Years ago it became very apparent to me that, well, I’m not exactly normal. Peer pressure really REALLY pisses me off. I would rather have people dislike me than to be controlled by their wishes. As you can imagine this has caused all sorts of issues, but in a way I’m pretty happy with the results. I think I could have been much more successful in my jobs, relationships, but I wouldn’t have been very happy with myself.
I credit my bizarre behavior in keeping me from smoking, anything. Drinking alcohol, especially beer. I’ve never tried drugs, and I doubt I would have done it even had I been a slave to peer pressure. I learned early on that because of this lack of peer pressure concerned gene I’d never be very popular. Being a relatively positive person I spun this to “well at least the popular people know my name”.
Over the last several years the social media explosion has occurred and I’ve been using it. Facebook is fine, but it’s more of a people that you know, and family thing. Not that there is a problem with that all those people are very nice to interact with. What has been different for me is Twitter. Twitter is used by many celebrities. Living in Houston, and not traveling very much, or often, there is little likelihood that I would ever meet someone that I see on TV or movies. It may seem silly but what I like best about interacting with celebrities is to let them know just how much it has meant to me for their entertainment.
Also as a joke I like saying “oh I know her/him” when one of these celebrities I’ve interacted with appear on the television screen. As I interact with these celebrities, national or local, some old feelings have resurfaced. The same feelings I had when I was in junior high and in high school. What I am doing is having brief contact with the “popular” people. As many many of my tweets go unanswered I have come full circle, “well at least they know my name”.
I’m not sure why I care about having my name known by people I’ll never meet. Perhaps it is just the fun of all these years of watching people and never having the opportunity to just say hello, or have them look at me and shake my hand. As I have found time and time again, what I think is unusual and strange about me it seems many people have the same issues. I think we all want to be accepted, liked and even looked up to. When I get to this point in my thought process I remember. I am accepted, liked and even looked up to. By my close friends and family!
Life is a balance, or should be. I think it’s fine for me to have fun making funny comments to celebrities, and even being excited when they respond, however the real things in life are the people that you truly interact with. The people that I not only look into their eyes, but they look into mine. A hand shake, a hug and even a kiss. These are the people that not only know my name but several of them share my last name. They are the finest people I know.