Thursday, July 17, 2008

Are You a Member?

As some of you may know, I'm a big fan of the 80's. Back in February, I started watching a VH-1 show in which a geeky DJ would ask goofy questions of celebrities (the celebrities were not aware ahead of time that the questions they would be getting were going to be so off-the-wall). It's called "Free Radio". I warmed up to the main character, Lance, in no small part because he wore Members Only jackets throughout his interviews.



Go here if you want a taste of what the show is like. I wore a jacket just like the one pictured above from '87-'89. After watching the show, I knew I wanted to purchase another one for old times sake. I couldn't really find any old-school jackets that were reasonably priced, but was able to find some updated ones at Classic Closeouts.com. They had a deal where if you bought $50 worth of stuff, you'd get free shipping. They had quite a number of Members jackets to choose from. I wound up picking out 5.

When they arrived, I modeled each of them for my beloved. She wasn't impressed. She told me that they look like "Michael Jackson", that they're seriously "out-of-style" and asked if I'd think about returning them. I said I'd probably want to keep them. Earlier this spring, I wore one of the jackets in public. I picked the one that looked least like a Members Only:



Nonetheless, my partner laughed in my face as she looked at me with the jacket on as we prepared to leave. In the car, I told her that the jacket made me feel like Speed Racer. A few days later, I wore another of the jackets. When I came home, I was asked if I had actually worn the jacket to work. I had. My boss said upon seeing one of them, that he thought I was more conservative than that. Me? Conservative? No way. I can remember going out to eat at Friday's some time ago and getting several "looks" upon finding my seat. To tell you the truth, I kinda enjoyed the attention.

Last month, Justin Timberlake wore one of the jackets in a scene from the Mike Myers movie "The Love Guru".



I pointed this out to my partner and she said, "Oh, God". This is the jacket that my beloved finds the least offensive:

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow! You know, the more I meet people on here, it truly reminds once again the commonalities we share. My soon-to-be wife also lived in Germany (Viellsecht) twice and misses it a lot. Her dad's story coming from a large family, high school dropout turned ph.D while in the Navy is pretty amazing. I had to move around quite a bit during my early adolescent years. Tough. Still a midwesterner at heart who hasn't lost the accent. Lived in Michigan (five miles from U. of Notre Dame half my life nearly and now here for half.)

You and I certainly also share those bumps in the road when it comes to dating. My first date was at 20. Huge Star Wars fan myself growing up and just simply amazed at this whole other world that appeared before my eyes. It was at this point I marveled at just how far one's imagination can go.

Honestly, I haven't read Deepak's books despite knowing that his profound wisdom and influence is vast. I've read Paulo Coehlo's books, including his widely read "The Alchemist," that really are great instructional guides to self-fulfillment.

Look forward to seeing more from you. Chicago is still my favorite city, despite Boston as our desired location next year. Take care up there in Minnesota, another great state.

Thomas said...

Having to constantly move as a youngster is a tough road to hoe, having to constantly leave friends behind.

Good to hear I'm not the only one who was a late bloomer.

Yes, seeing my first Star Wars movie, "The Empire Strikes Back" in the late summer of 1980 warped my fragile little mind. I look forward to going to the animated "Clone Wars" movie next month. It's said to be a lot of fun, more like the original Star Wars movies that we grew up with than the prequels.

I'll have to check into Paulo Coehlo. Thanks for the heads-up.

Wishing you all the best!