So here we are on the 29th of march 2007 and I want to write about the various things that I have become comfortable with over the past couple of months. I believe that growing old is learning to be comfortable with yourself, why else do old people dress like that and live their lives irrespective of current trends and social perception. Seriously they have just learned to do whatever makes them happy, granted in a non irresponsible way unlike certain people whom we find funny now but will all realise they wasted their lives in about ten years. You know those people that we deem free spirits now but when we have to pay taxes look at them as parasites living a grotty dirty Caligula lifestyle and not having the decency of not doing it near the city centre or in nice areas. Don’t believe me go to Brighton. Beautiful town almost ruined by those stupid squatters. Anyway we are brought up by our parents to respect social conventions, we go to school to learn to respect our elders and we all wear some sort of uniform to makes us well uniform. Now I am not say that we need to break away and form our own civilisation with our own rules. Probably with someone decreeing that Britney Spears will be ambassador to all countries since she is popular around the world. I would have chosen Tom Hanks, looks intelligent and is wiser and hasn’t made a film that has made everyone upset. As we grow older we just learn to relax more and more. My brother (recently joined the being 21 club) told me that he is comfortable in a club standing there doing nothing. It’s a strange thing because most people are not. It took me about two years to be comfortable in a club without a drink; I can barely go 3 minutes without someone taking to me before I pull out the mobile phone. I am better than most people though, however it stems from the fact that we don’t want to be seen as the person who isn’t having the best time of our lives. Even when we try to let our hair down we are still plagued with social conceptions of how we should act. Well here are three things that I have become comfortable with and would like to share with you on this day where half of my friends are in the club and the other half are joining it soon.

The Attitude:
Now this is hard to believe but this is relatively simple. Get your ducks in order and then just sit back. Don’t bother chasing things, let the goods times come to you. I have had this reiterated to me recently since I for some obscure reason thought that I needed to be funnier. I don’t know why but I felt that I needed to go into Hugh Grant mode and try and be charming and witty. Screw that I just might as well be myself and stop pretending to be someone I am not. Now this isn’t within reason, you have to try and present that best of yourself because you always have to imagine what the other person is thinking. As the Nada Surf Song Popular goes you have to make yourself as attractive as possible to the other sex. You know why good looking people don’t have to work as hard as others for the opposite sex because it’s all physical. All you need to do is pinpoint what you are good at and use that. No one wants to be with a mardy bum unless you are a goth.

The Drink:
This will probably be the most controversial of all the things that I will write. Now when you go to a bar, pub or a club you will all be doing the same thing. Measuring up what the people in the bar are drinking or what the other men in the group are drinking. This is a important process because if the first drink is a badly made one or a misjudged one then the rest of the night could be ruined. In my life I have found out that I have a gift for mixing drinks this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. So the drink for all occasions whether it be hanging out in the club, drinking recklessly in a bar/pub or just taking the edge off a bring holiday is Gin and Tonic. Snoop had it half right, tonic is better with the classic English drink. From the country club to the club, from the golf courses to the g strings, from the house party to the hospital it truly is a drink for all occasions. The option of it coming in either a single or double also means that it will placate those who don’t really wish to drink as well. Plus it doesn’t leave that nasty taste on your mouth the next day.

The Look:
It has taken me a while and even though I will still buy damn good tees online. The fact is that it is better to be the best dressed person in the room than the worst dressed. For two reasons people will always talk about the person who dressed up and you are more likely to get a compliment and it is easier to pull of the smart look in a relaxed setting than vice versa. So in my case the shirt has become my new best friend. It is almost as if I worked up a relaxed shirt fitting hierarchy. I went from t shirts to polo shirts to actual shirts. Now I am not saying that this is for everyone but please don’t bother talking to me if you are still label obsessed. Clothes are meant to be a reflection of who you are not the other way around. I had a discussion with a family friend the other bemoaning the lack of adventure people took compared to the 1980’s. Thus our current trend on revisiting styles, granted some of them are just too good wonder why they ever disappeared this might have t do more with our nature as hunter gatherers and moving on to something better is what we require. The current trend over here and slightly replicated in America is the resurgence of trance clothes. In other words neon brights and smiley faces. We have reached the point where one of the ugliest points of fashion has come back. Just because we are too frantic to actually look and decide what you want, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t use a magazine as a guide but not as your bible. You already wore uniform once why go back again?