T-shirts are like tattoos that you can take off.

I have gone through many phases: DVDs, CDs, plays, board games, coffee table books, comic books. These phases consist of me spending way too much money collecting these goods so that I have them in case I need them. For instance, I bought Team America before I had seen it because I knew that I wanted it for my collection. Bad call. I bought a Tales of the Weird -- a mesmerizing book with gritty illustrations about strange occurrences throughout history -- which I have only flipped through. I have never played Risk, but I own it. These binges usually last a month or so. The comic book addiction was a little longer, and I have weaned myself off them only gradually (I am down to 3 series that I am following: Powers, Scott Pilgrim, and Priest [not to be confused with Preacher]).

T-shirts, however, are not a phase. They are a philosophy. Rach likes to remind me and inform my.her friends that my high school wardrobe consisted of gray t-shirts, jeans (often with paint on them; often with holes in therm), and a black-hoody. Which I don't deny, though I do defend the practicality of this aesthetic. But I also had a military green shirt with a tri-colored emblem in the middle of it that said Durango, from Durango Colorado. I wore this shirt until it broke. I loved that shirt. What I liked about it was the following:

1) It was aesthetically pleasing, but not overly complex.
2) It's meaning was open to interpretation.
3) Nobody else where I lived had it.

These have been rules I have tried to follow with my t-shirts ever since. I have complicated them from time to time, sure. I went through a Khol's video-game oriented T-shirt phase (and I still have 2 or 3 from that period that I wear). And my current trend is narratives: t-shirts that you have "read" to get. Like the design above, which my sister just bought me (though she doesn't know it yet because she actually gave me a gift certificate. And she gave it to me last October. Whoops!)

If you are interested in awesome t-shirts, I highly recommend two sites:

Threadless

This pick is hardly a surprise for anyone who digs t-shirts, but I want to give it a shout out because they have awesome stuff.

Etsy

I was introduced to Etsy by my friend Ashley who used to work at Blueberry Hill and is one of Etsy's greatest success stories. Etsy is a website for independent artists to sell their wares. Including, of course, t-shirts! CHECK IT OUT!

If you don't wear t-shirts, start. And if you don't take your t-shirts seriously, you should!

Power to the T!