Quirks. I have them.

In high school I became aware of a trend that was gripping my classmates. I'm not referring to skinny jeans, barrel-curled hair, or hipsters (though this was back in 2008, before hipsters. BH? Was there ever such a time?).

I'm referring, of course, to the reusable water bottle trend.

More than meets the eye...

Drinking water is not exactly something new. Water is kind of important. Plants need it. Humans need it. Blah blah blah. And the concept of staying hydrated has been on the radar for probably ever, because the six eight-ounce glasses of water that I'm supposed to have been drinking daily have been following me around like the world's lamest, wettest ghosts ever since I found out I was supposed to be drinking them.

Needless to say, I've amassed a lot of eight-ounce cup-shaped harbingers . I'm really, really bad at drinking water. Really bad at it. I drink a couple swallows if I get really thirsty, but as for drinking water just for the sake of it because I'm supposed to? I fail.

Enter the reusable water bottle. I almost feel like I must have seen water bottles as an accessory in high school. And, because I wanted to be accepted by all the regular, consistent-water-drinking cool kids, I bought one and stored it in my backpack. I think I used it maybe six times, during dance classes, before I lost it. And that was when I stopped caring about reusable water bottles.

Well, that's not entirely true.

College is like a breeding ground for reusable water bottles. It's a breeding ground for a lot of other things, too; but EVERYONE IN COLLEGE HAS A REUSABLE BOTTLE. At least, everyone at MY alma mater did. People carried water around in different containers like it was going out of style--everything from all-purpose plastic to designer to metal to "I just bought this from the student union and I'm reusing it before I recycle it" to glass jars to leftover orange juice cartons to mugs that had had coffee or tea in them and--and--

I think you get the picture.

Anyway, for reasons I don't fully understand in retrospect, I decided around Freshman Year that I should try to be more healthy and drink more water. So I took the water bottle I had received from the Freshman Orientation Swag (ugh, orientation) and bought another one, with the idea that I would swap them off in the fridge at home every other day, and get in a healthy amount of water while being somewhat charmingly sporty.

"Charmingly Sporty" are not words I'd use in conjunction to describe myself, ever; so I bet you can see where this is going.

Within two weeks I'd lost one of the water bottles. Within two months, I'm pretty sure I'd lost them both. Somehow I was undeterred and bought another one, and the only reason I didn't lose that was because I would remember about fifty steps later that I'd left it in the union and go back to get it. After the third or fourth instance of this happening, I kind of gave up and started drinking tea from the union instead. It's a lot harder to feel panic over losing a paper cup.

I'm not actually harebrained or spacey. Not generally. I have a very good memory for details about people and sometimes I think that creeps them out, and I have a very good memory where academia is concerned (I think I could still name all the presidents of the US if I tried, thanks Mr. Gardner) but when it comes to water bottles, I shed them like some girls shed hairpins. I'm surprised I didn't have a train of lost water bottles follow me up the aisle at graduation like Jacob Marley's ghostly chain of money boxes.

And it's not like I have anything against the water bottles themselves; it's just I have the hardest time actually wanting to drink water. Which is just such a disgusting first-world problem, I know, I know. I'm aware that there are so many countries that don't have access to fresh drinkable water, and here I am living in the US saying things like, "I don't really like to drink water," but... I kind of don't. Can't put my finger on why. All I know is that when I force myself to drink a lot of it, I feel kind of gross, not great--and if I'm to believe the hype, water is SUPPOSED to make you feel great if you drink the requisite amount. I start to feel all weird after glass #2. Especially if it's lukewarm water. Cold water is a lot easier for me to drink.

Which is really just more proof that I'm a picky spoiled first-world baby, I guess. Sorry, guys.

Am I the only one who has weird issues with water (probably not)? How do you people get your six eight-ounces a day? TEACH ME YOUR WAYS.