As illegitimate as this sounds, my greatest fears are clowns, the Easter bunny, mascots, masks, the Muppets, and some dolls. Basically anything that has a predetermined facial expression. Clowns and the Easter bunny are probably the greatest fear. I totally get how stupid that sounds, but I think it's weird that people are afraid of heights or spiders sooooo, there's that....
People are aware of my fear and love posting scary pictures of clowns on my Facebook wall or scaring me with masks and stuff. Real cool guys....
A few weeks ago, we had an "Anything But Clothes" (ABC) social. I was super pumped about it because people think of the most clever things to dress up as. Earlier in the week, it dawned on me. There was something in the Chi O attic that was completely and utterly perfect for the social's theme. This costume.....
I know what you're thinking.....why the heck would I dress up as my #1 fear? That's what I thought too. But then it occurred to me that I would never actually have to look at myself, so I could literally become my fear. Kind of an inception concept. I did forget how scary I looked a few times and made myself jump when I went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. But that's irrelevant.
I walked around the fraternity house completely silent, just creeping on everyone possible. It was seriously the most fun I had in a long time. I didn't care what people were thinking because they didn't know who I was! Some people were really frustrated and kept attempting to reveal my identity which was seriously so annoying, but they were never successful so ha! Bunny wins.
Okay, so aside from freaking out on a few occasions when I saw myself in a reflection, throughout the night I became more accustomed to the fact that I was the frightening over-sized bunny walking on two legs with a massive head and very screwed up nose. Many, MANY photo-ops were in order and I literally haven't taken that many pictures since my prom picture party senior year. It was humorous to me because people would say, "Bunnyyy! Can we PLEASE have a picture with you?!" Keep in mind, NO ONE could hear anything I was saying so I had to use nonverbal communication like hand gestures and nods. That was also hilarious because people just assumed that I couldn't hear them so then they would start communicating with their hands instead of their words and I would just stand there slightly baffled, but also smirking to myself at the situation which also no one saw because my face was in a huge rabbit hole...I mean head. (pun intended?) Anyway, back to my point, there were millions of pictures of me in this costume, so I had to adjust to the fact that I was going to see an Easter bunny over and over again. I guess it was comforting that I knew who it was in the suit, but I can't be for sure that my fears are completely diminished......
Here's the thing. Pretty much every fear I had of the Easter bunny before this night was reconfirmed as a fear of mine after this night. I don't like mascots or the Easter bunny because you never know who's inside. It could be a man, woman, small child....you would never know. Also, the expression stays the same. In my case, I was always smiling in a partially creepy way with a discolored nose. I realized how much I use my facial expression to convey what I'm trying to say. Everyone thought I was just smiling or laughing at their jokes! I couldn't show them that I was confused, scared, or shocked, or anything else! That freaks me out about mascots. I realized how easy it is to be creepy when you're in one of those suits and how much fun it is. Needless to say, I haven't quite overcome this fear completely, but I definitely made some headway. I'm pretty proud of myself.
There were many amazing moments throughout the night, but one of my personal favorites was the ride from the house to the social downtown. Naturally, I rode in the back of a pick-up truck.
I didn't last quite long into the night, mainly because I started getting harassed by drunk people. Not cool. There's something about a bunny downtown that either really intrigued people or freaked them out. Regardless, I still had the time of my life and ended the night hopping across the crosswalk to get in my friend's car to go home. BUNNY OUT.
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