OOTD: Silly black “everyday i’m shufflin” t-shirt with sleeves cut off for added comfort; knee-length shorts for maximum calf exposure, brown flip flops for matching ethnicity; unshaved for that sexy uncle-just-woke-up-at-noon look. #OOTD #DontJudge #acceptmeforwhoiam On another slightly-more-serious-but-not-too-serious note, whenever i dress like this, i’m reminded of a friend from when i was 16. During that time where everyone left sentimental and sometimes emo messages on thank you cards or school yearbooks, she wrote on a birthday card to me- BSURSI1U2B. My not so smart friends were like,”What? How do you pronounce that?” I got it immediately- “Be as you are as I want you to be.” She was a beautiful girl. She died in a car crash. I’m reminded of this silly mnemonic thing because til this day, i find it so difficult to be as i want to be. I have no fashion sense, or to be more specific- i have no popular fashion sense. Believe it or not- what i wore in this picture- i actually thought i looked good in it. I like it. This is who i am. Really. But i can hear hundreds of well-intentioned friends’ voices in my head rhetorically asking in disdain,”Pav, what are you wearing.” This has been the case my entire life, and has, in a small way, contributed to the fact that i have very little confidence in my outward appearance (...though the main reason is because i was bullied for being overweight for 17 years by one bully, but that’s a different story for another time). It’s only now, close to being 40, that i’m realising that there was nothing wrong with the way i dressed. This is how i liked to dressed. It wasn’t indecent. There was nothing offensive about it. I wasn’t going anywhere that had a dress code. What i wanted yo wear- It was fun. It was comfortable. Why did my friends say what they did? Because they were my friends. And they wanted the best for me. I get it. Well-intentioned. And i love my friends, i really do- they have been more important to me than anything in the world, closer to me than family. But i think a better response should have been- “Hey Pav, i wouldn’t wear that, not my style, but if you like it, cool.” So, #BSURSI1U2B