I have a sickness.

filling out another fucking formSo… I might have talked about this to you before but I want it to be public and I want everyone to know.

I love filling out forms. Seriously. It’s like a test and I know all of the answers. First name? Easy! Mother’s maiden name? Yup! Last four digits of my social security number? Got it! Address of the house I grew up in? Oh… crap. UUUUuuuummmm-I remember!

Because of this, I sometimes get into trouble. For example I now have a subscription to Real Simple magazine. (It’s interesting to browse, though I don’t really need a subscription.) I also have a lot of online profiles. Sure I’m a tech-nerd-geek and I like to be an early adopter, but mainly it’s because I’ve run out of forms to fill out so I’m constantly searching for something new. I sign up to new social networks where I don’t know anyone just so I can make a profile and forget about it a week later when I run out of things to fill out.

Today I got home from a movie (Coraline – totally awesome see it!) and had some mail from Citibank. Opened it up and found A FORM! I didn’t even read what it was I just grabbed a pen and started filling shit out. My name, my routing number, my account number, social security, checked “yes i would like to give you all my money” and– wooooah. I caught myself. What was I filling out?! I didn’t even know. It was like waking up, cold and alone on the floor of a dark bathroom, seeing drug paraphernalia scattered around and thinking “my god, what I am I doing to myself?”

Okay, so maybe it’s not that severe, but it’s definitely a problem.

It all boils down to this: Am I alone? Do other people have these problems? Is there somewhere I can find a bunch of harmless forms that can be filled out again and again without ever having to worry about subscriptions and other disastrous consequences? Thank god tax season is almost here, I don’t know how long I can hold out for.

(Just found out that jimmycarter over in LiveJournal-land also shares my obsession.)

Comments (4) left to “I have a sickness.”

  1. jimmycarter wrote:

    I feel so loved. I’m glad someone else shares my sickness.

  2. Emma wrote:

    Hilariously enough, I am the opposite. My mother’s maiden name? GOD, not again. My address? Must you know? When was my last doctor’s visit? I can’t remember, and WHY is this important?

    Maybe you could write a random form filling out program! Also – did you get this Real Simple subscription for free? I WILL FILL OUT THAT FORM.

  3. Steven wrote:

    I think I know what you’re talking about. I’ve gotten a lot better about slowing myself down, especially when I’m the process of buying something. I used to rush through it, regardless of what site I was on, but now I tend to go through Amazon, NewEgg, or sites that accept Google Checkout or Paypal.
    Plus, I hate physical junk mail a lot, so I am not nearly as likely to fill out a form as I used to be.

  4. Allison wrote:

    YES I LOVE FILLING OUT FORMS. JOEL, WHY DIDNT I KNOW THIS ABOUT YOU? I definitely have had that moment too where i was like, what am i filling out anyways?!? Oh well!

    this year, alex is going to do my taxes in exchange for me filling out the forms. even trade??? ALEX THINKS SO. YES, AWESOME.