The Grand Theatre of Freaks

[Sinister]

Hurrah, Steel! That sounds like a magnificent idea! You have my support and you are at liberty to do with it as you please! Any help you need from the members and myself is totally yours, just say what you need.

As for upcoming events, I would like to announce, in readyness for Halloween, a costume competition that will be hosted by TFF. I'm going to release details and begin the competition on the fifteenth. As the host of the competition, I won't be able to participate, but I'm looking forward to it. We still have a few bugs we need to work out, but it should be ready soon.


-Sin

[Joe]

Signatures: The only thing I need for the signature is maybe a weird/strange picture or two from everyone. That way the siggie can represent everyone in the theatre.

Just PM me with the URL of the pics that way It'll be easier for me to accquire them.


Much Thanks,

Steel

[Sinister]

Everyone hear that? Please submit a picture to Steel(Via PM) that you would like to represent yourself in the club sig!

[Furore]

Just out of curiousity, what sort of picture are we talking here?
Like an avatar figure or something? (e.g. some game sprite or pic that we feel represents us somehow).
Or some sort of abstract motif?
I'd like to submit something, but I'm not fully sure on the exact nature of the picture.
Thanks in advance.

[Momo Mastermind]

Why do you think you are unique?

I don't think I'm unique, I know I am... just like everyone else. Oh come now, it would only take a simple glance or a coy flutter of one's eyelashes to notice the plethora of strang eposts I've put around this forum. The strange and unheard of creatures that crawl from the volatile corners of my mind are skew beyond imagination.

What talents separate you from others? Be advised that I'm only looking for unique talents.

Again, my imagination seems to be able to reach limits other's cannot. I love to create characters, plots, stories, outlines, worlds, creatures, etc.. I say things most people only think, and I think things nobody dares to imagine. I'm strange, yes, but I'm not dangerous... >.>.

Has anyone ever referred to you as different/strange/weird/freak/insane?

Naturally. O_o

How do you deal with the rest of the world, being so absurdly different as you are?

That sounds like a depressive statement to me. I'm not absurdly different from the rest of the world, claiming so would put me in a position I couldn't possibley prove to be true. I'm of this world, as is everyone else, thus we are all part of the greater picture. I contribute to this world, I am not apart from it. I just represent a different aspect of it than many people- but again, there are probably just as many like me that I have not met. I love this world, observing it, changing it, and challenging it.

What title would you select to describe yourself, which we may refer to you openly?(NOTE: Please be unique)

You can call me Momo, Momo Mastermind, Momo Mastermind Memory Miser, Memory Miser, Miser, Ryan, Rye, Rye rye, Rye-bread, him, that, it, Mo, or Brick house with a tiny flower growing out of the roof. Any of them is fine. Just don't call me Shirley.

I would like to be the editek... or... whatever the name of the edit person was.. or something. I'm rather skilled at the use of photoshop and I could mold a banner for this club quite easily with any specifications or complete freedom. I love photoshop... also, I wouldn't mind offering my imaginative qualities to aid in any plot configuration or story creation.

End!

[Sinister]

When it rains; it pours.

@Momo I'd like to welcome you to the Theatre, Momo. Creativity is always welcome. Also, I've just accepted Steel for that position, but you are free to work on banners for this club, I would not stop you. And if you want to become an Eidetiker, that is entirely dependant on Steel, and if you would be willing to work with him.

However, we do have the Improvisatore and Poet Laureaute positions open.

At any rate, Welcome to the Theatre, Momo.


@Celtic:

My understanding is that an avatar-like picture or sprite would work best, but you cannot take my word for it. Steel, might reply or you might PM and ask him.


-Sin

[Govinda]

I like your idea Steel, lots, but like Celtic I'm not sure if you want an image of my darling face, or what I would wish my darling face to look like (i.e some variety of graphic, most likely involving Captain Morgan or my teapot) (why my faces suddenly depends on various drinkable liquids I don't know, I'm a tad hungover).

Also, bienvenue, Momo!

Things are calming down here now, expect more activity from my end. Good God, how I love it here, at Uni.

Also, to be polite, I should answer my own question, since you all did do fruitfully.

I always, always stay neutral about people I don't know. However, seeing some small actions do lead me to classify people as trapped little souls, and this does make me pity them a trifle. I always wonder though, whether they are just as they are, or are something more, hidden beneath the depressing assemblage of pop culture influences they use to portray themselves and their thoughts.

