a musing julius…

those who know me will understand when i say i’m not a big costume person. clearly, a lot of people are. but when talking to my friend just this past thursday before halloween, she called me a halloween grinch (hopefully, in an affectionate manner) and it got me thinking…why do people dress up?

i think the main reason is it gives people the chance to be something they’re usually not. in fact, the morning radio show i listen to on the way to work discussed halloween as exactly that, a time to be something that you’re not. live out a dream or fantasy for a day. do something outrageous…

i’m of the opinion that if you have a dream or fantasy you want fulfilled, you should probably just do it. are you dressed up as indiana jones…then you probably should have chosen a degree in spelunking and anthropology. decided to dress up as maverick from top gun…maybe you should have gone to aviation school. seriously, why dress up as something like a doctor or pilot or a president when you could have gone and DONE those things. do some outrageous once a year, but leave the other 364 days to your fairly benign life dressing up as…yourself, like the 3 layered pastel-colored collar-popped polo shirts with a sweet set of $5 aviators.

obviously, my theory explodes when the dude dressed up as a banana shows up to your halloween party. or the 22-year old dude dressed up in an 8-year old’s pajamas (which was a sweet costume by the way.) if you’re gonna dress up, why not dress up as something impossible to be, like the girl dressed up as an angel with her hand down some dude’s pants on the dance floor at the bar, or the girl dressed as a bumblebee (whom i coincidentally fell in love with multiple times when the whole idea wasn’t ruined by the image of a girl from the blind melon music video)

anyway i probably won’t dress up until i can think of something as creative as the guy that walked in with a lampshade on his head and table around his waste. he was a “one night stand.” rocked my face off.

poland is less than 300 kilometers from where i’m sitting right now, and its the land of my ancestors, and my entire family outside of my parents. i haven’t been there in 15 years. so being in germany, this is the perfect opportunity to take advantage of the close proximity and visit for a short period of time. so i bit the bullet, bought a $500 ticket from munich to poznan, and will be flying there tomorrow morning.

i haven’t seen my grandfather in about 7 years. maybe longer. i haven’t seen grandma in nearly a year. i haven’t seen my aunt and uncle in 15 years, and i haven’t seen my cousins in nearly 18 years. its been forever. so tomorrow, i’ll wake up nice and early, drive 2 hours to munich, jump onto a prop plane that has 18 seats total, and land in my dad’s hometown at lunch time, when my grandmother (who drives a mean stick shift btw) will pick me up to take me to a home she built almost 10 years ago, but i have yet to see in person.

allegedly poland has changed immensely since i’ve been there last, and i’m interested in seeing some of the changes (though it has been so long, i probably won’t notice.) this time around, i’ll have a camera, so i can document my adventures.

aspiring radass and i agreed that 2008 was going to be a year of travel adventures. here’s another to add to my list.

here are some helpful fashion tips for men and women coming from america to germany to help with cultural acclimation.

• men’s shorts should be no longer than 3 inches above the knee.
• sandals and socks: not only accepted, but preferred!
• capri pants are generally not worn by women, but usually by men (in case they want longer shorts)
• dress shirt, tie, and spandex bike shorts are considered casual “going out” attire
• popped collar rules are still considered a large negative indicative of a “tool”
• walking with a german flag anywhere on your body at any time is acceptable and usually greeted with enthusiastic shouts of nationalism.
• shirts that have the name of an american city or university that are usually considered “the sign of a tourist” are actually cool in germany cause it means you’ve been to or spent time in america.
• short sleeve button up shifts are the sign of a very sporting and active person.
• north face here means what it means everywhere else: you rarely spend time in the sub-arctic circle, but you’d like to think that if you somehow found yourself there, you’d be well prepared with your matching north face shirt, backpack and fleece.

hopefully these tips will help you out on your next adventure to……spaaaaaaaaaaaace (or germany)

after nearly 3 years in the state of michigan, i finally decided to apply for a state driver’s license. mainly because my illinois one was due to expire, but i figured its about time for me to cut free of my last illinois tie, and make the switch to michigan, and make a largely symbolic conservative vote in an area that’s consistently recognized as one of the more liberal in the country. (despite my year-over-year homer picks in fantasy football, it’s not happening in the general election) 

as everyone knows, the dmv secretary of state is the mecca of poor photographs. so imagine my surprise, that after 3 years of living in michigan, and nearly 5 years since my last photo was taken for the illinois license, i was shocked to see my new picture was actually…good. my old ID…well aside from looking nothing like me, contained an awkward and forced smile of an overweight college frat guy who went to the secretary of state to get a license that wasn’t covered in red “under 21″ reminders. 

my passport photo, which is less than a year old, needs to be changed too. i look like i stole some other passport to fly internationally. so shockingly crazy, that i bet airport security officials that have checked my passport have stayed up late at night thinking about how they let someone through the cracks, and it’s all their fault…ok, maybe not, but still.

anyway, i look at pictures just 12 months old, and i cannot recognize myself. pictures from college don’t appear to be me, and range from me looking like a 16 year old just learning to drive, to a 47 year old man who just got through a divorce.

it’s just amazing how a good driver’s license picture can make me think all of that.

this morning, in our pre-op exam room, i was once again reminded about the importance of family. i obviously drove home to chicago from detroit to be with my dad while my mom is in surgery, and just holding my mom’s hand was enough to comfort her.

but i noticed a young gentleman, maybe a few years older than me, coming into surgery by himself. no one was there to hold his hand, comfort him through whatever he was going through. it got me thinking about the old adage that family is the most important thing in the world.

sitting in this hospital room, i’m calm and pleased, that our family is close-knit, and we can be here for each other, through whatever, whenever.

