Seeking Normal – Thoughts from January 16 and April 6, 2013

January 16, 2013

Hello from the future! That statement is going to sound damn silly when I read back on this in 2020, when I’ll be 50. Now I said I’ll be 50! Can I just deny the future? Of course, I can, but when is the last time I listened to myself? I told myself last night not to eat any sugar, but there I was eating way too much chocolate and other candy, like I wasn’t fat enough. Throughout the holidays, I cheated on my no sugar deal with myself. I need to lose weight and give up my fat ways.

Future note: Talking from the real future going past 2020, I can tell you that being in your 50s is not a big deal. I controlled myself in 2017 and lost about 40 pounds by eating a vegan diet. Oreos and other sugary foods are vegan and explain some of the reason I re-gained 20 of those pounds in subsequent years. I’m getting closer to being only 10 pound over weight. The main problems I have now are on vacations. I can’t be on vacation and not eat all the glorious foods in the area we are vacationing.

My use of the word “fat” should also be mentioned in this entry. I’ve endeavored to not call other people fat. It’s only a term used to insult people and demean them. Recently, I’ve come across old writings like this where I call myself fat. Compared to most people with weight problems, I’ve barely been overweight (especially by American standards). What would you call someone who is actually obese if I refer to myself as fat? Shaming myself is the same as shaming others. I’ll try to insult myself with more appropriate terms from now on.

April 6, 2013

(Future note: As I’ve mentioned in previous Thoughts paper [in the future notes], I didn’t write many daily thoughts during this time period. To fill in these years with writings by yours truly, I present this piece of writing. It’s a weird story which is on brand for me.)

Seeking Normal

A weird creature from the weird land of Weirdsville seeks a mythical place he has only heard about in legend. It is a town where normal rules. He finds it in the ironically named town of Strange. He finds the new town wonderfully normal at first. Trying to fit in, he acts normally. Unfortunately, what Weirdsville residents considered normal is not normal for Strange residents. Every attempt he makes to seem normal brings scowls and nasty looks from the inhabitants. Slowly, he tries to make changes that are not normal for the town. The last straw for the town is when others from Weirdsville invade the town and truly make it live up to it’s Strange name. In the end, the creature learns to appreciate the weird aspects of Weirdsville. The town of Strange, however, is never the same.

(Future note: Except for the fictionalized aspect of the story, it conveys my feelings about what people deem as weird versus what they deem as normal. What’s normal in one country seems completely strange to another. Your experiences dictate what you consider normal. I thought about making the creatures from the different towns distinct species, but that wasn’t what I was focusing on in the story. It would have also been too much of a rip-off of Dr. Seuss. I pictured different looking creatures living in both the towns. My focus was mainly on the behavior of the creatures from different places. The town of Strange is filled with creatures who always snobbishly adhere to the rules where life is normal and boring. Weirdsville residents don’t. The final lesson is to distinguish between behavior you are unfamiliar with and illogical behavior. They are very different things.)