#185 I'm So Cool, Guys. Sooooo Cool.

What is there to say about this shirt that you don't get from that cool, cool, so cool photo that I've posted above? I was thinking recently about how, clothing-wise, I didn't really have too many embarrassing phases when it comes to photos that I'll look back on when I'm old and cool. But now I'm starting to realize that this entire blog is a catalog of my embarrassing phase. 

Anywhoozle, this shirt was a gift that I received from Mr. Gerald Tan who knew well of my love of shirts, all things 80s, and things that are epically lame (things so lame that they come back around to being awesome). This was either a birthday or Rex Manning Day gift. I can't remember if I've ever recounted the majesty of Rex Manning Day on this blog. It is as follows:

My group of friends at school decided that because we weren't going to see each other over the holidays, we'd reconvene after break instead and have our own holiday on which to exchange gifts. We dubbed this day Rex Manning Day as a nod to the movie Empire Records. Why Rex Manning Day?Probably because it's shorter than a Respectful of All Faiths Gift-giving and Cake-eating Celebration...Day. Usually this party happened on the President's Day or Martin Luther King Day holidays. Usually I'd point out that the holiday already had its own name but this comment would be met with boos and various objects pelted at my head. We'd exchange ridiculous gifts (examples: Hulk Hands, Legos, Nerf guns), maybe watch Empire Records or some other terrible movie, and have Rex Manning Day cake. 

Things I know about Miami Vice:

• They were fond of neon pastels and wearing shoes with no socks
• It took place in Miami 
• Because of this, I assume it's the inspiration for CSI: Miami
• They used to have a stunt show at Universal Studios
• It sucked.
• The not-Don Johnson star of the show was the first actor to come up with the acronym EGOT, giving himself the goal of winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony award sometime in his career. Considering I can't even remember his name without google-ing it, I imagine he didn't come anywhere near attaining his goal. 
• Note: Now that I've employed the magic of Wikipedia, I've discovered that Phillip Michael Thomas (how could I forget three such totally distinct and not at all generic first names?) was never even nominated for any of those honors. Ouch. 
• Don Johnson also released a song that was a minor hit called "Heartbeat". 
• It sucks.

# 174 Don't be a drag just be a queen.

This is the shirt that I wore on my birthday this year. To celebrate Ali and Brandon and I went to Disneyland for the day and then Ali and I went to the Glee concert. Because I'm the biggest, cheesiest nerd ever I made a shirt for said concert (if you've been following this blog, yes, I did this for the second year in a row and yes, I just made you regret your decision about following this blog).

If you don't watch the show, they did a "Born This Way" Lady Gaga number and all wore shirts sharing the things they were born with that have been an obstacle in their lives. Brittany, the show's caricature of a dumb blonde makes this shirt for the show's lesbian character Santana (Brittany thinks that the shirt in fact says, "lesbian". These characters, they're wacky).

This shirt of course was the one that I related to the most. I feel like I've talked a lot about my whole gay struggle thing (that or it was only once and I felt so nakedly emotional and awkward that I balk at the idea of rehashing it) so I won't go into it again. I will say though, that despite being a pretty stereotypical looking lesbian, I still felt uncomfortable wearing a shirt that obliquely outs me to the world (of people that watch Glee) in public. I don't care if people know of course, but I've never really been someone that shoves their gayness in people's faces. No rainbow flags or clever pins or bumper stickers for me. I like to treat gay like any other trait of mine (like Asian or nerdy or douchebag) and I don't want it to be the one trait that defines me (If I did have to choose one trait to define me, I'd rather choose "awesomeness"). I suppose thinking about it this sentiment seems to go against the whole spirit of the shirt, but hey; it's just a silly shirt for a concert, not a political statement (I'm much too apathetic and lazy to attempt anything like that).

Alright, I may have slightly contradicted what I said at the beginning of that paragraph, but it wasn't really about too many deep issues so for those of you that shy away from emotional intimacy (I'm looking at you, self), I think I've spared you.

#171 How do you even play lacrosse?

This is a shirt that I got from Buffalo Exchange a little while back. I think I liked that it had something about being a day camp counselor and it made me nostalgic for my day camp days. This is one of those sort of comfort shirts that I own that I like throwing on whenever I don't know what to thrown on. It's soft and my favorite color and it's an interesting cut (basically it's a regular tee that someone cut a slit into).

Tangent time: I don't really wear much of anything that is revealing in any way. I like layers and I cringe at any time in which the occasion calls for shorts. I'm Amish in that way. That being said, about the sexiest thing I own is probably a V-neck tee. It's about the closest I get to showing any amount of cleavage or highlighting my boobies in any way. Plus, I don't know what it is but a simple V-neck and jeans is the outfit that I feel sexiest in. Something about the easy casualness of it maybe.

#166 A Butterfly's Vagina

Not much to say about this RVCA shirt other than I wore it on St. Patty's day because it was green. I do remember that I wore a green shirt the day before and felt silly for wearing green two days in a row (LIKE A SAVAGE).

This St. Patty's I spent my evening with the Nelson's at Disneyland. It was patriarch Jeff XVII Nelson's birthday and so they decided to celebrate there. I met up with them after work that day. The Nelson's are awesome. I sometimes feel like I see them almost as much I see my own parents. Heck, I'd be one if Jaime ever nutted up and just married me already (kidding). But I always enjoy seeing them, they've always been super cool. We went on Big Thunder Mountain and watched Fantasmic from a really nice spot. Mr. Nelson mentioned to a friendly, giant, flamboyant cast member that he had never seen Fantasmic before and a little bit before the show start he led us to this roped off area next to the big control booth. It was a lovely evening.

Oh, and the design on the shirt looks like a butterfly's vagina. Whaaaat?! That's right, I ruined that moment of genuine sentiment with potty talk. It's the Allison way. It's probably because of my personal insecurity with naked sentiment and emotional intimacy, son! I'm doing it right now, even. Word.

...perhaps I should lie down.

#116 Could someone please call a surgeon, who can crack my ribs and repair this broken heart...?

This shirt is one I got online I believe from The Postal Service's store. The Postal Service is one of Ben Gibbard's forays into music outside of his time as the frontman of Death Cab for Cutie and ridiculously lucky marriage to Zooey Deschanel. The other half of The Postal Service is Jimmy Tamborello of the lesser known band Dntel. They got their name from how they would pass bits of songs back and forth to each other, Tamborello making the bleeps and bloops and mailing them to Gibbard who would add in the talky bits. Fun facts.

I was going to launch into a story about how I first heard about the band and it's a short tale involving a girl I used to know and peanut butter sandwiches but it's part of Allison's continuing saga of romantic failings and it's not terribly interesting or fun so I'll pass.

Music more than food or smells triggers memories for me. I remember what song was playing in my head while I was taking my AP European History Test. I remember the song they played in the background of my completely unnecessary 6th grade graduation ceremony. I remember the CD I borrowed and played on my walkman during the 8th grade trip to the east coast. Movies can often make me cry, but nothing can make me feel more legitimately sad and moody than a song and maybe it's because of the memories and feelings that get stirred up by them. It's also probably why I like music so much, oddly enough. I'll pretty much seek out anything that pulls some sort of response out of me. I'm addicted to feeling things I guess, even though I often feel things that are shitty.

Uh...Happy New Year! Woo...