Fashion : Function as Dan : Productive

I have a confession to make. It's something that very few people know, but for the sake of honesty, I'm going to share.

I like fashion. Yep, it's true. I enjoy Rihanna's fashion sense. I love spunky short hairstyles in the magazines at Hair Cuttery. I stop at reality TV shows that have to do with fashionable things.

Alas, I am not fashionable. I own 5 pair of jeans, two of which are the same exact style. I have an array of T-shirts. Not a vast array, just an array. I usually own a pair of street shoes and a pair of nice shoes at the same time, and that's it.

But just because I am not fashionable doesn't mean I have to stay that way. So, I have written to several Chicago area fashion bloggers to see if they want a project. The project would be to help me go from a normally dressed guy, to a somehow fashionably dressed guy, on a budget. I'm not sure what that looks like, because if I did, I wouldn't need to enlist help. But I really hope someone's up for it.

What are your thoughts on fashion?

Always check your child's homework

A trip to Florida has left my brain a bit overwhelmed with different things going on. While I take some time to decompress, here's a ridiculously awesome picture drawn by a child for homework. The assignment was to draw a picture describing what one of the child's parents did for a living:



Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Probably.

It turns out that mom works at Home Depot and is here selling a shovel.

Play It Forward

Home again, home again; no place like home again. 1,200 miles is long, but a year might be longer.

Last night some friends and I headed up to Austins Coffee, one of my absolute favorite destinations in the Orlando area. Every Tuesday is open mic, which I would frequent as often as possible during my year in town. There is a wide variety of tastes and styles, so you're bound to hear something you'd like. And whatever you don't like, you might hear that, too.

One of my favorite parts about Austins is that there are always friends there. Not close friends, but friends linked by common interest. I got to see Spencer Beasley, Tre Hester, and my married friends from Dirty Soap. I remembered Greg and his wife since they shopped at George's Music (my former job) and played at Austins where we always shared conversation. What I didn't remember is the story Greg shared with me:

"I remember the first time I met you. I was shopping at George's for some stuff and I remember talking to one of the guys about recording some music. They were like, 'Oh, that's cool.'

"Then you came by and asked if I was playing out anywhere and I said I didn't know of any place that we could play our music, so you said, 'Go to Austins,' and gave me your card and the info.

"Now we've been going there every week that we can for about two years, just because you wanted to help me out. Now we tell people all the time. It's really cool. So, thanks."

Really? Like, really, really? I didn't even remember they went to Austins because of me. And crazier, I actually changed someone's weekly schedule, and their lives because they never performed before, and now they do all the time.

It was refreshing to hear some of their renditions of Christmas songs last night. I turned to someone and said about the coffee shop, "You don't know what you've got here." After a sour note, he gave me a sarcastic glance, and I knew he understood.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Apron Full of Stains*

For those of you who don't know, I work at a restaurant. I'm a server. It's great fun most days, depending on the table. I love when people think I do a great job and say things like, "You should get a raise!", because then I can respond with, "That's what I love about serving: You get to give me that raise," and I offer up a huge smile. :D Talk about putting your money where your mouth is, eh?

Every day at our pre-shift meeting we have our "line-up". This is when we all stand before the manager as they check out our uniforms, aprons, bank, pens, everything. We have to be perfect. As you can imagine, not everyone is perfect every day. A common discrepancy is the dirty apron. If you've worked a Friday night, the last thing you want to do before a Saturday morning shift is wash your apron. Over time, everyone has gotten really good at hiding the stains, spots and whatevers. It's a slight-of-hand trick where you can use your server book to cover over them, or do something off to the left so they won't see what's right in front of them. No manager ever knows there's something wrong.

I think there are times when I've noticed that either I or someone else in my life has been playing that slight-of-hand trick, but it's usually not with an apron. It's with life. We line up in front of co-workers, family members, roommates, best friends or who ever else is watching, and we put on a face or talk about the weather because we want to cover up, or at least distract from the fact that not everything is going perfectly.

I think the reason I've seen this play out the most isn't because anyone wants to hide something; there usually isn't any deceptive intent. Rather, I know a lot of people who don't want to mention what's heavy on their hearts because they don't want to weigh anybody else down. It makes sense; no one wants to bring down the mood. But, as I often tell people who do share the heavy things, "That's life." I'm glad to share in the good and bad things.

Being concerned with who you might take down with you probably isn't the best concern to have when you're with real friends, because, really, when you think you're going to bring your friends down, you'll be surprised at how quickly they will be able to help you up. And maybe instead of having to hide your apron, they'll help you clean it instead.

*You get bonus points in the betanarrative if you can name the band who sings this song, without the internet.

CALLED OUT!! Shoot dang.

Yesterday I was called out. Like, called out. For reals. It was hardcore. And the best part was who did the calling. Yep, I called out myself.

Last night, I didn't feel like doing anything. I just wanted to lie in bed and do nothing. The quarter had just ended, so that was my excuse. But I started thinking about it. I hadn't really done much in the last few... months. Yeah, months. Not much school work, not excited for work, or anything. I really had to ask what JJ Heller is asking: "Living / Am I really living / Or am I just existing?"

I realized that the one characteristic that has been a growing theme over the past few months is laziness. How sad is that?? I'm lazy. And I totally called myself on it. And it hurt. Because the first thing I said was, "I'll change that tomorrow." It's the procrastinator's creed. Noting that, I got myself up and decided to change right then. I cleaned up my room a bit. It was no huge task, but it was good to do something, especially something that needed to be done.

