Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Lo, I appear.
Yes, it has been a while, but with so many distractions, I can hardly be blamed for being a little lax in my updates. Besides, I did some more writing on my story; that counts for something, right? Right?
So what exciting news do I have? Well, there’s the usual parade of obscure but interesting stuff, but for now, I’ll stick with the highlights.
Last week, I had a midterm in my LAST CLASS. Sorry to harp on the fact that this is my LAST CLASS which ends DECEMBER 8th, but I am really quite excited by this prospect, and enjoy recalling it as often as possible. But yeah, the midterm. It went pretty well. There was only one question I didn’t know how to answer, and I’m not entirely convinced he ever taught us how to answer that particular question. It doesn’t cause me too much concern, these classes have such crazy grading curves that it’s impossible to know what your grade is until someone actually comes right out and tells you. “It’s a B+. That’s what it is. There’s a lot of math and bell curves and standard deviations involved, but you got a B+, because I know that’s all you really care about.” And really, it is.
Shopping anyone? Very caring parents presented me with a quite generous gift certificate to the ‘Republic of Bananas’, or some such place, which was awesome for two reasons. One, because it allowed me to get a very schnazzy outfit which looks just dashing on me, and two, because it finally got me off my lazy butt and shopping for clothes. I’ve been meaning to (and often repeating myself) improve the ‘formality’ of my wardrobe. I have a lot of t-shirts, jeans, casual stuff like that, good things for sweating in. But the more I look around at people, the more I realize that clothes, while not making the man, do give of far more of an impression than I had previously allowed myself to believe.
There’s a guy, call him ‘Sparky’, that hired in about 8 months or so after I did. He usually wore nice, white dress shirts with sharp pants or slacks and dress shoes. Nice, simple, yet formal stuff. I didn’t really notice it at first, he was a perfectly approachable, good-natured kinda guy, and we hit it off pretty much like anyone my age is liable to do with pretty much anyone else my age. Then I met him out at a bar one day on a weekend with a few more of our friends, and he was dressed in street clothes, casual clothes, and I was really struck by how different he looked. Much more like a kid, really. And more than the fact that he looked different, it was how much he looked different. I wouldn’t have expected such a shift, it really surprised me.
Well ever since then, I’ve been on the lookout for similar phenomenon. One of my best sources of information has been ‘What Not to Wear’. It’s a makeover TV show, pretty fun to watch, very entertaining. I know they select these people for their ‘improvement factor,’ they’d be foolish not to, but what struck me the most was that the transformations are incredibly dramatic. You really get people that go from ‘normal person’ to ‘amazing super-beautiful’, guys and girls. Around work, too. You see someone dressed up for a presentation and you really notice it. It jumps out at you.
So I’m running an experiment. I’m going to try being a bit more formal to work. Really only a bit, because I try to keep myself presentable regardless, but I’m really going for the ‘well-presented professional’ look, but all the time. I have a few pieces that fit the bill, and I can probably pick up some more as the holes in my wardrobe become more obvious. I’ll post some pictures of my new threads and let you know how it all pans out.
Oh, and this is fun. I was looking at suit jackets, just to look at them, when I realized that I don’t know what my suit size is. Not offhand, at least. Presumably, I’ve been measured before, because I, uh, *own* a suit, but I don’t have the numbers in my head right away.
But as J(5) and I are wandering around the mall (did I mention she was along with? Yeah, it was fun.), looking to pick up stuff I spy a shop called ‘Evening Somethingoranother’. It was a tuxedo rental place. So, being all clever, I stroll in and ask the professionals what size suit I should be wearing. A couple quick measurements and they had me all figured out. I’m 42 regular, if you’re wondering.
Here, for your amusement, is my fashion history. Back when I was first buying my own clothes, or at least picking them and having my parents buy them for me, I had a singular preference for sweat pants and shirts that were as large as possible. 3X-L, if you have it. I have no business wearing clothes that big, but I did anyway. I was all into comfort. I must have looked like an absolute twit. Heh.
