XLIII. Posession, Application, and Quirkiness-

Just because you have fingers does not mean that you have dexterity.

Just because you have dexterity does not make you a surgeon.

Just because you have quirks, doesn’t make you quirky.

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The second clause in the above three statements is conditional.

I choose to exert my finger muscles by forming defined gestures in dance.

I also chose to form a synapse which houses dexterity by playing piano scales in sharp, flat, and harmonic.

After said synapses deteriorated due to lack of piano practice, I still had developed dexterity.

Though not because of this development, I still want to, and know that I can, become a surgeon.

What about possessing quirks though?

Quirks, by definition, are oddities,  strange likes and/or dislikes, practices, hobbies, or perhaps abilities.

Having quirks does not necessarily mean that one is quirky, or does it?

Opening a container of vegetables only to find fuzz on some, but not all the old once red now turned green, bell peppers, and slicing the fuzzy pieces off the rest of the salvageable mood-ring-like peppers, changing colors almost as if it were at once sad and then nauseatingly happy, is not a quirk that you can call quirky.

It is just wrong, not to mention weird and if you do this you are an oddball; you’re not quirky.

Definitions of quirky are all written with an accusatory tone.

To be quirky is a good thing. Being quirky is the equivalent of someone wearing the most tacky of outfits but still looking awesome because they themselves are effortlessly carrying it off.

Key word: effortlessly - Having quirks  are not something that you intentionally cause to exist. They just do.

Perhaps that is why being quirky became translated from being something desired to something that is just much “too good” to be true. It does not mean that you’re not mainstream in that you obnoxiously attempt to avoid what other people do at all costs,  although most quirks are completely individualistic, but it does mean that you are your own being.

All humans can be quirky, it just a matter of applying it and how you apply your possession of quirks is by knowing yourself, your complete being, and being real.

This is all very abstract, so here are some of my quirks:

1. I cannot bring myself to listen to the Gilmore Girls title song when I am not at home otherwise a pit forms in my stomach and so I quickly fast-forward the streaming despite the tenfold increased chance of the video freezing.

2. (Similar context to 1.) I cannot bring myself to listen to Mohammad Rafi songs if I know I won’t see my dad for weeks.

3. I can only eat moongi dal (Indian lentil – yellow-colored) with rice.

4. I can only eat chana dal (Indian lentil – orange/yellow-colored) with some type of bread and/or cracker if my mom is tired– (God knows I don’t cook).

5. I don’t like eating ice cream on a cone, eating yogurt, eating pudding, or consuming a lollipop because all involve the repeated act of licking. I don’t care if it’s my own mouth, it’s disgusting, nuff’ said -

We all posses these quirks, it’s just a matter of not conforming to the point of purposely doing the exact opposite of what you want; like if I were to force myself to eat yogurt.

Applying the quirks you posses, in essence, being quirky, is to know yourself completely and in totality.

I cannot imagine not knowing everything about myself -

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- and that is why I know I am ready to leave Penn in nineteen days because I would rather spend twenty days in a healthy environment where I can once again flourish and not silently suffer here any longer - there is the answer to the question I so hate to hear: “but why?” .

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The more people that know themselves will result in more people that can apply themselves in at least some form, which results in more quirky people.

Imagine a world full of us - perhaps not applying ourselves in every discipline and at every turn of life, but at least applying our quirks.

To be quirky, (for me: being silky), is one more way of making life a little less hard to navigate.