While I couldn’t go to this year’s GDC, the friend I was planning to go with did. They are very fashionable and great with people, two things I am incredibly jealous of them for; they managed to make connections with a bunch of people in the industry already, including getting someone to pay for their expensive lunch on day 1.

I asked them to teach me their ways, how did they manage to get so many people to know them so quick. They said I should compliment people and then naturally introduce myself to enter the conversation (good plan, however I am terrified of talking to new people, so it’ll take work), and to “dress in a way that makes you easy to recognize or stand out”.

This second part is the part I wanna talk about. Because man oh man do I have negative points in style. The most I know about matching clothes is owning 200 green T-shirts because I have green eyes. Beyond that point it’s up to god whether I look good in the mornings or not.

For years I’ve wanted to get some sort of style going, but I never really got how to do that. I look online for advice, or skim descriptions of books, and they all already assume you have some sense of natural style. “Try new clothes and see which ones fit your asthetic!” How do I know if they fit, if I don’t know what my asthetic is, or what clothes even compliment it? The few times I’ve gone with people to shop, they would usually rip whatever I picked off the shelf from my hands and hand me something else to try out.

And even then, how do I look memorable? I am a tall bearded white guy, I already look “default” in most work-related conferences I go to, so my clothes really need to pull their weight here. What do I wear? In terms of accessories every guy wears a watch and a necklace so those seem like boring options. Do I get a print tee? Are print tees cringe? Is wearing tight shirts too self-absorbed? Where do I START???

I’m probably gonna pester that same stylish friend for tips once GDC ends and they’re not running around meeting everyone in the industry within record time, but until then I’ll just scream at the heavens and wonder what the hell “matching patterns” even means.

Also, on the topic of self-grooming. I have tried waxing my legs today.

Hoooooly shit, it took like an hour and I only waxed half my leg. And it took so much goddamn wax! How do women do this shit???