100 Days of Love and Hate - Day 71

[dalekboy]

Only 15 months since the last post! Woohoo! Given that I found myself having a harder and harder time reading and writing over that period, I'm happy to forgive myself.

Most Love and Hate posts tended to take around four hours of pretty solid work to get to a point where, if I wasn't entirely happy with it's wording, I wasn't unhappy with it being seen. And I just don't generally have the mental energy to throw around like that. And if I do, well, I can be playing with my son, or trying to get back into writing fiction.

I wanted to try and get a few more under my belt before posting again, but what the hell.



Crazy People


There are people who are strange and odd, where their unusual outlook or way of doing things is so much a part of themselves that they are rarely aware of it, if at all. Then there are the 'crazy' people, the folks who regularly need to tell you that they are wacky, weird, strange, etc.

"But I'm mad, everyone knows that!" and similar phrases delivered again and again in a desperate attempt by the try-hards to make themselves feel special or unique. What they are is, at best, tiring, at worst, a pain in the arse.

It's their attempt to make one believe they are actually interesting, entertaining people and I hate it! I really hate it. You can take someone who is an otherwise reasonable mate, but the more they tell me how fucking amazingly strange they are, they more I want to beat them with burning rubber-tubing. Because I know people who are genuinely odd and interesting folks, and you know, not one of them ever feels the need to tell me again and again how bizarre they are.

Oh, once in a while the truly strange will acknowledge it, but usually only when it's directly relevant to something. Putting a bit of behaviour in context, or the sudden realisation that they really don't think in quite the same way. Their comments aren't about getting attention, they are about getting perspective.

The try-hards aren't just attempting to convince everyone else, they're trying to convince themselves. Real arists, geniuses, great lovers, tough people, humanitarians, famous folks, etc. know what they are, and are comfortable with that.

They don't feel the need to keep telling the rest of us.




Steve Irwin

There's a lot that can be said about Irwin and his attitude and perceptions of things. I don't know how many times I watched him handling some animal and telling it, "It's alright mate, it's okay," as it tried to bite him, and all I could think was "No, it's not okay Steve, it's just been pounced on and grabbed, as far as it's concerned, nothing good can come of this."

But you know, I really liked the guy.

Yep, he was a dill. I'm not entirely sure the sky he saw was blue and not orange with purple spots, but his heart was in the right place. For his many flaws, he cared about animals and the environment, really cared. You don't have to like the way he showed it, but don't say he didn't give a damn. A good portion of the money made from his TV career was poured back into animal conservation. He bought up huge areas of land in Australia and overseas so that they could be left undeveloped as informal 'National Parks.'

And most importantly, Irwin got people excited about conservation and the environment not by preaching to them, but by his sheer enthusiasm.

His death was a sad loss.

And love him or hate him, he did more in his forty-four years than most of us would manage in twice that.

Comments

[strangedave.livejournal.com]

Perhaps I should change my username.

[dalekboy.livejournal.com]

Sometimes a username is just a username.

And it's not like you run around wearing a t-shirt with a big StrangeDave (TM) logo on it, or ask people to call you Strange Dave. And I've certainly never heard you trying to convince people you're weird.

[strangedave.livejournal.com]

I just like weird things. But I think I'm at most mildly eccentric.

And I hate the 'we are so wacky!' thing too.

I realised I'd lost some tolerance for this sort of thing at GhengisCon. I had just arrived and asked what was going on (they were, as it turns out, cracking open the head of a demon god for the yummy candy inside, Cthulhu Pinata an awesome idea), and someone very fannish replied "One Word - Don't Ask". I said "thats not one word" and they replied "oh, but with me and my friends so many crazy things happen we just made it one word" and just started ranting at them "what, your friends aren't nmerate? You can't tell the difference between a word and a phrase? What?"

[dalekboy.livejournal.com]

I try to make allowances for youth with this stuff. When we're young we do all sorts of stupid stuff as we try to get comfy with ourselves. But some people don't grow out of it.

It's right down there with the 'I got so mad I drove my fist half an inch into a brick wall' guys. I've heard that one about four times over the years from various fanboys, some who were old enough to know better than to come out with something so stupid. Having punched a van myself, and having to deal with the sore knuckles and aching hand for a week afterwards (the van was ok, not even a mild dent) I would be more likely to believe the statement if they followed it with, "Broke my bloody hand of course, felt like a total fuckwit."

I have used the, "I'm so crazy!" line, but only sarcastically. I always think of Rik from The Young Ones carrying on about how decadent they are when I use it.

[strangedave.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I make allowances for youth (the person I snapped at did not have that excuse, though).

I've actually seen my best friend punch a wall in frustration (he was trying to get thousands of dollars worth of essential equipment for his business through customs at the time, and it wasn't going well). He was a pretty strong guy, and he didn't hurt the wall and did hurt his hand.

Rik is the perfect comedic reference, yes. Right on! Take that, Thatcher! *raises fist in air*

[littenz.livejournal.com]

I've had "odd" reactions from those whom consider themselves bohemian or much less than conventional when I do the normal but unexpected - such as stroll without pause into a arty coffee bar-cum-cafe, of an evening, while still in my suit and tie.

I got the feedback that I was supposed to be phased by or demur to this action because I was an accountant in full business drag and had yet had time to do my wardrobe change (and supposedly a mind shift too) to a crime-conducting student. Bloody small-minded sensibilities!

I whole-heartedly agree with your Young Ones' Rik reference. ("We need you to blow up a panda." "Yeah, all right. Bloody zoos.")

[dalekboy.livejournal.com]

I always like Rik's follow up to the panda comment. Someone points out their talking about police and Rik's response is along the lines of "Yeah, stinking pigs! Especially the few bad apples that spoil an otherwise spotless record."

[3lobed.livejournal.com]

I think it's when Neil's parents visit that Rik's sitting at a table pretending to write an essay to impress them, and keeps interrupting to shout over to them.

"You have to watch out for me, you know, because I'm a bit mad!"

Beat.

"Aren't I, everyone?"

Beat.

"A bit mad!"

Nobody says anything, so he lunges across the room into their faces blowing a raspberry and bugging his eyes and when they flinch away says "you see? mad!"

Can I submit another variation? I had a boss who had some deeply, deeply obnoxious mannerisms that made her unpleasant to be around and bad at her job. And when I saw anyone try to tactfully bring into the conversation that maybe a different sort of behaviour might be more appropriate she'd mug and grin and wink and say "Oh, well, I am a bit of a character, aren't I?"

From that day to this, anyone who picks out that term to apply to themselves goes on my red list.

[tommmo.livejournal.com]

Yeah Dave, you big tryhard. Geez.