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My Retirement Uniform

A couple of weekends ago I needed a nice plain leather work belt to put my Rush belt buckle on. I went to a western wear store. Cavender’s Boot City, in Plano. That is totally not my style, but damn it was nice to be in a really nice clothing store, with quality clothing and knowledgeable employees. The enshittification of everything makes such experiences a real pleasure. I found a nice leather belt that actually smells like leather.

I actually wrote that last paragraph a couple of weeks ago. Since then I’ve been thinking about this even more. Apparently I don’t have enough important things to think about, so the little man in my brain comes up with stuff like this.

Before that trip to Cavender’s I ordered a leather belt off Amazon. When it arrived one of the little snaps where you change the buckle was already broken. ENSHITTIFICATION.  I returned it for a refund. Cavender’s was 95% stuff I would never wear. The whole country/western/cowboy aesthetic doesn’t appeal to me. For one thing it would be so fake on me. It would be like cosplay. For another thing, and this is not fair at all (but may be accurate), I associate that whole shit-kicker look and culture with characteristics like ignorance, religious bigotry and stupidity, bigotry in general, and anti-intellectualism in the grandest of anti-intellectual American style.

BUT – the merchandise was super nice! My style or not, man, being in a store full of quality clothing and intelligent employees made me feel like I was in the right place! At least for a plain leather work belt.

Yes, I know perfectly intelligent good folks who dress like that sometimes. But it’s just – not – me. So indulge me please in my rantings.

One of my nieces works for a very nice men’s clothing retailer. A few months ago, after talking with her about her work, I had a dream that I was shopping for clothes in a nice men’s clothing store (note: all great blog posts mention a dream). The kind of place where knowledgeable professionals work and help customer find clothing, that carries nice stuff, and is kept up well (not a mess). Weirdly I am developing a desire to own some higher quality clothing, especially during my upcoming retirement years. These days, cheap and shitty clothes aren’t inexpensive any more.

Now, inside I am still a dirty old skateboarder. I’ll always sit around the house in old shorts and tshirts, but in the future I want to present myself to the world in a well-dressed but not “old guy” style. Example: My wife got me a nice Ben Sherman shirt. That’s an English brand. I am not really a “brand” guy, but I like these shirts a lot. It is of course not made in England, but the quality is nice. It fits well.  When we go out to a show or somewhere nice now I like to wear that, some nice Dockers pants, and my black with green tint Doc Marten shoes (made in China these days, but whatever). We recently went to the Addition Improv to see comedian Kevin James Thornton, and I wore that. My wife wore a nice casual outfit. A lot of the men in the crowd looked like shit. I would be ashamed to take my wife out looking like that. You see this all over the place, adult men, at places nicer than Taco Bell, dressed like adult babies. Yeah, I’m leaning a bit elitest here I guess, but I also have this idea that our culture has slidden way too far down Low-Brow Hill, and I just don’t want to participate.

So I started looking at dedicated brick and mortar men’s clothing stores in the area. There are a few. Looking at their websites I see that most of them cater to what I’d call the Young Douchebag Demographic. You’ve seen this look. A suit with pants that are way too tight and a jacket with weirdly small or strangely-placed lapels. Add to that wearing no socks and some fucked-up looking shoes with that abomination in the form of a suit.  Oh, I almost forgot the comically oversized wrist watch.  I understand this is a style, but it’s a douchebag style, and one that in my nearly 62-year old but fit body I can’t pull off. I’d feel like an idiot.

There are a few stores that are possibilities. Sooner or later I will check them out. During retirement I want to have about 3 nice knit shirts – probably Ben Shermans, and a couple of nice pairs of trousers, and maybe another slightly different pair of Doc Martens. I feel like this look kinda honors my cool skateboarder history and persona (heh heh) while being presentable as an adult human being. I’ll make sure I have a proper, nice, classic suit and whatnot as well and a nice sport coat. I’m not talking about buying a lot of clothing. Just a few things that are nice, high-quality, and will last a while.

So I guess my point here is that finding nice clothes that feel authentic to me is what I’m wanting to do. I’m not a shit-kicker and I’m not a skinny young influencer. I’m a fit but slightly overweight skateboarder in the early senior years.

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Rush Shows Postponed and Retirement Stuff

Well, we spent the day in Fort Worth yesterday only to find out about 5pm that the Rush show that night and the one tomorrow are being delayed by 11 days, as Geddy has bronchitis and laryngitis.  Stuff happens. Hopefully he will recover and the shows will go on, but more important is the man’s health.

We are going to see comedian Kevin James Thornton tonight. Should be fun. It’s also closer to home which is nice. Honestly, I’m pretty tired this week. Increased allergy shot strength, waking up with a crick in my neck a couple of days ago which has affected my sleep, walking around in the heat in Fort Worth yesterday, and then battling the traffic on the way one have left me depleted. I am happy to be going to this show tonight, but really, no driving back to Forth Worth tomorrow is FINE with me.

