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To Be Or Not To Be
Chris and Keirnan Seated on Bench in Field, Hampton House, Maryland, 1999

To Be Or Not To Be

19th February 2013

In a never-ending quest to reveal who I am, I thought I would save any new reader the drudgery of slopping through the myriads of postings over the last years, and with little effort, get right to the heart of the matter. Here in one easy posting is an abbreviated, but still relevant list of my likes and dislikes.

Hopefully, it tells a small story of a slightly eccentric, unordinary man, struggling to find his way in the rather ordinary culture we live in.

Likes

Printed newspapers, well designed books and bookstores

The patina of silver

Beautifully made automobiles

Biedermeier furniture

A well-tailored suit

Engraved stationery

Fireplaces with well tendered fires in winter

Manicured lawns, hedges and allees

Order and precision

Eloquent language

A sense of humor

Uniforms of all sorts

Women of style

Quiet, clean, well-lit spaces

Natural light (let there be light)

Extremely well-made things of all sorts

A job well done

A beautiful woman in a classic one-piece bathing suit

Intelligence

Originality

Classic music from Mozart to Avro Part

Monastic life and Gregorian Chants

Simplicity

A beautiful woman’s legs

Dancing

Heavyset men and women with style

National Trust Gardens

Large, majestic trees

The rural life

A noble man

Diners, Drive-ins and Dives

Fountain Pens

Receiving letters from the U.S. Post Office

Home cooked meals

The Bourne Movies

Dislikes

A great deal of popular culture

Tattoos

A woman’s underwear revealed too easily

Bikini’s on 99.9% of women

Vulgar language

Disorder

A person’s stomach being exposed

Sloppy and vulgar dressing

Most, but not all of Modern Art and Photography

Tract houses

Windows without mullions

Vinyl siding

Cheap construction

Too narrow lapels and ties

Most designer clothes that have more fashion than style

Women’s large handbags with lots of bangles

Discordant modern music

T-shirts

Housing developments

Office buildings with tinted glass

Windows that do not open

Strip malls

Most marketing and PR

Most objects made in plastic

Most online everything (especially banking)

Recessed lighting

Being late to anything

Crowded places and small elevators

Rap and Heavy Metal Music

Graffiti

Most art films

An unexamined life

Following the leader