I do the same things! I used to think it was my own personal weirdness, until I saw the movie A Very Long Engagement, in which the heroine is seen doing that ("If I can reach the road turn before the car turns it, my boyfriend will come back alive...").
I hope there'll be no round 2 for you! But I'm doing the same thing--preparing to widen the field next year. This round, I've only applied to north-eastern schools (NYU and Columbia for Middle Eastern Studies; Cornell and Yale for comp lit). I'd have loved to apply to CA schools, but I need full funding. :/
Your interests are quite close to mine (although in different languages)! But I want to focus more on the social/political aspect, and also links with other arts (mostly cinema). Where else have you applied?