• Saturday, 04/15/2023 ** 17:10 Thinking about getting rid of my graphic tees. I love the fit of many of them but they feel too detailed - it isn't me. There isn't enough room for thinking. I don't want to wear any branding - and I own too much already... I want to reduce down to just a few t-shirts. Going all black would remove any need for cleaning up stains.

There are some choices that I want to make about clothing and some that I don't.

I enjoy choosing clothing that feels more or less relaxed. This lets me adjust how serious I appear to others. If the clothing is loose and flows, it's casual; if it's more of a straight fit, it's serious. If the article of clothing fits tightly, it's 'cool'.

I don't enjoy thinking about visual complexity. It's really hard to get right! Graphic tees take a ton of attention away from the fit of the clothes, but often only in undesirable ways - people look at flashy things rather than appreciating fit. Y-3's SS14 tees have graphics that flow with the garments themselves; this I admire because the graphics don't disrupt the clothing at all. Most of the time, though, the graphic is a loud block that distracts from the person and distracts from their work - which is what really matters.

I enjoy choosing clothing that will suit the current environment. Layering articles of clothing to fit in in the winter can be enjoyable - you have more sillhouettes and combinations of clothing to choose from! - and you need to plan out your day to make sure that your clothing is flexible enough to work for you. Spending the time to think about what you do in a day and what tools would best suit those activities is time well spent.

However, having garments that only work in very specific environments - that you have to worry about and care for - is not. The clothing that I wear should not limit me; I should be able to do whatever whenever without letting silly things like staining a t-shirt or damaging suede or tearing a seam stop me from enjoying life. For this reason I'm wary of fragile or stiff fabrics like wool or silk or etaproof that will look poor if I don't care for them or might limit my movement throughout the day. I should be able to sprint down the sidewalk to catch the bus or jump in a puddle on the street or step out in a rainstorm without worrying about what I'm wearing. I don't have time to worry about caring for things while I'm out - I want to live my life!

All of my regretted clothing purchases have either been clothing that is too fragile, too loud, or that limit my movement. Spilling things that damage my items is a problem - I don't want to be that careful.

Why would I own something that I can't use every day? ** 17:50 What you do every day is who you are.

Right now people know me and contact me for collecting lots of cool images on the internet.

This is not who I want to be.

I want to be known for making beautiful photos and for making beautiful tools that people can use. I want to be known as an expressive, reflective writer and as someone with good taste.

The quality of my work is too inconsistent to be able to say any of these things about myself! I need to:

• Spend less time pretending to learn about doing the thing. I can look at images all I want - and this informs taste, sure - but it doesn't directly teach the skills that I'd like to learn.
• Do the thing. Just work every day and get better and better at it. There is no replacement for actually doing the work and practicing.
• Meet people doing the thing and get to know them. Appreciate their work and spread it like it's your own.
• Care for myself more. Better diet, more gym, more relaxation.
• Get more tattoos. (This is unrelated.)