First: My computer is in cahoots with them; it keeps marking all read when it thinks I'm not looking, but this time I watched as it did it, and my hands were nowhere near the keyboard.
This compound the Enemy has created is really very convincing at first. It offers the superficial trappings of luxury; an underground shopping mall, an indoor river, buildings inside of buildings and ballrooms with grand chandeliers, conference rooms and waterfalls and fountains and endless restaurants, a district called simply "The District" denoted by street markers with the silhouettes of dancing people, complete with nightclub and Irish pub and a sports bar and several stores selling Western gear. And you wander through that, and at some point you can make it to doors that you THINK lead outside, so you go out into the world and the trees and the bushes and you head toward the grand library building in the distance but when you get close you realize that despite the columns and the sign, it's no library. It's a bar and grill, and you're still inside.
You start to realize that most of the people aren't real when you notice that they disappear around eight in the evening. Whole wings of the hotel, the ones you aren't supposed to be in at that hour, are eerily empty.
By the second day, you have started to realize that what you mistook for grandeur is merely gaudiness, and that the luxury is superficial, like the delicious-looking custard tarts that turn out to be made of instant pudding and artificial whipped topping. There is no good food here; it all looks like gourmet food cooked by professional chefs but it's Food Service of America dressed up on bulk-rate white china. So you go to the other side, and walk in a straight line, a simple straight line, because you know it can't actually go on forever, it must end. You find a vast hall, a vast empty falsely-grand hall with great chandeliers dripping with molded-plastic crystals, and you walk through and push the doors on the other side. The air is cold; you have finally found the real outside, not the outside-that-is-inside but the real thing. You set out briskly, your heart pounding in excitement and relief. Until you get to the other side and realize that the creek you crossed over leads to a swimming pool and that you. are. still. inside. You give up and go back to the bar on the fake island in the fake river and ask for a cup of tea. They have no hot water, so you order a $12 glass of wine. It's drinkable, barely.
I got out for a while, today. I followed the tornado shelter signs into a concrete staircase and downward until I reached a bleak corridor with a pair of metal doors at the end. Pushing through them I found an awning and two metal benches, occupied by old people smoking cigarettes. Beyond the curb, a mile of empty parking lot. They ignored me as I walked past them and across the abandoned asphalt, dry leaves crunching underfoot, fists thrust in pockets and my breath making bursts of fog in the cold air as I strode briskly into freedom.
I have to wake up in six hours, they only serve breakfast from 7 to 7:45 and then the lecture sessions start again.
And that was the last anyone ever heard of Nigel.
Ah, professional conferences.
I'm awake again. This is actually my vision of hell. After the horrible hotel eggs and imitation bagels it will be time for professional development, which I merely have to stay awake for, but after that we get a talk on bioethics and HeLa that should be good. And after lunch there's a p53 gene talk. Then it's more professional development, during which I will probably go try to find the jogging trail down by the river. This is probably the most optimistic point of my day.
Why would you want to go outside?
This is where it all is.
This is where everything is.
Quote from: Mrs. Nigelson on November 15, 2013, 01:25:02 PM
I'bioethics and a p53 gene
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioethics v http://www.bioethics.net/ v http://www.bioethics.gov/By BOAT Plane or train ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P53 & http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/gene/TP53
Tits uP {should cover it // Very Well ?}COLORS
(http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/dynamicImages/chromomap/TP53.jpeg)< ay at 10:15:25 am by hirley0
We have some of the most talented homeless people in the world.
We're very proud of that.
Isn't there a Andy Williams museum there?
I'm not sure if you're actually in Tennessee or if this is a metaphor and you found yourself at Clackamas Town Center.
Quote from: Jet City Hustle on November 15, 2013, 11:10:34 PM
I'm not sure if you're actually in Tennessee or if this is a metaphor and you found yourself at Clackamas Town Center.
:lulz:
It is kind of like that.
