A High School of Monsters

I was recently invited to a child's birthday party where the theme was Monster High.  I was tasked with making the cupcakes and it got me to thinking....

I love the thought of a high school full of monsters.  When I was growing up, we had cartoons like Beatlejuice and Count Duckula, but I don't remember these shows having the same amount of popularity as the dolls of Monster High.

My three year old daughter has a the vampire doll, Draculaura.  The doll is creepy and disturbing, and I love it!  At Christmas time, I sat her on a table as a sort of Goth version of an Elf on the Shelf.  It was weird, I know.  But, I'm weird.

I've stated before that I saw my first vampire movie when I was nine years old.  It was no child's movie with a romantic twist, it was hard-core and I loved it!  I began to immerse myself in everything vampire related, including folklore, to thoroughly understand my monster of choice.  To say the least, this set me far apart from the other female third-graders. 

As I grew older, I waited for my fascination with vampires to cease, but it never did.  Now I know, without a doubt, that just like vampires themselves, my love for them will never die.  But when I think back at my monster-loving childhood, I am reminded of just how far I stood out from so many other kids.  I learned to hide this, and thus kept myself from being ridiculed too much.  

If Monster High dolls were around while I was growing up, I wouldn't have felt so different.  I would have been just like all the other little girls toting vampire, zombie and werewolf dollies.  But I've learned that being just like everyone else isn't always such a great thing.  So the next time you come across a "weird" kid that others laugh at, stop and think.  Maybe that kid isn't so weird after all.  Maybe they're just the trend-setter.

(Ab)normal

I was asked by my friend and fellow writer, Mardra Sikora, to participate in a blog hop.  The topic...normal.  What is normal?  Why do people strive to be normal?  I thought about it and have decided to take this opportunity to write a blog on the abnormal....

Black pants with chains and other hardware, hair died as black as can be, thick black eyeliner and black lipstick, possibly a spiked collar...these are some of the things that would mark a person as being Goth, a freak, weird and abnormal.  Things that give other...normal...people reason to be afraid, to shy away.

Well I guess I'm not normal, because these just may be my peeps.  Though I've never adopted the tell-tale look completely, I do tend to weave certain aspects of it into my daily appearance.  I don't dye my hair black, but dark brown.  My eyes are lined with black, a lot of my clothes are black, and sometimes my jewelery can make people stare (silver and black chains, skulls, and yes...spikes).  Growing up, I realized that some of my family members were easily frightened.  And boy, does my family like to gossip!  Maybe that's why I never completely adopted the look, I don't know.

I've never been frightened off because someone looks a little odd.  I always gravitated toward stores like Hot Topic, because I liked the people in there.  I have found that these people can be some of the friendliest and most intelligent people around.  If taken the wrong way, they can come off as offensive.  When seen in a different light, the offensive becomes humorous.    

About a year and a half ago, I began to become close friends with a group of girls.  We call ourselves The 6 Pack (yes, there are six of us...a six pack of chicks).  We have nicknames too, The Bitch, The Nice One, The Bad Influence, The Freak...guess which one I am.  Yep, I'm the freak.  Am I angry with this nickname?  No, I love it!

In my experience, everyone is a nerd, geek or freak with something.  I love to read, the thicker the book, the better.  My mind tends to run toward the dark side of things and I think about vampires way too much.  How about you, where does your freakdom lie?