Assignment 8

Fears: Losing my loved ones, regret, loneliness, writing on chalk boards (It's a weird texture thing), animals doing people things, mirrors at night, and Udo Kier, even though he's one of my favorite actors.
Annoyances: Deadheads, Sting's voice, posers, manufactured outrages over relatively minor things (Paula Deen controversy, etc.), people who think they're better than everyone else, when people have to put a label on everything, people who are stuck in the past, too many more to name.
Confusions: Why we still have a two-party system when it has proved to be so ineffective so many times, which one is Bill Paxton and which one is Bill Pullman.
Accomplishments: Won some journalism award for newspaper last year, finished writing a screenplay, lost 50 pounds over the summer before sophomore year and didn't gain any back.
Sorrows: In general, I live with too much fear of regretting things I do, so I neglect to do many things that probably would have had positive outcomes in the end. This has lead to numerous sorrows in my life.
Idiosyncrasies: Pretty much infinite, including, but not limited to, my random and sometimes semi-ironic obsessions with assorted, usually D-list, pop-culture figures, my addiction to TaB diet cola and gum, touching my hair pretty much all of the time (My apologies to everyone that annoys, by the way), not finishing a lot of things I start, and many more.
Risks: Due to my fear of regret, I don't take as many risks as I should, and most that I have taken, I prefer not to list.
Beloved Possessions: My grandfather's old high school letterman jacket, this stuffed bear my grandmother gave me, a signed DVD of The Lost Boys given to me by Corey Feldman, my vinyl copy of the soundtrack for the film Hausu.
Problems: Time management, not being able to sleep, never being able to make up my mind.

     Due to my many idiosyncrasies, I am often referred to by friends and acquaintances as "eccentric." I am unsure of how I should feel about this classification. For every Crispin Glover and Salvador Dali, theres always a Howard Hughes, or even a Jeffery Dahmer. When people throw out the word "eccentric," are they leaning more towards quirky or towards "it's only a matter of time until this guy loses it?' I certainly hope it's the former. Another word that is often thrown in my direction is "hipster." This one bothers me a bit more, not only because it has a fairly negative connotation, but because it really has no meaning at all. What exactly is a hipster? I've been called one for listening to a variety of different artists, as diverse as Serge Gainsbourg and the Wu-Tang Clan, and for liking a variety of different films, from those of Werner Herzog to those of Russ Meyer. I've even been called one for superficial reasons, like my style of dress and my hair. Is a hipster just anyone who isn't incredibly dull? If so, I know very few people who couldn't be considered one. I guess I'd rather be called a hipster than most other things, as most so-called "hipsters" seem to be alright people, but I just wish people would decide what in tarnation it meant in the first place.