Einstein's comb

(Pre-Script: Wanna be startin' something? Then pair the song, "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" with this post...go down to the playlist, click it on, it's #53, then come back and resume reading. I'll wait...) (...still waiting...)

I can listen to a song I love over and over. I think that's a cool feature of mine, it makes it so I learn the songs layer by layer, each background "Ooh" and bass riff, guess what, I learn it. I sing along or strum along to it. If I am tired of the song, then I move on. This can take a while. I can be this way with my clothes, too....I can get to dressing in a uniform because I have, a ha!!, found the perfect clothes, and I embrace that about myself, I wear it proud and with confidence, until the next perfect outfit comes along. I am also quite deliberate about my accessories. Each one is perfectly "me, at this precise moment," somehow. Children understand this concept. My four year old Ethan lives by this concept. His current uniform is a green long sleeved t-shirt that says "Step up to the plate" in orange letters on the front which I bought off of the Old Navy clearance rack 3 or 4 years ago for his older brother because it was, like, 2 or 3 dollars. The shirt is cool because it now has holes in the cuffs, perfectly placed where Ethan can stick his thumbs through. He pairs this shirt with green sweat shorts that I bought last year, also in an Old Navy sale. The greens clash. On top of this, Ethan usually wears a baseball cap that he got at a car show over a year ago. It's black with the word "Scion" in white on the front. Sometimes he prefers to have his sister Mohawk his hair instead, and on those days he doesn't wear the hat. His shoes are either blue crocs which he picked out himself at Target, or flip flops, usually whichever he can find the fastest. At this point in his life, this outfit is what he wants to wear, as long as it is clean, which is about every other day. He has high aspirations of becoming a rock star someday, he says, and if he realizes this dream, he'll be wearing whatever his style has morphed into at that point, since personal style tends to morph, and people will define him by it, and some people who do not have a clear view of who they themselves are will rush out to buy clothes and accessories to dress just like him, and other people who do not have a clear view of who they themselves are will criticize and put down his style, and other people who have a clear view of who they themselves are will either not emulate his style, but respect him for being who he is, or will like his style, and find ways to incorporate his style into their own style. so he'd better have a good sense of who he is and what he wants to wear. I'm just saying. Children understand this concept, but sometimes let go of it during that hazy period, called "Junior High and High School." (Shiver.) I was not immune to this. I was an American Teenager, but I was not good at being a cool one. It doesn't mean I didn't pour my heart and soul into trying. The societally acceptable mold at 13 was puffy bangs and double layer different colored socks in white Keds with no laces. I think my brain stopped working under all of that Aqua Net and I just nodded and agreed. which was stupid, because even my best attempts left me on the "outside," but I just kept trying to get into the "inside" anyway...I did not see that the "inside" was a tight little claustrophobic space where it's hard to breath or tell who ends where and who begins where.

The air quality has improved greatly since I turned some grown up age and started unleashing myself, instead of trying to keep my true self in a cage. The current perfect outfit that I am wearing over and over happened quite on accident, as such things, when they are genuine, tend to. It started last summer when I decided that I needed shorts. But all I could find in the stores were shorts with imaginary inseams, of the "The Emperor Has no clothes" variety. But Homey don't play that. So this year, I thought "Gosh, I need to get some shorts." But then in a moment of sheer genius, I decided instead to take 3 pairs of jeans that I only semi liked as long pants and cut them into cut offs, just like all the other 12 year olds. (coincidentally, of course.) What these jeans could never be as long pants they now more than surpass as cut off shorts. There is one pair that I like better than the others, so they are usually the ones that I wear. I also have a favorite tank top that I discovered in the spring, and liked so much that I now own 3 identical tanks..but one is somehow better than the others, and I know which one it is, so I usually wear that one. They cost $4.50 each. So my most-day-uniform is not only making me happy every day, it is also quite cost effective, but that is just a side note. I also daily switch between 2 pairs of sandals, and I am also deliberate about my jewelry. My point is, peeps, that I do not wear anything on accident, or because it was the first thing I found in the pile. I wear what feels like perfect clothes. I like my style. When I put mine on, it's done, then I don't have to think about or be self conscious, because I just own it. When you find clothing perfection, embrace it, wherever you find it, baby.
I think that letting your eccentricities, quirks, and tics out is actually a form of brilliance. NOT in a way where you are acting weird and crazy just for the point of being weird and crazy, that's just annoying to be around. True genuine eccentricities are not so contrived, and it is easy to spot the difference; when a person is acting on pure eccentricities uncontrived, it just feels, to everyone around, like he or she is simply breathing...and this is just what happened when he or she exhaled. It feels refreshing, not contrived. The contrived kind feels contrived.

I mean, look at Albert Einstein. He was a brilliant genius. He had eccentric hair. I don't know if he wore his hair that way because he didn't like to cut it, that's just how it grew, and he never gave it a second thought, or if he deliberately liked to leave it that way, but the fact is, he was Albert Einstein, and he had that hair, and now you can say, "Albert Einstein hair" and everyone knows what you are talking about. It doesn't matter any more whether you like it or not, it's not about is it stylish or not, you just know and respect that that is a piece of what Albert Einstein was.

-XOXO,

P.S. Ethan and I are both the 3rd born out of 4 siblings, so that explains us somewhat.