Miles' Adventure Countdown Thread

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

I have been working as a wardrobe consultant at a large menswear company.

 

It is a fairly casual outfit - you would be dressing down the bow tie quite a bit. But it is not unfashionable. Wear a sweater vest and bow tie with slacks or khakis and I would call that middle of the road business casual. Pairs nicely with a sport coat.

With business suits the style at the moment is strictly two button, single lapel, somewhat narrow lapels but not noticeably so, plain hem no cuff, no pleats, fairly slim and somewhat tapered legs. Ties are moderately slim but definitely not 'skinny ties', shoes are fairly narrow and the toes are generally a round point. Really giant tie knots look rather vulgar. Definitely tie the bulkier knots, but tie it very tightly so that they trim down. Bow ties are more in style than they were ten years ago. But they are not seen as a professional tie at the moment, maybe a little bit more eccentric. I like them, but I would not wear it to the big meeting with the chief executives. The ticket pocket is making a comeback - time will tell if it lasts. Still perfectly fine without. I am being told that the business power look right now is a navy suit with a white shirt and red tie. Charcoal is the most versatile especially for business. Black will always be most formal. Navy, blue, and any grey lighter than charcoal should be paired with brown shoes and a brown belt. Stripes are in fashion, but fairly narrow and muted. Not the obtrusive gangster pinstripe. Charcoal you have the option of black shoes and belt, black suit only black shoes and belt. I mean technically you can wear black shoes with all of it, but brown just looks better. Very fashionable right now. Belt always matching the shoes, period. Shirts are fitting slimmer with somewhat wider collars. The long extra pointy collars look a bit dated. Buttons on the collar are not in style at the moment.

That is about all I can think of off the top of my head.

Thank-you--Just what I was looking for! I am now assured that Miles will be in the height of fashion when he ventures off to the Motor City. I suspect he will be irked at me for doubting him. However, it wasn't Miles I doubted, it was the fact that I am completely ignorant about what is currently fashionable, and the few ideas I did have were "out-of-date" if one is being kind, and "loser" if one is feeling unkind. Since I am still working on confounding the academics, I will apologize to Miles for doubting him. (I am also having great fun writing in the stuffiest way I can. Unfortunately, an academic would spot me as a fraud immediately, because my 20 years of writing to explain things clearly is simply "not done" in academia, where the primary purpose of writing is obfuscation.) 

[PhuturePriest]

This just in: I'm freaking out. 

This is scary. I don't want to leave. I like Kansas. I'm going to leave all of my friends, my family, and my kitty to live with people I don't know and who are way older than I am, and from the interaction I've had with them via Facebook our temperaments are totally different and we disagree a lot and we're going to clash constantly, and every time I tell someone I'm leaving for Detroit the first thing they tell me is how dangerous it is there and that I'm going to be mugged and knifed to death as soon as I land in the airport. 

This wouldn't be nearly as bad if it didn't last a year. For some reason I didn't fully understand how long a year is until recently. 

In case you didn't know: It's what experts call "a long freaking time". 

But I'm trapped, because I can't just turn it down at the last minute, because 1) that would be terribly inconvenient for them, and 2) It's probably too late to go back to going to Newman this Fall anyway. 

I feel like Harry Potter when he fully realizes the gravity of going into the Triwizard Tournament, specifically when the book says when he was daydreaming about it it was just that: Daydreaming, but now that it was reality he fully grasped the gravity of the situation and how scary it was.

I'm thinking of waiting a while and then asking if I can leave a few months early, because I need to anyway for seminary application reasons. But even if that happens it will still last about nine months, and even though that's 1/4 less time, it's still what experts call a long freaking time. 

Which, speaking of the seminary, I'm afraid that doing this will screw me out of going to the seminary because the vocation director may not like Church Militant, and I really love the diocese I'm going to apply to and it would mean the world to me if I could be a priest there.

I can't believe originally I thought this was less scary than going to college, when now I would do anything to switch back.

