The Saturday Morning Post: the Man In the Mirror

An unusual closeup, of the man in the mirror.  

I have always been a little insecure about my looks.  Over the years I have been fat, rail thin, and back to pleasingly plump.  At times I have dressed stylishly, and for the better part of a decade I wore suits to the office. I had a closet full of nicely fitted and increasingly expensive suits. Starting in my 20's, my dress shirts go out to be washed, starched and ironed. Over the past 20 years, work attire has become more casual, I have some nice jackets, but no suits in my closet. I am much more comfortable as casual.  I worry less about what others think of what I wear.  Yes, I am the older guy in the dad jeans, I am not trying to look decades younger than I am, I am trying to look comfortable in my skin and in what I am wearing, and for the most part I am. 

I have never had my hair colored or permed.  For several years I was friends with a couple top stylists in central Florida.  I knew Gary and Shawn, before Gary came out, divorced and married Shawn.  Both of them are brilliant, and I found it relaxing to sit in the chair and let them do whatever they wanted - the only stressful part was the bill - not cheap - but worth it. When we left central Florida I bounced around trying and failing to find someone who could do what they did, and do it nearly as well.  I have settled into mediocre cuts.  Today there is not much left on top, it is long on the sides and back, pulled back and tied up. And I really don't care.  A shorter cut would be easier, but I don't feel like spending that much time in contact with a person who spends hours each day in close contact with random strangers.  

I have never fussed with my skin, no moisturizers or cover ups. What you see is what nature gave me.  

The beard started with a no-shave November and a long trip to Florida for Thanksgiving.  I keep it because it is easy, and I can be lazy that way. I run a trimmer over it every two or three weeks.  

Glasses, I wear glasses when I am driving, in meetings, or out to dinner.  I had them on here, because the eyepiece on the camera is corrected for my glasses, and without wearing my glasses the viewfinder is fuzzy. And this lens requires manual focus. Most of the time around the house, and at my desk my glasses are laying on the desk.  I wear cheap single vision glasses to watch TV. 

What is in the image?  It was taken in the mirror over the sink at the end my bedroom. A bit of an unusual layout, the sink and cabinet are at the end of the bedroom, open to the bedroom, the shower and toilet are in the space with the sliding door to the right on this image.  I took most of the photos on the walls, the exception being the black and white print with the flamingo above the hand towel, that one I bought at the Winter Park Art Fair, many years go.  And yes there is a penguin on the counter top wearing two strings of pearls.  One string is real, one fake, only he and I know which is is which.  I found those in the top of the safe, on my last sweep of my parents house before the estate sale people took over.  In other words they were nearly overlooked and lost when we cleaned out the house.  None of us had noticed the drawer in the top of dad's safe.  

This is a 180 degree view, at less than one foot from the mirror.  I am going to have some fun with this toy.  The white lines on the side, are a rectangle. More on that after Christmas, I had to test it make sure it worked, it WORKS JUST FINE!