Thrifting

Two reasons I go thrifting: Miscellaneous threads suitable for modification a la Burning Man, and polo shirts. The former could be anything. Once you're out there on the playa, the very last thing you want to do is dress normally. Accept it: You are human, you are a herd creature with a tinge of independence, you are happiest expressing your individuality in the same vein as everyone else. And so if shorts and a t-shirt truly express who you are or who you want to try being a little bit, fine, but you're going to feel foolish and oddly left out. The best way in BRC to not feel like a sartorial idiot is to dress like an idiot. There's simply no escaping it. People who don't -- and there are a few, no doubt demotivated by a misplaced shyness or overdone reverse sense of rebellion -- they stick out like sore thumbs (or pinky fingers with a torn tendon, to use a personally applicable example). More importantly, I don't think they have as much fun.

Polo shirts are something else, though. Merely work attire. I pretty much wear polo shirts only, and I'm sick of the company-related and customer-given old shirts I have. So I go to the various thrift stores to see what they've got. The selection is very limited. Most polo shirts are in truly hideous colors. This befits their use at bowling alleys and country clubs. It cracks me up that for a stupid and elitist game, golf also has the ugliest damn clothes. But here and there I find a treasure, something in black or navy with a logo that meets my criteria, i.e. has nothing to do with:

a) Polo, Ralph Lauren, alligators, or any other fashion industry icon
b) Computers or computer networks
c) Golf
d) Major league sports teams
e) Anything else disinteresting in the moment

What I'm wearing right now, for example, says

Sutter Medical Center
Sacramento
Top 100 Hospital
2001 & 2002

embroidered in various attractive fonts and colors. Cool, eh? Totally random. I'm particularly fond of construction companies and concrete suppliers. Today for under two bucks I got a polo shirt for the parts department at a Subaru dealer. But did I get anything Burnish? Seriously, you have to go there and find me if you care to find out.