I wish everyone was as free as we have declared ourselves to be, in short. There is nothing wrong with being plain though - I'm reminded of a Barenaked Ladies lyric from years ago, Anyone plain can be lovely, anyone loved can be lost - in all, if you act the way you are, people can tell. If you put on a face, most people will see through it in some way; some will like you, but always have a nagging doubt about you which they can't work out; you too will be dogged by the same little doubt.

So. Be as normal as you like, so long as you actually are. Be you, and enjoy your days.

[Joe]

Clarification on Siggies: An avatar-like picture or sprite would be easier for me to work with, so those would be much appreciated.

Also I saw a few news stories on a site that gives them weird/funny headlines, so I thought I'd share them, along with links to the original stories.

A man walked into a bank, needin' a fresh load of crank. So a note he did flash, and fled with the cash, the cops are drawing a blank. http://www.wcsh6.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=71831

Woman sues Kmart over $.28 tax she was charged on a pack of toilet paper. Fails to realize that even if she wins, Kmart has no money to pay her back
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07278/823039-28.stm

A confused moose thinks he's a cow. Will Rocky find him before he's shipped to the stockyard? Don't miss our next episode: "Milk of Amnesia" or "It's not just an udder day"
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071005/...8Sfw.auwCs0NUE

[Sinister]

I'm not sure if my perception is shifting or if I'm imaginating it all, or why...

But I'm becoming more and more certain that everyone within a driving's distance of me is utterly insane, in the bad way, lol.

Today, I was told that due to my schedule that I wouldn't be able to work all that often. But that my manager "went out of her way" to secure the entire week of my fall break for me to work as a favor to me...

I was ever so slightly non-plussed.

I don't mind working. I might not even lose it if you entirely destroy my fall break, but don't hand me shit and tell me it's sugar. It insults my intelligence and convincingly makes you look like an ass. This is from a Manager that is more or less the inspiration for Dolores Umbrage in Harry Potter. She never stops smiling and when she does it's only to slaughter with a disapproving "cluck-cluck" of her tongue. I've witnessed her doing great destruction and horrible torments with a grin on her face.

I'm not sure if you would call her normal, but she is desperate to wear the guise of normalcy. What she did to me stands out as a "favor" compared to how she has treated some. She especially does not seem to like my friend. She doesn't like me, but I've given her no cause to be able to express it, besides, the second she does, I'm gone.

Her complaints against me have all been utterly and painfully her own. My hair is dyed black. She informed me that I had to let it grow back to it's color or have it corrected. I informed her that that was not the case and that it was not the concern of my employers. She disagreed, and then I offered to ask a higher authority considering it's legitamacy, which she quickly let it drop.


Why can't people like her let people like me alone?


What is behind the drive and ambition to dominate the extraneous facets of my life?


How do all of you deal with someone in a position of supposed "authority" that tries something similar as above?

-Sin

[Joe]

I know of several people who behave exactly like your manager, and they treat me and my friends with an equally powerful dislike.

For example, The principal of my school has decided that I have too much free time on my hands. I go to a school where dual-enrollment with the local community college (we share the campus) is allowed. I have at least 1 90 minute break everyday, and Fridays off. I asked to take a sixth college course so that I'd have something intelligent and challenging to do, as well as make it possible for me to graduate high school with an associate's degree. Instead, I've been scheduled to tutor during nearly all of my breaks, allowing me very little free time. Basically I now have to pay to finish a degree that I should have been able to earn for free through the school. Not a good way to get me on your good side.

People like her, I simply put up with it and move on. It's simply not worth the energy it would take for me to have to go through the principal and fight my way through the school board, as well as the college's principal, for me to be allowed to take an extra class.

That's why I'm sitting here right now typing this post.

Regards,
Steel

[Furore]

Why can't people like her let people like me alone?

It's my belief that there could be many causes but the most likely one would have to be some sort of a need for power caused by some sense of insecurity or powerlessness in a previous point in life. Maybe her parents were uptight about she looked or something. Or it might be that for whatever reason she cannot use the same dyes or something. Like the case of a bald teacher who seemed to like trying to give me hell over my long luscious locks.

What is behind the drive and ambition to dominate the extraneous facets of my life?

Pretty much what I said above. She feels the need to control for whatever reason. Might be an inferiority complex she tries too hide, she might have some sort of domination thing going on (if so, don't go out, it could lead to some very weird bed happenings.... ) or then again, she might just have no friends. It's a vicious cycle if that's the case. Turn people off with mean behaviour > Angry due to not having any friends > Turn people off with mean behaviour.

How do all of you deal with someone in a position of supposed "authority" that tries something similar as above?