I stuck with that…um…style (?) for a few years, until my senior year of high school, which is when I switched up a whole lot of things. I grew my hair long, got contacts, and bought *jeans*. Real jeans! Them’s regular people clothes! Got a few button-down shirts, some t-shirts that, while not exactly fitted, were at least able to ride somewhere above my hips, and bam! Style level up!
I think my next big leap happened right about then too, I was introduced to the concept of ‘nice clothes’. There’s a shop up in Juneau (Plum tree, I think) that specializes in these sorts of clothes, slightly more upscale, more presentable. It was here where a very nice woman (who totally miss-guessed my waist size) helped me select my first-ever ‘nice clothes’. I got a pair of slacks, and a couple of ‘clubbin’ shirts’ that I still have and wear to this day. It’s the black, silk, dragon-emblazoned one and the brown/black long sleeve one with the really clever weave.
I’ve gone through some other stages too. As I’ve gotten more into TKD, it’s taken a while for my clothing size to catch up, or catch ‘down’ in my case, perhaps, so I’m constantly having to remind myself to buy clothes that fit, dagnabit! And wear a belt if your pants start falling off…which happens a lot.
So there, fashion history. Tada!
Work news: things continue to plod faithfully along. Neat things happen every once in a while but for the most part, I just assume it’s all hush-hush and don’t tell anyone about it.
Relationship news: J(5) used the phrase ‘honeymoon period’ a couple days ago. I’ve heard it before, but had forgotten about it. It’s a pretty apt way to describe how things are going now. I suspect that eventually the shiny veneer will wear off the relationship and we’ll get down to what makes people either work together or not, but I see no reason to rush things along at anything other than their natural pace.
Heh, and you’ll find this funny, there’s something I’ve been wondering about relationships, and I need someone to ask. That someone is probably going to be my little sister. That’s right, I’m asking my younger sister, who, by all yearly measures should have less experience than me, for relationship advice. This is funny, so feel free to laugh.
Oh, and I’m going to be a ninja for Halloween, I’m going to try and fashion delicious weapons out of rice krispy treats. I’ll try and remember to take pictures.
-N
Yes, it has been a while, but with so many distractions, I can hardly be blamed for being a little lax in my updates. Besides, I did some more writing on my story; that counts for something, right? Right?
So what exciting news do I have? Well, there’s the usual parade of obscure but interesting stuff, but for now, I’ll stick with the highlights.
Last week, I had a midterm in my LAST CLASS. Sorry to harp on the fact that this is my LAST CLASS which ends DECEMBER 8th, but I am really quite excited by this prospect, and enjoy recalling it as often as possible. But yeah, the midterm. It went pretty well. There was only one question I didn’t know how to answer, and I’m not entirely convinced he ever taught us how to answer that particular question. It doesn’t cause me too much concern, these classes have such crazy grading curves that it’s impossible to know what your grade is until someone actually comes right out and tells you. “It’s a B+. That’s what it is. There’s a lot of math and bell curves and standard deviations involved, but you got a B+, because I know that’s all you really care about.” And really, it is.
Shopping anyone? Very caring parents presented me with a quite generous gift certificate to the ‘Republic of Bananas’, or some such place, which was awesome for two reasons. One, because it allowed me to get a very schnazzy outfit which looks just dashing on me, and two, because it finally got me off my lazy butt and shopping for clothes. I’ve been meaning to (and often repeating myself) improve the ‘formality’ of my wardrobe. I have a lot of t-shirts, jeans, casual stuff like that, good things for sweating in. But the more I look around at people, the more I realize that clothes, while not making the man, do give of far more of an impression than I had previously allowed myself to believe.
There’s a guy, call him ‘Sparky’, that hired in about 8 months or so after I did. He usually wore nice, white dress shirts with sharp pants or slacks and dress shoes. Nice, simple, yet formal stuff. I didn’t really notice it at first, he was a perfectly approachable, good-natured kinda guy, and we hit it off pretty much like anyone my age is liable to do with pretty much anyone else my age. Then I met him out at a bar one day on a weekend with a few more of our friends, and he was dressed in street clothes, casual clothes, and I was really struck by how different he looked. Much more like a kid, really. And more than the fact that he looked different, it was how much he looked different. I wouldn’t have expected such a shift, it really surprised me.
