Gothic for Life: a reflection

Dear Spookies,

So maybe this should have been my introduction post, but there's something to be said for inspiration, isn't there? I've recently been re-watching episodes of the 2004 Sci Fi channel reality show "Mad Mad House" which first ran on television when I was 16 or so.

I could not miss an episode of this show, I adored it. I fell in love with the "Alts", the alternative people who hosted the show, and I wanted to be more like them. Especially Don, the Vampire and Fiona, the Witch. I hated the house guests. Not only because they were out to fool these Alts, but because they felt like they didn't have to be open minded. Somehow I felt offended on a personal level when the house guests refused to participate in demonstrations by the Alts, because I would have been so happy to be there and learn from all of them.

Cheesy as it might sound, I think that show was a final realization that I was going to be Gothic forever. I had never seen an adult Gothic person before, and that sort of made me fall in love with Don the Vampire. He was everything a Gothic man should be in my eyes. He was well dressed, pale, handsome, slept in a coffin.... of course my vision has broadened a bit after I realized how impractical being that pale is unless you actually are nocturnal.

In re-watching the series, there was a particular segment where two of the Alts (Don and Art, probably the two most extreme looking) and a few of the house guests went to the grocery store to pick up some things. People laughed, pointed and one woman even confronted Art about how he looked like a demon. One of the house guests spoke up to the woman who said this saying "if you knew this man, you'd know that he has a bigger heart than any one of us". Which really spoke to me as to how accepting alternative people in general are. Truly, we don't have the easiest lives by choosing to look the way we do. Perhaps we truly are big-hearted, or maybe we're just gluttons for punishment. Either way, we alternative folks don't generally shut out the badness of the world just because of a few mean people, and we generally don't treat eachother badly either. We're just generally kind, and I think that's pretty cool.

Rambling aside, that show made me realize that my "dressing Goth" wasn't necessarily a childhood phase, but more importantly, that it didn't HAVE to be. My parents might have worried about my baggy black pants and corsets and lectured me that one day I'd have to "grow up" in order to be an effective member of society, but now that I'm an adult (and my clothing tastes are a bit more refined/age appropriate), they.... still don't LOVE it. But they understand that it's a style of dress that makes me comfortable and feel most like myself, just like they would feel at home in sweatpants and a t-shirt.

Maybe 22 is a bit early to be making judgements about the rest of my life, but I feel pretty confident that I would be very bored in the mainstream. I can see myself as a cranky eldergoth one day, still handing out sanctimonious advice from my high horse about "back in the day", and I don't know if I would have come to this realization had it not been for that silly little reality show.

LOVE LOVE LOVE!
Miss Manic

Settling In

Well, Dear Readers (I certainly hope I have at least one by now! ^_^;), I'm beginning to settle into my countryside dwelling with some people who have turned out to be very agreeable and lovely. We are quite a diverse and stubborn set of five, but we are learning quite a lot from one another already, which I hope will continue. I'm thinking of it as an experiment in cultural diversity at the moment. Can the Big City Girl relax in her new surroundings and acquire a taste for well water?

In words we shared over dinner last night, we will definitely have some acclimating to do with each other. The men of the house are all outdoorsmen. They plan on being rangers and wildlife management people when they're done with school here. The ladies of the house are both city people, born and raised. Well, I suppose we have some horse sense, but that's about the extent.

They have a hard time understanding the idea of why somebody would want to be a vegetarian, and I have a hard time understanding why they enjoy sitting in the hot sun dressed in canvas suits waiting to shoot something. I also hate country music (sorry to all you country fans out there, but corporate country just seems to me like it has an undertones of intolerance and exploitation; feel free to debate me on that one) and they can't stand my pissed-off-crazy-person industrial music. Go figure. But as much as I don't understand their ways, they are just as confused about my lifestyle, and I accept that, even if I don't like it.

So, children, the lesson of this particular episode is ACCEPTANCE. You're weird. Remember that. When you are caught in a situation where you are a fish out of water, other people will have a hard time understanding you and your ways. That does NOT, however, mean that you need to change. Fully embrace your oddness. Your self-confidence will radiate beautifully, and if you accept others for their uniqueness, even if they're very different from you, they will give you the respect that you deserve.* And by all means, seek out others like yourself. They may seem non-existant on the surface, but dearies, if you become just social enough (I'm not saying you should go and rush a fraternity by any means, just leave the house every once in a while), you'll find the dark and spooky hiding amongst you.

Love,
Miss Manic

*Disclaimer: Acceptance by others is directly related to your kindness towards them. Play nice. Also, if the above information proves false for you, feel free to tell the other party to kindly fuck off.