At least I do have Friday off, which is nice! I can chill!

I was watching a video on YouTube from I guy I presume is in the UK about determining your daily rhythm in retirement. He’s a retirement YouTuber. Now, normally I am not a fan of YouTubers, but I gave this guy a chance, and I thought he had some good observations and ideas. He articulated some things I’ve been thinking about. I could go on and on about how much I hate the way our working lives are controlled not by our own needs but by the needs of others. I think this guy really got on my good side when he talked about learning your daily rhythm and, for him, not doing much more than chilling and drinking some coffee and reading before 10am. I think that’s the kind of person i am. That’s my clock. Now, I’ll have to do a few things before 10am, like walk the dog, but overall I am just looking forward to saying “fuck off” to anyone other than my wife who needs me to do anything before 10am.

I got my hair cut the other day, in in the process of making small talk with the haircutter I mentioned retiring. Their response was something like “you are retiring young.” Now, I am nice to everyone, but I was thinking “Well, I’ll be 62. How fucking long to I have to work?”

In other topics.

  • I’m still really not happy with the “theme” this blog uses, but I honestly can’t find a single other WordPress theme that I like. They all look like portals for cosmetics companies, “content marketers”, and other bullshit. Still thinking about a new system after I retire.
  • I want to go skate
  • D&D and Traveller are going well

That’s all for now.

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Waiting for Rush

We’re going to see Rush tomorrow night in Fort Worth.

Then we’re going back to see them again on Thursday night.

Yesterday we began a deep drive into the Rush catalog. Listened, in order, to all the albums up to and including Moving Pictures.

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Flow

Two weekends ago my friend Dale and I were at the skatepark up in McKinney, Texas. There is one feature we skate at the park. It’s kind of a little ditch-style bowl with banked walls (not round wall) that empties into a round-wall bowl. The surface of this run is not typical skatepark-smooth. It has a weird texture to it. When I ride hard wheels they never feel right in it. So for this particular trip I slapped some 56mm 87a OJ Keyframes on my larger street/ditch board. With the softer wheels my speed and flow were increased a lot. The bowl as a lot more fun to skate.

Dale and I weren’t doing that much. Dropping in, carving around, bending our knees, compressing, etc. I had a better time in that bowl than I’ve ever had. A young kid, about 13, came up to me and said “You look like you are flowing on water.” I was really surprised by this. I told him “Thank you – that is a really nice thing to say and I really appreciate it.”

I hope I see that kid again. I feel like I need to thank him again. At the time I didn’t realize how impactful that simple but kind comment was to me. It really made my day. Hell, I suppose it made my week, since I’m still talking about it.

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Alva, Flow, and Groove

Fair warning. I’m about to go on about Tony Alva again…

Every few weeks I do a YouTube search for new Tony Alva footage. From what I can see, Tony doesn’t go out “to film.” He goes out and skates, and maybe someone shoots some video, and maybe some of it is pretty good, and maybe it ends up on YouTube. Such is the case with this video below.

After watching this video several times today I texted it to some friends with some comments about how relaxed this skating is.

When I see rippers today on nearly any terrain they look frantic to me. Maybe it’s because they are going really fast, but I think it’s more than that. Not sure what, but I’ll figure it out. The propagation of skateboarding video, first on VHS tapes and now streaming to your pocket idiot-device has to some extent homogenized skating. I think it’s hard to argue against that, so I’m calling it a fact. I see it in freestyle skateboarding too. Where once skaters only had access to see the skating of their friends, or maybe the best person in town, or a group of local pros, now everyone has immediate access to everything. I think to some extent this permeates not just skateboarding but probably everything. Culture, pop culture, subculture, is now global. How sub can a global subculture be? Not very.

So now I see clips of rippers skating parks as fast at they can, every trick seems rushed and on the edge of disaster. Now the edge of disaster is often celebrated in skateboarding and rightfully so. Still, seeing someone blast around like a lunatic simply doesn’t connect with me.

Yes, this is likely a function of my age, but not entirely. I’d have said the same thing if I was 23 right now. Correction; 23, but with the same formative skate experiences.

At the start of this video, Alva does a little axle stall on a small wall, then does a casual 540 spin on the opposing bank. Relaxed. Styish. Smooth.

I heard him in a recent interview that what he thinks about now when skating isn’t so much learning new stuff but refining what he already knows. It shows. That line looks so satisfying. I can guess that when he does that line, he isn’t like “Wow, look what I just did!” but rather “Damn, that felt good!”.

Same with every line in that bowl.

My friend The Lone Sentry says Alva has Groove.

