Sometime later that day, I went to another stand and had another picture taken and a second Age of Majority card was issued to me. Prior to having the picture taken I went to the washroom stared at myself in the mirror and washed my hands continuously. However, I found myself feeling the same anxiety after this second card was issued . This time I went back to my apartment and changed my shirt. I then went back to the university and to the washroom to stare at myself in the mirror and wash my hands continuously. This second Age of Majority Card was was crumpled up and thrown into a waste basket in the University Centre. I then proceeded to another stand and had a third Age of Majority Card issued. The feelings did not disappear, and I believe, but I am not sure, that I repeated this same cycle, without changing my shirt, and had yet another Age of Majority Card issued, my fourth that day. By this time, it was nearing four o’clock or five o’clock and the government representatives were leaving, and I had wasted the entire day feeling lousy and getting new cards. This was all done in between classes and needless to say I did not get much course work or thesis work done. All that I had for my day was a fourth Age of Majority Card that I did not like.
I had, however, not conquered the problem, as I still felt uncomfortable through the evening and did not sleep well during the night. I felt like a mess. The next morning, Wednesday, November 15th, I realized that my entire previous day had been wasted and I had done no school work. In addition I still felt lousy with compulsive feelings that there was something wrong with the card. So on this new day, I put on a new shirt, destroyed the Age of Majority Card that I had received for the fourth time the previous day, deposited it in a waste basket in the University Centre, and went over to a government stand at the university to get a new one. Of course, I visited the washroom for the same repetitive process of staring at myself in the mirror and continuously washing my hands. I received yet another card. This time I felt better but still uncomfortable. A number of hours later I repeated the same cycle and went to yet another government stand and received a new Age of Majority Card, my sixth and my second that day. The sixth one was, of course, the only one in existence as the others had gone to Age of Majority Card heaven. I may be off a number or two in terms of the number of times I repeated this cycle of events and the number of cards issued; these are not events that I like to remember. By this time I had had it with this repetitive process and I was running out of stands to go to for receiving Age of Majority Cards. I was also feeling better so I just stopped cold turkey and accepted the card as the best that I would get. I felt drained and tired from the entire disgusting episode of irrational thinking and weakness.
Afterwards, I do remember, that I was so stressed from this entire episode, that I went to the campus shop and bought a package of small thin cigars and smoked them without inhaling sitting in a chair in the University Centre. Any classes I had that day were, of course, a blur. That evening I took my new Age of Majority Card and made my way to the disco at the Holiday Inn, where I was now easily admitted. For my stupidity of the previous day and this day I was rewarded with a boring evening and not meeting any girls. I believe that I was smoking those small cigars and had a couple of glasses of red wine to relax me further and pass the time.
So that is the end of this story. I eventually learned not to give into compulsive behaviour and engage in continuous repetition of things that represent irrational behaviour. I know they are a total waste of time and can be a mental and physical drain on the person and those around him.
