One o'clock at the waterworks

As I get older I can measure my time on Earth by things I can no longer do. I can't run anymore. Oh, I can run for maybe ten yards then my knees begin hurting. I can walk, though. Occasionally I forget to zip up my pants, although I'm lucky enough that Joan is around to remind me. I've gone this long in life without being arrested for exposing myself and I don't want to start now. Apparently, there's a saying, "one o'clock at the waterworks", which is a polite way to tell someone your zipper's down.

I mostly wear jeans, and as the weather turns to Fall I move from t-shirts to flannel shirts. This isn't much of a change from my wardrobe for a considerable portion of my life. 

But one thing I now can never do is wear leather pants. That opportunity has gone. When I was a teenager I had fringed moccasin boots and when I took the bus to Greenwich Village on the weekends I sometimes also wore a Nehru jacket my sister had sewed for me. 

But the idea of leather pants intrigued me. It was seeing The Doors and Jim Morrison that put that idea in my head. Moccasin boots, Nehru jacket... leather pants. This was before I went off to college. I saw Morrison and the Doors play at Asbury Park. He looked so cool, spouting poetry and stalking around the stage in his leather pants. Unfortunately, leather pants were a bit out of my budget and my parents weren't going to spring for it to aid in their hippie kid becoming freakier. I told myself that they were probably impractical and went on with my life.

Forty-five years passed. 

I saw something today about leather pants, an ad on the internet and remembered how I once wanted a pair. A look in the mirror quickly dispelled any thoughts of ever going in that direction. 

I can look back and think about roads not travelled. The leather pants road. Should I have taken another year of mechanical drawing instead of four years of Latin in high school? Perhaps I'd be a better doodler today. Then there are all those women I didn't pursue. How would any of them have made my life different?

But I didn't. No leather pants, and that's fine. Corduroys and jeans are okay. 

+++

Update: I've also given up the idea of taking up surfing.

Comments

[mingxie]

Rugby originated in England, the former Ming Lage than football, referred by cheap jerseys for sale. Because the ball shape olives, known in China as "football." Rugby This is a city in central England, Rugby School City is the birthplace of rugby. This school there stands a monument, monument inscribed "monument commemorate W · W · Ellis' bold action." It is said that in 1823 the students Ellis in a football Nike NFL Jerseys, because playing mistakes, so he hold the ball and ran, attracted other players to follow suit, although it is foul play, but it gives a new revelation. Over time, actually gradually accepted by people. Thus a comprehensive development of beneficial for the body, with high fitness value of the new sports --- football, derived from football out.
In 1839, the football gradually unfolded at Cambridge University and other schools, and have set up a football club, inter-school competitions are also active. 1871 English Football Association was established former Youth Jerseys Sale, and this movement soon spread to Europe countries and the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other countries. 1886 established the International Rugby Federation. 1906 was held in France rugby international competition.
Rugby spread to other countries in the United Kingdom after evolving, many countries have created their own forms of rugby. Such as the U.S., Canada, Australia and other countries, rugby venue, equipment, rules, clothing and even play the number and size of the ball game methods are varied, but can be roughly divided into Rugby (also known as soft football) and American football (also known as hard football) two categories. Their different styles and play to win a very interesting Custom NFL Jerseys Sale, rugby is called: "Gentlemen play barbaric sport," while American football is called: "barbarian barbaric sport to play."
Soccer Jersey players do not wear protective gear, basically footballer clothing, so called soft football. Rugby wider popularity, there are about more than 80 countries and laptop accessories to carry out this project.
American football (AmericanFootball) Athletes must wear the prescribed clothing and protective gear, also called hard football. Rugby football is slightly smaller than the easy pass.