First, my mother told me I was weird in high school because I like sci-fi and horror books and movies as well as thriller and action movies. I have many tomes by Mr. King and Mr. Koontz. For some odd reason though since I majored in English/Creative Writing, Mom assumed I should be sitting around reading Milton or Melville or something equally high brow.
However, in college I was usually bored in traditional Literature classes like Literature of the Italian Renaissance. That said, there were some authors/books from the required reading list in college that I liked including:
Charles Dickens. I loved Great Expectations.
Emily Bronte: Wuthering Heights still ROCKS.
Daphne DuMaurier: Will anyone EVER forget Rebecca? Which incidentally I first read in the 8th Grade. So, perhaps, that makes me doubly strange with a cherry on top…dunno, you be the judge.
Franz Kafka: The Metamorphosis. Those of us who have survived corporate America, who CAN’T relate to feeling like an INSECT?
F. Scott Fitzgerald – regardless of whether you’re a Redford fan or preferred Mr. DiCaprio in the movie, The Great Gatsby was a fantastic book
1984 by George Orwell.
And there are a few others, but I won’t bore you with the rest. So, ANYWHO…about being weird.
Though he loves me, and he’s very good to me, my husband also thinks I’m weird because:
1) I, like Sally Albright, get cold, occasionally, when it’s below 72 degrees.
2) I wolf down dark chocolate covered in peanut butter once in awhile (au natural peanut butter, btw) with a glass of Merlot or a beer. It’s a family thing. My great-grandmother used to eat chocolate with a pint ‘o beer all the time, so I’m in good company. So, maybe, it’s an Irish thing. Dunno…never been to the land of my ancestors though I hope to some day.
3) I prefer action/thriller/horror/sci fi books/movies to chick lit and chick flicks though I LOVE memoirs. But when you think about it, that makes sense because I find SOME chick lit to be contrived and boring, but memoirs? They’re far better because I find the characters are more genuine since they’re based on living, breathing/contradictory/cantankerous humans who are brutally honest about a drug problem (i.e. Portrait of a Young Man as an Addict by Bill Clegg) or overcame severe circumstances like Jeanette Walls did in A Glass Castle and the like.
Jeanette (Walls) and her siblings almost starved to death growing up, and I’m thinking that as entertaining and true-to-life Waiting to Exhale was (and I found that book totally riveting and often hilarious)…no one staved off malnutrition by eating out of trashcans because his/her parents were very dysfunctional, and her father was an alcoholic, etc.
And in my opinion, memoirs far exceed Realty TV. And I know, I’m going to get hate mail on this, but with a memoir, the writer feels freer to divulge her inner most thoughts because he/she can hide behind a pseudonym. Alternatively, if they use their real name, there’s no director shaking his head saying that you’re not ANGRY enough, try it again, or can you throw that glass at your friend’s head one more time? We missed the shot of it smashing into the wall…LOL…And even if a publisher asks that you elaborate more on a certain event, it’s just not the same as a fake re-enactment, n’est-ce pas?
And feel free to disagree with me if you like. I welcome opposing opinions.
However, there are some chick flicks/romantic comedies that I absolutely adore like:
Ahem, When Harry Met Sally if you didn’t get the Sally Albright reference above.
The Wedding Singer
Serious Moonlight
Pretty Woman (cuz c’mon, what’s not to like about the modern-day Cinderella?).
Oh, and lest we forget, Moonstruck with my favorite DIVA, Cher.
But as far as 70s/80s movies like Moonstruck – I was never a big fan of Urban Cowboy or Saturday Night Fever, and I really didn’t dig Grease either like most 10-12 year-old girls at the time. But I liked Dirty Dancing. Overall, though I was more of an Animal House/Fast Times at Ridgemont High kind of gal.
4) So, why else am I weird besides the fact that I, unlike most of my friends, prefer most of the same movies as my husband? Well, because I’m not big on SPOOFS.
I think most of them are stupid. Max and Charlie both LOVE Shaun of the Dead, which annoyed me, and all the Austin Powers movies, which have funny parts, but they’re just not for me. So, when anyone mentions a movie like either of these, I suddenly have 5 loads of laundry to do.
But don’t think that my taste in movies is logical because I will watch Clerks, Jay and Silent Bob or Dogma all DAY LONG, which some people also consider spoofs or spoof-ish. Can’t help it, big fan of Kevin Smith. I even like Comic Book Men. And wasn’t Kevin Smith AWESOME in Die Hard 4? Yes, the WARLOCK rules.
Aside from all that, I’m weird because:
5) I don’t care if my socks match (a navy blue/black combo is commonplace for moi), but I hate it if my bra and panties don’t match and/or if my pillow cases don’t match my bedspread. I know. I know. It doesn’t make any sense, but who SAYS I HAVE TO? 
6) I am OBSESSED with British Television, and my current faves are – Doctor Who (when’s it coming back on??!!!) MI-5, and Downton Abby. And I’ll be distraught when I get to the 86th episode of MI-5 on Netflix cuz then, I’ll have nothing to watch after the Old Man (my husband) goes to bed. I’m also still reeling from the death of Adam Carter, and if he left because of some squabble with a producer or something, I might just cross the pond to deck the bastard…just so you know!
7) I don’t care that I’ve never eaten a Big Mac or a slider from White Castle. SORRY… Steak n Shake is my fav…get OVER it…:)
8) Though I’ve been accused of being not a girlie girl, I rarely EVER go out in public without makeup even if I’m just going to the grocery store.
9) It gets on my last nerve if the kitchen and the bathrooms are dirty, but a little clutter doesn’t bother me. A lot of CLUTTER is different. For example…USED containers in your drawers, i.e., check out this post http://tenaciousbitch.com/2013/02/15/life-is-too-short-and-then-you-die-with-bubble-gum-in-your-hair/ ….yeah, that BOTHERS ME…:)
10) And last but not least: I like working alone. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not antisocial. My friends will attest that I can be the life of the party. And I’ve been known to hang out in bars until daylight (a FEW years ago, but still), but I much prefer working at home, with my black lab and 2 cats at my side because they don’t feel the need to tell me about every single argument they’ve had with their spouse or the oh, so exciting plot of some TV show that I could care less about (like the Kardashians or Mad Men).
So, there you have it. Why most people think I’m weird…and, personally, I much prefer being categorized as ODD (not to be confused with Odd Thomas cuz I can’t see ghosts)…than being called ordinary or God forbid…BORING…
Over and out from fracked up CENTRAL…:)
TenaciousB and her band of truth-spouting hippies…
© Tenacious Bitch 2013
