Style & The Well-Dressed Guy

I started this blog thinking I would be able to post daily - boy was I wrong! Between balancing two jobs and actually having something substantial to post about, blogging on a daily basis can be very challenging. So after a few days of absence, I've decided to share a little of my past on here. Well...something did happen Thursday night that prompted me to give you readers some back history.

I was working at the nightclub entertaining some friends that were celebrating their birthdays together (trust me I'm getting sick of birtdays too). Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a really cute guy giving me a look of recognition. He had brown hair, a lean build, and a boy-next-door look. I don't really make the first move on guys considering I'm not really out of the closet so I just continued to chat with my friends. Next thing I know, the cute guy touches me on the elbow and asks me if I was at a certain hotel the other day. I was. The guy says he recognized me because of the way I was dressed that night (a fitted gray sweater vest, a navy skinny tie, a striped blue shirt and charcoal pants) and that very moment (a dark aquamarine shirt, a black vest, a b&w striped narrow tie, and black pinstriped pants). I thanked him, and I was glad it was dark cause I started blushing. We exchanged names (we'll call him Noah). He asked me what I was doing at the hotel that night (I was visiting a friend at the bar) , and I asked him what he did there (he's in accounting). Noah also introduced me to his friend who looked a little annoyed. I thought maybe his friend was straight and didn't approve of us having a conversation that excluded him so I grabbed a couple of my female friends and introduced them. He didn't seem interested in them. So Noah and I started wrapping up our conversation, and I gave him my business card. I didn't really know how to ask for his phone number so I missed my opportunity. When am I going to learn? While the whole interaction did make me smile, it also made me remember that I wasn't always the well-dressed guy.


In fact, between high school and college I went through about three fashion phases. During 9th grade, I had somewhat of a nerdy/grunge look - I had acne, braces, and wore oversized plaid shirts and baggy jeans. The high school in-crowd took me in during 11th grade after I ditched the braces and lost the acne. My style switched to a hip-hop look since that's what was in at the time. I still wore baggy jeans but I wore Adidas, a lot of jerseys and bright colored XXL activewear even though I was only a Medium. By the time I won Homecoming King I was leaning towards more of a preppy look. This helped me a lot when I was rushing fraternities in college. I wanted to be a part of one of the two best fraternities on campus - one which resembled an Abercrombie & Fitch ad and the other looked and acted very spoiled like the guys from the movie The Skulls. I'll let you guess which one I ended up joining.

I started working at the clothing store as a sales associate my freshman year in college, and it's taught me a lot about fashion and style. The two can actually be very different. Someone can be very fashionable but lack a sense of personal style. I've only decided within the past couple of years that I would rather be known for having a sense of style than always wearing the latest trends. I'm still working on editing my wardrobe cause I'm somewhat of a shopaholic, but it's all coming together. And with what happened Thursday night, it looks like my decision to pick style over fashion has paid off.

Mexicans & Fresh Meat

Today (or yesterday depending where you are) was Mexican Independence Day. We had tons of Mexican customers at our clothing store over the weekend. The people that are in town from Mexico spend ridiculous amounts of money. I think one customer bought over 40 pieces. I really should know Spanish cause it's part of my heritage, but I just know enough to sell clothes or flirt with someone. While I appreciate the money they spend, they do tend to leave the store looking like a tornado went through it. Is that how they shop in Mexico??

I did my part to celebrate the day by going to this upscale Mexican restaurant/lounge for complimentary dinner and drinks with my co-workers from the nightclub. Can you believe that I didn't have a single alcoholic beverage?? I'm so proud of myself. The cocktail waitress looked at me funny when I said I didn't want any tequila. Part of me wanted a shot so bad, but I've got to be responsible! I have to be up in less than 6 hours, and I didn't need that in my system after such a long day...which brings me to my next topic.

I know it's a little jarring, but let's take a quick rewind to this morning. I woke up to the current president of my fraternity calling for a favor. He was wondering if I could be an alumni speaker at our semi-formal recruitment event tonite. I thought it over for a second, but I had to say no. If you've seen the movie "The Skulls," our semi-formal is like the event that basically called for the prominent alumni of the fraternity to meet with potential new members. I consider myself to be a pretty decent impromptu speaker, but I was annoyed that I was called last minute. I had work and then dinner afterwards anyways so I could only show up to the event for about half an hour at the most....not enough time to stick around and do a speech.

Our event was held at a pretty cool spot -it was like a hidden lounge on the second floor of this huge theater. It was really nice seeing recently initiated brothers, alumni friends, and potential recruits with their dates all dressed up. I was a former recruitment chairman in the fraternity (so I've been in charge of events like these), and I was the last person to successfully bring in a huge number of amazing potential new members (athletes, social directors, musicians, sons of important businessmen) so I have pretty high expectations. I wasn't blown away, but I was pleasantly surprised. There was a pretty good turnout. I was very happy for my active brothers.

Events like these though make me feel a little perverted because I see these younger guys, and I immediately have to remind myself not to look at them as lust objects. I mean these guys could be calling me "brother" by the end of the semester. I'm not saying I haven't had encounters with some of my brothers, but these new guys would almost be 10 years younger than me! I can't be having thoughts like that...well not until they turn 21 at least. So I went around the room and met with the potential recruits that I wanted in the fraternity. I only had half an hour, and I wasn't going to waste it on guys that don't even have what it takes to make a good first impression. It does get a little tedious doing the whole "get-to-know you" introductions again and again with different individuals, but I love meeting people so I've gotten quite efficient and effective at it. I hope the current members favored the same ones I did so they can vote them in, and I can see these new guys in the future. It'll only be a matter of time before someone needs a job or needs a place to party - and I'll be just the brother to ask.

Birthdays & Gifts

I guess this weekend just happens to be Birthday Weekend. Let's count them:

1) one of my fraternity little brother's birthday was technically yesterday (Friday)

2) my neighbor/clubbing partner-in-crime's birthday is today (Saturday)

3) my roommate's birthday is tomorrow (Sunday)

4) one of my hot guy friends from a neighboring state's birthday is sometime this weekend

5) one of my favorite fraternity brother's REAL brother's birthday is also sometime this weekend

I obviously don't know the actual days of the last two but I could care less when they really are - I just appreciate the fact that they're in town because of it. I just got home from a VERY late birthday dinner (started at 1am) at a Japanese restaurant that serves Teppanyaki which I highly recommend. It's when they cook fried rice, vegetables, and steak/shrimp/chicken/etc. right in front of you in an entertaining manner. My bill alone came to over $100! (I did buy the birthday boy a couple of shots.) I'm positive this is just the beginning of an extremely expensive weekend.

My fraternity brother (the brother of #5) wants to go get a cabana by the pool tomorrow. So does #4. Then #2 has a dinner planned with a table at a club afterwards during the evening. I'm trying to convince #1, #3, and #5 to all go so I don't have to go club-hopping. #3 just wants me to plan a pool party on Sunday. And on top of it all...I haven't bought any gifts for any of them yet! I'm a horrible friend! Which brings me to the subject of gifts. I use several approaches in my selection process of presents. My favorite one, of course, is just basing my decision on what I know the celebrant would want. Other approaches include asking that person's best friend (if they don't happen to be me) or just asking the person directly. I hate that last one, but I sometimes have to resort to it especially if the person doesn't care for random gifts. What do you think? We would all love to have friends that could read our minds and get us exactly what we want, but we know that is always not the case. What do you do then?