Pride: Let It Ride

That outfit I wore for the speech I described yesterday was really something. I gave a rough description of it then, but it warrants something in depth. For the speech I was playing a character of sorts. I feel that I rather easily become a kind of sleazy producer or promoter type. It takes the slightest of nudges to make me look that way. The gray suit I wore was the one I almost always do (as the only alternative is the newer one that only comes out for weddings and funerals).

The brown shirt is several sizes too large. It only looks passable under a jacket. It has a collar, but doesn't exactly cry out for a tie. I forced one on, and could resist the whimsical choice of a shiny dark brown tie on a light brown shirt. I wore the nicest shoes that I don't worry about damaging, which were also brown, as I said. I have some dark socks now, but they're too thin, so I had to hope no one would notice my white socks. If I stand most of the time it works.

Completing the picture were my brown sunglasses. They don't cover much of my face, and you can see my eyes through them. I thought I looked silly in this outfit, but I was assured that it works. Considering that it was an unseasonably balmy 84 degrees at the days height, the suit didn't work like I'd like, but I became convinced that it wasn't an altogether horrible look. I still would have switched the tie if I meant to look good, and I like my mirrored aviators better than those brown shades.

I got to liking the look enough that I looked for excuses not to change out of it later. It was so warm, I would have wanted shorts and a t-shirt, but I didn't do it. I went to the grocery store and dropped something off at the post office in that suit when I could have changed. Even when the tied started to feel tight and I had a headache coming on, I liked the way I looked too much to switch. I wanted friends to see me that way. That's pride verging on vanity.