Here's a thing that I wrote as a PS on my architecture homework tonight:
Now, for a rambling side-note. I am spending the latter half of this week at a science convention in Nashville Tennessee, in an establishment near the Grand Ole Opry known as the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center, and this building is hands-down the most peculiar structure I have ever been in. Built in 1976-77, the original structure is clearly pulled from classical styles, and appears to have been several long, narrow brick wings surrounding a central courtyard. It was expanded in 1984 and in 1988, adding two large covered atria which are planted as tropical gardens, and again in 1996, doubling its size and adding an enormous semicircular third atrium that covers 4.5 acres of garden and a 1/4 mile river that includes an island with an antebellum manor and New-Orleans-inspired shops.
In 2010, the whole thing flooded. The pictures are well-worth looking at! It was renovated after the flood, and continues to reside in a sort of gaudy, schizophrenic, labyrinthine glory that is at once tacky and breathtaking and charming, with nine acres of indoor garden (and a little bit of outdoor garden as well, if you can find it) and almost 3000 rooms. Architecturally, I don't know what to make of it, but I thought it was so interesting that you guys might want to take a look, so here's a link to some pictures:
The flooding: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/03/opryland-hotel-flood-phot_n_561687.html#s87446title=Opryland_Hotel_Flood
As it is today: http://www.gadling.com/photos/nashvilles-gaylord-opryland-hotel/
The flood looks fun, anyway.
I don't get the logic behind a "luxury" hotel with plastic chandeliers and fake bagels, unless they were going for Dolly Parton plastic-jewelry tackiness. There needs to be a category called "kitschy-disturbing". :lol:
Quote from: Tiddleywomp Cockletit on November 16, 2013, 04:39:23 AM
The flood looks fun, anyway.
I don't get the logic behind a "luxury" hotel with plastic chandeliers and fake bagels, unless they were going for Dolly Parton plastic-jewelry tackiness. There needs to be a category called "kitschy-disturbing". :lol:
Have you ever been to Tennessee? We have an entire
theme park dedicated to Dolly Parton. (I think she owns it, actually.)
It's exactly as you'd expect.
I passed through a few times.
I didn't put any roots down, or even stop anyplace, really. :lol:
Quote from: Tiddleywomp Cockletit on November 16, 2013, 04:39:23 AM
The flood looks fun, anyway.
I don't get the logic behind a "luxury" hotel with plastic chandeliers and fake bagels, unless they were going for Dolly Parton plastic-jewelry tackiness. There needs to be a category called "kitschy-disturbing". :lol:
It's because it's a hotel and convention center masquerading as a resort. Because it's a convention center, it needs to keep the rates firmly in line with the middle-class ballpark, so it can't truly be a luxury hotel because then conventioners couldn't afford to stay there; or, at least, their companies wouldn't book there. It has to stay competitive with places like the Red Lion and the Doubletree. With that in mind, it is designed to give the middle class the
impression of luxury, and most of them believe it. No one who is familiar with true luxury goods, gourmet food, or fine hotels would mistake it for any of those, but that isn't who it's marketing to. It's marketing to the American middle class; suburbanites who consider Olive Garden a nice restaurant simply because that's what's available to them in their area, that's what they know.
Quote from: Golden Applesauce on November 17, 2013, 02:50:07 AM
Quote from: Tiddleywomp Cockletit on November 16, 2013, 04:39:23 AM
The flood looks fun, anyway.
I don't get the logic behind a "luxury" hotel with plastic chandeliers and fake bagels, unless they were going for Dolly Parton plastic-jewelry tackiness. There needs to be a category called "kitschy-disturbing". :lol:
Have you ever been to Tennessee? We have an entire theme park dedicated to Dolly Parton. (I think she owns it, actually.)
It's exactly as you'd expect.
Formerly silver dollar city, Parton purchased it in the 80s and it became dolly wood. She also owns the Dixie stampede, a mall, tons of development, and a handful of restaurants. She's by far the most successful person Sevierville ever spawned.
My family had/has season passes for dollywood . The memories I have of it and Gatlinburg cause nightmare flashbacks routinely.
-Da6s
Resident tennessee expat
Quote from: Mrs. Nigelson on November 17, 2013, 07:38:00 AM
Quote from: Tiddleywomp Cockletit on November 16, 2013, 04:39:23 AM
The flood looks fun, anyway.
