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penfield"A man with one watch knows what time it is. A man with two watches is never sure."
- John Peer
I don't wear jewelry. Never wore a crucifix, never had an earring, never (intentionally) pierced my person. For a brief period in 10th Grade I wore simple rope chain given to me by a girlfriend, but it was somehow torn off my neck in the rehearsal of an Oklahoma! fight scene, perhaps by the hand of God. If and when I wear a wedding ring, I think it will feel weird, like an alien adornment.
Unless you count my watch. But you can't, really, because it is functional. Like a pair of glasses or a neck brace. (Or a belt. Although belts straddle a fine line; if they are modest, spartan, tasked only with upholding pants, it is fine. But once you start adding colors, weaves, conspicuously gaudy buckles, etc., the belt crosses over to mere decoration.)
An early morning conference totally disrupted my morning routine today. To avoid inadvertently waking up my slumbering girlfriend -- who, I might as well admit, could probably sleep undisturbed through the roar of a Cessna airplane enging -- I got dressed in the living room of our apartment, while watching the Doppler radar station.
I am citing this unusual procedure as the reason I forgot to wear my watch. In literal contravention to the metaphorical John Peer quotation above, I own two watches: One "formal" watch, a sleek, stainless steel, rectangular-faced designer timepiece from GUESS; and one "casual" watch, a classic leather-banded, circular white-faced Swiss Army watch that may or may not be a knockoff. (I purchased it from an online dealer for way above knockoff price but still way below retail price. I think it's legit.)
For a long time I got along with just the "casual" watch, but there were times I simply felt like it was holding me back from true professionalism. And for a long time I resisted the idea of polygonal watch faces, but ultimately I warmed up to the idea; you can tell by the boxy simplicity and precision of the right angles that this watch means business.
My only mandate, still in effect, is that any watch of mine must have arabic numerals on the face. None of this roman numeral crap, or those little tick marks. If I wanted to count or translate I'd use goddamn sun dial -- at least you don't have to worry about replacing batteries.
So I was without a watch today, and it occurred to me that I don't really need a watch at all; I have not one but two cell phones that each keep good time (though I note with a nod to Peer, never the same exact time) and most rooms, buildings and vehicles these days have prominently placed clocks inside. Does this render my watch redundant? Or worse, superfluous? Or even worse, jewelry?
Maybe I should start wearing my cell phone on my wrist.
- John Peer
I don't wear jewelry. Never wore a crucifix, never had an earring, never (intentionally) pierced my person. For a brief period in 10th Grade I wore simple rope chain given to me by a girlfriend, but it was somehow torn off my neck in the rehearsal of an Oklahoma! fight scene, perhaps by the hand of God. If and when I wear a wedding ring, I think it will feel weird, like an alien adornment.
Unless you count my watch. But you can't, really, because it is functional. Like a pair of glasses or a neck brace. (Or a belt. Although belts straddle a fine line; if they are modest, spartan, tasked only with upholding pants, it is fine. But once you start adding colors, weaves, conspicuously gaudy buckles, etc., the belt crosses over to mere decoration.)
An early morning conference totally disrupted my morning routine today. To avoid inadvertently waking up my slumbering girlfriend -- who, I might as well admit, could probably sleep undisturbed through the roar of a Cessna airplane enging -- I got dressed in the living room of our apartment, while watching the Doppler radar station.
I am citing this unusual procedure as the reason I forgot to wear my watch. In literal contravention to the metaphorical John Peer quotation above, I own two watches: One "formal" watch, a sleek, stainless steel, rectangular-faced designer timepiece from GUESS; and one "casual" watch, a classic leather-banded, circular white-faced Swiss Army watch that may or may not be a knockoff. (I purchased it from an online dealer for way above knockoff price but still way below retail price. I think it's legit.)
For a long time I got along with just the "casual" watch, but there were times I simply felt like it was holding me back from true professionalism. And for a long time I resisted the idea of polygonal watch faces, but ultimately I warmed up to the idea; you can tell by the boxy simplicity and precision of the right angles that this watch means business.
My only mandate, still in effect, is that any watch of mine must have arabic numerals on the face. None of this roman numeral crap, or those little tick marks. If I wanted to count or translate I'd use goddamn sun dial -- at least you don't have to worry about replacing batteries.
So I was without a watch today, and it occurred to me that I don't really need a watch at all; I have not one but two cell phones that each keep good time (though I note with a nod to Peer, never the same exact time) and most rooms, buildings and vehicles these days have prominently placed clocks inside. Does this render my watch redundant? Or worse, superfluous? Or even worse, jewelry?
Maybe I should start wearing my cell phone on my wrist.
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Wedding rings
Date: 2008-06-17 03:56 pm (UTC)There's a point at which most newly married men play with their rings all the time. Then, one starts to get used to it and panics, wondering if it's still there.
These days, I don't give it much thought, exceptions being (a) when I'm doing yard work and (b) when I grab a pole on the Metro and the ring causes a loud "ding" that can be heard from miles away. Oh, and (c) some hot/humid days when my hands swell.
Re: Wedding rings
Date: 2008-06-18 01:24 pm (UTC)Do people ever take wedding rings off? Or do they sleep/shower/play softball while wearing them?
Re: Wedding rings
Date: 2008-06-18 06:34 pm (UTC)