Clothes Shopping

Each time I contemplate going clothes shopping I tell myself "Remember to get 2 of anything you buy," and each time I either forget or it is the ONLY one of its kind left. Now most people would NEVER submit themselves to buying 2 of the same thing (except maybe jeans) because most people would never want to look as if they were wearing the same thing day after day. Personally, I don't care if it looks like I am wearing the same thing day to day. All I want is to wear somewhat decent clothing that is comfortable, simple, utilitarian/sturdy, and modest. Is that too much to ask for?

Unfortunately, from the time that I have spent during the past 2 weeks trying to find new clothes, I've realized that clothing that matches my wants/sensibilities don't exist. Is it really all that hard to make a shirt that doesn't display you and your assets to the whole world. Or a simple pair of pants that doesn't have rhinestones or some funky design all over it. All I want is a simple button-up shirt and a pair of khaki's to wear to work. It is either a Texas thing or a US thing, but I couldn't even FIND any khaki's that weren't really tan jeans. And a simple button-up shirt? Forget it! And let's not even get into shoes, that is a whole other world of stupidity.

On the whole, I have two major problems when clothes shopping. Finding a style a like, then finding it in my size. I used to joke with my friends that I should start a "Short & Stout" store to complement the current "Big & Tall" stores. Currently, if I do eventually find a pair of pants that fit me, I still have to hem them up quite a few inches (and they were petite to begin with!). So, what is the solution? Now, most of my friends/family would say to change my style (they don't like my current style to begin with anyways). No offense, but I don't like to wear what everyone else likes to wear. Should I force you to wear something you feel uncomfortable in? I think not.

So, my search must continue for the oh so elusive things I desire. Wish me luck.

My Obsessive Reading Habits

My roommate put forth an interesting question to me yesterday. If you were banned from reading, what would you do with your time? After much contemplation of both my past and my present, I have realized that my reading habits have gone too far. Like all things, reading should be done in moderation. For most people, that means they should at least read a book a month. For me though, that means I need to curtail my reading habits, for they have become seriously unhealthy.

I am currently at the point in my life where I come home from work/church and IMMEDIATELY start reading and I don't stop until sometime after 11pm when I finish the last book (which means if I start a new book at 10:30 then I won't finish and go to bed till 2-3 sometimes). That means on some days I may read up to 5 books before calling it a night. More often then not, I end up skipping dinner because I don't want to waste the time I could have spent reading by fixing and eating something. Considering this is all I do - PERIOD! - I realized this may not be a good thing (you think!?!) . Thus bringing me back to my roommate's question ...

What would I do if I couldn't read? I don't know. What do I currently do now besides reading? I can't think of ANYTHING! I am trying to imagine a day without a book and it just scares the bee-gee-bee's out of me. So, the real question becomes, now that I have discovered/acknowledged this problem in my life, what am I going to do about it? Set a daily limit of books/pages/chapters? Cut up my library cards? Maybe I should find a book about how other people handled their obsessions with reading :-)