I don't get the logic behind a "luxury" hotel with plastic chandeliers and fake bagels, unless they were going for Dolly Parton plastic-jewelry tackiness. There needs to be a category called "kitschy-disturbing". :lol:
It's because it's a hotel and convention center masquerading as a resort. Because it's a convention center, it needs to keep the rates firmly in line with the middle-class ballpark, so it can't truly be a luxury hotel because then conventioners couldn't afford to stay there; or, at least, their companies wouldn't book there. It has to stay competitive with places like the Red Lion and the Doubletree. With that in mind, it is designed to give the middle class the impression of luxury, and most of them believe it. No one who is familiar with true luxury goods, gourmet food, or fine hotels would mistake it for any of those, but that isn't who it's marketing to. It's marketing to the American middle class; suburbanites who consider Olive Garden a nice restaurant simply because that's what's available to them in their area, that's what they know.
Opryland used to be a theme park. It went bankrupt and Gaylord (hotel company that specializes in massive occupancy convention centers - their flag ship is off i4 across from the gates to Disney. Squid probably sees it often.) bought it up since it fit their business model. It's close to BNA but out of the way of downtown or any place worthwhile. Perfect convention center for imprisoning conference goers.
The flood fucked up the opry mills mall behind it a lot worse. There were urban legends spawned about the sharks/piranhas from the aquarium restaurant escaping and swimming the halls in the flood.
At least it has a Dave and busters with limited jesus.
Quote from: Mrs. Nigelson on November 17, 2013, 07:38:00 AM
Quote from: Tiddleywomp Cockletit on November 16, 2013, 04:39:23 AM
The flood looks fun, anyway.
I don't get the logic behind a "luxury" hotel with plastic chandeliers and fake bagels, unless they were going for Dolly Parton plastic-jewelry tackiness. There needs to be a category called "kitschy-disturbing". :lol:
It's because it's a hotel and convention center masquerading as a resort. Because it's a convention center, it needs to keep the rates firmly in line with the middle-class ballpark, so it can't truly be a luxury hotel because then conventioners couldn't afford to stay there; or, at least, their companies wouldn't book there. It has to stay competitive with places like the Red Lion and the Doubletree. With that in mind, it is designed to give the middle class the impression of luxury, and most of them believe it. No one who is familiar with true luxury goods, gourmet food, or fine hotels would mistake it for any of those, but that isn't who it's marketing to. It's marketing to the American middle class; suburbanites who consider Olive Garden a nice restaurant simply because that's what's available to them in their area, that's what they know.
Like Da6s just mentioned, Opryland was a theme park. The hotel was probably designed with the same simulated experience mentality that you would normally expect for a theme park. Fake grizzly bears in the Grizzly River Rampage ride, fake logs on the Old Mill Scream (log flume), and fake plastic chandeliers in the Opulent Manor Resort.
Quote from: Mrs. Nigelson on November 16, 2013, 04:20:07 AM
Quote from: Jet City Hustle on November 15, 2013, 11:10:34 PM
I'm not sure if you're actually in Tennessee or if this is a metaphor and you found yourself at Clackamas Town Center.
:lulz:
It is kind of like that.
Here's a thing that I wrote as a PS on my architecture homework tonight:
Now, for a rambling side-note. I am spending the latter half of this week at a science convention in Nashville Tennessee, in an establishment near the Grand Ole Opry known as the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center, and this building is hands-down the most peculiar structure I have ever been in. Built in 1976-77, the original structure is clearly pulled from classical styles, and appears to have been several long, narrow brick wings surrounding a central courtyard. It was expanded in 1984 and in 1988, adding two large covered atria which are planted as tropical gardens, and again in 1996, doubling its size and adding an enormous semicircular third atrium that covers 4.5 acres of garden and a 1/4 mile river that includes an island with an antebellum manor and New-Orleans-inspired shops.
In 2010, the whole thing flooded. The pictures are well-worth looking at! It was renovated after the flood, and continues to reside in a sort of gaudy, schizophrenic, labyrinthine glory that is at once tacky and breathtaking and charming, with nine acres of indoor garden (and a little bit of outdoor garden as well, if you can find it) and almost 3000 rooms. Architecturally, I don't know what to make of it, but I thought it was so interesting that you guys might want to take a look, so here's a link to some pictures:
The flooding: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/03/opryland-hotel-flood-phot_n_561687.html#s87446title=Opryland_Hotel_Flood
As it is today: http://www.gadling.com/photos/nashvilles-gaylord-opryland-hotel/
My goodness Nigel, I do believe you have stumbled upon the most concise and accurate description of America™ I have seen in years.
