Impersonating poor 'ol Richard Simmons
Does anyone else perform what I like to call "costume changes" during their day? By this I mean, more than just merely changing into lounge wear after a hard day's work or gussy-in' up before a night on the town, but subtle or sometimes complete changes in wardrobe out of preference over necessity? I'll give you my example.
It is well documented that I have a long smoldering grudge against "work clothes." In a "business casual" environment, which has been the norm in most of my places of employment, there are a lot of questions on dress that come up. Call me a privileged complainer, but I feel to be taken seriously in this environment men basically have the dress shirt/dress pants/tie option, or in lieu of that, considered a less than serious employee.
To tie or not to tie? I made my mindgrapes up on this a long time ago, choosing only to do so for an interview or for some explicit client visit or event. It's hard on us hearty necked New Englanders to justify having most of it cinched up towards our face all day. "Balloon-head:" is not a good look for me. "Dress" shirt or "polo" shirt is another popular struggle, clearly the latter being more comfortable, but also revealing my conspicuous tattoos, which are definitely still mostly unwelcome, despite the seemingly weekly articles about our generation changing the workplace norms. I am not a Google programmer, so as far as my generation helping me to not get mental stability questioning looks, it could be doing more. Also, shit doesn't seem to stay tucked in for me, so I inevitably have a shirt tail hanging out and go beyond looking casual to looking non- functional. I also have the weird neurosis, ingrained by my high school dress code, that the uniform for the socially acceptable you is somewhat crushing for both sovereignty and soul. If I had a choice it would be t-shirt and jeans most every day, so I shoot for the more casual, fun art history professor look in my wardrobe choices, which is somewhat hindered by the fact that I don't have the scholastic validation for eccentricity that a tenure track position provides. So I make a lot of "costume changes" during the day. If I am meeting friend for lunch, I'll pull off my tattoo concealing sweater and let the bad boys breathe. When it's time to walk home, I will strip down in the bathroom to just a t-shirt and dress pants before departure, another look developed in my school uniform days. I wear black suede sneakers to work, so it doesn't look incredibly Poindexter. I was doing just this yesterday, and upon tuggin' my sweater over my head, , my buckle was severed from my belt. Now as some readers may remember from earlier entries, a common wardrobe malfunction for me is the popping of waist buttons, and I just so happened to be wearing a pair of pants yesterday I have not gotten around to repairing. I run back to the office to try staples, or some string, to find it's locked. "Eh. they'll stay up" I think to myself, and head out.
Of course I get a half a block before my fly is completely open, and I am trying to figure out which is less creepy, to keep pulling up the pants and re-zipping the fly while walking, or walking with both hands crammed a little too high in the pockets to act as flanking supports. I try rolling my pants into my underwear, hoping that waistband will support the weight. So here I am, shuffling down the road, looking like a pedophile who was really successful on Weight Watchers, when I of course see an old boss, and then, get run into on the street by a naive but happy toddler running ahead of his mother and stroller, who bumps into me from behind, causing my pants to nearly come down and a concerned look from the mother calling after him as I make some way too obvious adjustments. It got me thinking, am I the only person who will get myself in this far for comfort or preference or personality, or am I not alone in these principles resulting in Beanesque clothing mishaps.
This job is good for keeping up with the journal, even if the coffee has the flavor profile of rat secretions, and some of the Engineering students don't know how to operate a copier.
In artistic frustration news, my dedication to make things happen has paid off somewhat, the wheatpasting is coming along, I have one piece up already and hope to have more up and pictures here soon. Also, I have been practicing with a fledgling no wave band, comprised of really talented musicians. It means a practice commute to Delaware, but so far it's worth it. More on that as it develops.
It is well documented that I have a long smoldering grudge against "work clothes." In a "business casual" environment, which has been the norm in most of my places of employment, there are a lot of questions on dress that come up. Call me a privileged complainer, but I feel to be taken seriously in this environment men basically have the dress shirt/dress pants/tie option, or in lieu of that, considered a less than serious employee.
To tie or not to tie? I made my mindgrapes up on this a long time ago, choosing only to do so for an interview or for some explicit client visit or event. It's hard on us hearty necked New Englanders to justify having most of it cinched up towards our face all day. "Balloon-head:" is not a good look for me. "Dress" shirt or "polo" shirt is another popular struggle, clearly the latter being more comfortable, but also revealing my conspicuous tattoos, which are definitely still mostly unwelcome, despite the seemingly weekly articles about our generation changing the workplace norms. I am not a Google programmer, so as far as my generation helping me to not get mental stability questioning looks, it could be doing more. Also, shit doesn't seem to stay tucked in for me, so I inevitably have a shirt tail hanging out and go beyond looking casual to looking non- functional. I also have the weird neurosis, ingrained by my high school dress code, that the uniform for the socially acceptable you is somewhat crushing for both sovereignty and soul. If I had a choice it would be t-shirt and jeans most every day, so I shoot for the more casual, fun art history professor look in my wardrobe choices, which is somewhat hindered by the fact that I don't have the scholastic validation for eccentricity that a tenure track position provides. So I make a lot of "costume changes" during the day. If I am meeting friend for lunch, I'll pull off my tattoo concealing sweater and let the bad boys breathe. When it's time to walk home, I will strip down in the bathroom to just a t-shirt and dress pants before departure, another look developed in my school uniform days. I wear black suede sneakers to work, so it doesn't look incredibly Poindexter. I was doing just this yesterday, and upon tuggin' my sweater over my head, , my buckle was severed from my belt. Now as some readers may remember from earlier entries, a common wardrobe malfunction for me is the popping of waist buttons, and I just so happened to be wearing a pair of pants yesterday I have not gotten around to repairing. I run back to the office to try staples, or some string, to find it's locked. "Eh. they'll stay up" I think to myself, and head out.
Of course I get a half a block before my fly is completely open, and I am trying to figure out which is less creepy, to keep pulling up the pants and re-zipping the fly while walking, or walking with both hands crammed a little too high in the pockets to act as flanking supports. I try rolling my pants into my underwear, hoping that waistband will support the weight. So here I am, shuffling down the road, looking like a pedophile who was really successful on Weight Watchers, when I of course see an old boss, and then, get run into on the street by a naive but happy toddler running ahead of his mother and stroller, who bumps into me from behind, causing my pants to nearly come down and a concerned look from the mother calling after him as I make some way too obvious adjustments. It got me thinking, am I the only person who will get myself in this far for comfort or preference or personality, or am I not alone in these principles resulting in Beanesque clothing mishaps.
This job is good for keeping up with the journal, even if the coffee has the flavor profile of rat secretions, and some of the Engineering students don't know how to operate a copier.
In artistic frustration news, my dedication to make things happen has paid off somewhat, the wheatpasting is coming along, I have one piece up already and hope to have more up and pictures here soon. Also, I have been practicing with a fledgling no wave band, comprised of really talented musicians. It means a practice commute to Delaware, but so far it's worth it. More on that as it develops.