Some of you may remember my last thread on the line my late grandfather in law used to use: “it is hell getting old.” http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?6839-quot-It-s-hell-getting-old!-quot
This is the second story in the series with unique things that occur to you when you become older. Sadly I don’t think it will be the last!
Please let me set the stage for this first. Last week I was invited to a conference in Newport Beach California. This is a seaside community on the south side of Los Angeles. My business partner is in LA so I am used to travelling there often and the experience is always the same amazing clash of cultures as I sit on the plan and watch the locals vs LA passengers walk by. I can always tell who is from Seattle area going to LA and who is from LA returning home from the way they look.
The LA/Southern California crowd is hip especially when it comes to women. It matters not whether they are washing their cars, going to grocery store or in this case, flying home. They will be “dressed to the T” as if they are about to walk on the red carpet at the Emmy awards. Make up, fancy dresses exposing ll manner of “body enhancements,” and attitude that says “I am always looking my best.” Here is a picture if you can’t visualize it:
Exercise does not mean you stop looking like you are searching for a date! Cool glasses and such must be there as would be designer cloths. Lest you think I am insulting the California crowd, fear not as I used to live there for many years and I am speaking fondly of my ex brothers and sisters
. Folks want to look good there all the time.
Now imagine the sharp contrast with the typical Seattle or Pacific Northwest passenger. He/she is probably born in this area or Alaska, and used to the rain and outdoor life. Camping in the mountain in pouring rain at 50 degree temp is more of a norm for them than weight lifting by the beach. Such is conveyed in clothing which is usually full body and functional, designed to keep one warm and farthest from looking like a model. Faces pale from lack of sunshine and nothing remotely like the exposed skin of the LA crowd. Here is a random but representative picture of that:
Lest you think I am picking on them looking this way, I can say all of this not only because I live here now and these are my brothers and sisters, but also because I have become one of them! To wit, I am not fond of shopping so often I ask my wife to shop for everyday stuff for me such as undershirts and socks. As invariably happens, she buys me the wrong size as manufactures play jokes on us with the size numbers on garments. Half the time I ask her to return them. But other times, I think who is going to see my undershirt than my wife anyway? And in her case, she knows it was not me who bought the baggy ones so all is well. So I wear them.
Wait, don’t hit the next link. I am getting to the story. So I land there and the next morning is the conference. I get up early as usual, go and take some wildlife pictures at sunrise. I get back to my hotel and take a shower and get ready for my conference. It starts late that that day so I still have time. I figure I go to the lobby of the hotel to find where the conference facilities are. The hotel is a 4.5 start Marriot Resort and Spa. Did you get that? “Resort and Spa.” This is not your little roadside motel. It is a hip place just like the people. I stayed there not because I want to be hip but because the conference was there.
Anyway, I put on my good cloths consisting of my formal black pants. And it being a hot day, I carry my jacket with me instead of putting it on. I leave my room and go through the outside path to the hotel lobby. I walk by two teenage girls who were waiting for their parents and I get this look from them. Nothing all that unusual but I note in my mind that something was odd about it but couldn’t put my finger on it.
I continue to the lobby. To my surprise, there is no sign for my conference. The lobby is crowded with people and the receptionists are busy checking people in/out and such. I look around and find this hotel bell boy dressed in hotel uniform. I walk up to him and ask where the conference is. He points to the hallway behind him and says it is around the corner at the end of it. As I walk that way I could not help but scan the lobby seating area and again I get a slightly strange look from the people there. I am thinking maybe because these people never seen anyone from Seattle.
I walk down the hallway he showed me and as I do that I start to hear the noises of the crowd so I know I must be heading the right way. As I walk past the halfway point I noticed that I past a huge – 10 foot wide or more – mirror on the wall. I pause wondering if I had combed my hair. Since I had time I decided to backtrack and look in the mirror to be sure. Oh horrors of horrors! No, there was nothing wrong with my hair. I had just had it cut and I had brushed it so it looked perfectly professional. Likewise my black pants looked great. The problem was in between those two parts of my body. There I was, in my baggy, drooping undershirt with nothing over it!!! I had forgotten to put on my shirt!
I quickly look around. Thankfully there is no one around in the hallway. I had a big sigh of relief that I had not continued to the main meeting area. But what to do now? How would I walk past the lobby without the ignorance of my situation that protected me the first time?
Then I remember a line I read once in a book on what to do in embarrassing situations. It said to be open and transparent about it and if possible make it funny somehow. So I put on my jacket, button it up as best as I could which still looked silly as my naked chest with a bit of the baggy undershirt was still showing. I walk back to the starting point of the hallway where the same hotel employee was still standing there. I tap on his shoulder from behind and in shock he turns toward me. In the most relaxed, non-embarrassed tone I ask him, “why didn’t you tell me I did not have a shirt on?” He gave me a big smile and said he would do so the next time! The whole situation got diffused marvelously. I walked quickly through the lobby and put on my shirt and all was well from then on.
As I was sitting in the conference I could not help but remember the old TV sitcoms where they would routinely show people forgetting to put on their pants and shirts and walk outside in their underwear. I would always think that was such a silly thing that no one would ever do. I now know it is possible and importantly, the writer who wrote the plot for those was another 50+ year old with such personal experiences.
