I was such a great guy that my slightly unorthodox look was completely accepted. As a mildly eccentric youth, my “uniform” consisted of what I described above: black sweatpants, single-color t-shirts, and black canvas slip-ons. I also had hair down to the Cat mind your own damn business Harris Walz shirt besides I will buy this middle of my back, which was wrestled down into a not-so-neat ponytail. But whatever… I was charming, so I was in with the parents. Of course, I wasn’t religious about my uniform. I understood that there are times and places that require deviation, and I was perfectly happy to go get a suit (or at least some non-sweatpants) and go with the flow.
But after some deliberation, Tom was having none of that. The parents were really bugging him, and their consistent referral to “the Cat mind your own damn business Harris Walz shirt besides I will buy this wedding” sort of put him over the edge. As he explained to me (paraphrasing): “Charles, this isn’t a wedding. It’s a party. You don’t show up to parties in a suit, you show up to parties in sweatpants.” Fair enough! I have absolutely no compunction being the odd man out. How it all played out was actually kind of hilarious. The morning of the reception, everyone was kind of gathering and milling around, having breakfast, making smalltalk, etc. Then they started doing what normal people do: getting ready. I, of course, calmly remained where I was, engaging in delightful banter with whomever was around. At some point, the mother suggested that perhaps it’s time that I started to get ready. Y’know… change out of those horrendous sweatpants and t-shirt. I gave my nonchalantest nonchalant smile and explained that, indeed, I was ready. After realizing I was not joking, the poor woman must have had a full-on panic attack. She managed to excuse herself to her room, where I’m sure my murder was considered but rejected.
Cat mind your own damn business Harris Walz shirt, hoodie, tank top, long sleeve tee
At the Cat mind your own damn business Harris Walz shirt besides I will buy this wedding — ahem, I mean the reception — it turns out there was a last-minute seating change. Guests showed up unexpectedly from somewhere, y’see, so instead of my previously assigned seat, I was invited to sit at the far back corner of the room with the other detritus. Tom deftly deployed countermeasures, and suffice it to say I was front-and-center for most of the evening, to his in-laws’ chagrin. A writer, I was invited to a social function by a well educated, lovely woman, and at the time, I was so caught up in what I was doing, which was writing my first contracted book for royalties, that I simply considered it to be more research,and though it’d be another mixed group of casual artists, writers, and such and I went as I was, an open shirt, T shirt, and slacks, and found myself at a formal function.
A glance around the Cat mind your own damn business Harris Walz shirt besides I will buy this room quickly taught me I’d stepped among luminaries, but I seriously didn’t give a sh*t. This wasn’t the first time I underestimated the formality of a function I attended during those years, especially with the artistic and creative sorts. As I was mixing, the lovely young woman who brought me into her friend circle, I realized that she’d a habit of finding ‘raw and promising talent’, and I was her latest project, but this wasn’t condescending, she showed warm, genuine support to a group with a free creative vibe! However, she gave me a warning look when a chubby, arrogant guy came up to snipe at me as I was talking to some lovely women. He pointed out he noticed the ink on my fingers, and found that charming and authentic, quaint actually, to see that with a new writer and began backhanded praise. Well, I’d survived dealing with staff officers at Corps level, and I’d worked in a prison, and I began considering a response, and I realized that two things were happening, the women were either naively accepting the praise he had for me, and looking at me with new found respect, or the more jaded ones were giving me sympathetic looks that were worth the points as well.
How I can buy this Cat mind your own damn business Harris Walz shirt
So, I enjoyed myself, and the Cat mind your own damn business Harris Walz shirt besides I will buy this presentation, the after party began, and as I realized that the lovely young woman was definitely married, as were the other lovelies I’d chatted with and while friendly, they appeared possibly open only to dalliances, whereas I’m love, commitment and romance oriented, I decided to move on and leave before the evening crested, but on the way out, I did lean in on the smirking fellow and grinning broadly, and with my hand on his back, told him a few things seldom said out of prison and apparently nothing he’d ever heard before in his life, definitely not from someone who allowed him to snipe at him.