Thursday, March 20, 2008

I wear pants sometimes, too

This is a meme that came from Sid at Keeping it Together. She didn't exactly tag me for it, but rather explained that she doesn't usually do tags but anyone who likes it can have at it. She's a half-assed but equal-opportunity tagger. So last night, after finally finishing up the barbecue sauce I was making (apparently reduction takes twice as long when you double the recipe; who knew?) and pre-cooking the chicken for the BBQ Chicken Pizza I will be throwing together tonight to kick off our Cabin Weekend O'Fun in the Smokies, I picked out two of my favorite t-shirts and took some portraits.

My Jack's shirt will be instantly recognizable to anyone who has spent any amount of time with me over the past ten years. The first thing this shirt has going for it is the fit. I like to wear clothes that I don't have to worry about if I'm around any open ignition sources, which is to say I generally don't do baggy. Plus, it really shows off my statuesque torso. Pshaw.

The other thing I really like about this shirt is that, for the longest time, I had absolutely no idea how it came all the way from San Francisco to be in my posession. It just showed up in my drawer and I started wearing it. I liked to tell people how its provenance was entirely a mystery, and my less mature friends (not me, I promise) liked to joke that it was probably a well-known gay bar that I was proudly advertising. So be it. My parents now claim to have bought it for me (they have been to San Fran), but I don't remember them giving it to me and it already looked well-worn the first time I put it on. I still like to pretend it was a gift from the t-shirt gods, a virgin birth of dyed and screen-printed cotton one starry night in my dresser drawer.

Shirt Number Two's history is well documented. In college, after I started climbing, my buddies and I would go to the local bouldering competitions/parties and pull down until well after our hands were bleeding and our tips were raw and then drink the soreness away around a campfire. Sometimes we won some cool schwag, other times not, but there was always a t-shirt involved. Mortal Combat 2 (a bit over-wrought, I know) was the last comp I went too, and it was actually a solo venture. Being the year after I graduated, my friends had dispersed, but I made the trip to Alabama anyway and did not have nearly as good a time as in the past. The t-shirt design was particularly inspired, though: a stylized Chinese dragon printed in glittery silver. It's really soft and fits well, too.

I was wearing this shirt and drinking $2, 24 oz. PBRs in a basement bar in downtown Boulder, Colorado when a guy with a foreign accent I've since forgotten came up to me and asked in broken English where the good bouldering was. I looked at him confused until he pointed to my shirt and I realized he took me for a local. I explained that the shirt came from Alabama, which has excellent bouldering, but I'd just gotten into town myself. I'm certain he didn't have to go too far in a place like that before he found someone who could help him.

And that's what I wear. Just missing the cut were "Andre the Giant has a Posse," from the Sand Rock Hoe-Down, "Everybody Loves a Southern Boy" (my mom loves buying goofy hipster shirts for me, along with monkey themed lamps and bookends; remind me to write a Mom post sometime), and "Spawn Til You Die," a shirt that belonged to my brother and I don't have the sack to wear in public, even if Courtney let me, which she won't.

And holy shit that's enough about my t-shirts. Who wants some delicious barbecue chicken pizza? We've got room in the cabin for four more, easy.

16 comments:

Unknown said...

there really is nothing like a good t-shirt. I'm constantly trying to keep my good ones (ones that will fall apart if the winds blows the right way) away from my girlfriend who wants to throw them out.

Allie said...

Those are great shirts. I am a very t-shirt and jeans kind of girl. My favorite shirt came from a clothes by the pound bin at a thrift store in the town I where I went to college. It's so ratty, but so soft.

Anonymous said...

Ooooh, cabin weekend. I am jealous. I think tomorrow I am going to go for a hike on my favorite trail as well. If you want, I will tell you guys about my favorite trail, but not in a public sphere bc I dont want too many other people to find out about it.

I like the first tee shirt a lot. My favorite tee shirt is a guns and roses tee shirt I stole from Scott. He just found out I had it and made me give it back. Luckily I am sneaky and will probably take it back again when he least suspects it.

Chris said...

I have a number of T-shirts from 5K road races, but those tend toward goofy, least-objectionable designs rather than the edgy styles of your climbing competition shirts.

shelleycoughlin said...

I like the swirly mortal combat shirt, and I also like BBQ chicken pizza. And you make your own BBQ sauce? Who are you, Emeril?

Courtney said...

I hate that Spawn Till You Die shirt. The fact that it belonged to your brother is the only reason it hasn't mysteriously disappeared into the Goodwill pile.

Other than that, I like all your T-shirts. Especially those two.

Anonymous said...

if it wasnt for t shirts, most of our wardrobes would just be plane bland. i had to throw "plane" in there becuase bland wasnt dull enough in that sentence for me.

hightower

Vanessa said...

Now seriously? Who doesn't love the tee shirt gnomes? Especially when they leave stuff, instead of taking it!

Noelle said...

My favorite tee has a kind of rooster pattern on it. It inspires mortal combat without proclaiming it. Or something.

arbyn said...

is there good bouldering in Tennessee?

My friends are headed to Utah next month and then California to climb on rocks but I've never heard anything about that state.

Just wondering.

Mickey said...

surviving myself- I try not wash my favorites too often. Makes them last longer.

allie- Older is always better.

em- I don't think it'll hurt to just write a post about your favorite trail. I won't tell anybody.

chris- But they attest to your ability to run a 5K, and that's pretty cool.

npw- No, no I am not Emeril. I'm way prettier.

courtney- I'm glad you like my shirts.

hightower- Thanks for the attempt at redundant adjectives, but you may want to look up the word "plane."

vanessa- If only all gnomes were givers rather than takers.

noelle- It's true, roosters mean business.

arbyn- There is amazing bouldering in Tennessee. The south has a ton of little-known climbing, actually.

Sid said...

Ha ha. I liked the description of myself. Oh and your T-shirt stories are way more fascinating than mine. The little elves that make clothes have never given me a single thing!

Aaron said...

My favorite t-shirt is a Dawn of the Dead t-shirt.

What a surprise. God, I'm so predictable.

Mickey said...

sid- The clothing elves only pay visits to the deserving.

aaron- I'd have guessed either that or a sweet vintage Hall and Oates T.

Traveling Em said...

yay t-shirts. there are loads of great t-shirts in thailand. my favorite was one i had in high school but at some point became too threadbare to keep. it read "old sailors never die, they just get a little dingy." my current favorite is from korea, it reads "bunny is pet name for a rabbit." thank you, korea.

btw - a great way to keep your shirts in good condition is to hang them up to dry rather than use the dryer.

Julie said...

Since I respect your t-shirt collection, I'll introduce you to my absolute favorite t-shirt getting place:
shirt.woot.com

You have to check it every day as they only have one shirt per day for sale. There have been at least five this month that I've really wanted to buy, but alas, I'm poor and can't justify $10 on a t-shirt.