Pilcrow

I mentioned recently that during Decibel Festival, I decided to wear my button-down shirts each night. At least since moving to Seattle and not having to wear button-down shirts to work, my default mode of wearing that style of shirt has been untucked and unbuttoned, just tossed loosely on like a light jacket, unless I was actually going to a meeting or some formal occasion. For Decibel Festival though, I actually wore them properly buttoned and tucked in, and somewhat to my surprise I found I liked it, because I felt like I looked good, I felt a bit stylish. I was also reminded that I really did like a couple of those shirts that I never wore precisely because they always felt just slightly too nice to wear loosely as was my norm. 

This week I'm working full-time at KEXP, and with the weather cooling off I've wanted to have something more than just a t-shirt, so I've continued wearing my button-down shirts, buttoned and tucked in. And I'm still finding it surprisingly comfortable and nice. I am looking forward to the weather cooling off a touch more so I can wear my nice thin sweaters instead of these shirts, but I'm really not minding the shirts. 

Some of these shirts I've had for at least a decade; I know one must be a dozen years old by now, and maybe a couple others. So it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to go looking for a couple new shirts to put into the mix. I also discovered during Decibel Festival that three of my really nice shirts, reserved for special occasions, actually not only don't fit me at all, being much too baggy in the sides and under the arms, but can't have ever fit me properly and I should've never bought them in the first place. So I need to give those away, but I've got a few nice shirts that I bought in the past couple years that do fit me well, so I should be all set for that for a bit.

The difficulty I have with buying shirts is that my arms are unusually long for my height. I've read that on average, a person's arm span is about equal to that person's height; well, my arm span suggests that I'm six feet tall, but no matter how I try I can't get the doctor's office to find me any taller than five-foot-five-and-a-half. (No, my big curly hair doesn't count.) So I need to get shirts that fit my body properly but with extra-long sleeves. I've also found in the past that the collar ought to be (or claim to be) size 16 (16 inches?), so that if I have to button the shirt all the way up and wear a tie I won't feel choked; but again, shirts that size tend to be too big on me. It's troublesome.

I'm not really keen to go clothes shopping right now, as money's still way too tight, but it is about that time of year when I do buy new clothes, so I should probably go take a look.