Staying Strange

So what if I don't fit in? I can have my fairy-tale ending, too.

When I was a little girl, around twenty years ago, I never thought of happily ever afters. This is not my claim to uniqueness or individuality, it’s just the truth and the way I was. For me they were just endings to animated films that I enjoyed and I took them as they were. I had no expectations that I’d meet someone to ride off into the sunset with. Hello…I was six.

Now, I’m looking at these fairy tales a little bit closer, because I want my happy ending, I want my magic carpet ride, I want my waltz-on-water moment. And I don’t want it “in the foreseeable future”, I want it NOW.

Now.

So what does it take to get those? I grew up with The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Mulan and Beauty & The Beast, so if these are the love stories I want then the recipe that I should follow would be:

1. A strange, awkward girl who does not fit in and has no intentions of fitting in because really, it’s fun to be weird. Has dreams beyond the confines of her current village or kingdom, and the constant thought that’s nagging her is “There has to be something more to this" - Status: DONE. Ako na yun! I may not be a princess or a warrior, and I don’t have a tail. But if you’re looking for social awkwardness and restlessness then, baby, I’m your girl.
2. An equally strange pet like a sardonic tiger, a lucky cricket, a horse with no sense of direction, a talking fish, a Rastafarian crab. - Status: WORK IN PROGRESS. I have to go bag Spiderman.
3. People who treat her like a social pariah because she’s not one of them and she’ll never be. They try to change her to conform to their standards of acceptability, but they gave up the fight because her nose is always in a book or she’s always running off somewhere else to be free - Status: DONE. I think this is why I have so few friends, and no one sits next to me in trainings. Or am I just really unfriendly? Inappropriate? Ah, bahala na…CHECK!
4. An occasion for upheaval, for stepping out of comfort zones and going on an adventure. Status: NOT STARTED What do you think guys? A trip to Bali, ala-Eat, Pray, Love? Joining the Philippine Army? Violin lessons? Karate classes? Solo road trip?
5. A man who isn’t looking for love, who’s focused on his career as a goofy pickpocket or army lieutenant or antisocial-master-of-the-house. I don’t really know what Prince Eric’s job is, but whatever it is, it involves having a good time with the boys on-board a ship. Basically a guy with his own plans, his own dreams and his own life. Status: NOT STARTED. But let’s clarify—straight, single men. Right now there’s no one who fits this very simple criteria.

I still believe in happily ever after, because I came so close to have mine. It’s my fault that I lost it. But I know it exists, it’s out there.

Trust me.