether or not he's also gay for another time.)


Mind you, there are many, many variations of Batman: The original comic books character by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, dates back to 1939.  Many animated series have featured or been focused on Batman.  The modern movies starring everyone from Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, and George Clooney.  The latest Batman movies feature Christian Bale.

Some of the interpretations have been extremely dark; the 1960's television series, my personal fav, was called camp by some, a deliberate mix of farce and lampoon by others.

There's even a Batman Wiki.

But while all explanations for the motivation of the transformation of Bruce Wayne, millionaire philanthropist, to Batman focus on the trauma of him having witnessed the murder of his parents as a child (PTSD), could there be more to it?

That obsessively strong urge to personally mete out Justice... One OCPD'r reported patrolling his  neighborhood for hours every evening, looking in all the parked car windows to make sure no one inside was doing something 'bad'.  (Making out?  Smoking a doobie?  Eating a Twinkie?)  And if he'd found someone, he was going to...? He never disclosed that part.

One woman, divorced now from her OCPD husband, reported that once he was walking the dog (a smaller breed), and a teenager leaned out the car window and shouted, "Nice dog, asshole!"  The man raced up to the car, yanked open the door, hauling the mouthy kid out, and punched him in the face.

So, the idea of an OCPD vigilante is not so farfetched.


Pros

• Batman is incredibly intelligent, like many with OCPD.
• He loves his science and technology.  Just look at how many gizmo's he's got going in the bat-cave.
• He's always prepared for any potential disaster, and always has the proper tools stocked in his utility belt, from bat-hooks to bat-shark repellent.
• He's obsessive about justice/rules, yet willing to break laws himself in pursuit of his objective.
• In his non-Batman persona, he seems shy, almost meek.

Cons

• The costume.  With so many OCPD'rs sensitive to odors and textures, wouldn't it drive him crazy? Especially the cowl.
• His relationship with Robin - he's a kind, encouraging mentor, not someone who constantly picks at the Boy Wonder's flaws.
• As Bruce Wayne, he's a generous philanthropist, while those with OCPD tend to be on the stingy frugal side.
• Flexibility - he adapts very quickly to changing circumstances.

Neutral

• Supreme physical fitness & martial arts abilities.
• Playboy - attraction to but inability to commit to the many gorgeous women who surround him.
• The Batmobile - he sticks with one vehicle, but it's constantly modified.
• Teetotaller (many OCPDr's abstain from alcohol; others drink to excess.)

Of course, I'm not a shrink and can't diagnose anyone, and even if I was, it would be totally unethical to do so long-distance, as it were.  However, this is for fun - what do you think?  Does Batman show signs of being OCPD?  Or is he just another weirdo?  Leave a comment with your opinion, please.

10 Rules For Being Human from No Busy Signal

I've been fighting bronchitis this past month, and something about coughing and gasping for breath has made it tough on my brain to come up with new ideas. It keeps whining at me, "More oxygen needed" or some other lame excuse.

Luckily, there are plenty of other good ideas out there I can steal borrow. Here's a fabulous post from No Busy Signal which I stumbled upon a few weeks ago in my delirium.


Ten Rules for Being Human


by Cherie Carter-Scott

1.	You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it’s yours to keep for the entire period.
2.	You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called, “life.”
3.	There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial, error, and experimentation. The “failed” experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately “work.”
4.	Lessons are repeated until they are learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can go on to the next lesson.
5.	Learning lessons does not end. There’s no part of life that doesn’t contain its lessons. If you’re alive, that means there are still lessons to be learned.
6.	“There” is no better a place than “here.” When your “there” has become a “here”, you will simply obtain another “there” that will again look better than “here.”
7.	Other people are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.
8.	What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.
9.	Your answers lie within you. The answers to life’s questions lie within you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.
10.	You will forget all this.

I'm not sure I agree with all of these, but many of them rang true true TRUE to me.

 #1 - Yep, I got the body I got, and though I might be body-envious of a dainty little ballerina-type, even if I could starve myself thin, there's no way I can starve myself dainty.  So, might as well learn to love & take care of the body I've got.