Today I got myself out of bed, cleaned some, read some, went to the library to start some thesis prep, ate lunch, went to the bank, and realized that I thought it was 3 o'clock when it wasn't even 2! That was pretty awesome. So, I read a little, started working on my thesis ideas, and wrote this blog.

I now have 30 minutes to get to work, and I feel like I've done so much. So, for all of you lazies out there, stop being lazy! It's totally worth it.

Christmas Gifts?

This year I have reached a new dilemma, and it has to do with Christmas gifts. Here's the situation:

When a person in history is remembered, honored or celebrated, we usually do it by carrying out the work of that person. For example, we would celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. day by listening to the "I Have a Dream" speech or by looking at the progress of the civil rights movement. But for some reason, Christmas isn't like that. We celebrate the life of Jesus by saying things like "family" is the reason for the season.

I don't have a problem with family at all. In fact, I haven't seen my family since last Christmas, so I'm glad I'll be able to in a couple of weeks. Even still, I'm pretty sure they're not the reason for Christmas. If we want to celebrate Christmas, I think the best way is to continue the work of the person being celebrated:

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Lk 4:18, 19)

I heard someone say recently that a Gospel that isn't good news for the poor is no gospel at all. So, I've spent some time looking for alternative Christmas gifts. Here are the sites I've found that either offer relief for the poor, or are concerned with something other than a commercialized Christmas:

worldvisiongifts.org - many ways to help the poor of the world
heifer.org - Get a family a water buffalo [suggested by Anders - thanks!]
redefine-christmas.org - their tagline is "give globally, act locally"

Here's some other alternative Christmas sites:

adventconspiracy.org - thoughts on Christmas getting out of control
rethinkingchristmas.com - user contributed gift/alternative gift ideas
christmasfuture.org - aims to help communities in extreme poverty

I'm still not sure what I'm doing for Christmas gifts this year, but I know it's taking a lot more thought than usual.

2:56 for the Fiction Family

For those of you who love Jon Foreman, Sean Watkins, Switchfoot and/or Nickel Creek, here's 2:56 of musical bliss that you don't want to miss out on. It may not be groundbreaking, but it's enjoyable. But honestly, who would've dreamed up that the two would create the unlikely duo Fiction Family (fun video at the site)? Not me. But it's good. More like Switchfoot than NC. It's very tasty.

In other news, I'm less sick today than yesterday, but I'm thinking I'm gonna try to play it safe and lay low tonight. I might have to get out of the apartment, though, just to keep from going stir crazy. (Asian food, anyone?) I've already done two lessons of Greek, and have 5 more to go to be caught up, not ready, for the test on Tuesday. Also, a take-home final for ethics. ... I feel the sickness coming back. Think happy thoughts...

Laundry - the considerate chore.

Well, I can't say I went from bad to worse healthwise since yesterday, but I probably did go from not-so-bad to bad. But that's okay. Rachael gave me some vitamins that will hopefully keep me from dying.

Since I didn't want to go out anywhere today, and because I was entirely out of every essential (yes, you know) piece of clothing, I decided to do laundry. As much as I dislike doing it, I realized today that laundry is not like other chores.

What makes the laundry different? It's the only chore I know that allows you to do other things, but still be doing laundry. Ya know? For instance, I put the laundry in, came upstairs and made lunch. Then I moved the laundry, came up and ate lunch. Yeah. If more chores were like that, I wouldn't mind. Grocery shopping is ridiculously territorial, and cleaning the bathroom barely lets me talk on the phone (running water is noisy).

So, here's to laundry, the considerate chore.

Grosseries

Today I woke up feeling, well, not so hot. I got up and went to work, which was okay. Thankfully I got out early since it was slow, and I felt gross.

Knowing I had nothing to eat at the house, especially nothing kind of healthy, I headed out to the store. The whole time I was rockin so much phlegm. It was pretty disgusting. In fact, it's still disgusting... But anyhow, I got some bananas, apples, oranges, orange juice, chicken (for soup!) and ice cream sandwiches. Yes, they are delicious.

Hopefully this year's sickness won't be as bad as last year's. It happened like this: I hadn't eaten or drank anything for almost 24 hours. By the time I realized it, I could barely get to the kitchen table. Once I was there, I could hardly speak, let alone dial the phone for someone to come help me out. I thought the ER or death was immanent. The scariest part was when all the finger tips on either hand came together to a point, involuntarily. Rather than roll over and die, I did what any Floridian would do: I ate oranges! And like a plant in the sun, I was rejuvenated.

I'm doing a preemptive strike this year. I've already eaten, and drank. I've got fruit handy. The only thing more I could ask for? Sleep. Lots of sleep.

How do you fight the plague?

Crunch.

It seems like such a short time ago that there was snow on the ground.

Apparently it's been a whole year. Go fig'.

It's funny how things from so long ago seem so familiar. Normally it's a smell. Every Christmas there's a certain spice blend on the stove at my house that reminds me of the amazing treats to come, and whenever I smell anything like it, I think, "It smells like Christmas."

Yesterday I was traveling over to the library. Beneath my feet the ice was crunching as it gave way to my hulking 160 lb. frame. I was instantly taken back to last winter when I was walking along the edge of the road crunching ice beneath my feet just for fun. It was as if spring and summer never happened. The year just fell.

And for once, I don't mind.

I decided that this year, instead of B & M-ing, I'm just gonna say, "Bring it on, winter." Because it's gonna come anyway. I kind of enjoyed this first snowfall. I didn't so much enjoy scraping all the ice and snow off my car this morning, but it's all part of the gig. Every part of life can be good with a positive outlook, right? Right.

Until next time,

DL