Winter Wear 2007: Made for a woman, Strong enough for a man

Why does anyone care if a scarf is "made for a man" or "made for a woman"?
Can you even tell whether the scarves in the above pictures are made for a certain gender?
Ok, so I bought two wool pashminas (above). I like the colours (they seem to sell only black, blue, grey and maroon for men) and I like the length (these are almost twice as long as any man's scarf I can find, so I can fold it in half and loop it around into itself easily). It's not like I don't have dark blue and grey scarves, but I've found I prefer to wear these this year and brighten up my own day.

I'm not pushing too many envelopes here, sometimes it seems that all I wear is black.

I have come to the conclusion that people (including my mother) get way too touchy on gender issues and colour. It's a friggin' piece of fabric, get over it.

My first time...

As a slug...
For those of my friends who are not from the DC metropolitan area, there are many roads into DC that require 2 or more passengers in a vehicle (unless you're a hybrid car) during rush hour. Some people prefer not to take public transportation and want to drive themselves into the city pick up "slugs" in the suburbs. Slugs are random strangers you find somewhere in the suburbs (when headed in) or in the city (when you're leaving) who take up the space in your car so you can drive in the High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes.

I have been taking the Metro bus and Metro rail into the city for a couple of months now. But today, I missed my bus by two minutes (damn traffic light!) and a small car pulled up at the bus stop with a sign in the window (Farragut West or Rosslyn- 1 or 2 riders). I opened the passenger side door and asked the young-looking woman (at most 32 yrs old) if Farragut West was on the Orange or the Red (I always confuse it with Farragut North which is on the Red as I've been reminded today). I'm not exactly sure how it is she could drop me off at either Rosslyn (which is in VA) or Farragut West (in DC). But I got in for Farragut West.

So as not to be accused of being a "bad slug," I pulled out my crossword and said nothing during the entire commute. (I mean, this isn't a carpool where you know the people and can be all chatty, this is just business) I didn't move the seat back, which I should have because her compact car didn't exactly fit my 6'3'' frame easily. But I just kept my head down looking at the crossword so as not to hit my head on the sunroof and and put my gloves on my knees so I wouldn't knock into her dashboard with them too hard during brakes. To top it all off, the crossword was friggin' hard and I could not concentrate with her changing radio stations every thirty seconds (none of them were any good, which is why I partly understood the channel-flipping, but she just kept rotating through the crap like it was going to get better, I guess that's called optimism).

I'm not a genius, but I can usually get at least 95 percent done with a crossword during a 30-minute Metro rail ride. I wasn't even halfway done with this one. So, just in case she was watching me (which I doubt she was), I started filling boxes with random letters on the newspaper. Why I even care what the driver thought of my crossword abilities, I do not know. Apparently, I'm just like that.

After a short walk from the drop-off point to work, I've made it through my first morning as a slug. Will I do it again? Maybe. But I'm moving the seat back next time... and bringing a back-up easy-to-do children's crossword puzzle, just in case...

Metro Connection

If I hadn't spent almost two hours on the Metro last Thursday because of some one-track delay on the orange/blue lines, I might like Metro a bit more than I do at the moment.
On the regular days, when it is on time without delays, I absolutely adore the Metro. Not having to drive is a godsend to me since I find driving to be stressful, especially in traffic and/or in the rain/inclement weather.

I have even come to the point where I'm recognizing people on the bus and train and occasionally wave/mouth a greeting in their direction.
And there are even people or types of people who irk me on the metro. One lady on the bus told her child to pretend to be sick and go to the nurse to get out of doing something at the school. It's one thing for the child to do it, but another thing for the parent to suggest it or endorse it.
Also, anyone who puts their bag or coat on the seat next to them or sits in the aisle seat blocking potential seatmates while people are still boarding is definitely not considerate.

16 Passengers were hurt with a train derailment on Sunday on the green line of the DC-area Metro train. It's a bit disconcerting when I think how many things could go wrong with public transportation. Are the problems on the green line linked racially/socio-economically? It is the case that the green line goes from Southeast DC to Greenbelt MD, and Southeast isn't known for its rich white residents. If someone finds something like that out, Metro's going to be in BIG trouble. I guess I should be glad I'm coming in from the Virginia suburbs for now...

Welcome to 2007

First let's go over 2006...
I made the following new year's resolutions:
1. I will communicate with friends more, especially those far away.
2. I will take a vacation that does not involve visiting family.
3. I will telephone my parents (both father and mother) more often.
4. I will limit my time out on weeknights, or at least hang out closer to home.
5. I will work toward getting a nice abdomen.
6. I will not have sex BECAUSE I am bored.

1) I didn't do a spectacular job on this. But I wasn't completely awful either. I'll try that again this year. I'll start with Valentines/Singles' Awareness Day cards next month.
2) I went to Cleveland for a wedding. Not amazing, but I had fun. I even bought a pair of neoprene chaps.
3) I called. They called. We're good.
4) I did start going to Freddies only once during the week. It worked out well.
5) I looked pretty damn good for my half-naked scene in my musical last May (but Thanksgiving and Xmas totally put me back where I started). Let's try again.
6) Apparently, I had forgotten how good I am at masturbation. I shall not forget again.

So, for 2007. I'm going to be a bit more specific (like I should have been last year).
1. I will communicate with friends more, especially those far away.
Mailed birthday cards and/or telephone call (even late), Valentines in Feb, some random summer holiday, and Thanksgiving cards in Nov.

2. I will take a vacation that does not involve visiting family.
Already planned a trip to Salt Lake City visiting Lisa (with Blaire and Chris).
Likely trip to Cleveland in late April for fraternity 100th anniversary formal.
A trip by train to NYC for broadway musicals.
A trip to Phillie?

3. I will telephone my parents (both father and mother) more often.
I'll skip this one this year.

4. I will limit my time out on weeknights, or at least hang out closer to home.
With the new job, this will be happening anyway.

5. I will work toward getting a nice abdomen.
Work out at LEAST once a week.

6. I will not have sex BECAUSE I am bored.
I shall not forget!!!