It's the sincerest form of flattery until it's not

Someone once said imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. And I suppose sometimes that's true. We all like to find things in common with people we like and/or admire. It makes you feel connected. But at some point after you get out of childhood or the teenage years don't you, like, get over that and find your own identity or try to find your own identity that makes you happy? That is what inspired my title line up there: imitation is the sincerest form of flattery until it's not. It's not so great when you are on the receiving end of it and you are starting to get creeped out. On one hand, you feel sort of petty and silly complaining about it. I mean, the whole thing is really quite childish. It's like when you're a kid and someone won't stop saying what you're saying just to irritate you. You feel like, "Teacher, make him stop copying me! He's a copycat!" But on the other hand, you are quite aggravated and you want to pull the person aside and say, "Stop it. You know what you are doing and while it's nice you want to be like me, cut it out and get your own positivity going. Cease and desist now, please." Like that episode of Family Guy where Peter says if the Roman centurion had tried to beat him he would have just said, "Hey, hey. No. No. Stop it. Ok. Ok." And I about died laughing. But I digress. Anyway, I don't want to go into details but I recently had an experience with someone that weirded me out pretty well. I tried to tell myself it was no big deal and that I shouldn't put much stock into my feelings of annoyance. But the more I think about it, the more irritated, annoyed and just generally creeped out I become. I was reading some blogs online from other people-- mostly a lot younger than me because this is such a high school-ish issue-- about their thoughts. One person wrote something that cracked me up about how celebrities get copied all the time so if someone is trying to imitate you, just take it as you are way cool like a star and go on with it. Shit. What other choice do you have if you don't want to cut the person out of your life? I saw a commercial for that show 50 Cent is going to do sort of like The Apprentice and someone said, "There is more hate than love in this business" and I was like, "Right the fuck on." And I guess I am sort of used to that aspect. The more successful you are and the more good things you can cultivate in your life, guess what: the more haters you're gonna have. People get jealous and people don't want to see you happy. Kinda like the whole living well and looking good as the best revenge concept. I know (and you do as well if you read this blog) that I get a hearty laugh when I find a photo of an ex-boyfriend or a former friend who did me wrong that now looks like a fat idiot. But when you treat someone like crap and they move on with life and rock the fuck out of it, it just makes you look that much stupider. (Sorta like how Chris told me, "I don't like you or your friends and I don't find the things you do interesting." Whose life is dull now, amigo? Not mine.) I suppose I am ill equipped to deal with this flip-side of a copycat. It's not to a psycho degree yet. As another blogger pointed out, there are times when a friend or relative looks at you as a "point of reference" for success or fun or whatever in life and that person tries to use you as a gauge for what he or she can do too. Ugggh. My brain hurts just contemplating all this mess. Drama. Life is so much better without it. The only thing I can think to do is that if it reaches a point of nerve-grating, teeth-grinding, maddening annoyance is to stay fresh and innovative and change to a point where this person simply cannot have the option of being a Xerox. I like to do that anyway because life is too short to allow yourself to turn stale. This person was in a very stale rut for a long time and I am happy for him that he is getting out of it and trying to evolve a bit. I don't like feeling that it is somewhat at my expense though. If it becomes like Jennifer Jason Leigh in SWF, I will cut him off. No people getting stabbed with high heeled shoes. *Heavy sigh* Ok. Must channel the spirit of staying fresh and innovative.