 | 16 Sep 08 |
Sometimes I do things that I think are just a little bit on the crazy side, and since I deal with psycho dance moms, it scares me a little bit. Because I don’t WANT to be crazy. I like my friends to be a little crazy, because it gives me interesting stories to tell, but I always hope the crazy train does not stop at MY house.
My kids, of course, think this is the CRAZY TRAIN STATION. But we’ll ignore them.
I think everyone, especially writers, has a little bit of crazy in them. And I think that I have done some crazy things before, although not so much now.
But that little bit of crazy, that is what gives us writers things to write about. Because while some people are a little crazy, and most people have at least a TEENSY bit of crazy in them, there are those for whom life triggers FULL BORE WILD BUTT crazy.
Like people who have never committed a crime, and one day just SNAP and kill their spouse. Or rob a bank. Or embezzle thousands of dollars from the place where they work.
Then there was the woman in Texas who took after her boyfriend with a two-foot sword because he wouldn’t do the dishes. I’m not sure that wasn’t justified.
She’s probably a little bit embarrassed right now, especially since her little bit of crazy was sent across newswires throughout the United States.
I’ve never been arrested. I didn’t get my first speeding ticket until I was 35-years-old, and my little bits of crazy seem contained to losing it when my children give me the 14-year-old-devil-face. Even the past year, which has been a rough one, has seen me mostly taking to ground and disappearing, instead of showing up on your local television screen as one of those “News of the Weird” stories, or on wanted posters in the Post Office. Thank God.
I know it’s in me, and I realized that this past year I started talking about buying a motor home and traveling around working in National Parks, after my girls graduate from High School. I even had a period right around New Years, during the coldest time in Utah, when I considered chucking it all and moving to the Florida Keys. Right now, with all the hurricanes, I’m glad I didn’t give in to that crazy.
But I THOUGHT about it. Yes I did. Then my friend Tim asked me if he could borrow my motor home. Hmm, maybe I was talking about it too much. I had to tell him I don’t actually HAVE that motor home… Yet.
So how about you?
What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?
© 2008 – 2009, Natalie R. Collins. All rights reserved.
Natalie R. Collins was born in Logan, Utah and attended the University of Utah. She worked for eleven years at The Salt Lake Tribune, Utah's largest daily newspaper, before leaving to devote more time to her family. During the ensuing years, she wrote five novels. She also worked for the 2001 and 2002 Sundance Film Festivals as an editor. Natalie is a member of the International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, and Romance Writers of America.
Subscribe to Posts 
I think it would take too long to list all the things I’ve done that other people would think were crazy. Nothing psycho. Just a little loopy. For instance, I only spent a total of 8 days in close proximity to my husband before I married him – after a whopping 4 months of online courtship. Sounds crazy, but after 4.5 years of marriage, I’m proclaiming it perfectly rational. =o) Then there are the little things: like singing while I shop or walking through Walmart talking in funny accents or stopping to pick up shiny rocks (I have an excuse for that last one – we’re doing Geology for science this term).
Life’s too short not to be a little crazy. And as long as no one gets hurt, it’s not a problem. Going after someone with a sword – that’s pushing it. Taking a road trip in a Winnebago to write in national parks sounds like a blast.
by B.E. Sanderson September 16th, 2008 at 6:44 amSpeed ticket at 5-, I love it, I know you meant 50 but why are my typos never humorous?
I’ve never been tempted to do something weird, I got my weirdness out of me in high school I think. Now I’m scared, don’t crazy people say they’re not crazy..when really they are? Maybe weird people don’t realize they are really, bat guano weird.
Arrested is another story, I came really close to getting arrested…. or in the morgue, when I was in high school. Apparently it’s against the law to skate board down Foothill Blvd behind a car. Who knew?
by Cele September 16th, 2008 at 7:58 amWell, I am a fuddy duddy. Even as a teenager I never did anything remotely crazy. I really am boring. But my eldest son has more than made up for my lack of craziness. Some of the things that boy and his friends did in high school are what movies are made of. OMG! Hilarious. He gets it from both grandfathers who if you knew them as they are now you would never suspect. Those still waters run very deep in my family.
by Karin September 16th, 2008 at 12:24 pmNatalie, when you start convincing your friends that your fantasy motor home is real enough to as to borrow it, I think it’s time for a vacation!
It’s not so much that I do crazy stuff, but I attract crazy people. Like the woman in front of me in line at Target last week. She was throwing boxes of Klenex around. Just taking them out of her basket and throwing them around. I don’t know, maybe she was aiming for the checkout counter, but her aim was WAY off. THEN she wanted to have a conversation with me, but I don’t speak Crazy…
by Jen September 16th, 2008 at 1:42 pmB.E., I like the funny accents one! My problem is I can never hold the accent for long enough.
by Natalie September 16th, 2008 at 3:54 pmCele, MUWAAHHHAAHHHAAA. My three key on my keyboard is going out, but I never noticed it was missing…..
by Natalie September 16th, 2008 at 4:22 pmKarin, I know what you mean about still waters. I have a formerly crazy friend who has five kids now, and is the total soccer mom. She’d die if I ever told her kids about the time she got pulled over for DUI driving home from SLC, and managed to convince herself that if she could JUST reach her keys, on the front seat of the cop car, she could somehow escape. She DID get the keys, and she also got halfway to the car before she was tackled by the cop and resisting arrest and assault charges were filed against her. No one would believe it today……
by Natalie September 16th, 2008 at 4:24 pmJEN, LOL. Yeah, I have to agree. Time for vacation. My friend offered me a timeshare in Mexico that she can’t use but GUESS who doesn’t have their passport!!! I’m going to make that a priority just in case it ever happens again….. Oh, wait, you didn’t mean me?
by Natalie September 16th, 2008 at 4:26 pmI was 30 and single. I went to a bar and got picked up by a guy who was almost 21 and so darned cute! He was from out of town, involved in some kind of sales scam that he was very frank about. And he was so darned cute! Before we rendezvous-ed, I wrote down everything I knew about the guy and send it to my girlfriend, “in case I die, here is what I know about this guy”. But I wasn’t really afraid.
His hotel room had a hot tub. We had a fling I will never forget. A couple weeks later I decided to take an hiv test, although he did use a condom at least one of the times. It was negative, and I don’t know what came over me, but what an ego boost to get picked up by an extremely cute guy who was 10 years younger.
by laurie September 16th, 2008 at 6:01 pmOh, girl, you so know better than to asK ME that question! lol
by Deb September 17th, 2008 at 2:34 am