Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Wardrobe functions and malfunctions

Today I had one of those days where all the bad and good circumstances cancel each other out.

This morning I got an e-mail about a major lecture happening on campus tonight and decided to skip going to the gym in order to get a good seat. Well as it turned out, I had a little spare time and decided to go for a walk and enjoy the beautiful melting weather.

I hadn't been walking 10 minutes when I came across a puddle too deep to walk through and just narrow enough that jumping over it seemed like a good idea. That is, it seemed like a good idea during the leap and the first part of the landing.... but then my foot slipped in the squishy grass and suddenly jumping didn't seem like such a great idea. I tumbled backwards and ended up sitting in the middle of the puddle, covered in mud and clumps of dead grass.

I couldn't stop laughing while walking back to school past rush-hour traffic and students staring at the new pattern on my full-length denim skirt. Really, something like that is too funny be embarrassing.

Needless to say, I was quite glad to remember I had my gym shorts in my backpack. Once I had them on and still had time before the lecture, I decided since I was already dressed, I might as well head to the gym.

By now, you may be wondering what I was planning to wear to the big seminar. Certainly gym shorts or a muddy-bum skirt are out of the question....

Fortunately, on Monday night I had given a class presentation in a strikingly professional pinstriped skirt suit. And fortunately I had been to lazy to take it home afterwards. So I looked fabulous, albeit slightly sweaty and wrinkly-suited, when meeting a former assistant to the United Nations secretary general who is now the current president and CEO for Unicef Canada.