What I'm Thinking About

Hi friend,

This is a more a placeholder than a post.  Summer gallops along around here and I just hang on.  With fall is always the promise of sharpened pencils and a new routine, a fresh notebook and a new schedule, and more time to keep track of my thoughts.  In summer they slip by unmarked.

And I'm about to dash off somewhere, but I noticed that I've been thinking lately about vanity.  I have an uncomfortable combination of vanity and indifference.  If I were only vain that would be easier, because I would be motivated to do what is necessary to be as pretty as I could be.  Or if I were only indifferent it would be easier, because I could live the life I wanted and not worry about how I look while living it.  But I'm in between, and that combination is very hard -- I can't seem to let go of either the vanity or the indifference.  So instead I am often disappointed in how I look, and then impatient or ashamed of myself for thinking about it.  Or if vanity takes hold I don't particularly have the skills (because of a lifetime of indifference) to prettify myself even when I try. 

I don't know whether it is possible to change, through earnest self-improvement, either the vanity or the indifference.  Perhaps the solution is technique and skills.  Perhaps they should write magazines about improving one's appearance, in three or four easy steps.  Perhaps I should look for something like that.

Okay, dashing off outside to a beautiful place near the water.  No time to write.  

Comments

[AL]

"Perhaps they should write magazines about improving one's appearance, in three or four easy steps."

Love it.

[Jacqueline]

Most things that improve your health also improve your appearance. If you're not healthy underneath pretty clothes and makeup are just papering over problems. So focus on being healthy first and nice skin, hair, figure, etc. usually follow.

Once you've got that down, then long hair, skirts, and mascara will probably give you the greatest marginal return for marginal effort.

[AverageWhiteGuy]

From a Heterocentric Middle-Aged Man:

I second Jacqueline, with the addition of...

scarves.

Why oh why don't more American women emulate their French counterparts is puzzling: it seems to be an cost-effective way to glamorize a wide range of wardrobes. That said, they're rare enough here (where Midwest-meets-mountains) that any sightings immediately put me in a better mood.

[Noel]

I hung with the nerds in school (well, I was a nerd) and it was part of our creed that appearance wasn't important. That is of course false and stupid. First impressions count. Spending time on appearance is a smart thing to do if you want to accomplish anything. You have to look the part to get through the door.