How many is too many?

So I get into work today and talk to a coworker about her new jeans. She informs me she had to buy them a couple weeks ago when she was at the beach because she only had 2 pairs of jeans and was going to be there for 4 days. I thought she was joking about her "need" to go shopping before I realized she seriously felt like she had to have a separate pair of jeans for each day. (If she knew this about herself, why didn't she take more pairs?) What I found even weirder is that all the other women in the office think this was normal.

Is it really normal to wear jeans only 1 time and then wash them, even if you are on vacation? I knew that I kind of do my own thing, but wearing my jeans more than once I thought was more a standard practice. I must confess I usually only wash mine when they either stretched out too much or else I spilled something on them.

How many times do you wear your jeans before washing them?

banker goes rocker!

Well, at least with my hair. While I sat through the long process of the cut and colour that occurs every 4 months, I think my hair is a bit high maintenance. But by spending 3 days a year being high maintenance, it allows me to be low maintenance every other day of the year. Why do I feel the need to excuse any behavior that takes a bit of effort? In regards to my hair, I have owned up to it because the thing is, my hair IS my style. It's my one act of rebellion against my conservative job at the bank. If only I owned a digital camera and knew how to post photos I could show you. Needless to say, bright big red streaks frame my face as well as another streak at the crown of my head. Cut is slightly assymetrical with sweeping fringe. I absolutely LOVE my haircut.

Men in uniforms

Men in uniforms have always been a mixed back for me. I don't usually like guys in uniforms that require them to carry guns. Not because I am against guns, but I just wasn't raised around them. I work with a woman who goes crazy whenever the local firemen go to the deli next door for lunch. We get a lot of them as the Training Center for the Portland Fire Bureau is a couple blocks away. I mean she goes nuts. She has pretended to go out and get the mail in the pouring rain just so she could see them better.

Well, today I gotta say I kind of get it now. I helped a friend by being a "parent chaperone" for her constitutional law class field trip today. After observing some arraignment hearings, a civil breach of contract between a Freightliner Auto Dealer and Bank of America and a robbery trial we decided to head up to our final courtroom. One of the kids wanted to specifically hear this next case because his dad is an attorney and plays pool with the judge. Weird reason, I know, but then we all found out it was a prostitution case. Suddenly, each of the 6 kids I was watching wanted to see it.

I should say that up to this point, everything was pretty interesting and diverse. But the prostitution case made the whole trip extra fun for me. Not because I know that many, well any, prostitutes, nor do I ever expect to go into that profession (thankfully). The real reason is that I got my eye candy in for the day. The officers testifying in the case were both pretty attractive men, but man oh man, one of them just was beautiful to watch. Lucky for me, I had the opportunity to unabashedly watch him for 10+ minutes.

I was talking with them after their testimonies until my friend met me. I felt justified in my opinion when, as we left, she just said "oh my". Yeah, it was the icing on an already really good cake of a morning.

Now I know how a caged bird feels

I need to go on vacation. That is pretty much the beginning, middle and end of the story. It has been over a year since I have gone anywhere outside of the beautiful Pacific Northwest and my emotional and mental health is being affected! In the last couple months all plans to get out of Dodge have been thwarted the week before going. Also, a possible trip to Europe in the fall may not happen. To top it off, my trip to Boston to visit family keeps getting pushed back. Boston is currently the one that is making me sad. One of my roommates is going there for work tomorrow and her brother just got his mission call there. To get psyched for the trip, she has been listening to Augustana's Boston and watching Boston movies like Fever Pitch and Good Will Hunting, etc. Makes me homesick for a place I have never been to. Ugh. This is why I appreciate solo traveling, I don't have to coordinate with anyone's schedule but my own. So here are my for and against lists for traveling alone:

Against
1. No one to take my picture
2. Having to eat at restaurants by myself.
3. No one to talk to.
4. Depending on where I go, restricts how late I can stay out on the town safely.
5. Can be cheaper for hotels.
6. Afterwards, no one to laugh with about the trip.

For:
1. Get to be selfish and do whatever I want to do.
2. Don't have to worry I will get annoyed with my dear friend and travel companion.
3. Get to be selfish and eat whatever I want.
4. Easier to crash with friends when I am by myself.
5. Don't have to worry about whether the trip is too expensive or to cheap for my travel companion.
6. Get to be selfish and do whatever I want. (yeah, I know I already said it, but it bears saying twice).