I do everything in my power to show them that I value my freedoms over pretty much everything else. If they don't like what I do, then who cares? I'll just do something else elsewhere. If I really have to change myself for whatever reason, I'll do it. But then I'll be so nasty about it later that chances are I can re-adapt whatever I had to change with no complaints later. Just gotta keep testing the boundaries I guess.

[Sinister]

Perhaps that is a part of it. But her profile and history of what I know of her doesn't fit the standard Sadistic Personality Disorder. She's a mutant. She seems to have a pretty well-defined self-confidence. But then maybe this is just what it looks like at this stage. She is a perfectionist, which suggests something of what you said.

She just reminds me of a person who is all about business and after she gets her highs from doing her thing to other people. Her greatest targets are those unfortunates of her own gender who are their own distinct persons.

The question is how to deal with her. I can have her fired, albeit by subreption. But I am not her. Why can't I convince her that she is a little more vulnerable and back her off? It's become almost an obsession with me. It's not that I need/care for this job. I just need to destroy one person's delusions of godhood. It is a need, that I convince her to calm down. Does that make me like her?

Should I just walk away from this? Or can I actually save more of her future victims?

-Sin

[isntitlovely]

At my old job, I technically had three people who were my managers...one was absolutely awesome (Travis, for ease of explanation), but the other two seemed to resemble your boss.

My solution was to always be happier and more accepting toward anything whenever Travis was around. At one point, one of the other managers approached me and asked why I worked better with Travis, and I simply said "Because he treats me as though I were an actual person." That manager attempted to be nice to me from then on. She wasn't very good at it though.

The other one was much more difficult. Basically what I did was cling to her and act as though she were the mightiest person on earth for a few days. Eventually I started ignoring her, but at that point, she liked me. So I could basically do anything I wanted there. Even got a raise, thanks to Trav. Yep..that was pretty awesome once people started to...what's the word...respect?...me there.

~Ellie

[Govinda]

Yo, she's your manager. They feel as if it's up to them to keep everything together - it really isn't. They tend to get an overinflated sense of importance in both their responsibilty and their position.

It's just the way work is. It doesn't make them bad people. They probably hate their jobs like you do - only since they're higher up, it takes more time, they're there more and probably don't have an escape plan for the near future. Poor bastards, really.

[Sinister]

True, True. But as she tries to dominate other's lives and individuality, and mistakenly mine as well, I can shake her's. I have an opportunity to give her a nice dose of reality. But as one who appreciates individuality, do I do so in the interest of those whom she might harm or not do so in the interest of her own individuality. To pwn or not to pwn, basically.

She is at the moment, horrendously vulnerable and I am at this moment, horrendously annoyed with her.

I think I'll leave her fate in the hands of this club for an amusing reason. It pleases me to give her fate into the hands of the people whom she despises so enthusiastically. Majority rules, what's the verdict? Whatever your descision, I'll be pleased that it was decided by the club and shall respect it. This is my contract and I promise to abide by it.


-Sin

[Momo Mastermind]

My vote is no, although I would love for you to get pleasure out of her pain, it is not right. [What were you going to do anyway?]

Let her bask in her own negativity, don't contribute to it. People like her don't want to be that way, they don't like being that way, it's just that conditioning and forceful positions make them into people they really aren't. What I say is that, when you can and at your own pace, find a new job. Trust me, there's always more good paying jobs out there- and just leave her behind. For the time being however, just [I know this is EXTREME difficult to do, trust me, I know] ignore her, forget about her, play along with her cynical game. Amuse yourself with how selfish and ignorant she really is, maybe even add to it by dying your hair another natural color and telling her "Why, this IS my natural hair color" and smiling in her face. There's millions of possibilities to severely scare/torture/or disturb her without ever making it obvious. Just don't hurt her, because years from now you'll regret it. She doesn't wish to be that way, it's something nobody ever wants to turn into .

My vote: No.

[Sinister]

Very well. First vote for no. Which I predict{perhaps, sadly} will be the common vote.

As for what I was intending, I guess it's only fair to tell. She recently let slip in front of me that a batch of meat that was delivered to our franchise had been "voluntarily recalled" by corporate due to concerns about E-coli poisoning. Letting it out that she had let this information slip would cost her her job. Now I hadn't been planning to let it slip, I'm not quite that ruthless, but I had been planning to threaten her a little with it in order to recieve just a little calmness and maturity from her.


As for finding a new job, I can have a new job at the drop of a hat that pays thrice better and deals directly with my profession. I only suffer this job because it is both part-time(my uni schedule won't allow anything more) and so I get to work with a very good friend of mine.


