Question of the day...

If multiple unreliable sources brand you a crackpot, is it true?

Not long ago, I took something called The Magical Personality Quiz, which can be found at:

www.llewellyn.com/free/mpq.php?tab=quiz
(Sorry I can't make this a link, but blogspot clearly hates me and won't allow it to happen no matter how hard I try! Perhaps my public, aka the two people I force to read this, can help me with this problem)

As it turns out, people like me (namely mermaids with phoenix shadow creatures) are "...usually regarded by others as benign eccentrics or as plain weird." Some of my best friends are benign eccentrics (BE's), so it really comes as no great shock that I should be one too. Frankly, it explains a lot.

Besides, "benign eccentric" is way better than say "violent sociopath", "raving lunatic", or even "former CEO of Halliburton". Some of the world's most unappreciated wonders, have been created by eccentrics. Take for example, House on the Rock in Spring Green, WI. This bizarre house, which is now a museum, was built by a wacky (and clearly eccentric!) man called Alex Jordan. Jordan was declared by his more evil, less eccentric nemesis, Frank Lloyd Wright, to be unfit "to design a cheese crate or a chicken coop". To dispute this assessment, Jordan decided to show the esteemed architect/rat bastard a thing or two by designing and builing a structure that has since grown into a large museum housing Jordan's original 24-room mansion along with a series of increasingly bizarre additions made by his son, Alex Jordan Jr (clearly a BE in his own right).

The original mansion reminds me of nothing more than a movie set of a 60's bachelor's love nest with low ceilings, narrow hallways and intimate little nooks that make a person half expect to see Hef amble around the corner wearing a smoking jacket and sipping a martini. After the son started adding on, things started to get really weird (or is that VERY benignly eccentric?). His additions include what claims to be the world's largest carousel. The carousel stands in the shadow of winged mannequins suspended from the ceiling, wearing toga-like dresses that only manage to succeed in covering 50% of the angels darkly nippled breasts. Another room features a giant sea monster in the middle of a hall built to mimic the decks of a ship. The walls of these decks which display model ships and memorabilia are an homage to the voyages of doomed vessels such as the Lucitania and Titanic. Of course, the museum declares the Jordans eclectic geniuses rather than a crackpots with a lot of money, but that's not my point. My point is that being a benign eccentric isn't all bad. After all, sometimes it can get you a museum. But back to me...

After laughing with a friend about being a BE, I good naturedly accepted my rightful place among their ranks and promptly forgot about it. At least I forgot until yesterday when I opened my daily horoscope from Tarot.com, which informed me that it "may be difficult for you [me!] to separate the fruits of your labors from the fruitloops of your own irrational fears and longings." Me? Irrational fears? Now, listen. I may sincerely believe that aliens will suck out my brain through the moonroof in my car if I dare go out without my trusty foil helmet, but I am not one for irrational fears (except where buttons and small paper clips are concerned, but there are good reasons for that cannot be divulged here, for I fear this blog may be watched).

The thing is that its not only the internet and tarot websites that think I'm quirky. When I shared my two unreliable sources query with a friend, she supportively assured me that I must be mistaken - there have to be more than two entities out there who think I'm a crackpot. So, counting her, that makes at least three votes for eccentric. Someone once told me that if something happens once, it's fluke; twice, a coincidence; three times, then you'd better start considering whether there isn't some veracity in it. So, I have looked as deeply into my soul as 23 minutes will allow and have come to the conclusion that perhaps I am a little unique, a character or even a BE, if you will. But feeling the compulsion to create a sweeps week like cliff-hanger, I will not tell you why until my next entry.