"You and your whimsical sense of humor."My friend choked as we finally ceased laughing over one of the stupid things I had deliberately said.
"'Whimsical' is a big word."I put on a deadpan face, trying not to burst out laughing once again.
"No, 'exfoliate' is."He protested. We're in a constant argument over who uses more big words. Mind you, we're both trying to NOT be the one .
"No it's not. There are no other words that I could've used to properly express the meaning of exfoliating your lips weekly with a baby toothbrush."I objected. "Something you simply refuse to do."I added grudgingly with a pout, trying to look pitiful because he is just too lazy to do such an easy thing I asked him to do.
"No. No way. Puppy eyes don't work on me."He shook his head with a resigned smile. "Peel."He suggested.
"Which sounds like something that happens in the torture dungeon."
"Wait, let me get this straight. Exfoliating your lips DOESN'T happen in the torture dungeon?" He asked in all seriousness. Then we both erupted into laughters. Again.
"Hold on. 'Proselytized' is like the biggest word ever."I announced.
"Couldn't have put it in other words."
"You altered my belief? Changed my faith? So many other phrases that would've worked and you chose to say PROSELYTIZED."I paused. "You know what? We just had the dumbest conversation."
"I know. Don't we always? You're so weird."He shook his head leaning back as if trying to assess me from farther away so he could determine my exact species.
I punched him in the arm playfully, rolling my eyes. "And YOU'RE not? Don't even try pretending to be normal. You suck at it."
"Why fit in when we were born to stand out?" He shrugged.
"Awesome. Dr. Seuss is my favorite philosopher."
"I'm not a chick I didn't read nor watch The Lucky One."
"And you know I'm quoting it because?"

The majority of conversations between my friends and I are like the above: extremely confusing. The reason might be our unspoken consensus and countless inside jokes. Or maybe we're pure weird. Half of the time I think a shrink might bounce out of nowhere and declare me insane. Fine, I never thought so before. The idea just suddenly came out of nowhere. (Not unlike where the mysterious shrink would've came from.) And I just couldn't resist. I mean, it sounds so brilliantly funny and dramatic that I almost wish it could come true. Just... almost. I know, by now you are probably trying to check me into a mental hospital. I know. But why fit in when I was born to stand out?

Really, parents, teachers, 'inspiring' people always say that one should be proud of being who one really is. But come to think, do their actions really encourage that? If you enjoy playing the guitar more than studying, regardless how perfect your guitar techniques are, you should be ashamed of your poor academic performances. So much for being proud of yourself.

The mainstream culture has so much shaming going on one absolutely need not fear the possibility of having difficulties in finding a shameful flaw in oneself. Fat-shaming, thin-shaming, homosexual-shaming, bi-shaming...There's such a wide array of options to chose from. You totally have something that'll make you feel bad about yourself. The irony huh?

Just think about it. We're all ashamed of something. It could be your short stubby fingers, frizzy hair; your unfortunate genes that resulted in your not having a thigh gap; your horrible chemistry grades; your jobless boyfriend or lack of boyfriend. How come none of us are actually "proud of ourselves"? We all try to be normal, try to fit in. What does normal even mean? It's like Hercules trying to fit in with the normal mortals when all he had to do was Go The Distance and find somewhere he belonged. Which in the end turns out to be exactly where the demigod had always been, he just had to stop trying to fit in and be the hero he is. It's not like being proud of yourself is an arrogant behavior; it's not like being yourself and shining is a sin.

Seriously, thinking of all this is WAY too tiring for my weird brain so I'm just gonna sit here and twist the plastic wrapper of my finished sandwich into a crooked bow shape just for the fun of it.

"What are you doing?"My best friend plops down next to me on the couch and squints at the garbage in my hand, making a face.

"It's a genius creation, no?" I tilted my 'cute' ribbon.
She threw me a look. "You know what I'm doing?"
I peered back at her, "eyeing me suspiciously. That's my joke."
"Only you are weird enough to come up with that." We threw our heads back laughing. She CANNOT call me weird, she's not even remotely better.
"Well, why fit in when you were born to stand out?"