June 11, 2024
- Brush: Oumo - Pandora SHD - 28mm Badger #SHD
- Razor: Gillette - Aristocrat Adjustable
- Blade: Wilkinson Sword
- Lather: House of Mammoth – Alive Soap
- Post Shave: House of Mammoth – Alive Splash
- Fragrance: House of Mammoth – Alive EdP
"The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day:
The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play,
…
They thought, 'If only Casey could but get a whack at that—
We'd put up even money now, with Casey at the bat.'"
Ahhh… Spring. Despite all the pollen and having seasonal allergies, it’s my favorite time of year. The days get longer, the weather gets warmer, and the true sign of spring arrives: Baseball. There’s nothing like it. I get that the popularity of the sport is steadily decreasing and some people say it’s boring. But, to me, it’s perfect. There’s nothing like it. It's the same game that's been played for over 150 years. There's something special about it's relaxing pace, stellar atmosphere, and the fact that even the best players will fail 7 out of 10 times. Anything can happen in baseball. And in 1888, Ernest L. Thayer wrote the quintessential baseball poem “Casey at the Bat” in Worcester, Massachusetts. Telling the story of the Mudville baseball team, and their star player, Casey, as he comes up to the plate with the game on the line. I won’t ruin the ending for you, but give it a read or let James Earl Jones read it to you. It’s a wonderful piece of American literature and one of my twins toddlers’ favorite bedtime stories.
And since it was written in Worcester, Massachusetts, the AAA baseball team in Worcester – The Worcester Red Sox - have a statue of Casey at their ballpark to commemorate the poem being written there.
And I’ll give you one guess as to why I’m telling you this story....
If you didn’t guess that I’m shaving with Casey, then you haven’t been paying attention to how I operate. So yes, I packed up my mobile shave den and headed to Polar Park, home to the Worcester Red Sox, and went to Centerfield, where the statue of Casey sits.
Fortunately for me, there is a bench right next to the oversized Casey statue. Unfortunately for me, they are doing construction directly across the street from the statue, so there is a construction crew with a boom lift truck doing work 20 ft away from MY shaving space. The nerve… Usually shaving is my time to be at peace with myself, but with these guys hammering, loudly talking, and staring at me, it gets a little uncomfortable. As I started to load from the tub, one of the workers came over and told me he was the “site’s safety officer” and that I could sit here, but he was gonna stand here to ensure the crew was aware of me sitting on the bench. Ummmm… Sure thing bro-ski. If you wanna watch a guy shave, say the word and I’ll send a whole WetTuber SOTD thread to you. The whole interaction was weird and honestly a little tense. He clearly didn’t want me there, but also couldn’t really ask me to leave, since I was on the opposite side of the street from him and his crew.
A lesser Lather Games contestant would have packed it in at that point, but I had already put quarters in the meter, so I wasn’t about to let that $1.50 go to waste. With the added pressure of a “safety officer” looming over me, I rushed to build a bad looking, yet effective, slurry lather like u/sgrdddy taught us. I never want to be a bother to anyone when shaving in public, and this guy was not excited about my presence, so I didn’t take the time to build a spectacular lather. (Sidenote - I’m starting to think that maybe bowl lathering is the way to go for these mobile shaves. Especially when speed is of the essence. But I digress….)
I shaved without issue with Alive, splash on Alive, then sprayed on Alive, packed up my stuff, and said goodbye to my new safety officer friend as he pretended to not pay attention to me.
What a day to be Alive! Happy Spring to all!
Challenge: Color coordinated. Such green niceness! Looking at a lot of the pics today, I missed the memo about using grass as a background.
For #FOF, Alive is one of my favorite fragrances in this hobby and it screams Spring to me, so using an Alive trifecta was a no-brainer today. The green apple right on top of the fragrance gives it a fresh brightness, and then basil and bergamot add a little spice to it. Mix in some florals, then it sits on a deliciously woody and musky base that lasts for the rest of the day. This is the perfect scent for a shave at the ballpark!
Soap Theme Justification: Did you know Alive is a Spring Chypre in its original conception? I found that out thanks to u/USS-SpongeBob.
Relevant Post Shave & Fragrance: Trickhole. It’s all relevant.