Quote from: Emo Howard on November 17, 2013, 09:06:43 PM
Quote from: Mrs. Nigelson on November 17, 2013, 07:38:00 AM
Quote from: Tiddleywomp Cockletit on November 16, 2013, 04:39:23 AM
The flood looks fun, anyway.
I don't get the logic behind a "luxury" hotel with plastic chandeliers and fake bagels, unless they were going for Dolly Parton plastic-jewelry tackiness. There needs to be a category called "kitschy-disturbing". :lol:
It's because it's a hotel and convention center masquerading as a resort. Because it's a convention center, it needs to keep the rates firmly in line with the middle-class ballpark, so it can't truly be a luxury hotel because then conventioners couldn't afford to stay there; or, at least, their companies wouldn't book there. It has to stay competitive with places like the Red Lion and the Doubletree. With that in mind, it is designed to give the middle class the impression of luxury, and most of them believe it. No one who is familiar with true luxury goods, gourmet food, or fine hotels would mistake it for any of those, but that isn't who it's marketing to. It's marketing to the American middle class; suburbanites who consider Olive Garden a nice restaurant simply because that's what's available to them in their area, that's what they know.
Like Da6s just mentioned, Opryland was a theme park. The hotel was probably designed with the same simulated experience mentality that you would normally expect for a theme park. Fake grizzly bears in the Grizzly River Rampage ride, fake logs on the Old Mill Scream (log flume), and fake plastic chandeliers in the Opulent Manor Resort.
Yeah, all that was in one of the links I posted as well.
Quote from: V3X on November 17, 2013, 11:43:17 PM
Quote from: Mrs. Nigelson on November 16, 2013, 04:20:07 AM
Quote from: Jet City Hustle on November 15, 2013, 11:10:34 PM
I'm not sure if you're actually in Tennessee or if this is a metaphor and you found yourself at Clackamas Town Center.
:lulz:
It is kind of like that.
Here's a thing that I wrote as a PS on my architecture homework tonight:
Now, for a rambling side-note. I am spending the latter half of this week at a science convention in Nashville Tennessee, in an establishment near the Grand Ole Opry known as the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center, and this building is hands-down the most peculiar structure I have ever been in. Built in 1976-77, the original structure is clearly pulled from classical styles, and appears to have been several long, narrow brick wings surrounding a central courtyard. It was expanded in 1984 and in 1988, adding two large covered atria which are planted as tropical gardens, and again in 1996, doubling its size and adding an enormous semicircular third atrium that covers 4.5 acres of garden and a 1/4 mile river that includes an island with an antebellum manor and New-Orleans-inspired shops.
In 2010, the whole thing flooded. The pictures are well-worth looking at! It was renovated after the flood, and continues to reside in a sort of gaudy, schizophrenic, labyrinthine glory that is at once tacky and breathtaking and charming, with nine acres of indoor garden (and a little bit of outdoor garden as well, if you can find it) and almost 3000 rooms. Architecturally, I don't know what to make of it, but I thought it was so interesting that you guys might want to take a look, so here's a link to some pictures:
The flooding: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/03/opryland-hotel-flood-phot_n_561687.html#s87446title=Opryland_Hotel_Flood
As it is today: http://www.gadling.com/photos/nashvilles-gaylord-opryland-hotel/
My goodness Nigel, I do believe you have stumbled upon the most concise and accurate description of America™ I have seen in years.
It was pretty America™. I'm glad to be home. Also glad I made it downtown for some bourbon and honkytonk before I had to leave.
Quote from: Mrs. Nigelson on November 17, 2013, 07:38:00 AM
It's marketing to the American middle class; suburbanites who consider Olive Garden a nice restaurant simply because that's what's available to them in their area, that's what they know.
This is so true and upsetting. I am now sad and angry.
Quote from: Mrs. Nigelson on November 17, 2013, 07:38:00 AM
It's marketing to the American middle class; suburbanites who consider Olive Garden a nice restaurant simply because that's what's available to them in their area, that's what they know.
