I began wipeing my snot on things at the age of 6. I had my "tickle blanket" even through kindergarten(1), though after my forced seperation from it, my natural tendancies forced their way through. This wipeing of my 'boogers' encompassed the rug, the wall, under counters, cabinets, and most infamously, the chair.
The second chair was not part of the set. The couch was purchased with a love seat and a chair. But the living room was so large (the house earlier in it's career having been a boarding house) that my parents decided to get the extra chair to fill the space. This chair served it's purpose by being close to the TV, just to the left, and the left side of the chair was to the wall and radiator.
This side of the chair was caked with long lines of snot.
I loved that chair; I was close to the TV and was in the corner. I look back and think how wonderful that my surroundings, at such an early age, were able to accomodate my pseudo-agoraphobia.(2) I would watch Duck Tails from there. i would watch Abbot & Costello from there. It became my spot. Everyone has their spot. It became mine.
And i had a habit of picking my nose then wipeing it on the side of the chair. the side that faced the wall. No one ever new. i would never do it around others.
i would wait.
i was ninja.
i was stealth.
I was hooked....my dried mucuss membrane was contorting itself into patterns withing the fabric of the extra chair in the living room. I had my spot. My borhter had the 'big pillow'. My sister : the couch. My mother also on the couch, and my father in the chair to the back.
Youthful ignorance never allowed the thought of selling or moving the furniture to enter my mind. Allas....they did...
i was more embarassed that day than I was the afternoon that my sister discovered approximately 200 dollars worth of pornography magazines beneath my bed.
frotteurism is odd. It is also used to describe the act of adolescent males that have the habit of having wet dreams while they nap. Rather...grinding while on the living room couch. They tend to consider this a condition worth assigning a name rather than just discounting it to the birth of their personal sexualities.
Strange, not so much in the initial concept of sexuality, but in the marking of one's territory that this creates.
Like most mammals, we are territorial. We respect our space; we respect other's spaces; we don't poop where we sleep, and we mark our territory. Though it is rather uncouth, these days, to just ejaculate or pee on any old sign post...i postulate that snot has become, and subsequently evolved, into our new marking tool.
i have been known to pick my nose and wipe it :
-in the bathroom
-public restrooms
-under my desk
-On the carpet
-on my shoe
-On the bed sheets
-on pajama pants
-on the bottom of the car seat
...
To name only a few.
i wonder and tenatively ask...where do we draw the line between the evolution of sexuality and the evolution of a territorial self? Why is one ok and the other not? Sexual free will prevails, but the idea of marking your territory with smell, spit, or snot is still nearly profane...icky...or even laced with coodies...
(1) The tickle blanket was green and white and knitted by my mother with the extensive help of my grandmother (rather Babu) and had a rounded edge. The corner of the tickle blanket i used as the natural supplement for a nipple. i would suck on the corner, and then tickle my nose with the saliva saturated wool.
(2) I have never even thought for a minute that the surrounds caused the condition.
