Dressing and Doing

Today was a lot of things, but probably first and foremost, at least until one o'clock, it was the day to get a big event right. Slacker Radio somehow played it right (literally), and started me off with Bowie's 2003 redux of Rebel Rebel, then slowed down nicely for TLC's Red Light Special, Amy Winehouse's Love Is A Losing Game, and Zeppelin's "All of My Love" - which, as eclectic as that mix might sound, actually made something of a magical start in that part of the day where I am alone in the office, and the lack of white noise means it is quiet and peaceful. I turned it up loud enough to actually hear (still not all that audible beyond the seat in front of my monitor), and got a bit of completely generic housekeeping done before the instant messages began to arrive, the phone began to ring. I lobbed out at least one "get with me when you can" preparatory message, but mostly was able to focus on things of importance, but unrelated to the all-too-consequetial events of the day.

If one must spend any time archiving in Lotus Notes, at least Robert Plant can soothe you into finding it bearable.

I had "dressed" a bit for the day. Getting got-up is a psychological game I enjoy - not for the sake of what I will look like, pixellated and left in shadow on a video monitor across the country - but for the physical effect of the structure of certain clothes. I wore a deadly dark midnight blue Jones New York, a New Look style dress I'd gotten this past winter for half its hundred-plus pricetag, and which is done in a heavy, somewhat soft poly or rayon, but which has the sheen of taffeta. Just as well not to rustle with taffeta on a day like this, but the color enchants me. And the dress is too gorgeous. The circle skirt caught the air in the morning when I was coming down the stairs, and I fairly floated as Siddy waited on me, looking up and being ALL cute, to give her breakfast and take her for a walk. What could be more delightfully *girlie* than wearing a skirt that billows like that ... ?

It was cool this morning, so I paired this vintage looking almost-evening dress with my recently eBayed-up Middle Aged Woman's Idea of a "Cool" Leather Jacket and popped out with my fashionably juxtaposed styling and my timelessly adorable pup-head.

Something about dressing up in a specific way, more considered than the hose-and-dress professional gear I usually wear anyway, disciplines me physically so that my mindset is calibrated to heightened attention. X could tell anyone, I have issues with concentration - so the cue of the sensation of a particular mode of dress (more constricting perhaps, stiffer, or just "different") is a cue to focus, a reminder that Today Matters, and it encourages me to attune my approach to a day, to a task. It sounds silly to people, but I've often heard the sentiment shared - that dress influences behavior in certain specific ways. Ask any actor ever costumed in a corset, cloak, or armor. Ask Bugs Bunny (ahhh - and a cartoon which powerfully intrigued and excited me as a kid).

And so today I wore my overstated dress. I wore my pointy little vintage styled pumps. I pinned my hair in a different way. I wore a necklace X once gave me, because its weight on my neck is demanding and everpresent. I tied the sash tight.

And the day went almost flawlessly.

I'm tired now, but hopefully in the way that will yield me up to good sleep.



The sleep of the fulfilled and triumphant.

Mmmmm.