each spring, a co-ed group of various ages and backgrounds gathers at a grassy field in old t-shirts, cleats and colorful nike shorts to play a game with a plastic disc. ultimate frisbee is ridiculous, a sport more closely aligned to basketball without dribbling, and football without downs.

i hadn’t seen the people i play frisbee with in nearly 5 months. but many of the people i play frisbee with are my good friends during the season. i trained for the detroit marathon with one girl who plays frisbee with us, one guy became a close friend of mine, and i mentor another in life and career advice (weird, i know, i’m so young.)

frisbee was the first social group i met in detroit after i moved here. its strangely exciting, because each tuesday, we talk about life, children, work, relationships, vacations, religion, politics, and more life. i know more about the people i play with than m neighbors. my fellow frisbee-ers were some of the first to know about my girlfriends, my breakups, promotions and stuggles at work. they were the first to know i decided to run a half-marathon. people announced pregnancies, engagements and new jobs. the group is incredibly unique and diverse.

come winter, we all split ways, and wait 5-6 months until we can see each other again. when we do start up, we say happy new year, and pick up where we left off. like nothing has changed. new people join the group, old people leave, but the pulse of the group is constant, positive and vibrant.

 so that all happened today. a happy new year to a number of people, and a start of a great season, on a sunny 70 degree day, with great field conditions, 7 on the line, and subs, my first day of the season set a great template for how the rest of the year will go. it’s gonna be a great season.

while out and about roaming the streets of chicago on a sunny 54 degree day, i realized that i miss chicago tremendously. i mean, i always knew i missed chicago, but never this much.

chicago is my home. as a city, it represents the place where i always felt like “settling down.” i want to treat chicago like my home base. coming back to chicago, would be a triumphant return. chicago represents a pinnacle point in my life where i feel like i accomplished everything i could on my own, in a new city, away from home. many of my friends (and my parents) asked me this weekend when i was coming back for good…the truth is, i don’t know, but i know i want to come back. i have to go back.

being in town with stephanie, and being close to friends and parents felt natural, “right”, and so desperately what i want in my life. it felt perfect. it was perfect (aside from trying to park my car) and leaving today left me with a heart that yearns for a girl, my family and a city that is my home.

but i don’t think i’m done here in detroit. i’m not ready to leave this place and i guess only time will tell when i feel ready…

the pensacola marathon was on sunday. and it was incredible. we started on the pensacola bay at 6:30 in the morning…the sun rising over the water, a gentle strong ass wind in the face.

my goal for the race was running a 1:50:00. i thought it a reasonable goal, but even the day before i left to florida, i told my co-workers a more “realistic” goal was 1:54. well, i ended up running a 1:47:58. the pace was 8:15 a mile, for 13.1 miles. i finished 64th overall (5th in my age group of 25-29), thanks to a last minute sprint to the finish where i passed two individuals.

but in the end i drove 1982.2 miles, to run 13.1 miles. was it worth it? absolutely. was it a lot of driving? yes. am i tired as hell, yes. how tired am i, here’s an example.

sunday: wake up at 5am, run 13.1 miles.
monday: wake up at 5am, drive 991.1 miles for 15 hours, arrive home at 10pm, unpack, sleep
tuesday: wake up at 6am, pack, get on a plane at 7pm, fly for 5 hours, arrive in seattle for work at 2am detroit time.

tomorrow, i wake up at 6am to work my ass off until 6pm, then go out drinking with some germans.

in the end, i’m sleepy, really really sleepy…and i did a lot of driving. but i ran fast. and that’s good.

two days ago, i celebrated my 25th birthday with my closest friends from detroit (and dc!) never have i ever felt so blessed or lucky or loved in my life. 20 of us celebrated at proof bar from 9pm to 3am, drinking, talking and laughing the night away. it felt amazing for all of my friends to come together, talk, gather, enjoy life in a place that was new to most of the individuals. people met, talked, danced, drank, and enjoyed life!!!

i got to thinking…how lucky i was to have my aspiring radass fly to detroit to spend my birthday with me (and bring an original radass card, which is now prominently displayed in my bedroom) and how lucky i was to have people come out to detroit (not a small feat for those coming from ann arbor.)

the next day, my parents called and sang happy birthday to me no less than 6 times. even today, the day after, my parents sang their favorite, “happy after-birthday” song (which is just happy birthday with “after” thrown before each time you’d sing birthday) 

it makes me tear up, thinking about how great my friends and family are. it was all just so memorable. i’ll never forget this weekend…for many reasons…but mostly because i felt so lucky to be around such wonderful people.

thanks again everyone!

i wanted to rant about some things today. bear with me.

1. the tankdress: tank tops that are too long to be tank tops, and too short to be dresses. usually worn with shoes (underwear optional)
2. political speeches: the most recent egregious speech i heard: kathleen sebelius starting the democratic response to the state of the union by saying, “i’m not going to offer a partisan response today, but an american response.” and then proceeded to riddle off her paty’s agenda providing a more partisan response than the actual state of the union
3. kwame kilpatrick: the mayor of detroit perjured himself in court, cheated on his wife, and swindled the city of detroit out of countless thousands of dollars. now he’s going to go to church and provide an explanation (a la bill clinton) and not resign from office.
4. the church and politics: quickest way to get your constituents to believe your apology: head to church. your story holds more weight if you tell it from the pulpit instead the front of your gated community.
5. that panera cashier: i don’t know what her issue is, but every time i place my order at panera with this woman, “hi, can i get a you-pick-two with broccoli cheddar and frontega chicken please.”  she’ll repeat, “oh, okay, so a you-pick-two, with, tomato right? no. broccoli cheddar. and you wanted the smokehouse turkey? no. frontega chicken. ok, anything to drink?” seriously, just LISTEN to what i’m saying.

anything else bothering anyone? i’m happy to listen.