Break The Mold

Act 50:

“It’s never too late… To Be Yourself

We’re all similar. But not the same. Each of us is unique. The world wants to classify us. Place us in groups it’s easier that way – for politicians, advertisers, TV programmers, etc – but not for us. Fight for your right to be yourself.” – Patrick Lindsay

Quote in book: “Whatever crushes individuality is despotism, by whatever name it make be called.” ~ John Stuart Mill

It’s been ingrained in us since we were little to try to blend it. Don’t be “weird” or different. If you are different in any way, you’d get teased and that’s never fun. Kids can be mean. I think society really never gets over that as we grow up. There’s this “group think” mentality that it’s not OK to be off normal. It’s not ok to be different. It’s not ok to be weird. Well I say F-that. It is ok.

The world and other people are always trying to label us and put us in categories…stereotypes… but we’re all different. Yes, I get that there are “broad” categories that we can get grouped in that are unavoidable. Other than your relation to your family (like mother, father, brother, sister, cousin, aunt, uncle, grandma, grandpa), I’m not that into labels.

One could say “uh what about a person’s Sex?” Well to that I respond, yes a majority of us are male or female, but what about transgenders or hermaphrodites? How about a person’s nationality? – well, a lot of people are mixed and aren’t just one thing anymore, especially here in the US. Even I am technically a mix…my parents were both born in the Philippines, so for the most part I’m 100% Filipino, but my last name is Italian and my mom’s side of the family has some Chinese in it. Granted this is many many many generations away, so most people (even me) don’t count it. However, technically speaking I’m a mutt, just like everyone else.

Back to the label thing. I don’t even call my BFF (honestly I hate the term BFF, so I said that mockingly, but I fear you couldn’t hear the disdain in my voice)…”best friend”. She’s my homegirl. We’ve always done that. Thank god we both felt that way about it. I’m guessing she wouldn’t be my homegirl, if she felt differently about labels. =) Shout out – “what's up bitches!!” haha (inside joke). I don’t even like to use labels when I’m dating someone. Even the “work” label I don’t even like. When I ask someone what they do, I don’t usually remember the title/label they give me, but the action or work activity they do. I found that this was not a good thing in B-school cause everyone associates each other w/ what they do. oops.

We are all different and unique. We should embrace the things that make us different. Here are some of the things that make me different, quirky (I don’t like the word weird), and unique.

• I’m a musical theater junkie. I’ve seen a TON of shows. My condo is lined w/ Playbills and Posters of shows I’ve seen. I buy the music from every show that I go to. I keep at least 2 playbills from everything I’ve seen (one to put up and one for the book). I’m working on a website where I review and talk about all the shows that I’ve been to or want to see, but it’s not finished yet. Once I’m done w/ all 172 of these acts that’ll be my next project.
• I’m a huge GLEEK (although it’s not THAT unique). Although what is unique about my GLEE watching is that I put a GLEE Quote of the Week up after every new episode. I’ve use a different character each time and haven’t repeated once. Although, I might have to break that next season.
• I used to be able to quote all of The Little Mermaid, yes the entire movie. Start to finish, singing and all! My bro and I used to go thru the whole movie and fight over parts. I wonder if I could do that now…hmm i smell challenge
• This one people will think is interesting and this is just another example of me rebelling against society. And I can’t believe I’m gonna say this on here, but I don’t shave my legs (or at least not very often… I’ll do it for special occasions). I don’t have a lot of hair that grows on them, so it’s really hard to tell (this is really odd considering the hair on my head is really really dark brown/black). I generally don’t have any hair on my legs or my arms. My arms have the peach fuzz that you can only see in the light (and even then it's hard to see), so I’ve been told that I have the softest arms. You really have to be looking to see the hair on my legs and I usually don’t wear shorts, so why shave? My dad didn’t have a lot of hair either and he used to say that it’s because “We’re highly evolved” haha. I miss my dad!!! He would always say crazy stuff like that.
• My homegirl calls me “The Jukebox”, because I’m always singing or humming a song. Music is a HUGE part of my life. I’ve recently noticed that I dream w/ a musical track playing in my head. I ALWAYS have a song in my head. I’m “The Jukebox” because all she has to do (or anyone really) is say a phrase or a word and then the song track changes in my head and I start singing another one. She’s awesome cause I just have to say.. “Say something. Change this song in my head” and then she does it. Hehe.
• I have a freakishly good memory when it comes to numbers (and names now that I know the little trick). It’s kinda creepy sometimes. I can remember old lock combinations and telephone numbers, but the trick is I had to have tried to remember it. If I just glanced at it, I won't remember it. I actually remember an 8 digit CRC from 2 weeks ago that I had to remember for work during testing. If you’ve ever told me your bday or I ever knew it. I usually remember it. I know the bdays of people I don’t talk to anymore. It’s really freaky – Here I’ll prove it to those of you I know who read all/most of the time. I didn’t look any of these up. Mom – 11/15, Bro -2/21, Ate Trix – 1/25, Ryan 8/17, Wanga – 10/24, CZ – 11/25, JEM – 3/9, Whit – 12/17, EVisc – 5/15, HGraz – 7/23
• Finally, I’m the only person i know (and when I put it on the website I was the only person) who eats their Chipotle burrito/burrito bowl like this: I order the vegetarian burrito, but have the pinto beans instead of the black beans (cause I don’t really like black beans). However, if you didn’t already know (but I do cause I hear it EVERY SINGLE TIME) the pinto beans have bacon in them, so they are not vegetarian. I eat it that way cause I like guacamole and I don't want to pay extra for it. Also, when there's meat in there it's always too much food. I can't even finish half the burrito in one sitting anymore.

What’s unique or different about you? What kind of labels/stereotypes bother you?

Be yourself. Be unique. Don’t be afraid to break the mold. This topic made me think of that NSYNC song “God Must’ve Spent A Little More Time On You” cause I feel like God spent a little time on all of us to make us unique. So, find what makes you unique and embrace it. I’m sure it’s that thing that you are annoyed or bothered about yourself that the rest of us love about you. =) (great now I have that NSYNC song in my head… quick someone say something!!! haha)