Earlier this year I was at an Aikido seminar taught by an 85 year old 7th Dan, Harvey. Harvey’s knees are kinda worn out. He’s a bit broken down, but he’s still teaching, and still learning. He told us the thing he loves about Aikido is that no matter how old you get there are still thing to learn, things where understanding can be deepened. I think skateboarding is the same way.

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Unfollowing Tech

For the most part, across any social media or blogging platform I use, I am unfollowing anyone who works in “tech.” There are a few I’m staying with, represented in my blog roll, and at least one other, but for the most part I just can’t read another post or article about one of the AI platforms doing this or that, why one is better than the other, etc.

I know this is just fascinating, right?

 

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Reading

When I retire, one daily practice that I insist on is at least an hour of quiet reading every day. No noise. No internet. No TV. Just reading.

I think reading is one of the best things you can do.

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Rest

This morning, unlike most mornings, I did not wake to an alarm clock. I woke up about 7am. I let the dog out to do his business. Then he and I both went back to bed. So the whole family, including the cat, in bed til about 8:30am. I slept.

I feel so damned when I can just sleep in. Got out of bed feeling great.

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Influencers

This week FaceBook decided I am a weak loser man who needs to see “reels” of men who are more manly than me giving me advice on general masculinity improvements, how to be an alpha douche, and stuff like that. Apparently I need to also be more tan, grow a beard, and have big veins in my over-muscled arms and neck.

Side note: If I have need to kill one of those guys, a simple razor blade cute to one of those easily-found bulging veins should do the trick.

Oh, I have also learned that people who aren’t happy simply haven’t “decided” to be happy. Isn’t that amazing? For the record I am happy, in general, except when I’m watching these stupid videos. Also, everyone has the right to be unhappy. It is a natural emotional state that humans have, and it is sometimes appropriate.

It’s been an amazing and educational delve into the dungeon of alpha male wisdom influencers.

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Recognition

My old skateboarding website was mentioned on this week’s episode of a popular skateboarding YouTube show/podcast.

It was cool to hear it mentioned.  It was a fun project for about 10 years and I made a lot of good friends because of it. Knowing that someone remembers it is nice.

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NASA, the Moon, and a Good Start

My first job as a librarian was at the Johnson Space Center library – the Scientific and Technical Information Center. I was there from 1996 to 1998. It was a great first job. As a young person it made me feel great to be part of something important. I got to work with some incredible people. I was there there morning of the fire on Space Station Mir. When I got to work I was immediately pressed into service, retrieving documents and specifications as engineers worked to keep the astronauts alive. It was a great start to my career.

Watching the Artemis II moon flyby mission today is very moving. Thirty years ago you needed NASA TV on cable to watch this kind of thing. Today you can watch the mission from launch to splashdown on a phone in your pocket.

Remembering these words from Carl Sagan seems appropriate today, as four smart and brave people travel farther from Earth than anyone ever has, to loop around the moon and come home. We can still do great things. BUT we need great people in charge, not the orange scumbag and his circle of religious kooks, bigots, and nincompoops.  We could provide healthcare and education to everyone. We could shelter and feed the world’s hungry. We should do that and more.

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Ephemeral Stuff

I’ve been in my job for 20 years. Before that I had other jobs. I’ve been a librarian for 30 years. In that time electronic tools on the computer have come and gone.

We are always switching to the “next big thing” that will without a doubt make our work easier and “more productive.” They always involve learning a new system, which will be abandoned in a year or two for the new next big thing. It’s all wasteful bullshit. Wasteful of our money and our time and our energy. I have rarely seen it actually save time or money or improve anything. I can’t actually think of a single time.  In almost every case, a simple Word (or a plain text document!) would be better, saved in a logical files structure that no one fucks with.

Don’t get me wrong. I love my job and my profession and my colleagues. We (and probably you, if you work somewhere) are simply caught up in a consumerist cycle of bullshit.

When I retire in 9 months one of my goals is to not pay attention to any ephemeral bullshit again. I’m going to write by hand and on the computer. I’m going to read novels, both science fiction and some classics, that are timeless. I’m going to enjoy the time I have with my wife, which is the  most precious thing I have. I’m going to take naps with our now 16-year old cat. I’m going to play with our sweet little sheltie dog.

 

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Lucky

I am lucky…

  • To have met my wife
  • To have had the parents and family I was born with
  • To be in a good situation
  • That we (my wife and I) are both still alive

These four facts are never lost on me.

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Moon Shot

I watched the space launch yesterday. It reminded me that we can, as a nation and a people, still do great things. Instead we choose to argue over who gets to be a citizen, can’t agree that everyone can be provided healthcare coverage, and allow a few individual scumbags to hoard the wealth generated by our collective creativity and hard work. Fuck Elon Musk. Fuck anyone who drives a Tesla. Fuck AI. Fuck Trump and Fuck all his supporters.