LJ Idol Exhibit A - Week One - Am I Crazy?
I cackled with glee when I read this week’s topic. I already know the answer to the query of insanity, a big fat YES, and so I am going to tell you why. It is one of those few areas of my life where I feel absolutely certain, and take some small measure of pride in. Why is this? It does seem rather strange. My best answer is that I feel as though I gain some amount of individuality from it. I was the girl in my dance classes who would unnecessarily show up in a full unitard (a fashion faux pas, even in the world of dance) with my braids attached at the top of my head to give me the appearance of a coiffured antenna. I love to go out in public wearing ridiculous costumes. Especially capes.
When I was sixteen and had just moved away from the small alpine town I grew up in, I found myself faced with my first Halloween in the big city. Now, this prospect greatly excited me, because being the small town girl I was I assumed that everything was bigger and better in the Big City. Including Halloween, I mean, they had so many costume stores here! How could they not dress up for Halloween? It was unthinkable to me, the sixteen year old who showed up to my new school in full Phantom of the Opera regalia. To my horror, I realized that out of about 1500 students (about a third of the size of the town I had just moved from), I was one of perhaps 100 students who dressed up. None of them with a face-painted mask covering half of their visages. Good GRIEF. Instead of asking my dad to drive me home so I could change and resume invisibility amongst my peers, I strode through the door and went about my day with phantomly panache, or so I thought. When I came home from school that day I thought it prudent to capitalize on my costume, so I made a short video which I will provide for your enjoyment.
One of my favourite things about myself, which I believe is also the source of many of my crazier tendencies, is my ability to amuse myself quite (perhaps too?) easily. This particular trait has led to numerous inside jokes with myself. It has also resulted in giggle outbreaks during lectures whilst my head was bent over my notebook and I was madly scribbling my ideas about the subject my professors were discussing. I feel like the best way to illustrate this idea is to include another piece of media, this time a picture of my notes from my Shakespeare: Comedies and Romances class. Sometimes I wonder how I am able to remain a functioning member of society.
That being said, I firmly believe that it is of the utmost importance to embrace and nurture the crazy inside of us. It can manifest itself in so many facets of our lives and, in my opinion, lead to great and unexpected things.