Age and rebellion

My math may be off by a year or two, but: When I was twenty-two, I got my ear pierced. Mostly, it was just to open up additional possibilities for wearing green -- I still own a lot of pairs of green earrings! But, I admit, there was a hint of counter-culture-ness to it. I was finishing up my two years away from college, working one-point-five jobs and living cheap, and was about to start a hippie-ish college.

But during graduate school -- about five years later -- I drifted away from wearing the earring. The turning point was when I was taking a twice-weekly Judo class: invariably, a few minutes into class I’d realize I’d forgotten to take my earring out. Depending on my mood, I’d either run back to the locker room and dump it in my locker, or just scurry over and toss it in my shoes along the edge of the mat. Eventually, I just stopped putting it in.

Since around the same period of getting the earring, I’ve also been open to getting a tattoo. But, I couldn’t find a design that I liked well enough to permanently attach to my body: That’s what custom T-shirt printing places are for. Plus, on a very pragmatic level, (1) for the size and detail that I’d want, it’d cost a few hundred bucks -- and I’d rather buy another guitar, and (2) I didn’t trust anyone to draw it 100% the way I wanted it. Unlike getting a T-shirt designed, you can’t get a re-print if you don’t like the first attempt.

I think I’ve reached the age where I value comfort over rebellion or fashion. If I was a woman (or a cross-dresser?), I think I’d be giving up on high heels right about now.

And, I’m too cheap. One of my dad’s wiser sayings: “You can only spend money once.” Three hundred dollar pair of sneakers? I’d rather get an analog synth. Which is why I’m wearing green high-top Converse sneakers as my fashion-statement footware, not (unfortunately!) green Doc Martens. Had a green pair that I bought off a regular customer (when I worked at Hip Products) for around sixty bucks, but I finally realized they were a little tight in the toes, and passed them along to a fellow graduate student.

--GG