"I'm in a weird-ass mood today, Doc.
Wired up, mind all over the place, looking for answers,
reasons, something solid to cling to, something real,
but just when I think I've got it figured out and neatly filed under fixed instead of fucked,
turns out I'm still shattered, scattered and battered."
-- Chevy Stevens, Still Missing
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| Self portrait 3-29-14 |
"I may be weird, but creative-wise I have the knowledge to know and believe in my heart
that my weirdness makes me unique.
It is also in my so-called weird that I am also able to know the difference
and then stop my complaining and go out and make something somebody has never seen before."
-- Henri Matisse
"When you're strange
Faces come out of the rain
When you're strange
No one remembers your name
When you're strange ..."
-- The Doors, "People Are Strange"
Yesterday I felt unfocused, unbalanced, jumpy, unpredictable, impulsive and volatile.
Nothing was wrong, necessarily. I was just in a really weird mood.
Being in a weird mood isn't necessarily a good thing in and of itself. But it can be if you tap into the weird and create something artistically strange out of it.
In my weird little world, strange art is better than no art.
So that's what I did.
In the morning I was exercising and saw a mental image of me with my hands over my face and my eyes peering right through my hands. Not, like, peeking between my fingers, but looking right through my hands. Hmmm, I thought, that's strange. But I went with it anyway and translated my weird mental image photographically into a strange little self portrait.
I can't say for sure if I think it's a good thing. But I am fairly certain it's a little bit strange.
Weird, huh?
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Which brings us to the One Good Thing "Get Your Weird On" creative challenge. Here's how it works:
Next time you're having one of those weird days like I just did, don't let the strangeness pass unnoticed into the rear view of your life.
Document that shit. Take its picture. Write it down.
Whatever your chosen craft, use it to make yourself a weird souvenir, a memento, a post-card of sorts to remember it by. Nobody else has to see it, unless you want them to. It's meant for you and you alone, so tap into your weird-ass dreamscape and let it flow. My only rule is that there are no rules -- the weirder the better.
If you're a writer, write a strange little poem or story, without the annoying, discouraging voices of critics and editors or your mother telling you "You can't do that, it's too weird." You know what? Fuck 'em.
If you're a painter -- well, you're probably already a frequent traveler to the island of weird, so you can really push the envelope of strangeness here. Paint on the kitchen floor with the expensive unused condiments crowded into your fridge door. Call it "Tapenade on Tile with Sriracha."
If your medium is cakes and pastries, experiment with some strange new ingredients and whip up some kind of savory Geoduck and Daikon tartlets. (If you aren't familiar with these ingredients, it's probably because they're pretty weird. They also both look strangely like gigantic penises, which is a fun bonus.)
Anyway, you get the picture. Just make it weird.
You can go back to "normal" later on. For now, enjoy playing with some of the other less-used settings on your dial.
Just remember --
Weird is good.
