Oddorable – the thin line between freaky and quirky

There’s a guy from Croydon who dresses as a wizard and has embedded the chip from his oyster card into a wand.
Imagine him, fully robed, passing through the barriers at London Bridge and with a swish of his wand the gates obediently open.
I’d describe him as oddorable.
A bit odd… but also adorable.

As a teenager, I was quite the spectacle.
I dyed my hair, squeezed into spray-on black jeans, donned a tailcoat, rocked red winkle pickers and applied a lot of make-up.
The more sideways looks, comments and aggro I created the more I loved it.
Always the exhibitionist.
I thought I was oddorable.
My dad thought something else.

Is getting that balance right an art or lucky?
We’re told that to be noticed we must stand out. Be unique! Distinctive! Cut through the noise!
Ironically, in doing so, most social media ‘influencers’ look the same.
In the next breath, the message is; blend in, don’t rock the boat, keep your head down.
What’s best?
Authenticity.

Take a clove of goths (I love that the collective noun for goths is a ‘clove’, but think it should be an ‘angst’) there’s always one; the one that despite the deathly dark dress and morose make-up, they just don’t fit.
Authentic goths are goth-like from the heart. Their pallid paint and black-on-black clothing is there to magnify their inner gothicness.
Fake stands out.

I’m sure the Croydon wizard believes he is a sorcerer in robes.
The question is, who’s your authentic self?
Bet you’re oddorable.

Please leave a comment below, I read them all and love to know what you think.
Be Brilliant!
Michael