We all know how important it is to set goals. College students often have summertime goals. It could be to learn a trade or a foreign language, prepare for the LSAT, assist the meek to inheriting the earth, traveling to Budapest, learn to play the ehru, or just get a real cool tan.
It’s been the same goal every year for some time: Go the entire summer without wearing socks.
Something always gets in the way. It might be a family wedding or a funeral, a baptism of a small King, some sort of important meeting with a Congressman or Hollywood studio boss, or a trip to San Francisco. Whatever it is, the goal always falls short.
When summer ended last week the realization hit: no socks.
The fact was driven home when in the laundry room for the third and final summer laundry and no socks started or ended in the laundry.
In a closet on the King Estate there are 30 hangers, used by 30 different formerly pampered Aloha Shirts. These shirts used to periodically go to a nice Haitian couple in Hialeah who ran a dry cleaner. This place was a resort for Hawaiian shirts. They were dry cleaned, perfectly starched, and beautifully folded with tissue paper between each shirt, ready for another trip into the rotation.
As money stopped coming into the King Estate, one of the niceties that had to go was the pampering of the Aloha shirts. It was off to the rough and tumble life of Maytag. To avoid over-shocking these delicate shirts, laundry day has been reduced to a dozen times a year. Old friends can even tell how close it is to laundry day by what shirt makes it through the rotation.
But this isn’t a tale of Aloha shirts or the hard times at El Estado del Rey. It’s about socks, or to be more exact: non-socks.
As goals go many may scoff at the idea of not wearing socks for a season as a goal.
But what is the point of life goals? As you get older and realize goals have been attempted, and reasonably often met, the need for life goals looses their importance.
Why scoff at the idea of a life well led, ready for the relaxation earned? What would be wrong with dolce far niente?
Still goals are good. As some life coach said once, goals help you to choose where you want to go in life.
If the objective is to relax and have a stress-free summer, not wearing socks can be a way of achieving the more nebulous goal of relaxing.
Streaks end. Cal Ripken took a day off. Joe DiMaggio didn't get a hit one day. Sugar Ray Robinson was knocked out by Jake LaMotta. At some point the temperature will drop and toes will get cold.
It isn’t clear how long this sock-free summer goal has been a motivation, but when the realization hit that socks hadn’t been worn for three straight summertime laundry cycles, it builds motivation for more goals to be set and reached.
Is there anything beyond the realm of goal setting and achievement?
Bring on the ehru!
4 comments:
You know...I've never read a column that made me want to forgo my affection for socks. But I think you just convinced me to give it a shot.
I easily can say my favorite line was:
"When summer ended last week the realization hit, no socks."
I think the comma should be a colon, but I'm far from being a grammar-nazi. Besides, the punchline was well-received in spite of it.
Awesome article, man.
As a devoted sandal wearer - and someone who wears shorts year 'round - this column subject rings very true.
Sock wearing is a rarity, with only the cooler fall months (and teaching) being sock months.
I think the column writer used a nice style, mixing in his shirts as a way to describe his entire clothing philosophy.
The mixing of the idea of goals was a little fuzzier, less focused, and needed to perhaps use more clever language about the goal.
The writer did use a good example of how difficult his 'goal' could be:
"Something always gets in the way. It might be a family wedding or a funeral, a baptism of a small King, some sort of important meeting with a Congressman or Hollywood studio boss, or a trip to San Francisco. Whatever it is, the goal always falls short."
I run into the same thing with my clinging to wearing shorts.
What happens when I have to meet with the president of the university?
Well, in that case, where are those old ones with the paint splatters?
Nicely done piece.
An un-socked summer is unheard of where I come from!
I liked both stories here, the socks and the Hawian shirts but mixing them made me want to know more about your shirts trips to the cleaners and how little luxuries have to sometimes be cut. Please do a column just on that! It would make for great reading!
In response to your comment about how no good actors/celebs make it into politics, I'm thinking of doing a poll and column about alternative tickets people would like to see this year! Any suggestions would be great!
Nope. No "this reporter" cop out in here. :)
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