My Doppler Shift

This dress always elicits the most confusing observations from men.  I know that black and white vertical stripes are a lot for the eye to take in, but seriously guys?  It's not THAT out there.  For instance, take today...

I was walking to the bathroom in the ERC (the engineering building where my lab is located) and a man with a very heavy accent murmured something in my general direction.  He had a smile on his face, so I assumed he wanted me to hear whatever he said....

"eesdatyoursldfkjsdlfkjsdlfkjsdlfkjslkdfjs?"

"Excuse me?"

"Is that your sdflkjsldfkjslkdfjslkdf?"

"HUH?"

"IS THAT YOUR DOPPLER EFFECT COSTUME?"

*awkward laugh* "I guess so! uhhh... bye!" *quickly scurries off*

For how brief of an exchange it was, it was way more awkward than it should have been. While I will concede that I have a tendency to be super awkward when bombarded with unplanned human interactions, the problem was more that it served to underscore the fact that so much of who I am sticks out like a sore thumb around all of the other engineering grad students.

I mean, I have had people straight up ask me "are you lost?! I always see you walking around the ERC, are you looking for something?"  JEEEEZ.  You always see me walking around the buildings relegated for engineering research and study and you can't allot me the benefit of the doubt that, oh, I don't know, I know full well where I am and I have actual reason to be there?  

So while this guy was probably just being congenial and making a super nerdy joke about the busyness of the starkly contrasted, thin, vertical stripes on my dress, it struck a nerve.  

Dress: KNT by Kova (Urban Outfitters)

Shoes: Lovely People

Awesome Watch: Casio

Scarf: Goodwill

Also, you know when you think of the perfect rebuttal long after the moment has passed?  Like three minutes later I had completely moved on mentally when BAM...

"ACTUALLY... this is my Doppler SHIFT!" popped into my head.

AHHHHH! That was it.  THE PERFECT RESPONSE.  And I missed it.  Although, to be fair, technically this dress is not a shift because it has sleeves, and there's a good chance (A REALLY GOOD CHANCE) that the dude would have had no idea that a shift is also a type of dress...

Whatever, I am still MASTER of puns.

On an unrelated note, these shoes are wonderful.  Just wonderful.  Every time I look down at my feet, which, to be honest, is pretty damn often when I have these shoes on, I think of those awesome long balloons that you can make roses and creatures and hats out of.  One time a complete stranger told me my shoes reminded her of the same thing ("you know! like the ones that they make balloon animals out of?!") and, in that moment, we were one.  She GETS me.

Anyway, I'm goofy as fuck and wear weird things.  I decided a good while ago that life is too goddamn short to waste a single second worrying about what assumptions people will make about you based on your appearance.  As a mere mortal I do have moments where I feel insecure about the stark contrast between me and my constituency, but then I look down at my sweet ass shoes that look like they are made from those long balloons and I completely forget what I was thinking about and skip off happily. 

It helps to be easily distracted.