-----------------------------------------
Concerning the Club RP, if you wish to participate, I'm going to speak with Ann and see if I can start it up if she doesn't feel like it. Hopefully we'll soon have our OOC thread.

-Sin

[Furore]

I say do whatever you wish in this matter Sinister.
I won't say either yes or no, BUT I will advise you to be absolutely sure you're aware of any possible consequences as a result of your final decision. If you do mess with her, remember that 'Karma' has a habit of biting people in the ass later due to the negative thoughts that will be generated by whatever bad thing/s happen to her. As for what she'll actually do, that's the dangerous part. In some ways people are VERY unpredictable, but that's what makes them fun...

I know from TFF you're an intelligent and highly philosophical person who believes in Taoism. Maybe just take a closer look at whatever path will be the best for you to take. That's all I have to say on this matter.

[Govinda]

I don't think you'd ever truly be bad to her, Sin. You know it too. Oh, but how fun it is to imagine!

Yes, I too would like to piss my manager off. I'm far more intelligent than he is, and he takes glee in being able to lord it about; but that's his world, and I like to think that these arseholes are actually nice people when work doesn't trap them. When you (in cahoots with the capitalist system) force a person to be somewhere they would rather not be and then put them in charge of people they can't be bothered with, it turns them. I like to think that they change back into humans after they clock out. I know Vikram, my manager, does, I saw him laughing once in the changing room.

You should try to work in the Nursery again, Sin. Much better for your soul. God, I haven't seen a flower in ages! Maybe you could get them to be flexible about your hours? Or something...oh, the manager there was a **** too. I remember.

Also, RP: yes please.


Good luck, darlings, and don't be strangers.

[Sinister]

You guys are right. I wouldn't do it, which is probably why I submitted it to the club.

And what Celtic said is correct. In Taoism, scheming is a big no-no. *sigh* So she continues on her way. It saddens me in a way though. But it does gladden me that the club decided as it did. It makes us much bigger than her both in character and in virtue.

As to the RP, as soon as I can, I'll contact Ann, but she hasn't been on it a while, either that or we keep different hours lol. But I'll get on it, Gov.

-Sin


As for getting a job back at the Nursery. Just not much demand since winter is coming on. I could get a job in a commercial nursery if there was one near that had flexible hours. What I really want is to be a Floraculturist in AOS in Delray Beach, Florida.

-Omni

[Joe]

Aliright, I now have the pics for all of the active members, so i planto get started on the banner forthwith.

On a different note, the following links lead to the weirdest of the weird: (copy and paste these in your browser)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=7rhge2CCzhc (this leads to a rap edition of the morning traffic)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Qu8fEZbmj-M
(this leads to a commercial for Powerthirst, the most amazing energy drink EVER)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Q5im0Ssyyus
(Charlie the Unicorn encounter a leoplurodon on the way to Candy Mountain. Shuunnn the Non-Believers. Shuuuuuuunnnnnnnnn)

Regards,
Steel

[Sinister]

Oh yea, I've felt that twice.
Twice in my times.

Once so long ago when I was a member/leader of the CO(Cthonic Order) and at the World Club back home. I am/was well known in the circles of both of those establishments. Well known and comfortable.

The CO was an assembly of what I would call 'friends', others might disagree with my use of that word but nonetheless I felt that I fully belonged.

As for the World Club, I can at any time of day go and order a bloody tonic(vodka, merishino juice and tonic) get it for free and talk with nearly anyone in the room. Dance, if I feel like dancing. Listen to great music. Or go into the back where all the fun happens.

The socratic society was fun, but I felt neither at home nor among kindred spirits. They were all epicurean pigs that talked endlessly over matters that did not matter and it was not so very long that I got bored of it all.


As to your second question: considering the nature of the establishments aforementioned...not really. They were/are filled with mutants that were, if not as bad as myself, worse. So does belonging dilute that of uniqueness? Humans seek out the feeling of belonging. But I can say that even those establishments, there was no one there that was the way I am. There were only people who didn't care what way I was.

My answer, is that I have never found a 'kindred spirit' ever in all my years. I have only found those that I feel comfortable around and that feel comfortable around me.


-Sin

[Govinda]

What a perfect description. Thank you very much for articulating my thoughts better than I ever could.

Nobody quite like me, yet people who give not a shit for what I am, do, say, think. They let me get on with my own, uniquely odd business (did I tell you the Uni has its own organic veg garden, OmniSin? How neat is that! We even have avocadoes in this hut thing!). Some of them may even grow to be my proper friends.

