Certain people are very odd and should be shunned from society. It’s not that these people are necessarily bad people; they just need some help before they should be allowed to walk our streets. Drug addicts, the suicidal, and most importantly, the insane all fall under the “should be shunned” category, in my opinion. However, after analyzing my beliefs on this, I realize that I myself should surely be banished from the outside world, as I most definitely possess insanity.

Now, being insane is a pretty sweet thing, don’t let anybody else tell you differently, but that doesn’t mean the crazy can’t be a danger to society. Put aside the multiple personalities, the fact that I’m obsessed with the dark genre of film writing, and the fact that I actually gain some joy out of getting hurt; I’m a somewhat normal person. The thing that really scares me though, and it may not be dangerous to society, is the fact that every time I’m walking the streets or riding in a vehicle, and I’m listening to my ipod (which is always), I picture the world around me as a music video. To be more precise, I see it as a live action music video about my life, for that particular moment in time, and let me tell you, it’s quite glorious.

It’s a Tuesday morning, I just got off the subway in Newark, and I’m walking to the building I have class in. To my left is a police officer guiding traffic; to my right is this kid dressed in very nice clothing, carrying a briefcase; right in front of me is a cute girl with a nice booty (even though I’m a Romantic and the ass isn’t the most important thing to me when looking at a woman, I still appreciate a work of genetically formed art). Now, to fully get the gist of what I’m about to describe, you have to download the song I’m about to mention, it’ll help set the mood. So, “FYM” by The Youth Ahead suddenly pops onto my ipod and the world around me abruptly becomes simply awesome. The police officer nods his head at me; the nicely dressed kid gives me a wink (a bit queer), while the gal in front of me turns around giving me a wink and a smile. All of a sudden, the police officer starts dancing to the beat, doing spins and splits, while all the people in their cars are bopping their heads to the beat with smiles on their faces. The well-dressed kid begins to mouth the “nah nah” parts, which makes it a little awkward but totally rad at the same time. I look down at the sidewalk and three pigeons begin to dance and sing the “nah nah” part as well. I try to hold back my laughter, shake my head, and move forward in a state of slight discomfort.

At this point the girl in front of me begins to dance against the street light pole, bringing utter disbelief to my face. I smile and wink at her, she gives me a look of disgust back, I beg for a dance, she denies me, and I hang my head and walk away. My mind is spinning, as is everything around me, but I eventually regroup and begin walking happily down the sidewalk once again to the “nah nah” mouthing of passing people and animals, who also happen to be dancing to the rhythm of the song. I cross the street and notice a man shaking his ass against the fence protecting the soccer field. I’m grossed out by this act, but the man scoffs at me like I’m the weird one. At this point I look up and see a bunch of skateboarders go by, grinding on rooftops and fence tops, which puts me in a true state of awe. One of the skaters is a spitting image of myself, but he can obviously skateboard (something I wish I could do, I’m just a blader though), and he flips me off as he goes by, upsetting me and forcing me to sit on the curb with my head hanging low. Just then, the dancing cop from the beginning comes and sits next to me, allowing me to join in on the “nah nah” part with him. Slowly a lot of people come by and join in with us, making me feel like I finally understood the beauty of being able to “nah nah” out loud in public. The crowd, without warning, begins to form a path, which I notice leads to the other me, the one who flipped me off a few moments before.

I slowly walk up to him as everyone nods in support of me, and I begin doing these amazing dance moves; moves I surely could never imagine pulling off in real life. OK, that’s not true, they were actually terrible dance moves that I would definitely try pulling off in real life, I just wanted to make myself look good. Anyway, my moves make my counterpart begin to convulse in amazement (probably at their awfulness) and he explodes! This brings celebration amongst the masses; fireworks fill the air and the crowd carries me away in a state of utter happiness. The dancing cop gives me the thumbs up and suddenly everything stops; something clicks and everything is back to normal. A few people are giving me strange looks, forcing me to conclude that I had sung out loud and possibly done a dance move or two; the world I had just spent the last three minutes in only existed inside the bizarre universe known as my mind. Quite embarrassed, I walked as fast as I could to get away from the people that had just witnessed my state of insane movements and spasms. Unfortunately for me, the next song began to play, “Disaster” by Homegrown, and it was all back to stage one.

Sadly, this kind of thing happens to me all the time, and while it’s fun to write about and definitely shows off my vivid imagination, it scares the hell out of me and pretty much always leaves me looking like an ass. As far as I know, normal people don’t do what I just described, which honestly makes me question my state of normalcy. The thing is, these sorts things don’t just happen when I’m listening to music. When I enter a Loews Theater and have to walk past the curtain part, I act like I’m making an entrance to a fight or wrestling match and I slap the “hands” of the “crowd” looking on. I do the same thing when I walk down the hallway of a house or by a banister; I see them as a mass of begging hands wishing to touch me. I talk to myself ALL the time, especially when playing sports games (I pretend that I’m doing the commentary), and I truly feel that the deer living in my area are out to get me. Is it common for somebody to talk to his or her Million Dollar man wrestling buddy? I don’t believe any of those things would be deemed “normal” behavior, but you know what, it makes my life exciting and enjoyable each and every day I’m fortunate enough to still take a breath on this wonderful planet. So, I dare everyone to try getting into my state of mind for just one day and to realize how hard it is to be me (mentally). I’ll tell you one thing; life is so much more gratifying when it’s a music video.

If you have any questions or comments for G.K., email him at GK@LostYouthNation.com, and be sure to check back here next Friday for another random article from his unpredictable mind.