The week is done. It's been a long one. I got home about 10:30 tonight. What a long day... And it was hot today, too...
So it feels quite pleasant sitting outside on the balcony with the cool evening breeze caressing my naked body... enjoying a triple bedtime espresso preceded by a glass of wine (and shopping for three more half-sleeve dress shirts and a brown belt, then toothpaste and other stuff, then a 30 minute walk home after a bath in the onsen and grilled fish dinner, the week's laundry done, the grease cleaned out of the kitchen range fan (major job there...), everything unpacked, and all the damn trash that goes with men's dress shirts tossed out...)
Have you ever noticed how much garbage it takes to package up men's dress shirts? Oh my God! The paper and cardboard and plastic and pins... it's unbelievable! And when you undo three of them in one shot...
I got off at Mizue tonight to see if I could get any half sleeve work shirts that might fit. As the Japanese have gotten dramatically larger (fatter) over the past 20 years girth is not the problem. The biggest issue is length: sleeves (impossible) and body. I got slim fit large and it is just right in the body but I would have preferred longer. We will see if they stay in my lowrise dress pants.
But they had a sale on the $50 items: if you buy any four it costs $100 so that's a 50% saving bringing each item down to a reasonable $25 instead of the $80 I have paid for all the great shirts (tall) my mom sent me over the past year and a bit. The only problem is now I an dressed just like all the other Japanese guys: boring! The colours and patterns are too basic so I don't really like the. But considering how fast my sweat turns stuff yellow I guess I can live with the boredom...
Ahhhh naked on the balcony....
I'm looking forward to figuring out how to sleep out here once it warms up some more. The only problem with that is that the sun comes up about 3:30am and I really don't want to be blinded and baked awake at that hour... especially since I can't seem to get to bed before midnight or 1am these days/months since moving to Tokyo. So much to do every single night and so few hours left to do it (compared to Fukui). Thank God I have my Y.E.S. Supplements PEOs (EFAs).
Well, time to brush the old teeth and head off to bed.
I love you!
Cam
laughing at the first paragraph.... taken literally you did ALL that stuff naked.
ReplyDeleteCan you find shirts on the internet and order them?
D - All the stuff in the house, and the time on the balcony, yes.
ReplyDeleteAnd I found one shop selling shirts on the net... but the all start in price at about $70. However ther are two shirts I was really interested in because they are dress shirts made from polo shirt material but designed to be worn with ties... That sounds heavenly if they actually fit. Short sleeved ones I could get by with if the body were a bit short. But the tall long sleeved ones... there is a very high possibility the arms will be too short... But it would be a good experiment so today I think I shall!
Steve - I wanted to ask you... do you wear a crisp, ironed shirt and tie uniform? If so do you launder and iron the shirts yourself? I can imagine officers must go through a lot of white shirts... it's a stressful job and with stress comes perspiration... which wreaks havoc on white business shirts...
ReplyDeleteWe wear black shirts now. Very .......... para military looking. It used to be white shirts; I used to take all mine to the dry cleaners who cleaned and ironed them for me.
ReplyDeleteSo if you used to take them... how about now? Do you do them yourself? And how often do you have to replace them? My coloured ones last longer but I've found that all my white ones (I have about five) are showing permanent staining. And as I have about 15 long sleeves that I rotate through in nine months... thats pretty heavy staining...
ReplyDeleteI do them myself now. Black isn`t as difficult to work with as white. It depends what I`ve been up to as to how long I have to replace them; generally every six months.
ReplyDeleteMmmmm... makes sense. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteMust run. my tummy started grumbling...
Try seven diamonds. the brand I mean....
ReplyDeleteNo worries; talking clothing with another bloke is a new experience for me * lol *
ReplyDeleteD - I will. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteSteve - Men's dress shirts... only men can talk about them with any real authority... and today's man can even discuss the starching, laundering and ironing aspects as well!
Ah but I'm not no New Man, Cam. This is all new to me
ReplyDeleteEverybody has to start everything some time...
ReplyDeleteNot sure I'll be making a habit of it, Cam
ReplyDeleteCam, I was shopping for hiking pants for next week's Istanbul trip, and I ended up in the Timberland shop, where I learned something interesting. Timberland licenses their boots to Japan, so they're made to Japanese sizes, but the clothing is all US sized. They have amazing linen dress shirts for summer. Really nice, and extremely breathable light cotton. I don't have the height issue you have, but I have extremely broad shoulders, even for a North American. These shirts are amazing. I highly recommend you check them out, if you happen to spot a Timberland shop.
ReplyDelete