Speedos are never acceptable...and other rules for manly dressing

Today the Captain came downstairs in a Hawaiian shirt with plaid shorts.

Heh :)

I love him. I'd rather he need my style advice instead of him knowing more about fashion and style than a woman.

I did start laughing my ass off and promptly told him, "No," to which he went back up and came down in a white Panama Jack style shirt. Much better. However, I was smacked on the ass for still chuckling while making breakfast, although I do love men's clothing, and he knows I have more style than him. At one point in my past career, I used to advise executives on dressing for meetings and presentations.

Hawaiian shirts are back in style again, however men should know there are rules for wearing them, especially men over the age of 35.


- Do buy at least one size too large. The looseness adds to the casual and cool effect.
- Do wear them with sandals or flip-flops.
- Do wear them with subdued, solid color shorts, such as light khaki.
- Do wear them with shorts or slacks made of summer weight material.
- If you're going to wear it loud, then wear it proud.

- Don't ever tuck them in, even if you are Thomas Magnum.
- Don't wear them with a necktie.
- Don't wear them with a blazer, even if the current men's magazines say it's ok this season. It's not. It never is.
- Don't wear a shirt with matching pants or shorts.
- Don't wear them with denim. It's too stiff.
- Don't wear them with socks. Ever.
- Don't wear a matching shirt with your spouse.
- And don't mix Hawaiian prints with plaids.



(P.S. - That picture is not the Captain ;-)

De-Clutter

I could never be a pack rat, for I often feel the need to throw things out. I think it's probably cathartic. It makes me feel better to get rid of the clutter and to organize what's left. I can't stand for stuff to pile up.

Today I'm sort of doing that in my online life. I've got way too much unnecessary and unrewarding reading on my Google Reader. Too much of the same stuff even if it's coming from different sources. It's all news and political topics, and all too often the blogs or forums just make me mad or aggravated, particularly the comments. Whether it's the same old narrow-minded people commenting over and over (Reason Hit and Run), or the same old trolls that show up to make the site look bad (Pajamas Media), or someone on Facebook that I don't even know and have nothing in common with and never converse with, either way the postings don't inform me as much as annoy me. It takes up time and keeps me from doing other things that are much more valuable and rewarding to my life.

Besides, I much prefer reading blogs where people write about their lives, their vacations, their thoughts, hobbies, etc. I'm not much for relentless political agendas day in and day out, unless it's short, to the point, intelligently unbiased, and also a pet project of my own.

Other than someone being caught in an embarrassing photo op, or the occasional rant about a first lady wearing $600 sneakers to a soup kitchen event, I really don't want to read endless posts about the same constitutional shreddings over and over and over. I know what I believe, I know where I fall on the political spectrum, and I MORE than know how far away my beliefs are from our current government. And I KNOW that I dig Sarah Palin and that the haters sure like to talk about her to the point of being obsessed. So they can all just keep obsessing. Nothing is changing my mind. The more they hate, the more I think I'm right to like her.

Whew! I almost got on a rant there.

So. Anyway... I'm de-cluttering my online life.

Having a thought....

You know, I used to be so extroverted. I used to be in sales, account management, etc. I used to network. I used to know everyone. I used to talk, talk, talk, and totally put on my game face.

Or maybe I was faking it. I don't know.

But now, I realize I'm really introverted. I'm a home body. I prefer to read a book and work on alone projects instead of group and team things. I like the quiet. If I have to be with groups, I'd rather it be a small group of 6 or 8 at the most, and I'd rather it be mostly close friends. I kind of hate small talk. I like to talk deep. I like to talk about something meaningful and serious, like politics, books, theories, etc., instead of fashion, weather, TV shows, or just "stuff".

I'm a too-intense-for-my-own-good introvert.

Lately I have thoughts about getting back into real estate. I used to be a sales assistant to a really big and important real estate developer in Memphis back in the early 90s. I took the test, had a real estate license, did open houses, and everything. I loved it. I love houses and buildings. I love decorating. I really enjoyed showing houses and offices and helping people find the home or space they needed.

I also have thoughts of running for a county supervisor position in the local government some day.

None of this goes along with being an introvert.

What has happened to me? Sometimes I think I just got tired. Really tired. Looking back on it, I realize my last position, the one I got laid off from, had been making me old for years. I see it in my good friend that still works there. She has nothing in her life but work, and it's making her old and tired.

The Captain being here will help. He never meets a stranger, and everyone around here just loves him. Having him here brings me out a bit. He gets me out and about.

I've also approached my father about going into his business with him and my brothers. I've not said anything about it on here because of my old privacy issues, but my family has one of the largest (and oldest at 60 years) furniture and home stores in the area.

I sort of see me being able to combine that with real estate on the side, a little decorating work, and eventually getting out of my shell enough to get back into knowing everyone, like I used to, and maybe running for that supervisor position several years down the line.

Whew! My mind is running away with me this morning. Must have been that fresh package of Brazilian coffee I opened.

Come Dancing

My Lady Chatelaine has often said she felt she was born too late. I too am nostalgic for things before my time. The post war years (WWII) seem so full of glamour as seen through my five year old eyes. By the time I could drive, the local malt shoppe was gone, replaced by Golden Arches. The dance palaces were ancient history.

So, LC looks to me to find pieces of what she missed. And me? I have this Ray Davies song and a fantasy that I will be able to dance in a romantic way that was giving way to the Twist when I was six.

Come Dancing / The Kinks

They put a parking lot on a piece of land
When the supermarket used to stand.
Before that they put up a bowling alley
On the site that used to be the local palais.
Thats where the big bands used to come and play.
My sister went there on a saturday.

