365 T-shirts - the reasoning

This blog should be sub-titled: a journal of my life in geek.

I get my geek on with things about which I am geeky: comic books, Baseball, Ultimate, science fiction, my favorite bands, books I have read and loved, and Jungian psychology to name some of the most frequently traversed subjects.

I began this project simply as a way to count my T-shirts. I own a lot of T-shirts. But how many do I have? Do I have 365? We shall find out.

When I started this blog, I thought about how each T-shirt means something to me. I bought it for a reason, after all. I set myself the task to post an entry about a new T-shirt every day as a way to simply write something every day, a warm up for writing fiction, which is my passion. Writing is like exercise. Warm ups are good for exercise. But after completing a month of blogging about T-shirts, I have learned that this blog serves as a journal; it documents my life in geek, sort of a tour of my interests in pop culture. The blog serves as a tool for self-inventory, for assessment and analysis of self and the origins of self, for stepping through the process of individuation in catalogues, lists, and ranks.

The blog also made me aware that I have some serious gaps in my T-shirt ownership, and I am in the process of collecting some new T-shirts for several of the great popular culture icons that I truly love. Stay tuned.

I was also a bit surprised that people checked out my blog and continue to check it, read it, and even comment on it. I am very appreciative of this readership. Please feel free to share your thoughts in my comments section. I will respond.

Also, please note that I have moved the original introductory text to the side bar. And now, I present to you the most recent entry of 365 T-shirts: a journal of my life in geek. Thank you for reading.
(Second Update - 1310.24. First Update - 1306.05 Originally Posted - 1304.25.)

Sunday, October 6, 2013

T-shirt #199 - People's Food Co-Op of Kalamazoo

T-shirt #199 - People's Food Co-Op of Kalamazoo
or
Adventures in Hawaiian Food

Aloha! I packed my white (cream) People's Food Co-Op of Kalamazoo shirt not just because I had not featured it yet on the blog but also because I wanted to represent. I knew that Hawaii was big on "local" food, though in Hawaii this means something a little different. Local food is a mix of traditional Hawaiian fare, such as poi, and food influenced by the U.S. military presence, such as Spam Musubi.

I was impressed with the numbers of signs I saw for buying local and buying organic in Hawaii, and the daily farmer's market in Hilo is a wonderful foody paradise. So I wore my PFC of Kalamazoo shirt in Hawaii on a number of occasions to "represent" my allegiance to these same beliefs of buying local, buying organic, eating healthy food, and so on.

The picture above failed somehow, so you cannot see the bowl of poi that I am about to try for the first time, which I did drown in sugar. Not my favorite taste, the taro, but not terrible. I do like the leaves wrapping what Hawaiians call Laulua pork, which is delicious pork wrapped in taro leaves.

Today I share a few adventures in food on Hawaii, the big island.

MR. T-SHIRT BLOGGER'S OFFICIAL HIATUS TEXT - Mr. T-shirt Blogger (that's me) is on vacation in Hawaii until October 9th. Blog posts may be simple and brief during this time, or there may be many Hawaii pictures and updates. No promises. It's vacation.

When My wife an I got married four years ago (as of 10/3), we never took a honeymoon. With our difficult work schedules, there has never been a good time to schedule a trip. Given recent life events, we threw out caution and welcomed chaos and uncertainty. Carpe Diem! So, off we go (or by the time you read this, there we are).

Today's shirt - My second People's Food Co-Op of Kalamazoo shirt. I featured the first one way back in T-shirt #9.

Our beers at the Lava Rock Cafe in Volcano
1309.29
Me with the PFC shirt
about to try "local" food
Mac salad - Lava Rock Cafe
1309.29
Back at the Lava Rock Cafe
the morning of 1310.01
Trying my first Loco Moco




Loco Moco is a local breakfast food. It's a mound of rice, either white, brown, or fried, mixed with diced sausage and bacon, topped with a large hamburger patty, further topped with fried eggs and drowned in brown gravy. Picture above is a close up of Loco Moco with fried rice. The picture below shows the Loco Moco with a side of Portugese Sausage, a special kind of local sausage due to the large numbers of Portugese people in Hawaii.










Dinner from 1310.01: Laulau in the foreground, poi up and left, Kalua Pig up and right,
poke farther up and right
Pipi Kaula far up and left
Lava Rock Cafe in Volcano
on the big island of Hawaii




The Kilauea General Store
the covered walkways so common
in Hawaii

Kilauea quilting and gift shop
Next to Lava Rock Cafe and Kilauea General Store

Kilauea Lodge breakfast 1310.04

Dinner for our anniversary at Kilauea Lodge 1310.03
meatloaf "revisited" with mashed potatoes,
red cabbage, and greens

Dinner for our anniversary at Kilauea Lodge 1310.03
place setting and menu

Sunset on Mauna Kea 1310.02

- chris tower - for 1310.06 - 19:33 (4:33 Pacific, we're in Oregon)