What’s Old Is New

Regardless of its triviality, I need to immortalize the t-shirt I wore today because 1) I’ve had it for more than 15 years, and 2) I wore it for the very first time today.

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I bought it in the very early 1990s when I took a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s famed Ennis-Brown House in the Hollywood Hills above Los Feliz (apparently now as a foundation tries to raise a gazillion dollars for its restoration it’s just being called “Ennis House”). Though listed as an XL size the garment was always too snug for comfort and was thus relegated to the various closests and dressers over the years.

As I was getting ready to bike downtown today in honor of Bike To Work Day I was about to do so donning my ratty old Y2K Bike To Work Day shirt. Deciding against that choice I shuffled through my shirt drawer and found this at the bottom, folded neatly. Though I’ve occasionally hauled it out to try on before quickly ripping it off my back because it hugged me in all the wrong places, I’ve never thought about parting with it. Instead I’ve always refolded it carefully and put it back — in part because I’ve long toyed with taking the shirt into a tattoo parlor and getting that stylized textile block graphic inked on my shoulder.
So today came yet another try on and this time instead of taking it off I tucked it in and away we wentfor its long-overdue debut.

Next I’ll have to get out my always-too-tight souvineer tee from when I ran a leg as part of a Sparkletts team in the 1990 Jimmy Stewart Relay Marathon. I’ll see about keeping that try-on from becoming a Kodak moment, but no guarantees.