Saggy pants, styleless hair styles and skater shoes.

I know I am old, I am quietly coming to grips with that fact, but I like to hold tight to the fantasy that lives only inside my head that I am still just a tiny bit cool. I guess the give a way to the fact that I am uncool is I still use the word cool.

I remember discovering cool, I believe it was around 7th grade. I started to realize that girls were not icky. Not only that, but if you didn't go around playfully tackling them to the ground, they would actually talk to you, and even hold your hand if you found the right one. From that time on, I made sure I wore clean 501's and a clean t-shirt to school. I didn't wear anything 'funky' or anything that I am too embarrassed to have a picture of, well maybe that terry cloth Hobie shirt with the Hawaiian print.

Other then a few years in tech sales, when I wore business casual most of the time, basically I have not changed my look too much over the years. I don't wear 501's any longer, they don't fit me as well as they used to and the fact that Levi-Straus has been taken over by liberals. I wear Wrangler jeans mostly. I wear t-shirts, mostly Carhartt or Dickies brand because they are thicker than most others I have tried, unless I have a day when I am in meetings when I wear a polo or button up shirt.

So that's me, Mr. Style.

My son, on the other hand is very conscious of his 'look'. Thankfully he is in a school that requires students to follow a dress code. But in his off time, he wants to wear the cool t-shirts with the cool skater brands. Hurley, Adio, DC and so on. The pants he wears are baggy and he likes wear them without a belt. I see the kids with their pants around their thighs and he doesn't wear them hanging off his butt, but he is always pulling them up. Why don't wear your belt I ask, he says it's uncomfortable. I make him put it on anyway. I know, that is so cruel, I'm sure I am stifling his independence or his finding his own place within his world or some other feel good nonsense.

As for the hair style, long and shaggy seems to be 'in' these days. I don't mind the hair over your collar, heck I had that in high school, the thing that gets me is that the style is not to touch it with any kind of hair styling tool. No combs, no brushes, jut wash it, shake your head back and forth and presto, it's done. I call it the sheep dog look, but hey what do I know, I am old.

I now have to resort to trickery to get my son's overgrown briar patch trimmed back. This past time, I used a trip to the music store. We had a day off together and I asked he wanted to go to town to check out a few guitars at the music stores in Woodland and Davis. He jumped at the chance and once I had him in the car I sprang the trap. Well, while we're in town, lets get your hair cut. Noooo.

Heh, heh. Sometimes you have resort to trickery to meet your goals, especially when your old and un cool.