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.)

Monday, January 13, 2014

T-shirt #298 - Sectionals 2001 - the Yellow Calvin

T-shirt #298 - Sectionals 2001 - the Yellow Calvin

Yes, I know. Second Ultimate shirt in a row. Sue me. I want some easy stuff to catch up and get back ahead.

I created a new category today for "Shirts I Made." I included in this category shirts I designed or had some part in the design, print, and/or creation process, which includes ALL OF THE KUDL SHIRTS. It also includes shirts from my days running the CENTRALS tournament and as the Ultimate Player Association's Sectionals Coordinator for Michigan. I had the most input in the various Centrals and Sectionals shirts that I conceived and fully guided the design as well as making sure they were printed and then selling them at the tournament.

I got good at this enterprise since I could not sell shirts AND play in the tournament, so I would hire people to sit and sell stuff and help me set up and tear down. The proceeds from the shirts were used as seed money for the next tournament and to keep tournament costs low. It was not a perfect system. Granted, my participation in some of the KUDL shirts was not as fully invested as in the shirts I played a larger role at shepherding from design to sale for the tournaments I hosted, but I figured for the category's sake, I would include all the shirts that I worked on in some way.

I have just a few more things to say about this subject and then I am done with it. The Calvin and Hobbes art on this shirt and T-shirt #141 were drawn by my friend Neil Southwell. However, in 2001, we could not find a skin tone for Calvin, and for some bizarre reason, we went with yellow. I think I made this unfortunate decision, hence how I refer to this shirt as the "Yellow Calvin" shirt. Please no terrible Asian remarks. We got Calvin right in the T-shirt for Centrals 2002, which was near the tail end of my time running these tournaments. I abandoned the work shortly after the 2002 shirt featured in T-shirt #141. The tournaments had become more trouble than they were worth, and I had very little help (that I was not paying for). Sure, people would help the day of, sometimes, but generally people would just sit around and drink beer, which is what I wanted to do. We had started to grow a good group of teams in the Michigan section and that would attend Centrals. We started to get teams to Centrals from as far as New Jersey. But, eventually, it proved too much for me to run on my own. Later, when KUDL became successful, I flirted with the idea of starting the tournaments back up because suddenly we had a team of people willing to put some effort toward something for Ultimate. But for now, running the league is enough.

I liked this shirt especially because it included the text from the UPA rules for the Spirit of the Game. I was proud of this shirt despite the yellow of Calvin's face.


That's all for now. T-shirt Blogger Man is trying to get ahead now that he is caught up.


COUNTDOWN TO THE END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 67 shirts remaining

- chris tower - 1401.13 - 19:36

T-shirt #297 - Centrals 1991

T-shirt #297 - Centrals 1991

Hello. Thanks for stopping by. Mr. T-shirt blogger man was in catch up mode, and so this one as originally conceived has very little text. However, I am happy to report that the T-shirt blog is current and there are no longer incomplete entries on the blog roll.

Hurrah!! Ding Dong! And so it goes. Same as it ever was.

Originally, I delayed this post to see if I had content to add, but then in a lazy day with the puppy, which involved comic books, Shwarma leftovers, and comic books as it often does, I published what I had (which is more or less this much) to the blog from my tablet, only updating the published date I keep in text (as opposed to the one generated by Blogger) before sending through the post.

I had the Panthers to win or beat a 1 1/2 point spread, so that was a bust. But I did have the Chargers to beat a ten point spread against the Broncos, and that happened. Hurrah again.

Not much to add to today's content. I have a lot of Ultimate shirts. This is an old one! It will be 23 years old this May. I wondered how my life would be now if I had conceived a child in this year rather than buying a shirt. Boggles my mind.

TODAY'S SHIRT: This is the shirt from the Centrals Ultimate tournament held in East Lansing in 1991.


The shirt I am actually wearing today: I originally featured this shirt in T-shirt #21, aptly titled "shirts you will never see on me in public." However, after an additional 276 days of T-shirt blogging, buying, and wearing, though I would not wear this shirt on a date with my wife or to teach a class or to meet a friend, it is possible to see me wearing it at other times. I was wearing it (though it was under my coat) last night when I went to pick up my Shwarma King.


COUNTDOWN TO END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 68 shirts remaining

- chris tower - 1401.12 - 19:20