I have photos of me wearing this shirt in Germany, back in 1997, so I’ve had it a long time. I haven’t worn this shirt in a while, because I don’t usually wear red; I think the color makes my face look too red. It’s also one of the shirts where the sleeves are too long and the seam where they meet the shirt are too low on my shoulder. So I think this one’s going to go.
[edit needed: update photos]
And here’s a link for my friends the art car artists: An art car covered entirely in computer keys.
In Hampstead Heath, England: 30ft sculpture of a table and chair.
And if that weren’t enough, Snapple attempted to create the world’s largest popsicle, but were confounded by the heat and cooling system failure, which caused their creation to melt, flooding Union Square in New York with 17 tons of bright red slush.
Iowans were a bit more successful, creating the World’s Largest Pizza in Iowa Falls, Iowa using 4,000 pounds of cheese, and 700 pounds of sauce.
And last, but not least, the World’s Largest Kite.
A young Star Trek fan was suspended from school for reciting his own version of the Pledge of Allegiance, in which he pledged to the United Federation of Planets. His mom has posted the story:
“So, anyway. What did he do?” I picked at the hem of my sweatshirt, looked just to the right of her face. I couldn’t meet her eyes. I felt nervous. I felt under-dressed. I wondered where 8 was. So she told me what he did. And as she told me, I started to laugh. I didn’t laugh a little, either, but I belly-laughed and grabbed my stomach. My son stood with his class this morning, put small right hand over heart, faced the American flag, and recited his own personal pledge of allegiance:
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United Federation of Planets, and to the galaxy for which it stands, one universe, under everybody, with liberty and justice for all species.
“Mrs. Jaworski. This isn’t humorous. The Pledge is an extremely important and patriotic moment each morning in the classroom. I am ashamed of your son’s behavior, and I hope you are, too.”
Now if it were my kid, I’d be marching them to school the next day and refusing to allow the school to suspend them, because what the hell does the pledge have to do with education? You teach my kid, and let me worry about his patriotism.
When I was in first grade, we had a kid in my class who refused to say the pledge, and the school dragged his parents into talk to them. They refused to make him, and threatened to sue the school, so the kid was allowed to sit down during the pledge. Eventually, there was more of a to-do about it, and we ended up not saying the pledge at all. Woo hoo!
There are of course, alternatives. You can always say the Matt Groening pledge under your breath:
I plead alignment to the flakes
of the untitled snakes of a merry cow.
And to the Republicans, for which they scam,
one nacho, underpants,
with licorice and jugs of wine for owls.
Nacho underpants. Hee hee. Or you can say this one:
I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America, and to the Republic by which it stands; one Nation, indivisible, with the promise of liberty and justice for all.
We watched the first installment of Morgan Spurlock’s “30” this past week, (the one where he and his girlfriend live on minimum wage) and now I’m analyzing every cent I spend. So this morning while I was folding clothes, I answered a question that’s been bothering me for a while — “How many T-shirts do I own?”
I didn’t feel the need to go to Closet & Storage Concepts because my job doesn’t necessitate dressing up, and I have a very relaxed style of clothing. Although I probably should make an effort to dress up a bit more, it’s not a requirement at my job. Over 11 years of working for the same company, my casual wardrobe has expanded while my formal wear has diminished. I am particularly fond of t-shirts, whether they are plain or feature a message. I even created my own design. I tend to purchase t-shirts impulsively, and who knows, maybe someday I’ll come across the sp5der pink hoodie that I always longed to have in my wardrobe.
So I started counting. And the final tally is: 93. Not counting the ones currently in the wash, which would probably put the total at over 100. And I won’t include the ones that I only wear when painting and working on the house, or the ones in my “clothes archive” (t-shirts from gay rights rallies and college events), or long-sleeve shirts, or polo/golf shirts with collars.
[edit needed: update photos]
Many of these don’t get worn. I have favorites that I wear over and over, and lots of my shirts get ignored. So I decided to challenge myself. I’m going to wear every shirt in my wardrobe without repeating one. Every day, for the next 93 days. And I’m going to photograph each shirt as I wear it. Now there are a couple of shirts that are either too large or too small; I’ll weed those out as I go and do Good Will runs. And shirts that don’t look great on me will go to Good Will, too, after I wear them.
I hope when I’m done to have given all my clothes their fair share of wearing time, to weed out shirts I don’t need, and to generally be more conscious of what I spend my money on in the future.
2019 Update: I never got through this challenge because taking and processing the photos took longer than I could manage every day. It because a lot easier with cell phone cameras and I ended up attempting it again in 2006.
It took me forever to realize that both times a significant part of why I failed was because I hated the way I looked in the photos because of my extreme dysphoria.
I did clean out many shirts both times. And I gained them all back, with interest. Maybe I should try again.
I’m posting this link on grammar crimes to amuse my editor girlfriend, who constantly edits signs, billboards and other public writing in her head, to my great amusement. I really should set her up with a photo blog of her own for this sort of thing.
‘Possessed’ nun crucified after row with priest — A Romanian Orthodox priest who faces a murder charge after ordering the crucifixion of a young nun because she was “possessed by the devil” was unrepentant as he conducted a funeral mass for his alleged victim.
Prosecutors said they had charged the priest and four nuns from the order with imprisonment leading to death, after questioning all 24 resident nuns.
For four days prior to her crucifixion, Sister Irina had been kept locked up with no food or water.
She was imprisoned after having an argument with the priest during Sunday mass, according to locals.
We have a family get-together at my dad’s every year in June to celebrate birthdays.
Dad’s Corvette
Photo Set: Weekend Visit at Dad’s
Yeah, THE Red Cross… you know, the wonderful folks who come and save your ass after natural disasters. I’ll be this goes over as well as when they attacked the beloved AARP. Here, read about it for yourself:
Republican Senators believe the US should reconsider funds allocated to the International Committee of the Red Cross in view of its repeated criticism of rights violations by US troops in Guantanamo, Iraq and Afghanistan.
In a report titled “Are American Interests Being Disserved by International Committee of the Red Cross?”, the Senate Republican Policy Committee called for an audit of funds spent by the ICRC to ensure that American dollars are not being used for lobbying against US interests.
A site called “blogebrity” (I won’t even start bitching about that weird mash-up name) is ranking Blogs by category: A-List, B-List, and C-List. I don’t make the list anywhere (Of course. Like I would). But what’s weird is that 98% of the people on the A-List I’ve never even heard of. And I’ve been reading blogs and blogging since before there was blogger software.
Now some of the people on the B-List and C-List are people I’ve heard of, but not too many of those, either. Who the heck are these dorks putting the list together?