Otherwise Normal

Well, it's also the title of my regular blog over on LJ, and the title of a superpower-themed novel/collection of short stories that I still want to write at some point. But I thought it would make a good title for my Official Disablity Blog, so I've brought it over here.

The point being, it's meaningless.

The idea came from a letter that was published a few years ago in my local paper, responding to someone complaining about speed cameras who'd written something along the lines that the police shouldn't waste their time with 'otherwise law-abiding citizens' who'd been caught speeding when there were 'real' crimes to deal with. As letter-writer pointed out, every criminal, up to and including serial killers, could call themselves 'otherwise law-abiding', because there'd have to be some laws they hadn't broken.

Hence my title. Everyone probably conforms to the average in some way, after all. Except where they don't. Nobody's entirely 'normal', but everyone's otherwise normal. Of course, some of us get a whole lot more otherwise than others.

My reading list is 'Further Anomalies' on LJ too, just because it fits with the theme. There's not so much deep meaning behind that one.

And my subtitle here is a deliberate inversion of a line from the song 'Girl Anachronism', by The Dresden Dolls. The original line goes 'It's not the way I'm meant to be/It's just the way the operation made me'. Flipped to make the point - this is the way I'm meant to be.

And if you're wondering about my icon, I didn't make that one, and yes, I know they prefer to be called conjoined cherries. ;)