is another chance to turn it all around...every passing minute is another chance to turn it all around...every passing minute is another chance...
I haven't forgotten!
Life is a-okay right now. I was super excited to learn that a Trader Joe's recently opened up in my neighborhood. YAY! I'm working hard on my final class projects and paper, so much so that I'm starting to think of myself as a shut-in. That's not really true, but my social life is on the back burner, as more often than not I'm clickity-clacking on my laptop, or writing notes, or reading my book, or trying to be creative for my final project. It's all going pretty well, but I'm looking forward to the class ending this week.
In the middle of my work, I went to a few of the Rick Steves travel talks up in Edmonds yesterday. I went to one on packing light (haha, yeah right. I said I'd go, but I didn't say I'd take anything from it), the rail systems in Europe, and PARIS! The Paris talk was by far the best, and made me even more excited to go, as if that's even possible. The presenter, while clearly a salesman like all of them, genuinely seemed to have a love for the city and the hope that each person will make the most out of his/her trip. It was easy to get caught up in his enthusiasm.
The packing light session was a dud. There were a couple of handy tips, but, really, it felt like being offered an overnight stay at a schmancy condo in Florida for "free," and then having to listen to the drone of a real estate sales pitch being filtered into your room constantly. The Rick Steves operation is a well-oiled selling machine, and it totally feels like it, but honestly. My impression now is that it's geared toward an audience who has about 20 years on me and actually will wear SOCKS WITH SANDALS in Paris (don't forget to vaseline your feet ahead of time to avoid blisters). Oh, hells no. I quickly realized I am not their target market, because I can tell you right now, that ain't gonna happen. While I don't relish the idea of schlepping around a suitcase twice the R.S. recommended weight on and off trains, there must be a happy medium. I do actually care about looking and feeling reasonably good while in one of the fashion hubs of the world. That would be nice. I'm not going to pack blah stretchy skirts and boring cardigans that fit neatly in a Ziploc and are as light as a feather, but make me look like a shapeless lump. My goal isn't to scream FRUMP CENTRAL while sitting in a cafe sipping my cafe au lait. Uh uh.
Hip it up a little, Rick Steves peeps! Some of us like to shop. Fashion is part of the cultural experience. Hello.
And don't even get me started on the whole "through the back door" concept. It bugs me for various reasons, one of which isn't even very mature, but it's there. I don't need to explore Europe through the back door, thanks. The main entrance will work just fine. And, how back door is it, really, when you and your selling machine are practically bursting through the front door with streamers, noise makers, glossy book covers and embossed rolly bags to give a clinical travel analysis. I mean, clearly Rick Steves has a brilliant marketing plan and valuable info (although the term control freak kept coming to mind while his employees talked) for budget-conscious folks, and he's hugely successful in this field. But, after all the sell, sell, sell, I kind of just wanted to take a shower. From now on I'll stick to the books.
In between sessions, I had a lovely lunch with Lindsay at Chanterelle's, and we spent some time browsing the local shops. Although it was only rainy up in Edmonds, I drove home to snowy roads! Sigh. So ready for summer and warmth.
Today I went to see The Reader, another incredibly good movie. I cried. It's such a complicated love story, and it moved me greatly. Em and I watched Vicky Cristina Barcelona last week. It was good fun with the undertone of depressing that underlies pretty much all Woody Allen movies. Newer ones are hit or miss with me, but I liked this a lot.
Paris Je T'aime is on On Demand right now, and I watched it the other day to get even more into the Paris mood, as if that's even possible. It was wonderful to see the vignettes again. I still adore Tom Tykwer's beautiful True.
Oh, I'm loving the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs (different sound) and "Panic Switch" by Silversun Pickups! It's so exciting when great new music is on the way.
Back to being creative...
17 comments:
Socks with sandals is never OK, particularly in Paris. However, even if you're in some Camaro-driving, stripmall-going, big hair-wearing town like Lynnwood . . . I mean have some self-respect people!
Socks with sandals is perfect for all non athletic or formal type situations. Furthermore, Paris is perhaps the most perfect place to wear them. An opportunity to possibly offend the French must not be squandered!
Self-respect.... Self respect is not going along with the rest of society, that is called conforming. Self respect is being true to yourself and not letting other people make all your choices for you.