It's just so cool though. I am tied to the shithole in which I now sit, typing, by the prescence of my cat and my family. But I don't belong here at all. Wowee. I sort of feel like a normal human, in a way; I guess this is relevant to the themes inherent in this club. I like belonging. I enjoy a certain degree of 'fitting in'. I even feel...kind of normal.

But I'm still a ****ing weirdo, this rant proves it, don't worry loves.

Nighty night

[Furore]

So, walking freakshows, tell me. Have you ever felt this before, this belonging?

Unfortunately for me, not really. I have places I hang out at which are comfortable, and friends who I love to be around, but I never really feel like I've belonged anywhere I've ever been. Or maybe I belong everywhere and my mind tells me I don't belong as no place seems to radiate an overly high sense of belonging...

Do you think that this feeling, this concept in itself somewhat dilutes your personal classification as 'weirdo'?

I do not believe that this concept in itself dilutes a person's personal classification as 'weirdo', as you can get groups consisting mainly of weirdos. Weirdos do not have to be unique individuals, they're just not really mainstream sorts of people...

[Sinister]

Mmm, Persea americana. I love Avocados, Gov. They have such a fresh cool clean taste. We have a few veg gardens and I've peeked through them once or twice, but those are mostly for our Agriculture students and I'm Floraculture. So I don't get much leave to poke around in there. Besides it's filled with greedy Ag guards. Everytime I waltz in, they rush to me with beady eyes and say: "What are you doing here?"

Of course I couldn't return the favor if they ever came in to the botanical greenhouse, because EVERYBODY just loves ambling through there. I once found a physist student oggling and handling MY Orchids! He didn't even know they were orchids. He was like "Oooh, Pretty flowers..." and started rubbing the petals!

-Omni

[Joe]

So, walking freakshows, tell me. Have you ever felt this before, this belonging?

hmmm, only once in my memory. It was this past summer at a camp called "Summer Ventures in Science and Mathematics", a collection of the brightest scientific minds in the state of North Carolina. We were all freaks in our own way, but we were like a family, using our strenghts and weaknesses to work together on several different research projects. The fact that we all lived together for a month helped too. Since that project, I've sort of been wandering aimlessly, as the best way to describe it, since there's no one place that I belong at this point.

Do you think that this feeling, this concept in itself somewhat dilutes your personal classification as 'weirdo'?
Definitely not. I can say from experience that feeling belonging in a group does not dilute my personal classification of weirdo. Basically How could it, if there were a group of weirdos? they would all still be weird, but in their own way.



Been having some software problems lately, so once I repair those programs I'll be able to finish up the banner!

[isntitlovely]

So, walking freakshows, tell me. Have you ever felt this before, this belonging?

Actually, I have. It ended badly though... But since about..probably 9th grade, I've felt like I belonged somewhere, but unfotunatly, it's nearly always a place I Can't be. How I feel I belong there, I don't know, but whatever. At times, I do feel as though I belong when I am surrounded by my friends, who are generally as odd as I am.

Do you think that this feeling, this concept in itself somewhat dilutes your personal classification as 'weirdo'?

Of course not. I mean, if you got a group of weirdos together, they would still be weirdos, would they not? They'd simply be a congregation of weirdos rather than singular people.

[Sinister]

I am going to go ahead and start working on the club RP, just to have something to do. If Ann comes back then I'll let her take over but I'm bringing it on, now.


Also, something I'd like to propose for club consideration would be a club-wide-chat. Such as we all get on MSN or such at the same time one day. Anyway it's just something to think over.


The actual RP should be set up somewhere in the next week. What I would very much like from all of our members, is if you're going to participate, please very much say so.


This RP is going to be more freestyle and novel than has ever been seen on TFF in all of it's years, but it's going to have a definite plot.

At anyrate, I'll start laying the foundation.

-OmniT

[Govinda]

Clubwide MSN would be excellent. Alas, I won't see MSN for a while...and then there's time zones. Aren't they fun? It's 2pm here; that means people are just waking up in KY.

What kind of themes are we thinking here? Any thoughts? C'mon troops, we're the thought brigade, the supposed creative side of the human brain. This should be well cool.

Take care loves, cheerio

[Joe]

RP themes: Well since we are the "theater of Freaks", what about a circus freak type RP? you know live up to percieved stereotypes of freaks, while having a blast with freakish characters?

Also clubwide msn gets my vote, it just has to be on a weekend


Regards,
Steel