Answers the First!

Well, I didn't get a whole lot of questions for Ask Me Anything! this time around, but hey, you can still ask things, folks! Put them in comments (preferably on this post, as I like to have things in one spot), but also, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and good old e-mail are fine.

A fellow who goes by Astohart on Instagram, who is also a fan of overalls, asks quite simply: Why do you like overalls so much?

Well, this could take a while, so might as well go grab some food! I'm sure I've posted something very similar to this before, but I'm feeling lazy right now (it's Monday evening and I'm waiting for dinner and I've just finished a rum-based beverage as I write this), so here's the short version:

First of all, there's the most important thing: comfort. I don't care how cool something looks; if it's not comfortable, I don't want to wear it. I find overalls very comfortable to wear. That's the most important thing. I've never understood the whole "Look good even if it hurts to dress that way" thing, whether it's women in tall heels or neckties. (Formal wear is something different -- when you need to look really, really, really good, then I think it's OK to dispense with comfort a bit. I don't attend many formal events, though.)

Second of all: I genuinely like the way they look. I really do, which is probably fairly obvious. Overalls can look frumpy and "farmerish", but they don't have to look like those things, and anyway, what's so wrong about looking like you work for a living? Why should looking like farmer be a bad thing? Show me a successful farmer, and I'll show you a person who works his or her ass off and is almost certainly smarter than you and competent in many, many things. But I really do like the way they look. (I also think they tend to really look good on women and I deny from the rooftops the notion that they are "unflattering", but that's a series of thoughts for another day...although I've probably commented on that in the past anyway!)

I generally don't have a lot of use for "fashion" as a general concept. Sure, trends come and go, but I rarely find myself looking back at photos of people from, say, the 1980s and thinking, "Geez, people looked really dopey back then." I am always amused when someone says something like "Overalls should stay in the 90s where they belong!", because it reveals how little they know. Overalls weren't just a 90s thing; they may have become really prevalent then, but they were quite common in the 1970s and less so, but still 'acceptable' and common enough, in the 80s. It was only in the 2000s, when the predominant fashion notion of "everything must be tight and clingy and reveal every single curve or contour of your body" took hold, that overalls really got pushed away.

Third of all: pockets. Pockets are cool. I don't actually use the bib pocket for anything, usually, except to occasionally carry my phone up there. But the regular pockets on overalls tend to be very deep and well-made. So there's that.

Finally, when you're not wearing overalls as a uniform for doing physical labor, I find that they add a sense of whimsy to your outfit. I find them fun to wear and I think they look fun. Someone posted on Twitter a while back that they're like wearing a hug, and I can't disagree with that! Overalls are comfy and warm and fun and they're unique without being outlandish and I like the way they look. That about sums it all up!

(Oh, and I almost forgot: you never have to worry about plumber-butt. That's huge.)

Roger, as always, has a bunch of queries, some serious and some less so. Here's one: What topic in this blog that you've written about have you TOTALLY (or partially) changed your mind about?

Huh. Well, I remember being convinced eight or nine years ago that Tom Brady was never going to win another Super Bowl and would likely only play four or five more years after the 2006 season or thereabouts; I was clearly as wrong as is humanly possible of that. I don't recall if I ever pontificated back in the first years here about my dislike of The Beatles, but I've certainly done the Full 180 on that.

And then there's the Iraq war. I never actually supported it, but I was more willing than most to hold my nose and go along with it, stating my fear that even if things went really really well and we were in and out of there quickly, that what might come afterward in terms of ruling that country might well be worse and we'd be back there in twenty years. Well, we weren't in and out of there quickly, the whole thing was a colossal mess and blunder, and from the looks of ISIS, we'll be back there a hell of a lot sooner than twenty years. So there's that.

But hey, at least we got to the bottom of Brian Williams lying, eh?

Another Roger query: You posted on National Pie Day last year, but not this year. Are you no longer a pieist?

Perish the thought! I just never got around to posting this year, for whatever reason. A pure oversight. Maybe I can achieve redemption on this year's Pi Day, 3/14, because this year it's 3/14/15, which means that Pi Day is actually on the first five digits of Pi! That might be worth celebrating. I'm not sure how to incorporate a pie in the face on this one, though. Suggestions, class?

More to come!