10/7 | UPDATE:
Added the rest of Jason's latest album to music section. (personal
> music)
9/7 | Victim
of Brisbane fashion I've had some interesting experiences lately. I've had a brush
with fashion you could say. I've been out in town pretty much every
weekend for the last few weeks, which is a lot for me. I've had lots of fun,
meeting new people, some pretty funny new "drunk-as-a-nit"
undergrad blokes, and dancing with a few fun girls on holidays from Ireland,
but I'm also quite frustrated. In one night I was denied entry into three
clubs, who have some EXTREMELY particular dress codes. You have to be wearing
a particular type of dress shoe, jeans and fashionable shirt. Now commonsense
told me: why would I want to go into that club if they're that fussy, but
instead I had a talk with the bouncer - not really arguing, just complaining.
I should have shrugged it off, but a girl told me this was a really good dance
club, and I was pretty peeved we all had to go elsewhere. Dr Rob (from my
office) said I should have told the bouncer: "look, I can spend money
on a fancy pair of dress shoes, or I can spend money at your bar".
The valley, the city, and toowong all have these different dress codes, and
you pretty much need three sets of the RIGHT clothes to cover your bases.
We had a great night, but I talked to Alby and Jim about it the next day,
and they surprised me by saying: finally; you are a bit of a doob Andrew -
you need new clothes - you'll feel confident wearing better clothes
and: "it comes down to this; girls like guys who spend money on themselves
to look good" ....
Hey, why should I buy expensive new clothes! "Clothes don't
make the man". Keeping up with fashion is for rich kids
trying to be cool. People are like sheep. But somehow I let those two bastards
get to me - I decided that since I had just broken my sunglasses, I needed
to go shopping anyhow. Since I have no idea about fashion I asked the two
boys to come along and help me out, but although they probably didn't have
anything better to do on holidays, they decided they would only help me out
if I gave them cash for a one hundred dollar computer game! I thought they
were joking at first, but no, they were serious. Bastards! Oh well ... I guess
Alby is a business student, and Jim claims the going "gay consult
fee" is usually double that. I lied (poorly) and told them "I'd
go get my wallet" , thinking "screw that" and
went straight to the shops alone.
I only bought a pair of jeans and new sunglasses, but had a strange conversation
with the nice girl at the sunglass shop. I told her my friends said I look
like a dork, and talked about the way people dress in Brisbane. She said "and
you feel like you can't keep up" - which pretty much sums it up.
I can feel really alienated sometimes, just walking around the local shopping
center and seeing everyone - even parents - in (obviously) new clothes. Guys
wearing pink, flash fashion jeans, and ALL of them with some sort of product/style
in their hair, all the girls in pretty cloths and make-up ... and sometimes
you just feel you don't belong. Even the youngest of kids (under ten) are
trying to dress like home-boys; wealthy parents perhaps. In Cairns you can
always see a few people wearing old thongs and shirts, most parents pretty
drab, but in Brisbane everything has to be new.
And what seems (as always) to add salt to the wound is seeing teenagers/young
couples snogging around the place. I want to be young an in love .... *sob*
... ... although these days it's hard to tell with young people. Many of the
girls and guys I've met don't seem to stay in relationships more than, say,
a month - maybe they're always searching for something better - last months
boyfriend, last months fashion. Maybe they just get bored very quickly of
cloths, and love interests - keen to keep up with fashion.
I admire people who basically don't give a rats arse what people say or think
about what they're wearing. They'd be happy an confident getting around in
an old pair of shorts and shirt, as happy as larry, and oblivious to the walk-in
fashion show surrounding them. Someone who happy with their own way of doing
things - not one of the herd. There is something very reliable, secure and
stable about that I think. I wish I could say I'm always a man of principle,
but I somehow felt good after buying my new pair of jeans. And I'm seriously
considering getting a pair of "stylish white, stitched dress shoes".
Maybe Alby was right? Maybe Brisbane is changing me after all.
But I think maybe a question we should all ask ourselves is what type of person
are we when it comes to clothes and relationships? Is a fashion diva who gets
bored with and throw out his/her "old" clothes after a week, going
to do the same to you. Beware the money spending fashion queen. Something
to think about. ;-)