[Credo in Deum]

This just in: I'm freaking out. 

This is scary. I don't want to leave. I like Kansas. I'm going to leave all of my friends, my family, and my kitty to live with people I don't know and who are way older than I am, and from the interaction I've had with them via Facebook our temperaments are totally different and we disagree a lot and we're going to clash constantly, and every time I tell someone I'm leaving for Detroit the first thing they tell me is how dangerous it is there and that I'm going to be mugged and knifed to death as soon as I land in the airport. 

This wouldn't be nearly as bad if it didn't last a year. For some reason I didn't fully understand how long a year is until recently. 

In case you didn't know: It's what experts call "a long freaking time". 

But I'm trapped, because I can't just turn it down at the last minute, because 1) that would be terribly inconvenient for them, and 2) It's probably too late to go back to going to Newman this Fall anyway. 

I feel like Harry Potter when he fully realizes the gravity of going into the Triwizard Tournament, specifically when the book says when he was daydreaming about it it was just that: Daydreaming, but now that it was reality he fully grasped the gravity of the situation and how scary it was.

I'm thinking of waiting a while and then asking if I can leave a few months early, because I need to anyway for seminary application reasons. But even if that happens it will still last about nine months, and even though that's 1/4 less time, it's still what experts call a long freaking time. 

Which, speaking of the seminary, I'm afraid that doing this will screw me out of going to the seminary because the vocation director may not like Church Militant, and I really love the diocese I'm going to apply to and it would mean the world to me if I could be a priest there.

I can't believe originally I thought this was less scary than going to college, when now I would do anything to switch back.

Seems like you're future tripping.  

Matthew 6:34 to the rescue! "Be not therefore solicitous for to morrow; for the morrow will be solicitous for itself. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof."

 

[PhuturePriest]

Seems like you're future tripping.  

Matthew 6:34 to the rescue! "Be not therefore solicitous for to morrow; for the morrow will be solicitous for itself. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof."

 

How can I enjoy the present when every moment takes me closer to impending misery which will be drawn out for 8-12 months?

[dominicansoul]

you're still here?

[PhuturePriest]

you're still here?

I spent a week at my annual mission trip. 

[dominicansoul]

quit thinking too much and just do it!  You'll regret it if you back out.  

 

...don't look back, take your hand to the plow and goooooooooo

[Credo in Deum]

Plow on little fetus, plow on!  Break free from the womb of comfortable surroundings.  

[PhuturePriest]

quit thinking too much and just do it!  You'll regret it if you back out.  

 

...don't look back, take your hand to the plow and goooooooooo

I'm not going to back out. As I said previously, even if I wanted to I wouldn't because it would greatly inconvenience the nice people of Church Militant who have spent months planning and arranging everything for this. 

[Maggyie]

Detroit is not that dangerous, seriously. It's the same as any major American city. If you are not buying drugs, selling drugs, and/or making a documentary about the drug trade, you will be fine. I know people who vacation every year in Detroit. They like its bad press because it keeps prices down and their hipster cred up.

you will find that a year is not that long a time. There is a phenomenon where as you age time seems to pass more swiftly. Even if it is hideous the fact that you will never have to repeat a month will make the whole thing quite swift. 

The brain always freaks out at the moment of change. Remember it's not really you freaking out, it's just your brain. Study your brains reaction and maybe journal about it.  Disconnect from the fear and it becomes controllable. 

[veritasluxmea]

Boy oh boy, do I understand with freaking out about moving around. More like I understanding having anxiety and dealing with despair over living for a year or so in a place you hate. I'm going to put this out there for anyone who has to go through this, and I'm not going to sugar coat anything, just telling it like it is. 

First of all, I hate to sound clique but.... It's normal. It really is. The other men joining you are going through the same thing, to one extent or another. Even if they don't look like it, they really are. If you don't already, do Ignatian examens every night and record your strongest good and bad feelings and inspirations from the day and you'll start to see how common it is. Or better yet check out this book while you still can- it changed my life. 

