I’d watch this movie

via io9

Tom Wolfe: Style Advice

Vid from Advanced Style

I can always get behind a gentleman who’s first piece of advice is to get a custom suit. That’s on my bucket list.

Thoughts

You know, I have put a lot of thought into this and I’ve come to the conclusion, even though I never have tried it, I don’t think I can pull off suits + dress shoes + no socks. And I’m a little disappointed by that.

Brothers

A recent conversation with my brother went as follows. After complaining to him that I might have to role play in my Introduction to Pastoral Care class (sexual harassment, listening, pre-marital counseling, listening, and other such things) my brother immediately interrupted and said: “Pfft. You are a great actor.”

There was then a short pause.

“Your entire life is a lie.”

Potato & Cheese Waffle

That’s right – potato and cheese! It was delicious.

Put A Bird on It

[NY Racked]

Draw a Dinosaur Day

January 30th is Draw A Dinosaur Day.

My submission for the day.

No Superbowl for me

Sadly, come February 6, I will be on a bus heading to Philadelphia rather than watching the Superbowl. It’s quite possible that this will be the first Superbowl I have ever missed watching on tv. I’m a little down about it.

I really love this article about the 1960 NFL championship (pre-Superbowl) and the fact that it’s been 50 years since the Philadelphia Eagles have won a football championship. And I love the anecdotes from the players such as These gatherings led to a bonding among players. Tom Brookshier, the star defensive back, once told Didinger, the sportswriter, “Where else would your wife wake you to get you to a bar?” But the favorite is the story at the end where a woman buys a fur coat because the player didn’t bring her to the Pro Bowl. That should be on a future episode of Real Housewives of New Jersey.

Metrocard Math

During my trip, I missed two important New York things. Actually, I probably missed way more than two but, right now, I’ll narrow down NYC into only two things – these are the only TWO THINGS that were of any importance during the last three weeks. First, I missed snowmageddon. Second, I missed the metrocard fare hike.

So, today, I walked to the subway station to refill my card. Since I’m no longer in NYC full time, I only buy single rides – no unlimited rides for me (except for the occasional one-day unlimited pass when I know I’ll be making 4 or more rides in 1 day). There were four Metrocards in my wallet so I had to check each one to see if any money was left on them, and then went through the motion to refill my card. I got to the machine, noticed that there was no general $40.00 option on the screen anymore, and – after buying $40.00 worth of rides, I noticed that my bonus was $2.80 cents. A one way ride is $2.25. What the hell am I suppose to do with that extra 55 cents?

It turns out that one of the magic numbers for new metrocards is, currently, $39.95. Because of the 7% bonus, and the fact that everything has to be in 5 cent increments, spending $39.95 will give you exactly 19 rides. This doesn’t take into account the future “fee” where every new metrocard will cost you $1.00. Doesn’t $39.95 sound like a price from an infomercial? Honestly, I should be getting a free sham-wow every time I buy a metrocard now.

New Year’s Resolutions

A friend of mine with a newborn just made a deal with his kidling that for every resolution he fails to complete, he will give his son $100. My wife thinks that is a wonderful idea and thinks I should do the same thing except that she will get the $100 instead. And as one of my goals is to try and blog everyday (I like making resolutions that are impossible to keep), my wife now believes that everyday I fail to blog, I should give her $100. I don’t think I’ll take her up on that offer.

I tend not to make too many resolutions mostly because I don’t like using the New Year as a yard marker. Instead, I think Birthdays, the start of a new school year, and Christmas are better yard markers for some reason. I like thinking of my year as beginning when I was born and since the start of a school year is (to me) the official end of summer and the beginning of fall, I find myself to be very reflective at that time. Plus, I prefer not to make resolutions during the middle of a cold period where my desire to hibernate in my sweltering cave tends to push all resolutions that require me to actually go outside, to the curb. If I’m going to make changes to my life, I prefer to give myself a fighting chance to actually WIN.

But blogging more is something I would like to do. And I’m hoping to bust out my camera more and take pictures. One thing that I noticed during my trip to Florida (I’m back in the lovely it’s-forty-degrees-colder-than-Tampa NYC) was how, on New Year’s Eve, even though I felt happy, my eyes in all pictures looked tired and it just felt difficult to smile. I was exhausted, low on energy, and I had yet to have an opportunity to be by myself and recharge and it was obvious on my face. But I still kept pushing myself to do things and I enjoyed myself and I had a lovely time. I wasn’t unhappy, miserable, or doing anything I didn’t want to do. But my face and eyes were showing me just how worn out I was. And I’m sure other people could see it. And that is something I would like to figure out this year.

I’m not a completely introvert but I have come to realize that I am able to recharge myself better when I am alone. In a weird way, I can also feed off the energy of others and push through life but that’s not the best way for me to be at my best. And with my travels between Philly and NYC, my time at LTSP, and my field experience, I really never have time to sit and recharge. And this has been noticed by my peers and supervisors and it has impacted my work to some degree. So I’m hoping to figure out ways for me to recharge. This might require me to learn how to speed read so I can free up time during my studies. I might need to learn how to maximize the limited time I have on public transportation and just put my books away. And if none of this works, then I might just need to learn how to fake it and to keep my eyes looking as energized as possible. Face scrubs, eye creams, or ditching my contacts, might at least trick my face to appear more energized than it has in the past. If I am energized enough to still engage with people, to participate in the world, to actively plan, make goals, and do things, my eyes and face should reflect that. And as a pastor, my body language is going to need to make this change. I’ll draw the line, however, at drawing eyeballs on my eyelids to pretend to be awake while I’m snoozing. I’m not that good of an artist.