#4 - I do see that there are patterns, or lessons that keep getting presented to me.  I might as well suck it up and learn 'em, because the avoidance thing did not work out for me.

from LOLCats

#7 - I'm not sure that other people are always mirrors.  However, I have noticed that others are most impatient with the flaws of others that they themselves possess.  (I've noticed it myself doing this sometimes - which means either I don't do it as often, or, more likely, that I don't catch myself doing it as often as I do.)

#10 - What was that again?

Did these life rules ring any bells for you?

What struck you the most - or least - true?

Please share in the comments, below.

7 Reasons Why Relationships Are Like Pizza

1. Hot fresh pizza is one of the greatest things on earth.
2. Cold pizza is most appealing when you're drunk or hungover.
   
3. No matter how many pizzas you've had, the next one will never be exactly the same.
4. The first slice is usually the best.
5. Some people put really strange things on their pizza.
   
6. If a pizza comes loaded with a bunch of stuff you don't like, you can spend eternity trying to pick the crap off, and you'll never get all of it.
7. Even if you love pizza, you need a balance of other things in your diet.
   
   

Julia Roberts in Eat Pray Love

Why Relationships Are Not Like Pizza

1. You can find pizza just about anywhere.
2. Pizza doesn't care if you ignore it for weeks at a time.
3. Pizza goes well with any kind of alcohol.
4. Pizza is usually pretty cheap.
5. You can pick pizza up at the grocery store, and put it in your freezer until you're in the mood for it.
6. Pizza doesn't get jealous if  you're splitting your plate with spaghetti or lasagna.
7. If you've had a bad pizza, you don't obsess for eons over why it was bad, and whether the next one will be terrible, too.

How about you?  Have good (or bad) pizza stories?

Got more points I missed?  Share 'em in the comments.

What Was I Thinking?

I was recently validated as not being the only woman on the planet looking back on a relationship (or, alas, more than one relationship) and asking myself, What Was I Thinking?

They've got stories from 58 women asking themselves the same question.  So, I'm not the only slow learner.

I'm sure, if you asked a bunch of gay women, gay men, or straight men, they'd have similar "light bulb moment" stories about their girlfriends, boyfriends, and ex-spouses. 

Unfortunately, sometimes we turn the bulb out again.

From the Intro:

What Was I Thinking? is a collection of personal essays written by women describing that moment in a relationship when, no matter how much you think it should work or want it to work or need it to work, it becomes clear to you that it's not going to work.

The really hit me - too much of the time we focus on exactly that: "I think it should work" and "I want it to work" and "I need it to work" and we don't want to pay attention to: Hello?  It's not working.  They say you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, but we get wrapped up in trying to help somebody else overcome their problems and live up to their potential.  Maybe our partner doesn't want to be a silk purse.

...this is not necessarily the moment of the actual breakup.  Rather, these stories describe the instant when logic, common sense, and simple self-interest triumph over the human need to be loved - or, at least, the need to be in a relationship.  The relationship may not last beyond lunch, or it may linger for weeks or even longer.  But inside, you know: He's going to be an ex.

Trying to remember when the first time I knew with OCPD ex b-f it was not going to work out.  There were so many, many moments, and I just kept overruling my common sense and gut instincts.  Was it the time he started in with the Shower Rules?  The jealous spazz attacks about my boss and co-workers?  The way he would come in to "touch base" with me (aka, constant interruptions) whenever I was trying to write?

I just kept telling myself, with enough time and love and patience, I would be able to make it work.  I was an idealist.


They cleaned this up just a smidge for the broadcast version.  The written version describes the guy as being built, not like a 16 oz can of beer, but like two 16 oz cans of beer, stacked on top of each other.  <wincing yet?>

I dated a guy like that for a while, and concocted an excuse to break up, because, well, sex wasn't fun because of his can-cans.  (Or big banana, take your pick.)  Couldn't think of  a tactful way to tell him that, though.

I'm having fun reading the stories and watching the video clips.  Apparently Nicole Hollander (cartoonist, Sylvia) was once married to somebody with OCPD - seems he felt she deliberately ruined his soup by making it with noodles that were the wrong width.

Aiiieee!

Well, I'm glad they rediscovered this holiday, and I'll definitely be celebrating.

Have you had a "Come To Your Senses" moment?

What triggered it for you?