{"id":507,"date":"2023-05-26T22:52:07","date_gmt":"2023-05-27T02:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kakahead.com\/?p=507"},"modified":"2023-05-26T23:06:45","modified_gmt":"2023-05-27T03:06:45","slug":"just-not-my-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/kakahead.com\/?p=507","title":{"rendered":"Just (Not) My Style"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am really<\/strong><\/em> enjoying retirement.\u00a0 I am so comfortable, I can wear my “Sunday Go To Meetin'” garden grubs to the grocery store and not give a flying mahookey who sees me running around in dirty rags.\u00a0 In fact, just yesterday I had to make a quick grocery run after I got done crawling around in the garden.\u00a0 While I was grabbing a few necessities, I had something of a fashion flashback that happened back in the old days when I was still working.<\/p>\n

So there I was, in a Hard Day’s Night, working like a dog, with no barking, walking around the factory after walking between the Work Buildings and having enjoyed the cool air of West Michigan spring while in my denim jacket, when suddenly I stopped to talk to some fellow associates; but not all that <\/i><\/strong>suddenly because I left no skid marks on the concrete floor or nothing, and long before I wrote this run-on sentence (because I was at work, not writing like I am now) a friend walked up to me with a large grin on his face and said, \u201cHey Ken, don’t you know that denim jackets have been out of style for 20 years?\u201d<\/p>\n

Being the good natured fellow I am, I smiled while shaking his hand and quickly replied, \u201cI really don’t give a ship (or something like that…)!!\u201d Then one of the other associates said, \u201cYou’re one of the good guys, you can wear whatever you want and it would be just fine.\u201d\u00a0 Well being thought of as a “good guy” was nice to hear, but being the silly fellow I am, I smiled again and said, \u201cHow about I put on a pink tutu and some OSHA approved safety ballet slippers?? Would that <\/i><\/strong>be OK??\u201d One of the associates eyebrows kinda came together as he looked at the ground; but the one who called me “one of the good guys\u201d chuckled and said, \u201cYeah sure!!\u201d<\/p>\n

Again at work, I had yet another instance of fashion consciousness. A friend of mine came up to me and said, \u201cNice shirt!!\u201d Took a little pointing on his part for me to notice that he and I were wearing shirts with nearly identical fabric. \u201cOh!!\u201d I said, finally getting the point. \u201cYeah, I’m guessing mine is a thrift store special.\u201d He gave me a puzzled look. I thought about that much later, wondering if I insulted him. But we are good friends so I’m pretty sure he didn’t take it too seriously. Besides, he found it amusing when I said, \u201cYeah my wife buys all my shirts at the thrift stores. This one was probably 99 cents. Well OK it’s kinda nice, maybe she paid $2 for this one.\u201d<\/p>\n

As you may have gathered by now, I’m not exactly in tune with GQ or whatever that hoidy toidy men’s magazine is called. I just don’t give a hoot about fashion. Some proof of that is:<\/p>\n

1) I just had to google \u201cGQ\u201d to make sure it still was what I thought it was; and<\/p>\n

R) I still like having very long hair, even though it’s only growing well on the sides of my head (I plan to till the top under and try to grow a new crop); so that’s like 40 years out of style, and finally<\/p>\n

&) I rarely paid attention to what the work shirt looked like in the morning. My fashion combo consisted of a pair of blue jeans and a \u201cbusiness casual\u201d shirt.<\/p>\n

And yes, Virginia (or Vern), I stuffed my shirt pocket with my smell phone, my eye glasses case, a pen, and maybe a small screwdriver. Oh and not to forget that’s where my badge hung.<\/p>\n

People see me from miles away and say, \u201cNERD ALERT!! OLD HIPPIE NERD ALERT!!!\u201d<\/p>\n

Guilty as charged.<\/p>\n

I did, however, try to make sure all the buttons were buttoned, my fly was zipped up, and my \u201cgig line\u201d was straight. For those who were never in the military, a \u201cgig line\u201d is correct when the seam of your shirt, your belt buckle, and your fly are all in a straight line from top to bottom. If you didn’t have that just so in basic training, you got gigged. Nobody likes to get gigged. Funny how old habits stick with you.<\/p>\n

So the oldest habit of mine that sticks with me is I just don’t care about fashion. Fortunately my Beautiful Girlfriend keeps my garments acceptably coordinated when we have to play dress up for a wedding or whatever. Fun to see the new fashion stuff sometimes though, kind of like going to the carnival!!<\/p>\n

I’m just not hip, folks. I’m an old hippie who doesn’t care about hip. Not even sure what the current expression for \u201chip\u201d might be!! And I don’t give a flying mahookey!! So there!!<\/p>\n

As the folks from the Tower of Power said so eloquently all those years ago (1973 in the video that follows), \u201cwhat is hip? Tell me, tell me if you think you know.\u201d Then later in the song is my favorite line: \u201cWhat’s hip today might become passe.\u201d<\/p>\n

So I’m just not in style and that’s very OK with me. My Beautiful Girlfriend, on the other hand, is \u201cJust My Style.\u201d<\/p>\n

So kids, two videos today. Tower of Power with \u201cWhat Is Hip?\u201d is first but isn’t displayed like other videos I’ve linked to in the past.\u00a0 That’s because I usually embed them here, but this time Youtube said “embedding disabled by request.”\u00a0 So just click the link to get the Tower of Power.\u00a0 Nice performance by them on Soul Train.<\/p>\n

The second one is in honor of my Beautiful Girlfriend, who will always be \u201cJust My Style\u201d like this song from Gary Lewis and the Playboys.<\/p>\n

Peace!! (Now that’s<\/strong> <\/i>ALWAYS<\/i> in style!!)<\/p>\n