The Weirdest Feeling...

There are tons of things on the internet that talk about how it feels to graduate high school and how it feels to start college, but it wasn't until this Tuesday that I realized that there's one feeling I've never read about or even expected to experience. Maybe it's because most people are friends with people in their graduating class. I am not one of those people. I have a few close friends in my grade, but for the most part, I'm surrounded by people in grades below me. My sister is a junior this year, my boyfriend is a senior, and all of my boyfriend's friends (who I hang out with a lot) are juniors and seniors. Not to mention a bunch of my friends from drama who are now sophomores, juniors, and seniors! My point is, the first week of high school has been really weird for this high school graduate! 

I woke up Tuesday morning and looked at Twitter, where I saw tons of tweets about it being the first day of school. My brain finally woke up and I had the sudden realization that it was almost 8, meaning I missed my sister leaving and tons of my friends were now back in school. I didn't know whether to feel awesome or just plain weirded out about this situation. There I was, laying in bed on the first day of high school. The first day in 14 years that I wasn't starting school the same time as everyone else. The first day in 3 years that I wasn't sitting in the cafeteria talking to my friends before class. The first day in 12 years that I didn't have to get up at 6 in the morning to go to a place that I dreaded 90% of the time. It was great, it was a relief, but it was also very, very strange. 

Michaela and I planned on doing a photo shoot that day, so I went to pick her up and fill my tank. On the way back home from the gas station, we passed the school. The parkinglots were packed and we both said that it felt a lot like we were skipping school. So I wasn't completely alone in this weird feeling. 

It's now the 3rd day of school, and it STILL feels weird! Maybe I'll get used to it. I hope I'll get used to it. Is this what stay-at-home moms feel like when school starts back? Without the driving the kid to and from school of course. 

On another note, the photoshoot that Michaela and I did was so much fun. We made a wall of Christmas lights and all these different set ups.

My favorite. You can see our light wall behind me.

For this one we had the white sheet closed in a door, draped over the top of the mirror, and pinned to the back of the mirror. The mirror was leaning up against two stools, and we draped icicle lights on the top of it. You can see the light wall a little bit better in this one. I absolutely love how all of these pictures came out. That was probably my favorite photo shoot of all time. Michaela is so talented!

Wordy Wednesday: "Normal"

The other night I was laying in bed blogging in my brain. My awesome friend Mollie (artsylamentations.blogspot.com) made a "Music Monday" post this week, and it inspired me to do a weekly thing as well. Here is the first installment of Wordy Wednesdays! Wednesday is always my busiest day of the week, and it will be even busier when I start college since it's the only day I have 3 classes instead of 2, plus dinner with my friends. But there's always time for writing, right?

Quote of the week:

"Normal" is an illusion. What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly.

I found this quote on Pinterest (of course) and decided to illustrate it a little with my fancy new markers. It was said by Morticia Addams in the Addams Family, which I've never seen, but I would certainly like to at some point. 

I love this quote, and any quote about being "normal" or "weird" because my whole life I've sort of embraced my weirdness. My best friend and I always say "Weird is short for awesome," and it's really true. What could be more awesome than being so confident that you're not afraid to be labelled as "weird"? When you don't care what random people think of you, life is so much easier and better. Besides, what even is "normal"? 

The quote says it is an illusion, which basically means normal doesn't exist. Everyone is so unique and different that we all have our own definition of normal. Well, technically the definition is always the same.

Normal: conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected.

There are things that are just universally normal. Like having skin and wearing clothes. But when something "weird" or "unusual" happens to you every day, you grow accustomed to it and it becomes normal for you.
For example, my dad has two motorcycles. One day I brought a friend to my house and we went in through the garage where one of the bikes was parked. My friend was pretty impressed, and it dawned on me that not everyone has a couple of motorcycles sitting in their garage. I walk past them every day. I used to have to walk around them to get to the refrigerator. To me, those motorcycles are normal, even though to most other people they're not.
During my time in high school, I was not "popular," even though my mom likes to believe I was. There's that specific category of "popular" people, you know, the girls with really long hair that either wear dresses and heels or leggings and chacos depending on the day, and have huge friend groups and go to those mythical high school parties (which I'm sure exist, but I've never seen one in real life). And there's absolutely nothing wrong with being one of those girls, I just never was one. My friends are all geeks, and I love them. Although I wasn't surrounded by "popular" people, I did manage to befriend a few of them. When you become friends with people who seem so cookie-cutter perfect and "normal," you realize that they're really not. They have that "weird" side to them, they just hide it really well in public. So even though they seem like they fit into this "normal" standard and all, they still have their own little quirks and oddities. Everyone does.
No one is perfect, no one is normal, and everyone is freaking weird and we all should learn to embrace our weirdness and just be ourselves! Life is so much easier when you're not focused on trying to be normal or to look a certain way or to say the right things or fit in with the right group of people. And if you still really want to be "normal," think about this:
Everyone is weird. That means being weird is usual, typical, and (should be) expected. Therefore, weird is normal. And awesome. And everyone wants to be awesome. So don't be afraid of what people might think or say, chances are they're too busy worrying about themselves anyway. Be your own weird self.
Take a drama class, everyone there is weird in the best way possible.