Chuck & Beans is spot on :)

Chuck & Beans

So I guess I'm easily recognizable...

About two months ago, I was at a Seattle Sounders game. We had won in thrilling fashion, and I was proceeding to leave the stadium with friends. Out of the sea of people that were filing out, I heard a shout, "Erwin?!" An old friend who I haven't seen in a while spotted me. Naturally I was caught off guard. We did our customary hello how are you doings, introduced our wives to each other, then parted ways. Carol made a comment to me after it happened, "I think you're easily recognizable." Really? I'm I that recognizable?

Fast-forward a month later, walking near Pike Place Market with Carol. "Erwin?!" someone blurts out in front of me. Caught off guard again, it takes me a good 10 seconds to register that the person in front of me is a friend from all the way back to high school. She just happened to be visiting Seattle. We greeted each other quickly as she was in a hurry, then parted ways.

Come to think of it here have been countless times this has happened to  me. These are just the two recent times that come to memory. It makes me wonder though. Am I really that recognizable that people would stop and greet me? I'm pretty clueless when it comes to recognizing people on the the street. 80% of the time if you walked by me, I wouldn't realize it was you walking by, and you would be offended. It could be that I'm preoccupied in my head 80% of the time...

Anyhow, I've also wondered-- I'm sure I have a doppleganger or two out there. Side note: if you are not familiar with the term doppleganger, it is a German term for "double walker," and it's my favorite word to use for someone out there who has a similar likeness to me. I only came to know this term from reading comic books. As I was saying, there must be a doppleganger of me. I've been told several times by people that they met or saw someone that looks just like me. Well, maybe you really did see me, but I just didn't acknowledge you. I doubt that because most people would let me know if I dissed them. Anyway, my point is what if you mistook one of my dopplegangers as me and you yelled out "ERWIN!" It must've happened already right? Has anyone mistakenly called out to someone, only to realize that it wasn't the person you thought? And have any of you done this to any of my dopplegangers? I'm sure it happens because it happened to me! But that will have to be another story for later...

So I bought orange pants...

We were in the mall the other day, and I strangely resolved to look for bright-colored pants. Is this me trying to be fashion-forward? Or is this me trying to have fun with my clothes? I've learned that the clothes I wear make a statement and sort of precludes my attitude-- if that makes any sense. My search for bright-colored pants brought me to Carol's suggestion of Express. Now, I've been in this store before, but I had never bought any clothes from there in my life. But we figured of all the stores, Express would definitely have bright-colored pants. Sure enough... I spotted them quickly upon entering the store. There was a wide array of colors from bright blue, mint green, to orange. For some reason, orange seemed to speak to me.

"I'm your color. You must wear me." So two things about me: I'm a good listener, and I'm easily convinced. Orange pants wins! I bought them among other things-- my first purchase from Express! As I carried my bag, something occurred to me. Naturally, it's called "buyer's remorse." The flood of doubts came... Am I going to look foolish in these bright orange pants? What am I supposed to wear with them? Will they make me look gay? (*stereotype alert* you know, because all gay guys are stylish!)

There's no turning back now. I could return the pants but that's like saying that I don't have the balls to wear what I originally wanted. And that's pretty sad. So I'm going to wear these orange pants, and I'm going to wear them proudly!

And well, these pants do look pretty good on me!

Stories that beg to be written

The other day I realized something. I've got stories that beg to be written, but I don't write them down. Why is that? I think the easy answer is that I just don't prioritize writing these days. Now my brain-- or is it my heart-- a combination of brain and heart (BREART!) is telling me, "Hey! We need the damn stage!"

"Oh, okay."

So here's the deal. This blog hasn't been worked on in ages, and I've done this before to only go back and neglect it again. I don't know if that is going to happen again, but I'm going to try not to repeat my same patterns. I'm going to be writing offline and make sure I have something in queue to post to help me build some momentum. I'm not sure what the result is going to be, but I think it's going to be good. That's my opinion though, so who knows?

All right, stories that beg to be written, you now have your stage...