Come dancing,
All her boyfriends used to come and call.
Why not come dancing, its only natural?

Another saturday, another date.
She would be ready but shes always make them wait.
In the hallway, in anticipation,
He didnt know the night would end up in frustration.
Hed end up blowing all his wages for the week
All for a cuddle and a peck on the cheek.

Come dancing,
Thats how they did it when I was just a kid,
And when they said come dancing,
My sister always did.

My sister should have come in a midnight,
And my mum would always sit up and wait.
It always ended up in a big row
When my sister used to get home late.

Out of my window I can see them in the moonlight,
Two silhouettes saying goodnight by the garden gate
.

The day they knocked down the palais
My sister stood and cried.
The day they knocked down the palais
Part of my childhood died, just died.

Now Im grown up and playing in a band,
And theres a car park where the palais used to stand.
My sisters married and she lives on an estate.
Her daughters go out, now its her turn to wait.
She knows they get away with things she never could,
But if I asked her I wonder if she would,

Come dancing,
Come on sister, have yourself a ball.
Dont be afraid to come dancing,
Its only natural.

Come dancing,
Just like the palais on a saturday.
And all her friends will come dancing
Where the big bands used to play.

Limericks "R" Us

Since May 2007, I have been involved in a grand project that is attempting to rewrite the dictionary, giving every word a definition in the form of a limerick. Although we have over 55,000 approved limericks, the going is slow. Going through words alphabetically, currently we are working on words starting with A through Dh. The project is called The Omnificent English Dictionary In Limerick Form or OEDILF.

Since my Lady Chatelaine mentioned my limerick writing in an earlier posting, I thought I would share a few of my more political efforts. An enbolded word is the word being defined in the limerick.


Your faith in Obama's delusive
'Cause your grasp of the facts is elusive.
He's expanding the war,
And he spends three times more
Than George Bush who was power abusive.

He audaciously promised us hope,
With his voluble claims and grand scope.
B. O.'s smooth as can be
With his charlatanry,
But how long with this fraud can we cope?


B.O. loves his own voice, that is clear.
Spouting platitudes, calming our fear.
Demagogism can't
Solve our problems. We shan't
Spend our way out of bankruptcy, hear?


And finally, as a general warning against where we are headed:


As prescribed by the communist creed,
When rewards are based solely on need,
Then from each per ability
Breeds sloth and futility.
The motive is gone to succeed.


Click on the title if you can't get enough of five-lined poetry in anapest meter.
The Cap'n

Two Roads

I think I'm having one of those moments in life when you realize that things are probably not going to go along the way you figured they would.

You know how we sort of assume how things will happen? You can visualize it in your mind how things will look and what will happen through the years and down the road...but then, somewhere in the scheme of things, you start to see that it's going to go down a little differently. You start to see a fork in the road, and you realize that instead of simply continuing down the road you're on, you'll probably end up taking that fork that veers off. It's parallel to the road you're on, but still, it's a different road.

Kind of like interstates and old two lane highways. A lot of interstates and freeways were built parallel to the old two lane highways, and even though the two lane road might still exist, the interstates and freeways have virtually replaced them. The old two lane highway is slower, but more scenic and has less frantic traffic. There are usually interesting roadside attractions and places to stop along the two lane highway. But the interstate is much faster, easier, more convenient, and gets you to the end quicker.

I think the Captain and I are going to end up traveling the old two lane highway of life. I guess I kind of figured it would be him simply merging into my life here in my hometown. Him merging into my circle of friends and the road we travel. But I think it's going to go down a little differently than that.

Things went well last night, don't get me wrong and think that we didn't have a good time or anything. The Captain charms with his smile and disarms with his wit. He never meets a stranger. But as I sat at the dining table with everyone and observed...sort of stepped back for a moment and looked in as an outsider... I sort of realized that the Captain and I are different together. I'm different around him. He's changed me. He makes me a better person. And I think we have different things that we want out of life from what my circle of friends wants. I don't even know if some of them even think about things like this or about making plans for what you want out of life.

I once read that true love is not simply gazing into each other's eyes and seeing only each other. But instead, true love is gazing outward together and seeing the same things.

I didn't quite understand that when I first read it, but I get it now. The Captain and I want the same things in life. We want to work toward the same things, and we're satisfied with the same things. We're interested in the same things. We want to discuss and ponder the same things. I'm not sure all of those things are on the same road I've been traveling on with my circle of friends. I think maybe I've been whatever fits in with them, instead of being what I really am. Or maybe I'm being something new. Maybe I'm changing more than I realized.

I think the Captain and I might take that slower, less complicated, but more scenic road in life. We'll be parallel to all my old gang, but we'll probably be on a different road a lot of the time.

I used to be Jenny

This is one of my most favorite movie moments ever. It might even be my very favorite. It's when Forrest and Jenny run to each other in the Reflecting Pool in Washington.





It never fails to make me smile and be happy, even if it is for just a few moments.

And then there's this moment...when Jenny is on edge, literally... when she's at the end of her rope and doesn't recognize herself in the mirror anymore. I don't know why exactly, although I have an idea...but I always related to this moment. I'll never forget the first time I saw this scene.... and I knew I had felt like that before. I knew what it was like to do things that were dangerous to yourself. I knew what it was like to want to hurt myself. That scene used to always make me shiver. It always got my attention and made me sink very far into myself.



But you know what? When I was watching that scene on TV just a few moments ago, I didn't feel so close to it. I didn't feel like it was something so close to my own self. I didn't feel the darkness calling to me. I think it's still there in me, but it's different now. Like light and dark.