Well ever since then, I’ve been on the lookout for similar phenomenon. One of my best sources of information has been ‘What Not to Wear’. It’s a makeover TV show, pretty fun to watch, very entertaining. I know they select these people for their ‘improvement factor,’ they’d be foolish not to, but what struck me the most was that the transformations are incredibly dramatic. You really get people that go from ‘normal person’ to ‘amazing super-beautiful’, guys and girls. Around work, too. You see someone dressed up for a presentation and you really notice it. It jumps out at you.
So I’m running an experiment. I’m going to try being a bit more formal to work. Really only a bit, because I try to keep myself presentable regardless, but I’m really going for the ‘well-presented professional’ look, but all the time. I have a few pieces that fit the bill, and I can probably pick up some more as the holes in my wardrobe become more obvious. I’ll post some pictures of my new threads and let you know how it all pans out.
Oh, and this is fun. I was looking at suit jackets, just to look at them, when I realized that I don’t know what my suit size is. Not offhand, at least. Presumably, I’ve been measured before, because I, uh, *own* a suit, but I don’t have the numbers in my head right away.
But as J(5) and I are wandering around the mall (did I mention she was along with? Yeah, it was fun.), looking to pick up stuff I spy a shop called ‘Evening Somethingoranother’. It was a tuxedo rental place. So, being all clever, I stroll in and ask the professionals what size suit I should be wearing. A couple quick measurements and they had me all figured out. I’m 42 regular, if you’re wondering.
Here, for your amusement, is my fashion history. Back when I was first buying my own clothes, or at least picking them and having my parents buy them for me, I had a singular preference for sweat pants and shirts that were as large as possible. 3X-L, if you have it. I have no business wearing clothes that big, but I did anyway. I was all into comfort. I must have looked like an absolute twit. Heh.
I stuck with that…um…style (?) for a few years, until my senior year of high school, which is when I switched up a whole lot of things. I grew my hair long, got contacts, and bought *jeans*. Real jeans! Them’s regular people clothes! Got a few button-down shirts, some t-shirts that, while not exactly fitted, were at least able to ride somewhere above my hips, and bam! Style level up!
I think my next big leap happened right about then too, I was introduced to the concept of ‘nice clothes’. There’s a shop up in Juneau (Plum tree, I think) that specializes in these sorts of clothes, slightly more upscale, more presentable. It was here where a very nice woman (who totally miss-guessed my waist size) helped me select my first-ever ‘nice clothes’. I got a pair of slacks, and a couple of ‘clubbin’ shirts’ that I still have and wear to this day. It’s the black, silk, dragon-emblazoned one and the brown/black long sleeve one with the really clever weave.
I’ve gone through some other stages too. As I’ve gotten more into TKD, it’s taken a while for my clothing size to catch up, or catch ‘down’ in my case, perhaps, so I’m constantly having to remind myself to buy clothes that fit, dagnabit! And wear a belt if your pants start falling off…which happens a lot.
So there, fashion history. Tada!
Work news: things continue to plod faithfully along. Neat things happen every once in a while but for the most part, I just assume it’s all hush-hush and don’t tell anyone about it.
Relationship news: J(5) used the phrase ‘honeymoon period’ a couple days ago. I’ve heard it before, but had forgotten about it. It’s a pretty apt way to describe how things are going now. I suspect that eventually the shiny veneer will wear off the relationship and we’ll get down to what makes people either work together or not, but I see no reason to rush things along at anything other than their natural pace.
Heh, and you’ll find this funny, there’s something I’ve been wondering about relationships, and I need someone to ask. That someone is probably going to be my little sister. That’s right, I’m asking my younger sister, who, by all yearly measures should have less experience than me, for relationship advice. This is funny, so feel free to laugh.
Oh, and I’m going to be a ninja for Halloween, I’m going to try and fashion delicious weapons out of rice krispy treats. I’ll try and remember to take pictures.
-N
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