It is hell getting old….
This is the second story in the series with unique things that occur to you when you become older. Sadly I don’t think it will be the last!
Please let me set the stage for this first. Last week I was invited to a conference in Newport Beach California. This is a seaside community on the south side of Los Angeles. My business partner is in LA so I am used to travelling there often and the experience is always the same amazing clash of cultures as I sit on the plan and watch the locals vs LA passengers walk by. I can always tell who is from Seattle area going to LA and who is from LA returning home from the way they look.
The LA/Southern California crowd is hip especially when it comes to women. It matters not whether they are washing their cars, going to grocery store or in this case, flying home. They will be “dressed to the T” as if they are about to walk on the red carpet at the Emmy awards. Make up, fancy dresses exposing ll manner of “body enhancements,” and attitude that says “I am always looking my best.” Here is a picture if you can’t visualize it:
Exercise does not mean you stop looking like you are searching for a date! Cool glasses and such must be there as would be designer cloths. Lest you think I am insulting the California crowd, fear not as I used to live there for many years and I am speaking fondly of my ex brothers and sisters
. Folks want to look good there all the time.Now imagine the sharp contrast with the typical Seattle or Pacific Northwest passenger. He/she is probably born in this area or Alaska, and used to the rain and outdoor life. Camping in the mountain in pouring rain at 50 degree temp is more of a norm for them than weight lifting by the beach. Such is conveyed in clothing which is usually full body and functional, designed to keep one warm and farthest from looking like a model. Faces pale from lack of sunshine and nothing remotely like the exposed skin of the LA crowd. Here is a random but representative picture of that:
Lest you think I am picking on them looking this way, I can say all of this not only because I live here now and these are my brothers and sisters, but also because I have become one of them! To wit, I am not fond of shopping so often I ask my wife to shop for everyday stuff for me such as undershirts and socks. As invariably happens, she buys me the wrong size as manufactures play jokes on us with the size numbers on garments. Half the time I ask her to return them. But other times, I think who is going to see my undershirt than my wife anyway? And in her case, she knows it was not me who bought the baggy ones so all is well
. So I wear them.Wait, don’t hit the next link. I am getting to the story
. So I land there and the next morning is the conference. I get up early as usual, go and take some wildlife pictures at sunrise. I get back to my hotel and take a shower and get ready for my conference. It starts late that that day so I still have time. I figure I go to the lobby of the hotel to find where the conference facilities are. The hotel is a 4.5 start Marriot Resort and Spa. Did you get that? “Resort and Spa.” This is not your little roadside motel. It is a hip place just like the people. I stayed there not because I want to be hip but because the conference was there. Anyway, I put on my good cloths consisting of my formal black pants. And it being a hot day, I carry my jacket with me instead of putting it on. I leave my room and go through the outside path to the hotel lobby. I walk by two teenage girls who were waiting for their parents and I get this look from them. Nothing all that unusual but I note in my mind that something was odd about it but couldn’t put my finger on it.
I continue to the lobby. To my surprise, there is no sign for my conference. The lobby is crowded with people and the receptionists are busy checking people in/out and such. I look around and find this hotel bell boy dressed in hotel uniform. I walk up to him and ask where the conference is. He points to the hallway behind him and says it is around the corner at the end of it. As I walk that way I could not help but scan the lobby seating area and again I get a slightly strange look from the people there. I am thinking maybe because these people never seen anyone from Seattle
.I walk down the hallway he showed me and as I do that I start to hear the noises of the crowd so I know I must be heading the right way. As I walk past the halfway point I noticed that I past a huge – 10 foot wide or more – mirror on the wall. I pause wondering if I had combed my hair. Since I had time I decided to backtrack and look in the mirror to be sure. Oh horrors of horrors! No, there was nothing wrong with my hair. I had just had it cut and I had brushed it so it looked perfectly professional. Likewise my black pants looked great. The problem was in between those two parts of my body. There I was, in my baggy, drooping undershirt with nothing over it!!! I had forgotten to put on my shirt!
I quickly look around. Thankfully there is no one around in the hallway. I had a big sigh of relief that I had not continued to the main meeting area. But what to do now? How would I walk past the lobby without the ignorance of my situation that protected me the first time?
Then I remember a line I read once in a book on what to do in embarrassing situations. It said to be open and transparent about it and if possible make it funny somehow. So I put on my jacket, button it up as best as I could which still looked silly as my naked chest with a bit of the baggy undershirt was still showing. I walk back to the starting point of the hallway where the same hotel employee was still standing there. I tap on his shoulder from behind and in shock he turns toward me. In the most relaxed, non-embarrassed tone I ask him, “why didn’t you tell me I did not have a shirt on?” He gave me a big smile and said he would do so the next time! The whole situation got diffused marvelously. I walked quickly through the lobby and put on my shirt and all was well from then on.
As I was sitting in the conference I could not help but remember the old TV sitcoms where they would routinely show people forgetting to put on their pants and shirts and walk outside in their underwear. I would always think that was such a silly thing that no one would ever do. I now know it is possible and importantly, the writer who wrote the plot for those was another 50+ year old with such personal experiences.
It is hell getting old….