I'd say a sign of self respect is choosing not to look ridiculous by wearing socks with sandals, but that's just me. :-) I don't know what the rest of society does. It's clear from the Rick Steves talk, and taking a look around Seattle, that there are plenty of non-conforming, socks with sandals wearing peeps out there. I'm just not into it. I have to agree with Monice. It's not ok!
Socks With Sandals: Just Say No!
Self respect . . . self respect is choosing to do the best with what you've got and socks with sandals is certainly not that! Why not sport a fanny pack while you are at it?
The Seattle area is generally a progressive part of the country, thus it is not surprising that you see a bunch of people wearing socks with sandals. Some time in the near future the rest of the world will catch up to my forward thinking when it comes to style.
As for self respect being the choosing to do the best with what you have, that sounds like what they teach you when you ride the short bus to school.
Well, while I'm not exactly "on board" with the socks-with-sandals choice (though I will admit to donning them myself when taking out the trash in the winter (and ONLY then!)), there are just some things that are worth overlooking when someone has other redeeming qualities. Like an Adventure Hat.
Interesting how someone can, on the one hand, advocate for individuality and progressive thought, and yet resorts to calling those who disagree "retarded" for not agreeing with their clothing choices (I can't exactly call it "fashion sense" because its neither fashionable nor sensible). I mean, if you want to dress like a grandpa from the 1960s out in public, have at it, but don't be surprised if "What Not To Wear" comes knocking at your door.
Uh oh. We've spiraled into the old short bus argument, which isn't a good place to go with the girl who is a proponent of, and is studying (hello!), special education! Let's see. Short bus...Rick Steves tour bus full of socks with sandals/fanny pack/adventure hat-wearing peeps...short bus...Rick Steves tour bus full of socks with sandals/fanny pack/adventure hat-wearing peeps.
The short bus wins hands down.
Thanks for the insight, though, Philistine. If only we had your short bus experience to go on...
The one who insinuates "Camaro-driving, stripmall-going, big hair-wearing town like Lynnwood . . ." and then says "Why not sport a fanny pack while you are at it?" is unable later to pretend that they hold some kind of moral high ground later in a discussion.
I know how Joe Biden felt at the VP debate.
There is nothing progressive about socks or sandals. The most ancient of peoples wore sandals constructed from tree bark. They were the height of both fashion and utilitarian design during the Roman Empire. They were worn in the 1940s out of necessity due to wartime materials rationing.
Neither are socks a progressive form of hosiery; they date back to somewhere around the 8th century BC.
Thus the combining of socks and sandals could only be termed as progressive if your cultural paradigm is that of an ancient Greek. Admittedly, we do owe a great deal to the ancient Greeks - poets, philosophers, champions of democracy et al. However, we no longer speak Latin save for when mind-altering substances are involved (prescription writing, fraternity keggers), nor do we worship war-mongering gods who rule by whimsy and who transform into beasts and rape for sport. And while the Greeks, in their warm climate and with their limited technology, may have been forced to suffer through an occasional rainstorm while clad in sandals and socks, we modern Pacific Northwesterners truly have no reason to suffer such soggy-footedness save our own misguided attempts at feeble societal rebellion through a frankly foolish combination of wet weather, open-toed footwear, and a cotton/nylon-based, sponge-like hosiery that realistically proves nothing other than our own simple minded non-conformity-for-non-conformity's-sake brummagemism.
Unless you wear them with jorts. In which case, I'm sure the Parisians will agree, they're totally boss.
-Casey
I must agree with Anonymous Casey, and I think all would agree that my cultural paradigm is in fact that of an ancient Greek.
Seriously though, there are a few equivocations in the two lines of thinking here. There is progressive in the way of technology and there is progressive in the ways of style. Saying you are technologically progressive with your commidore 64 leaves you with a lot of explaining to do. Being progressive when it comes to style is a much different type of thing. Different looks come and go and there is little one can do to predict when and if a style will return to the forefront.
As an example, in the 80's people were teased for wearing "highwaters" when their pants did not come down close enough to their shoes, now they call the same pants "capris" and they cost 10 times as much because they are now "In Style".
So you heard it here first, socks with sandals is coming back from ancient Greece, and there is no way to predict all of human fashion future, thus no way of prooving me wrong.
And to think they made fun of me for majoring in Philosophy, just be glad that I use my powers for good.
