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It's China Town, Jake

Back in the 80's i used to think that my long hair split right down the middle was cool (we called it the New Wave look). When i went to College in the City and lived among somewhat dappy people, i realized how stupid my hair was and how uncool my old corduroy pants were. My clothes never quite fit my lean frame and i was always conscious that my shoes were incongruous. Not until i reached my early 20's and had moved here in the United States that i became comfortably dressed. And that's not to say i am fashionably conscious or fashionable at all, clothes do fit better now that i've bulked up some, i guess you can say i've just stopped caring about fashion. Fashion became 'whatever is comfortable'.

So i am fashionably comfortable. The hair however was another story. Because my hair is very wavy and naturally tousled it made it very difficult to manage. At some point when i was 22 years of age i purchased a hair-clipper kit and cut it all off, it remained that way for the next 7 years. Hair management was virtually non existent and it gave me somewhat a rugged look. The only problem was, i always thought the hairdo rather crude in taste and stereo-typically bad. So in consequence i always wore a hat, i wore one so often that some people couldn't immediately recognize me without it... But even with these ill-feelings i kept the do for so long, perhaps because it was easy.

Sometime after i turned 29, and perhaps dutifully becoming a bit more mature in my hairdo sensibilities, i felt i've overdone the bald look. I carefully deliberated my next do move. My real dilemma was hairdo nostalgia. Remembering how terrible it was to manage my tousled hair, i couldn't figure out what to do. In the meantime, while carefully weighing out my options, my hair kept growing and people kept asking if i meant to grow it. Then the need to use Gel which i never mastered in my youth reintroduced itself. Then arbitrarily, completely giving up on my options, the "Gel-it-up sleek-it-up" type of do stuck which brings us to my present hairdo. Haha it's not very sleek per se, not in terms of style but it will make do. I just don't care anymore...

Speaking of fashion and wardrobe, sometimes i wish i had the eidetic fashion-memory of a woman. When a woman goes into her walk-in closet, i am pretty sure she can pin-point the exact time and place she wore a shirt, dress, hat, blazer, jeans, underwear or a combination of outfits, with surgical precision. Well i couldn't do that... Until today. I was looking at my old koolgreen.com birthday galleries and happened to look at my mom's 2005 birthday dinner pictures. I was mortified when i realized i'm wearing the same shirt and hat from that day, 1 year exactly to the day. Good thing that dinner was just my parents, sister and i and not the 16 people reserved for my moms 55th birthday dinner party tonight.... wheww.

My parents told everyone attending that A&W, the same restaurant as Adrian's parents birthdays and same venue for my moms dinner party, was my idea. I suggested China Town.

Posted by: Marc Gabay
Friday, May 19, 2006