harder than I'd thought...

It's Thursday morning. I'm at my favorite coffee shop, Crema. I just saw my friends Cindy & DJ Murphy. I'm wearing my sweet North Face fleece. Last night was our weekly East Nasty run. I'm having a writer's bottleneck.

Many of you have known me as a bit of a talker. Historically, it's actually how I used to work my thoughts out...rotten luck to those innocent bystanders who were ambushed by my raw thought process.

One of the reasons I grounded myself from reading/writing blogs was this: I'd get so caught up in my own head trying to figure out my thoughts and the thoughts of those around me, I'd occasionally sort of forget that the real world actually exists. So, in my 313 days of penance/freedom, I have gotten MUCH better about not over-thinking, but rather, living.

So, I'm sitting here thinking...

-have I forgotten how to think/ponder?

-do I even remember the dude who wrote all these old handygraham blogs?

-gosh...blogging is harder than I remember.

-do I backtrack and tell old stories, or do I focus on moving forward?

-this blog is getting way too serious.

-my pandora hip hop station kicks ass.

Woah, ok, I think I just needed to get that crap out. I feel way better now. Getting back into blogging is, indeed, harder that I'd thought. Feels like my rhythm's starting to come back now. I owe you guys something fun for wading through that, so I'll leave you with this...

or am I just that shallow???

A few weeks back, REI had a sweet clearance sale, and I just so happened to have a little bit of Christmas money that I'd not yet squandered. I've never really had a clothing budget. I buy new clothes as inexpensively as possible when the old clothes are so worn out that they don't do the job anymore.

Anyway, I bought two articles of North Face clothing because they were SEVERELY discounted. I've always liked North Face clothing, but simply can't justify dedicating that much of my budget to clothes when it could be so much more enjoyably spent on big cheeseburgers, fries and chocolate malt shakes. Fat Mo's anybody?!?

That being said, I absolutely LOVE my North Face fleece jacket. I'd wear it all the time if I could. If handymanning weren't such a dirty job, I'd wear it to work. It's wicked soft. It's considerably warm. It actually fits me! I have a terrible time buying clothing because I'm slim, and I have long appendages. If I buy a "large" shirt, the sleeves aren't long enough. If I buy an "extra large," the sleeves are good, but the body fits me like a rain poncho. This jacket fits me amazingly.

I have a confession to make. I'm an incredible sucker for a good logo. In high school, I was like an Adidas poster child. I still think the original Adidas logo is amazing. I like the font of the letters and the little "flower" (i guess you'd call it) insignia. I always wore Adidas in high school.

The North Face logo speaks to me as well. I just like the simplicity of it. The question I often wonder is: am I attracted to this because it's the "in" thing? My buddy Hunter, who works at REI, was telling me about people who go into REI to buy things because of the logos. They come into the store on Saturday mornings when the people for whom REI originally came into being are actually out doing things outdoors. It's the same people who buy Hummers to drive around the city. So much capacity put to so little use.

I'd just finished a seven+ mile trail run before I bought my North Face jacket, so why do I still feel like a fraud having one? Maybe the same reason I have trouble calling myself a runner even though I'm clocking 30+ miles a week.

Did I just buy the jacket for the logo? Do I just believe it's better because it says North Face on it? Do I feel just a little more legitimate wearing it? Eh, I dunno. I do know this though: I LOVE this jacket and I enjoy wearing it. Perhaps those other questions don't really matter so much.

Happy Weekend, Friends!