The Cairo Complex

BIG BOWLS OF THINGS NOT TO EAT RIGHT BEFORE A QUICK 4-MILE RUN:

 1. Beans

 That is all.

I’m 25 now and the quarter-life crisis that has ensued in the three months since my birthday has prompted me to take sharp notice of my growing disconnection to youth culture and, in general, people who are still eligible to be on The Real World.

As such, I’ve resolved to reach back, with this post, to my Live Journal days when I was decidedly more angst-y and concomitantly more engrained in the MTV demographic. I’m going to dig deep deep down and find some insecurities and embarrassing confessions and then shamelessly discuss them… With the use of nothing but song lyrics!

Actually, this is just another way to list what I’ve been listening to lately (so excuse the parts that don’t make much sense). More over, I think it’s just a perfect way to tide me over until my next crisis where at least I’ll be expected/allowed to go out and buy a hot sports car. Maybe it’ll be a mayonnaise colored Benz. You know, a miracle whip.

Do you have the time to listen to me whine?
Here’s a letter for you.
Woman!
Where’s your head at?
If you lose me, you lose a good thing.
I want you. I want you so ba-aaa-d, babe.
But it was straight embarrassing how ya’ll played [me].
On the other side.
I can’t run around in circles, if I wanna build a life.
I just wanna, I just wanna.
Feel good.
And so I say. I say I’ll stay. I’ll stay away.
[Down tempo bass line with soft vocals]
I don’t care about the young folks.
Nothing lasts forever, tomorrow, today.
To everything (turn, turn, turn) there is a season.
[Heavy drums and with a fast bass beat]
Workin’ 9 to 5, and still hustle
Trying to be a better man.
Some people like to make life a little tougher than it is
Big me, to talk about it, but
This is grown man business.

And if you missed anything, that’d be:
Green Day, Blink 182, Wolfmother, Basement Jaxx, Rancid, Beatles, Kanye West, The Slackers, The Ramones, The Gorillaz, Orbital, Peter Bjorn + John, Foo Fighters, Pete Seeger, Mos Def, Goldie, Oasis, Cake

Last month, during a lunch break that I decided to spend walking around the Tyson’s Corner Mall, I started looking for jeans at a store that had caught my attention but that I had never been inside of. Martin + Osa is kind of a hip little place with lots of semi-dressed up, outdoorsy suburbanite wares. Think J. Crew meets Eddie Bauer meets Nordstrom’s. I ended up buying a pair of jeans that I’ve spent the last weekend wearing in and were on a great sale, but my real steal was a pair of black framed Ray-Ban Wigwams.

The Wigwams run for about $89 (making them the most expensive glasses I’ve ever bought) and are a slightly scaled down version of the iconic Wayfarer (remember Tom Cruise in Risky Business?). When I saw them I immediately thought of one thing: I want to have those turned into prescription eyeglasses.

You see the naps I take during my mornings’ long commute and subsequent long days have turned wearing contact lenses into quite an ordeal with my eyes often feeling really messed up (dry, sticky and just gross in general) by the time I get home. As such I’ve taken up wearing my glasses almost all the time again, save when I’m at the gym or on a long run.

So what’s my point? Well, I had this idea about a month ago. I’ve had the frames sitting on my desk waiting for a chance to go get my eye exam done and have some new lenses grinded in. Just about everyone I’ve mentioned this idea to have thought it was a bad idea. Still, I couldn’t help but think it would look awesome once done. More to the point, a few days ago the September issue of GQ arrived at my house, and wouldn’t you know it… On pages 392, 396, 398 and 399, perhaps the most striking part of the outfits featured is a pair of black framed Ray-Ban Wigwams redone to be prescription eyeglasses. So eat it people who thought I was being dumb! The authority on men’s fashion followed my lead on this one! Ha!

More over, this is about the 5th time (yes, I’m keeping very close count), that an idea of mine has later wound up in the pages of my most favorite of magazines… Anyway, if anyone from GQ is reading this, I’m available for a staff position if you have any openings. I work hard, write well and look pretty damn natty in my new glasses.