Life Changing

July 28, 2010
admin

Admittedly, I’m trapped. Mentally trapped in an era not so far gone, but far enough. Somewhere around graduating high school I never grew up. In some respects I have, but I still have that youthful outlook on life at times.

Then…not too long ago, just a matter of weeks…it hit me. “I think I’m done with witty t-shirts.”

I’ve been a fan of witty tees for a long time. If not witty, then at least in support of things that I found pleasing. Two t-shirts instantly came to mind from my youth: Opus the penguin from the Bloom County comic strip; and a shirt that made it look like I was wearing a fish as a neck-tie. ComedySportz cities around the world make their own t-shirts to sell (most of them) and I’ve owned my fair share of those. I went through my Dragonball-Z phase, my Engrish.com phase (Hot Space Station Justice!)…I’ve owned plenty of witty shirts.

While we were in Hawaii, in a Target, I saw a great retro shirt: King Ding Dong. It had those words with the character. Hostess used to have characters for every product. Twinkie the Kid and such. Some are still around, but King Ding Dong suffered the fate of dessert democracy and was thrown from his throne. This Target store, however, did not have my size. Over time I saw the same shirt in multiple Targets, never in my size. But, once we got back to Chicago I FOUND IT! SCORE!

Hell yeah! I’m in my King Ding Dong shirt!

But just a week or so ago, right after the ComedySportz Championship, I realized something. Deanna wanted me to pick her up from a reading she was doing, so I did. As I drove to the location and found a parking spot I had this thought go through my head, “Oh, shit. I’m wearing my ding dong shirt.”

I sat in the car and waited about 10 minutes. Partly because I didn’t want to pay for the meter and only needed to wait until 9pm to avoid that. Partly because of my shirt.

Text messages sent and no sign of Deanna, I got out of the car and headed in. And this is kind of what sealed the deal. She was talking to a couple people and said she had to go. They said “is this him?” and introduced themselves and we made our way home.

“Is this him?” Deanna writes fantastic stories and does live readings in various venues, mostly with This Much Is True. The story she told that night was about us being on a ship when the abandon ship alarm goes off and my main goal is getting her (and myself) to our station to get on a life boat if need be. By the end of her story I am literally labeled her “hero.”

“Yep, I’m him. I’m the hero. Me. King Ding Dong.”

Sorry, witty t-shirts, your chapter is over.