Once I had to live with people I was not compatible with and it was terrible. There really is no way to make it better so can't help you there. The only thing I can think of was it made me more resentful because I thought everything was my fault, which made them more ornery, and round and round it went. So recognizing what's a communication/personality issue and just accepting that there are going to be differences there, goes a long way. Sometimes it really is them! 

Once I hated and was so depressed about where I was going I cried on the plane. (Fortunately no one noticed or cared enough to say anything, which would have panicked me more, and then I would have had to kill them). I'm still in that place, and guess what? I adjusted. I keep busy and get involved and do what I need to do and it's all right. Then recently I had a change of plans and turns out I'll be moving this fall. At first my only reaction was grief again, which I've come to notice is typical. I'll be leaving my friends. Coworkers whom I've really come to connect and like. Family. My parish and SD. I'll be lonely again, not to mention I have to work through EVERYTHING again, car, job, insurance, and I only have tentative plans for housing. SIGH. But, idk, once I accept I was moving I started working on it and planning out what I'll need to do to connect in this new area and I just started to feel better. I realized it's just taking up time between now and joining my religious order (which was the goal of the plans in the first place) and it started to become a really positive thing. 

And I'm really sorry about your cat. A year and a half ago I had to give away the love of my life, a dog. He had been with me since before high school and worse, he was a gift from my mom, which made the parting more harder. I knew every inch of his body, the way he moved, the way he thought and his whole personality. We fit together very well and he was my closest companion. I'd trained him to jump over my arm and close doors on command. It's complicated, but unfortunately the people I was living with didn't like him and due to a bunch of other reasons I re-homed him. That was almost two years ago and I still go through periods where I miss him so much I can feel it in my body. I don't think missing a pet ever gets easier, but with time you remember them less because you forget. 

 

[PhuturePriest]

So I just did karate with my dad for the last time before I leave, and I got pretty emotional when it was done. It may seem silly, but I've been doing karate since I was four, and I did it because my dad was doing it. It's the thing we've always done together all my life, speaking memory-wise. After a little while of doing it, I wasn't in it because my dad was, but because I loved it as much as he did. It's the passion that we both share, and it's very important to both of us. I have more memories with my dad concerning karate than anything else, and it came as a pretty big blow when it was all done and I suddenly realized -- this is it between us until December. It was suddenly realizing you will no longer do the thing connecting you to one of the most important people in your life with that person for half a year, not to mention it really made the whole "I'm leaving in four days" reality very coherent and tangible.

[PhuturePriest]

So last night and today I had a glorious last hurrah with my friends before leaving. Anthony arrived early and went with me to Mass last evening, and then Henry arrived and we ate pizza and proceeded to drink an amount of Cherry Coke for the next 20 hours that is not by any means recommended by most health professionals. We watched The Last Samurai, which then prompted a katana lesson taught by yours truly. I brought out three bokkens and taught them proper striking technique, and then proceeded to do a sword drill with them. As it only just, this escalated into bringing more and more weapons out, and we weren't content until I received a strike on my right eyebrow and just behind my right ear, both of which have left satisfactory bruises that will last well into next week. We then proceeded to watch animes until we fell asleep, and basically repeated all of that today. 

Tonight I'm going to eat chocolate cereal and watch Tangled (or some other Disney movie) as a last stand of my childhood before adulthood violently rips it away on Friday. On the whole, I am feeling much better about all of this, though I would not be surprised if Friday night isn't a little bit rough.

[PhuturePriest]

For the record, this is a bokken. Bo = wood, ken = sword. It is the traditional samurai training weapon, and is traditionally held with nearly as much esteem as real katana, mostly owing to the fact that they are by all means deadly. One samurai in the 16th century was famous for defeating other fully-armed samurai with his bokken, which makes a lot of sense if you, like me, have been on the receiving end of a hit by one.

[Nihil Obstat]