The latest fashion?

I'm not very fashion conscious. If I had any say in the matter, my typical "dress" code is a T-shirt and a pair of shorts. Or a pair of jeans if it gets chilly. So, I'm fairly oblivious when someone walks by with some clothing faux pas. You really have to be blatant for me to notice. Say, for instance, not having a svelte figure and wearing stretch clothing.

Since I spend a lot of time in my "office" at Panera, which happens to be near a mall, I get to see the latest in fashion and it makes me wonder where our society is going in terms of fashion. Today, I watched a teenager walk in wearing a sweater and a pair of shorts that showed so much leg that I wondered if it was a bikini bottom. When she removed the sweater, I saw that she was wearing a top akin to a sports bra with extra fabric at the bottom. It might even be mistaken for a camisole if it were a few inches longer.

After my eyes stopped threatening to pop out from the sight, I saw her friend was wearing something similar, except that it was a mini skirt instead of "shorts". Thankfully, they walked around to another part of the restaurant so that I could regain my composure. I can easily imagine that these outfits are popular with the boys. Especially next year, when these girls are in college.

I've said it often enough, but I can't help asking again why they weren't wearing stuff like that when I was their age. I find it amusing (not to mention distracting) that they wear clothing that shows off so much skin. Yet, I can't imagine what it must be like to be their fathers and have to handle restricting their clothing styles. How do you keep them from wearing stuff like that without losing connection with them?

It's not as if wearing clothing that is suitably modest (or at least something that doesn't make my eyes keep drifting in their direction) really stops them either. Only witness some recent posts I made that covered the not so innocent. If anything, I've learned that a demure appearance can hide something much wilder underneath the skin.

Or I could take a positive outlook and hope that this upcoming generation will carry the new fashion to new levels so that every female is wearing some strips of cloth that barely hide anything. Call me what you will, but I can easily imagine that this is the end result of current fashion. At least until it swings back in the other direction as a reaction to the latest style. Then again, perhaps it's not such a good idea for strips of cloth to become the latest style.

I'm not too prudish, but even I have limits if such fashion becomes the norm. The real question here is whether their new "style" is detrimental to our society. I suppose only time will tell.

Fate makes the choice for me

So, when last I posted, I had mentioned that I had three different job offers. One as a photographer, two as an engineer. I had been of two minds with the sudden quandary in choosing between the three.

I suppose this will be an update on that. One of the engineering offers never returned my call, so that went right out the window. The second engineering offer was provisional on immediate hire, so when I asked for another week to decide, it evaporated as soon as I asked. So much for the quandary.

With that, I am now in training to be a photographer. The pay isn't great, but it isn't terrible either. I haven't really learned anything new when you get right down to it. Most of things they covered I knew before walking in. What I learned in the training was more about how to set up the equipment the way they wanted it and what they considered ideal poses for their "style" of photography.

The hardest part for me was making that human connection with a complete stranger. A rapport which wouldn't last for more than a few hours at best. A major challenge when you're shy. And of greater concern is whether I can mask the shyness and nervousness from my photographic subjects.

Well, that is neither here nor there. My schedule begins next week, whether I am ready or not. By the end of the week, I will find out if I am successful or not.

Hold on a sec!

Somehow, I should have anticipated this. On the day I decide to sign the paperwork to be employed as a photographer, I get two job offers for engineering positions. I'm not sure if what I am feeling is joy or frustration. I shouldn't complain about my good fortune, right?

I finally get to a point where I am taking a step forward towards the career in photography that I have been getting serious about. Just as I take that step, I get yanked back by these two offers. Now, I feel like I am half a step onto a busy street and I see cars careening from either direction at the spot I am about to cross. Which means that I have to choose what it is exactly that I want to do. Again. I just don't understand why these guys waited so long.

What makes me consider these offers after practically walking away from the engineering field altogether? A consistency that a career in photography can never offer. A better pay scale that would allow me to afford a better life instead of living from contract to contract. In the specific field I have an interest in, no less.

Argh! The only question I have right now is, "Now what do I do?" I can't decide. If the engineering job was in some field I didn't want, this decision would be so easy. Maybe I should just flip a coin or something.

In that funky mood.

Yeah, it finally happened. I actually missed posting at least one article every month by not posting last month. First time in nearly three years. I am surprised I have been so consistent for so long. When I started this, I hadn't intended to write for so long or so often. I had some thoughts I wanted to throw out that had been bouncing around in my mind. And it somehow turned into a diary. Another thing I hadn't intended when I started.

As for the recent silence, I've been in a funk, I guess. I have been quite discouraged on the job seeking front. Perhaps the first time that I've ever experienced that I wasn't "good" enough to even rate a response from people I have contacted or applied for a job. Or is it the lack of courtesy from those people?

I recently watched a CNN show that showed that these past two months have been the worst two months in a while for new job hires. A little heartening that I am surrounded by other miserable companions seeking a job. Afraid to lower our standards for what we seek in a job. Knowing that in doing so, we open ourselves to exploitation and the surety that we will be forced into a position where there is no future just so that we can pay the debts we incur today.

I have seen it in myself as I lowered my salary expectations, then lowered the quality of position I seeked and finally gave up on getting a job in the engineering field altogether. I found myself in a position of looking at jobs that don't require a college degree just so that I can may my mounting credit card bills. Looking at minimum wage jobs to even meet the rent so that I don't find myself sleeping in the streets in the upcoming year.

This is after I had already sliced my budget to the bone. At first I found myself giving up creature comforts such as air conditioning, the daily morning cup of coffee, and the occasional visit to the beach. Then I started giving up things I never considered giving up, such as cable and internet access. Now, I find that necessities aren't affordable anymore. My meals are unhealthy at best, often these meals don't even fill me up.

To save money, I find myself opting to ride my bicycle instead of driving my car to do errands, something that is both unusual and dangerous to do here in Long Island. People around here can't do much without a car and have almost no respect for bicyclists on the road beside them. I know too many people who have been seriously injured while on the roads.

None of this is worth really posting about. I suppose it would be more noteworthy if I had written that I considered ending it all (Never even considered it!), but that's not really in my personaility. I am certainly too stubborn to give up. But, I certainly had nothing to say that would make me feel better. Venting about how life is so terrible and unfair just wouldn't change anything, even if I have let a few such posts get by on here.

However, all that is going to change by my upcoming birthday. I have a job offer. A job offer that I fully intend to accept. As a photographer, no less. I'll be doing something that I enjoy doing and the pension plan isn't too shabby either. Best of all, I'll be part owner of the company. Now there's something to shake a stick at. Wish me luck!