proper gym attire

Everybody is trying to put in their hours at the gym to get that summer body. Some people may have never set foot inside a gym before in their life. All I have to say is “Shame on you, the ARC is awesome and it is FREE!” I am a “gym rat” myself, although I may not look it. My diet has been horrible for the last 2 quarters and I have a real nasty sweet tooth; BUT NO EXCUSES! For those who are getting started, I will try and help you with what is appropriate attire and what is not.
As far as I know, the only official rules in the weight room at the ARC concerning attire are: no jeans and no sandals. Jeans will degrade the leather on the benches and cause them to tear. Sandals are a no brainer; you do not want steel dumbbells falling on your footsies. Other than those two restrictions, anything else is pretty much fair game, or are they…?
The following are unwritten rules of fashion inside the weight room which I live my life by. To truly be accepted inside a room full of stinky, sweaty, testosterone driven people you have to become a stinky and sweaty person. Try to look as “tore-up” as possible. Take myself for example. I head to the gym immediately after class and everyone can agree that I look like, for a lack of a better word “crap”!
A lot of people make the mistake of prettying themselves up before heading to the gym. You are here to sweat not hook up; although more power to those who hook up in the weight room. The problem I have with these people is that they are there to socialize, thus occupying equipment and space in an already crowded and hostile environment.
Proper gym attire can be linked to the fashion hierarchy in the Ming Dynasty (Chang). Cut off shirts and wife beaters should only be worn by the truly fit and the ladies, not the hairy brothers. The gym is not the place to be rebellious with your fashion Chewbacca (Kawamura). Certain people should be allowed to wear certain things and others not. I know I sound like a hater; but in my defense, I am well documented hater and if you are in the weight room as much as I am it becomes unbearable.


p.s. yall some really coo cats and it's been really coo kickin it with all yall for the last 10 weeks. goodluck with finals and ill catch yall around.

:o

This blog is kind of really late. The reason being is I was up for 4 consecutive days and 3 consecutive nights trying to get all my projects done. As a result the nonsense that everyone was anticipating had to wait just little bit longer. As usual, much of these “all-nighters” is spent doing absolutely nothing productive. I found myself chatting online with whoever was still up in the late hours, watching Kobe jump over cars on YouTube, and window shopping.
Instead of looking at shoes I no longer support, I was looking at jerseys I can’t afford. Jerseys are in many ways similar to shoes in terms of marketing and targeted demographic, and in so many ways different. Jersey commercials do not exist for the fact that there is no need to market them. They are subtly advertised whenever an exhibition game is occurring. Jerseys are also strongly driven by hip-hop as with other clothing (Maira). All the cool “gangsta” rappers are sporting the most popular jerseys in their music videos. Jerseys are just as popular and competitively sought after as shoes among the online fanatics (Hans D.C.).
For some time now I have been after the Dallas Cowboys’ Emmitt Smith 1994 75th Anniversary White Variant Jersey. I stopped checking the online forums and as a result I missed the drop date. The size I am after is sold out and the jersey retails at a ridiculous $300.00 USD. Hard to justify a three hundred dollar jersey but I want it and as soon as this shopping embargo is lifted I will do my best to try and not buy it.

i will think of a clever title for this post in time for class

“The more indulgent you are now, the more you will regret it later. Save your money.” (Yahoo!) That little bit of spiritual knowledge is courtesy of the horoscope tab off yahoo dot com. I’m moderately superstitious; not very much into astrology but to have my horoscope unfold the way it did was pretty cool. I will heed the advice of the horoscope and start saving some money. Something great better be coming my way soon or I will get fairly agitated.
There is nothing new for this week in terms of not buying anything. I read professor’s post where she called Kobe and me a bunch of tools! (Valverde) Kobe has feelings too and he needs that multi-million dollar contract from Nike to feed his family and stuff. As for me, it’s hard to defend myself against those allegations.
I’m stressing out at the moment over all this work so this post is not up to par with the other intentionally irrational and ignorant, yet honest rants I’ve produced in the past.

:)

I work at a bookstore. I won’t disclose which one, but I do work at a bookstore. At this bookstore I literally get paid to surf the web for stuff I can’t afford and give customers intimidating looks so they avoid asking me for help. There were a lot of young elementary aged kids in the bookstore on this particular day, so I had to turn up my customer repellent a few notches. Seeing kids in the bookstore really makes me uneasy. Let’s be honest, kids steal. I stole when I was a kid, was exceptional at it too. It doesn’t bother me so much that they supposedly steal from the bookstore, just don’t steal while I’m there. It’s the principle of the matter; do not steal from me!