Former is incorrect, IMO, latter is true.
There are plenty of restaurants everywhere, if you go looking. Thing is, it IS what they know, and it's SAFE. They can order pretty much anything and have no surprises. A narrow worldview is a worldview without risk. It's safe. It's orderly. It's what the Free Market™ demands.
Olive Garden isn't a nice restaurant? Granted it's not fancy, but it seemed nice the couple times I'd been there.
What's considered a nice restaurant?
Quote from: Sita on November 18, 2013, 03:57:33 PM
Olive Garden isn't a nice restaurant? Granted it's not fancy, but it seemed nice the couple times I'd been there.
What's considered a nice restaurant?
Depends. For me, it's a "curry shop". For my folks, it's Chinese takeout.
For my brother, it's one of those places that charges $20 just for the soup.
For my sister, it's that fucking Outback Steakhose.
A 'nice restaurant' to me just means a place that serves something authentic, where the food isn't American or a clearly Americanized version of something that could have stood on its own. This means all actual American Food restaurants are shit, no matter how much they charge or how fine their china is.
Quote from: V3X on November 18, 2013, 04:11:02 PM
A 'nice restaurant' to me just means a place that serves something authentic, where the food isn't American or a clearly Americanized version of something that could have stood on its own. This means all actual American Food restaurants are shit, no matter how much they charge or how fine their china is.
Depends on your taste, I suppose. SOMEONE must like Chilis, or it wouldn't be in business.
For me, it's a non-franchised place that doesn't cook like a production line, and doesn't rely on pre-processed, HFCS-laden ingredients. And has a point of view, culinarily. This could either be a greasy spoon that makes the best hash browns in the world, or it could be a place that has a $200 pre-fixe menu.
Also, I'm gonna state that NOT ALL American restaurants are shit.
For their purpose, truck stop diners are usually pretty fucking good.
I miss the truck stop diner my husband and I used to go to while dating (he worked overnights and it was one of the few places open when he got off work). Had the best damned food I ever tasted.
Sadly the place went out of business and a Denny's is there now :(
Quote from: Dirty Old Uncle Roger on November 18, 2013, 04:13:09 PM
Also, I'm gonna state that NOT ALL American restaurants are shit.
Yes, especially the ones that have ECH for a chef.
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on November 18, 2013, 04:26:05 PM
Quote from: Dirty Old Uncle Roger on November 18, 2013, 04:13:09 PM
Also, I'm gonna state that NOT ALL American restaurants are shit.
Yes, especially the ones that have ECH for a chef.
Roger: "Hot damn, ECH is cooking."
LMNO: "He probably peed in it."
ECH: "Actually, I did."
Roger (eyeballing LMNO's plate): "So, LMNO...You aren't going to be eating yours, then?"
Hands off, chief.
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on November 18, 2013, 01:53:00 PM
Quote from: Mrs. Nigelson on November 17, 2013, 07:38:00 AM
It's marketing to the American middle class; suburbanites who consider Olive Garden a nice restaurant simply because that's what's available to them in their area, that's what they know.
This is so true and upsetting. I am now sad and angry.
Welcome to America.
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on November 18, 2013, 04:12:43 PM
For me, it's a non-franchised place that doesn't cook like a production line, and doesn't rely on pre-processed, HFCS-laden ingredients. And has a point of view, culinarily. This could either be a greasy spoon that makes the best hash browns in the world, or it could be a place that has a $200 pre-fixe menu.
I second this. It's a place where the ingredients are fresh and preservative-free (unless it's something that requires being preserved by nature of what it is, like prosciutto) and prepared carefully, from scratch, by people who know how to cook well.
I also make a distinction between a "good" restaurant, which has the above qualities, from the subset of "good" that I would call a "nice" restaurant, which has the above qualities AND is a place with a semiformal-to-formal ambience, where you might take a date for a romantic dinner or celebrate an achievement.
Quote from: Mrs. Nigelson on November 18, 2013, 05:54:38 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on November 18, 2013, 01:53:00 PM
Quote from: Mrs. Nigelson on November 17, 2013, 07:38:00 AM
It's marketing to the American middle class; suburbanites who consider Olive Garden a nice restaurant simply because that's what's available to them in their area, that's what they know.
