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 British Lit 101. That said, there were some authors/books from the required reading list that I liked including:
Charles Dickens. 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, can we NOT relate to feeling like an insect?
F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Great Gatsby, the book and the movie (either version)!
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 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 the characters are more genuine since they’re about living, breathing/contradictory/cantankerous humans who are brutally honest about a drug problem, for example (i.e. Portrait of a Young Man as an Addict by Bill Clegg) or maybe they overcame severe circumstances like Jeanette Walls in A Glass Castle and the like. As they say, truth is stranger than fiction.
Jeanette (Walls) and her siblings almost starved to death growing up, and as entertaining and true-to-life Waiting to Exhale was…no one staved off malnutrition by eating out of trashcans because his/her parents were very dysfunctional, and her father was an alcoholic, etc., though Ms. McMillan’s tale is a phenomenal book.
And in my opinion, memoirs far exceed Realty TV. And I know, I’m going to get hate mail on this. But think about it. Those confessional moments on reality shows might be/often are influenced by a director. In a memoir, the writer is freer to divulge her inner most thoughts because he/she can hide behind a pseudonym.
Alternatively, even using one’s real name, there’s no director shaking his head saying, “Can you throw that glass at your sister again? We missed the shot of it smashing into the wall”…LOL…And even if a publisher asks you to 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 (what’s not to like?)
Oh, and lest we forget, Moonstruck with my favorite DIVA, Cher.
4) So, why else am I weird besides the fact that I 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 comedic moments, but they’re just not for me. So, when anyone mentions movies like those, 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 might consider spoofs or spoof-ish. Yes, MEGA 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 after watching the 86th episode of MI-5 on Netflix cuz then, I’ll have nothing to watch after the Old Man goes to bed. I’m also still reeling from the death of Adam Carter, and if he left because of some squabble with a director or something, 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. No loss! Steak n shake is my FAV! Get over it.
8) Though I’ve been accused of not being 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…, 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 I can be the life of the party. And I’ve been known to hang out in bars until daylight (years ago, but still). That said, I much prefer working at home, with just my black lab and 2 cats because they don’t GO on and on about every single argument with their spouse over who ate the last muffin or the oh, so exciting plot of the Kardashians or Mad Men, or another broadcast I don’t care about.
So, there you have it. My weirdness cataloged…and, personally, I much prefer being deemed ODD (not to be confused with Odd Thomas cuz I can’t see ghosts)…than being called God forbid…BORING…
So, CHEERS to all of us weirdos, harmless weirdos…not those guys in raincoats who flash people in public…:) And would you trust this woman with your children? HINT: I’m the one with the hat on…:)
Hard to believe some people left me in charge of their kindergarten babies back in the day (1997 or so)…guess we’re all glad no little laddies got eaten by Leprechauns or anything…:)
Over and out from fracked up CENTRAL…:)
TenaciousB and her band of truth-spouting hippies…
© Tenacious Bitch 2013