Unfortunately I had to open my register and ring the kids up. Many of the young boys were “locc-ed out.” They had there oversized baseball caps adjusted at just the precise angle and tilt, tall tee’s with images of 2pac and 50 cent and some Nikes covered by their older brother’s baggy jeans. In their defense, I was immediately taken back by their polite manner and mastery of English grammar and sentence structures. That is beside the point, has style and fashion changed so much since my time? I’ll admit when I was younger my folks use to dress me for school. Nowadays it seems these kids are wearing their folks’ clothes to school.

Fashion and style is erratic and waits for no one; they have and will continue to change over time (Eileen Chang). School uniforms were instituted to curb violence away from schools and to keep the students focused. It appears school uniforms have been lax since my tenure. Maybe violence was never the issue as these little Bone Thugs N Harmony showed me they know their “A-B-Cs.

Clothing has a function of utility whereas fashion functions as a determiner of status (Yuniya Kawamura). I suppose by dressing the way they do, these kids are elevating their status as the rebellious, cool, gangsters they are. No one wants to be the nerdy kid with the “highwater” pants. All the young men position themselves to be the alpha male, the tough guy of the bunch, the captain of the crunch. The only way to be king is to show it, with grills in your mouth and baggy clothing.

Maybe I’m old and senile? Maybe I’m just a hater? Whatever the case may be, pick up your pants, turn off that rap music, and don’t bother me at work young people.

Encore

I have been without cable television for the past year so naturally I don’t watch too much TV. When I do want to watch TV, as was the case this Saturday, I turn to the web. While I was relentlessly searching for Game 3 of the NBA Western Conference Finals online, I had stumbled across a few mislabeled Kobe Bryant Nike commercials. These commercials are relatively recent and I have never given them much thought until now. I will not go into the validity of the stunt; simply apply the laws of physics on your own time.

The biggest concern is that there is absolutely no mentioning of the shoes quality, craftsmanship or rigors of production (Skoggard). When promoting a new line of shoes its worth mentioning that these sneakers incorporate the next generation of air soles or are made of some hybrid, carbon fiber, extraterrestrial technology. But there is no need for that type of honesty; nothing sells better than having one of the most marketable athletes in the world jump over an expensive car.

The video has been viewed millions of times and generated tens of thousands of responses since its initial debut in early April. The actual “Kobe Hyperdunks” are not expected to be available to the public until July or August, in time for the summer Olympics. Again Nike is successful in penetrating the minds and wallets of those “sneakerheads” and “collectors” by creating this media blitzkrieg (Hans). It’s an exact science that specific “colourways” will become extremely limited in the coming months based on all the hype and reasonable price tag of $110; it could retail at over $170 and would still sell.

These shoes are so hot that I am honestly thinking about rescinding my pledge to no longer buy shoes. I am a weak soul so feel free to scream and yell at me in class at any time. On that note, I will leave you with part two of Nike Kobe Hyperdunks.

FIRST!

What simpler way to preserve the world and all its wonders than by not contributing to its destruction. The idea of preservation through conservation is not so much a challenge requiring the contributions of every individual, but rather a solution. Despite what those “haters” may think, I have decided to approach this Compact experiment semi-seriously. I’ve already begun to cut back on my consumption of the finer things in life; so if all goes accordingly, I won’t go crazy and drop out of college after 28 days.

While at work during the morning hours of Saturday, April 19, 2008 I had made what is to be my final purchase of any Air Jordan and Nike affiliated footwear from an online retailer…for the foreseeable future. Like a majority of shoe collectors, I am a poor college student who will be in debt until my late 70s despite a coveted credential from an institution of academic prestige. The lack of monetary funds, overdraft charges and melting credit cards made my decision to stop fairly easy.

It would be great if I could honestly credit the horrid working conditions in which my shoes were made for this early retirement…But that would be a lie (Skoggard). The truth is this young man is financially deprived and “cash rules everything around me” sometimes. Many of the shoes in my collection will be going on sale in the coming days, weeks, and months. Maybe somewhere along the lines, as my shoes gradually disappear, I can convince myself that I am doing it for reasons other than money.