This is so true and upsetting. I am now sad and angry.
Welcome to America.
Please take me back to Argentina.
Quote from: V3X on November 18, 2013, 04:11:02 PM
A 'nice restaurant' to me just means a place that serves something authentic, where the food isn't American or a clearly Americanized version of something that could have stood on its own. This means all actual American Food restaurants are shit, no matter how much they charge or how fine their china is.
I couldn't disagree more. America has a number of excellent cuisines that are authentic in their own right. Being "American" has nothing to do with whether food is "authentic".
Quote from: Mrs. Nigelson on November 18, 2013, 06:01:12 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on November 18, 2013, 04:12:43 PM
For me, it's a non-franchised place that doesn't cook like a production line, and doesn't rely on pre-processed, HFCS-laden ingredients. And has a point of view, culinarily. This could either be a greasy spoon that makes the best hash browns in the world, or it could be a place that has a $200 pre-fixe menu.
I second this. It's a place where the ingredients are fresh and preservative-free (unless it's something that requires being preserved by nature of what it is, like prosciutto) and prepared carefully, from scratch, by people who know how to cook well.
In Tucson, we refer to that as "ptomaine poisoning".
QuoteI also make a distinction between a "good" restaurant, which has the above qualities, from the subset of "good" that I would call a "nice" restaurant, which has the above qualities AND is a place with a semiformal-to-formal ambience, where you might take a date for a romantic dinner or celebrate an achievement.
All we have for THAT are pretentious steak houses in horrible awful theme park-esque "Western Towns" (ie, Pinnacle Peak in "Trail Dust Town") that cost a fucking fortune and give you un-planed planks to sit on.
The food is good, but not THAT good. No food is THAT good.
Quote from: Dirty Old Uncle Roger on November 18, 2013, 04:13:09 PM
Also, I'm gonna state that NOT ALL American restaurants are shit.
For their purpose, truck stop diners are usually pretty fucking good.
Tasty & Sons is one of several restaurants that serve really fucking good American food around here.
http://tastyntasty.com/
I'm now tempted to use the Google machine to find something in Tucson I would consider "nice".
Quote from: Dirty Old Uncle Roger on November 18, 2013, 06:04:53 PM
Quote from: Mrs. Nigelson on November 18, 2013, 06:01:12 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on November 18, 2013, 04:12:43 PM
For me, it's a non-franchised place that doesn't cook like a production line, and doesn't rely on pre-processed, HFCS-laden ingredients. And has a point of view, culinarily. This could either be a greasy spoon that makes the best hash browns in the world, or it could be a place that has a $200 pre-fixe menu.
I second this. It's a place where the ingredients are fresh and preservative-free (unless it's something that requires being preserved by nature of what it is, like prosciutto) and prepared carefully, from scratch, by people who know how to cook well.
In Tucson, we refer to that as "ptomaine poisoning".
QuoteI also make a distinction between a "good" restaurant, which has the above qualities, from the subset of "good" that I would call a "nice" restaurant, which has the above qualities AND is a place with a semiformal-to-formal ambience, where you might take a date for a romantic dinner or celebrate an achievement.
All we have for THAT are pretentious steak houses in horrible awful theme park-esque "Western Towns" (ie, Pinnacle Peak in "Trail Dust Town") that cost a fucking fortune and give you un-planed planks to sit on.
The food is good, but not THAT good. No food is THAT good.
Dear god. :horrormirth:
I will very greatly resist going anywhere that I can't wear a pair of jeans. I have no use for formal or semi-formal.
That's kind of a shame, that you'd miss out on an experience because of clothing.
Post removed because it was full of asshole.
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on November 18, 2013, 07:02:43 PM
That's kind of a shame, that you'd miss out on an experience because of clothing.
Perhaps. But I do like being comfortable though, also I don't have the money to spend on clothing that will be worn only once or twice.
Had to do that once for a christmas party the my husband's work was having. That was about 8 or so years ago and I haven't worn it since.
Different worlds. Not everybody has a reason to wear nice clothes often, though it is kind of a shame to not get the chance to dress up now and again.