Court's OCD, in her own words......

For the life of me I cannot understand why people seem to have such a hard time sitting in silence. Must people compulsively make small movements and noises including shaking their leg, clicking and tapping pens, cracking knuckles and chewing with their mouths open? Do people find comfort filling a silent room with their own noise? I’m sure that these movements are preformed through out the day unknowingly and that these fidgety people are not out to get me. Nevertheless, I wish people could understand that it feels like a personal attack and that it is all I hear. The small noises amplify in my head and consume me. I completely lose focus and it is near impossible for me to disregard the background clatter. It is my biggest pet peeve.
Last week I had an exam in my psychology class. I felt confident in my preparation and was ready for the 150 question exam. That is, until the boy sitting directly in front of me started shaking his leg. His pants sounded like he was wearing trash bags. I held my breath hoping it was just a temporary twitch. Not only did the boy fail to stop but he began clicking his pen in unison with the swooshing pants. All the strenuous activity must have made his body tense because he would stop for brief periods to crack every single joint in his body. Then back to his orchestrated symphony of clicking and swooshing. He rewarded himself for such a brilliant performance with a box of Mentos. It sounded like he was chewing on a golf ball sized piece of cow fat. Click-click, swoosh, crack, comp-chomp. His symphony played on in my head for what seemed like an eternity. I looked up at the clock, twelve-twenty; I had 10 minutes left with 135 questions to go.
Any rational person who suffers from this pet peeve/handicap would probably make the proper adjustments to avoid these situations as much as possible. Sadly, I have made few. I understand that I can take tests in private rooms, wear ear plugs, or even become medicated to promote higher levels of focus. However, my self-righteous ego tells me that would be letting my pet-peeve win. I do not want to give your clicking pens that much power over me. I will continue to sit in normal classrooms with normal people, suppress my anger and bite my teeth.
I often find myself fantasizing about a place where no one tries to fill silence. I think about a life far away from here filled with serenity. Maybe one day I’ll reside in an isolated cabin far away from knuckle-crackers and pen-clickers. I can see it now. Sitting on my over-sized porch on a misty morning and reading the paper without interruption. I look out beyond my home and all I can see is miles and miles of backwoods. I smile to myself. I will no longer have to deal with the anger that comes with the land of fidgety people. I have my own land now, all by myself. Somewhere in the distance a bird chirps.