Dichroic Reflections

Of coolness, overalls, and body jewelry

My last entry bored even me.

Today I am wearing black overalls. I love wearing them because they’re comfortable and have lots of pockets, but I do worry about the goofy factor. Generally, the people I know who wear overalls are bubbly happy people, people who believe Life is What You Make It! and Attitude is Everything! I wouldn’t be surprised if Phelp’s friend from the bowling leangue wears overalls.

I, on the other hand, am not and do not wish to be a bubbly happy girl. Goofy, sometimes, and talkative, usually, but also mordant on occasion. You can tell all this, I think, because my overalls, though they are overalls (that’s the goofy side) are also black (for the mordancy) and I am wearing them over a black T-shirt, with silver jewelry and black-and-white Keds. Wearing black and silver makes me feel that I am cool and dangerous, even when there are overalls involved. I am not cool, most likely, and am far from dangerous, but I think feeling that way is probably the first step. Of course, anyone who worries about or talks whether they are cool is automatically not, so clearly I have many more steps to take. (And that is a lesson someone should teach my company, whose executives often talk about how we attract "cool people" by making this a "cool place to work".)

Yesterday I bought a toe ring (silver, naturally), because all the cool people I know wear them and, more importantly, I like the way they look. As with so much of life, I promptly learned that wearing a toe ring is more complicated than it looks. Mine is, as I believe most of them are, only a partial circlet, open on what is supposed to be the bottom. This is presumably designed to allow for the fact that most toes are of much greater diameter at the tip than at the part where a ring is worn. The ring is open, to go over the tip of the toe, and can then be squeezed tighter, to stay on. Maybe I didn’t squeeze tight enough; mine kept turning so that the open side was up and the greater weight of the closed side was down. That pesky gravity again. If there’s a trick to this, someone please tell me. Or am I just not cool enough for proper wearing of toe rings, and can the ring itself sense this? Maybe it’s a good thing I never got my navel pierced.