Don't gasp at the predictable; A comforting lie can't last.

I don't pretend to be Captain Weird. I just do what I do.- Johnny Depp

It's no secret that I am a weirdo. I contribute a large portion of this to my mother. From an early age, she encouraged my individuality. I remember running around in Punky Brewster inspired outfits and playing games I made up in my head, talking to myself. Little did she know that she was nurturing the offbeat personality seen before you today. I have never really "fit in" anywhere. That has definitely never bothered me, though. I like me and my family accepts this. They say "Oh, that's just Lauren."

 An example of this was on Halloween. I didn't really have a concept of what I wanted my makeup to look like. I just went with it. I came in and asked Johnna what she thought. She said, and I quote, "It's...different, but that's you. You're weird."

Sometimes I wonder why I think the way I do and like the things I like. No wonder I spend so much time alone... I'm odd and some people don't know how to handle that. To this I say "Your loss. I'm awesome."

Just a thought that I wanted to express.

There is no such thing as a weird human being, It's just that some people require more understanding than others.- Tim Robbins

I meant to blog once a week. Well, I missed last week. I was just too caught up planning my parent's and grandmother's costumes/makeup for their Black Hole party. I'd like to point out that Mom and Dad won second and third place in the costume contest, respectively. The makeup was awesome, I must admit.

Speaking of Halloween, this year was particularly enjoyable. Last saturday I did makeup on a friend of Mom's at the house, then traveled to Mira Loma to do Dee's makeup for her halloween party (I made her into a Twinkle Witch), plus Caitlin and Kadence's makeup (They were matching kitties). After hanging there for a bit afterward, I traveled to Temecula for the Ryle Halloween party, where I enjoyed my night with some very good friends. I love going over there because everyone is always happy to see me and they're such nice people. Live music, courtesy of Devon's band Ink and Geoff's band Lifetime Rocker, and fun people. It was wonderful to see some of my "Merchant" friends again. Wish they all could have been there. I ended up staying till 3:30 in the morning and then driving home to watch Married with Children till 6am so I would be awake to do Mom and Dad's makeup for their party. Later, I drove to La Sierra University to take pictures of the cast for makeup design, followed by watching The Walking Dead with Kelly, whom I hadn't seen since we broke up. It felt normal. He said something stupid, I laughed. It was great to see him. All and all, a good weekend.

Wednesday (Halloween), I spent the better part of the afternoon coming up with my makeup for the night. I discovered my pink pirate/renaissance shirt Josh gave me for my birthday 2 years ago (and have never worn) in the backroom and ended up plotting my design around that. Then it was off to Canyon Lake to return Dana's top hat to her so she could wear it that night. We chatted for about an hour while she decorated her yard and I took pictures of myself. Hey, it's what I do, okay?

Around 5, Devon called me to ask if I was still willing to help him do his Weeping Angel makeup. He thought I lived in LA, which I guess he assumed because I was traveling from Hollywood to MOV rehearsals in July, and wasn't sure if I wanted to drive out to do his makeup. Anyway, Dana informed me that a Weeping Angel was a Dr. Who thing. I don't watch Dr. Who, so I had no idea. I'm not even sure what I was thinking when he said Weeping Angel. He had asked me at the party and I agreed because I had no other plans. Yes, I had no plans for Halloween. I thought I'd be busy doing makeup... I was wrong.

So I left Dana's and went to his house. Daniel was finishing spray painting the canvas  that served as Devon's robe and the wreath of silver leaves. As I did his makeup, Devon invited me to hang out with him and his friends for the night. They were going Trick or Treating off of Redhawk and then going to a haunted house in the neighborhood, followed by Field of Screams at Storm Stadium. I accepted, though I DO NOT DO HAUNTED anything, because I didn't want to just go home and Devon is super awesome. It ended up being a great night. We met up with Brett and hiked over to the haunted house (in my heels, no less. My feet are killing me), which turned out to be pretty cool. I gripped Devon's hand the entire time out of fear. haha. Nobody got his costume. They just thought he was a gargoyle. On our way back to Brett's, some dumbass in a white station wagon threw a water balloon at my foot, which didn't break but it hurt like hell. It also didn't break on the second attempt by Brett. How do you suck at making water balloons? Honestly.

We ended up at Field of Screams at 9:40, to find out it closed at 10. We just wanted to check it out so the guy let us in free of charge. We went through a maze called Darkness, so named because there was absolutely no source of light in the place. I screamed bloody murder when we walked through a section that set off firecrackers. We encountered one scarer in the maze because they were getting ready to close. After that one we went over to the Serial Killer maze. It was a really cool set but there were little to no scarers left inside. Regardless, we had fun. Then it was off to In and Out for late night dinner, where we met up with some of Devon's friends who had worked the haunted house. Afterward, we dropped Brett off at home and went back to Devon's, but not before having a dance party in my car to "Thriller".

I thought hanging out with a couple of 16 year olds would feel weird or like I was babysitting, but it was the exact opposite. I had a really great time and didn't feel any older than them. It was just an awesome night with 2 really cool guys. Much better than anything else I would have been doing, which probably would have been watching Hocus Pocus (though I do LOVE that movie).

Sometimes things don't work out the way you plan. However, as in my case, the unexpected can be much, much better.

-Me