Though I don't know the exact date of the event, I do recall the event itself with great clarity. It was probably the latter part of January, 2003 (long before he met C.T.I.) when Philistine was heading out on date with a lovely young lady with whom he had recently become reacquainted. As he was heading out the door, I said, "I can't let you leave the house like that. You have to go put some shoes on." It's true, he was going on a first date wearing sandals and socks, poor bastard.
Where it is, on the surface, a valid argument to say that because wearing socks with sandals is a matter of progressive fashion because of the statistical probability that socks with sandals will one day come back in to fashion, I believe that it would also be a valid argument to state that when an outdated activity reoccurs it should more accurately be labeled as regressive. Of course this is only because I have the admittedly old fashioned habit of using words as their definition dictates they should be, an ideal by which many of our posters do not seem to be burdened.
Lastly, while using a spell check or at least proofreading your work before posting it may not be considered technologically progressive it would, in fact, have prevented Philistine from misspelling the words Commodore and proving, Casey from making North westerners one word, warmongering hyphenated and Monice from making strip mall one word.
Lastly I ask Casey, who claims that we no longer "Worship warmongering gods who rule by whimsy and who transform into beasts and rape for sport." What is your religion, and have you ever read any of the religious texts that are in common circulation today? I certainly hope that you are not making this claim based on the popular belief systems of Christianity, Muslim, Islam and Judaism.
Casey's comment made me laugh so hard, I cried. Since this is my blog, and I place a high value on entertainment, he wins!
But, seriously, peeps...
It's unfortunate that a fun discussion about fashion aesthetics has taken a turn into, frankly, tiresome philosophizing and nitpicking that distracts from the point (a silly one at that) at hand. While it's anyone's prerogative to make a case for why wearing socks and sandals are progressive, regressive, or just a totally bad idea (I'm sticking with Socks with Sandals: Just Say No!), the technical use of language, grammar, and argument in the opinions shared here have been picked apart to the point of exhaustion. At least, I'm exhausted.
There is a difference between highwaters and capris, and highwaters are still ng in my book. Don't even get me started on jorts! (Although, the Parisians may very well believe that jorts with socks and sandals are totally boss.) "What Not to Wear" is an awesome show. Love it! I also enjoy reading "In Style" once in a while. To me, fashion is art, and the articles aren't bad.
I'm totally cool with the occasional misspelling and misuse of grammar on this blog, so don't worry readers and posters. Post away! Because, hey, have you actually read my blog lately? If you're looking for perfect writing and use of language, you're going to be sorely disappointed here. I eff up regularly. Me = human who makes mistakes (frequently discussed topic of blog) and can't always be bothered to proofread or spell check. I'm perfectly fine with my imperfections and yours too!
And, finally, I'm also perfectly fine with pretending to have the moral high ground in any situation. Can't you tell? It's what I do.
Northwesterner
–noun (1955)
1. a native or inhabitant of the northwest.
2. (initial capital letter) a native or inhabitant of the northwestern part of the U.S.
Webster's dictionary. It's updated all the time.
Yo Odd,
I think we pretty much agree with each other on the sock/sandals, so let's skip that topic and get to off-topic crap that everybody cares even less about.
I'll give you the hyphen in warmongering - hypens and dashes get me excited - and sometimes - I just can't help myself - - - but I stand PROUDLY by my spelling of Northwesterners. After all, we are in the Pacific Northwest, not the Pacific North West, yes? We are not Pacific North Westerners, are we? No, I say! Dictionaries be damned! Philosophically speaking...er...typing...I feel - nay, KNOW - deep in my cold, wet heart that I am a "Northwesterner", not a "North Westerner". As a Pacific Northwest native, it is I who dictates which terms are acceptable in reference to my people! If I hear any outsiders, any foreigners, any infidels give even the shortest HINT of a pause between "North" and "western" in reference to my Puget Sound brothers and sisters...well, I doubt I'd notice it. I'm not particularly nit-picky (or is nitpicky? Let me know.) about typing on blogs.
Secondly, regarding the religious question, yes, I am absolutely making my claim based on Christianity, Islam, et al. Those religions are based upon one singular warmongering capital-G God, as opposed to the many warmongering gods they used to worship back in the old school. TOTALLY different! I will admit those religious texts have far too many words and not nearly enough pictures for me to have read them (too much so-and-so begat so-and-so and not enough zobmie killing or revolvers for my tastes) so I can't speak to the transforming/raping part.
One thing is for sure: if Zeus were still running things, he'd zap anybody wearing socks and sandals at the same time. It's just wrong.
K-C
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