June 30, 2024 – Bon Voyage
- Brush: Omega 40033 24mm #hollow
- Razor: Gillette Tech
- Blade: Bic Chrome (2)
- Lather: Paradesha Farms – Bay Rum
- Post Shave: Tallow + Steel – Shag
- Fragrance: Parfums De Marly – Pegasus
Bon Voyage, saying goodbye to yet another games. Bittersweet. I laid it all out there this year, and we’ll see where the chips fall. Am I disappointed in how I did? I was at first, but I shouldn’t be. Sure, some of my bits didn’t work as well as I wanted, others fell apart as the games progressed. But I put together a good point run, nabbed more legendary points than last year. I tried to balance shit posts with serious posts. I made international shipments of incriminating baggies. I had fun. That’s what matters in the end. I mentioned to u/hugbckt I’m probably not going all out again. Maybe I’ll change my mind on day two next year like u/onionmiasma. I suspect not though. My family needs a break from a month of chaos over the summer. FYI for the judges, I bolded the relevant info below for ease of skimming (but it’s not that long.)
For today’s theme we return to where we started, the team run. When I reached out to u/adworried2804 about teaming up, I asked if he could find me a soap from the Philippines. Keep in mind, I live in the US, so the coordination of getting stuff between us was not easy. He wasn’t sure if he could find the soap, but he went looking and sure enough he found a bay rum from a local maker. Country 1, check. Continent 1. English Tech, country 2, continent 2 Bic Chrome: Greece County 3. Brush, Omega Boar, Italy, country 4.
Now here’s where it gets hard, for #fof I had to get…creative. Shag, made in Canada, country 5 woot continent 3!. Pegasus, made in France, Country 6. All different countries, a world tour in a shave (and 3 of 6 continents regularly inhabited continents.). And to be honest all different scents. This is a cacophony, the tower of Babel of scent combos. The shag is potent pachouli. The Pegagus cloyingly sweet. And again, I have to go to church smelling weird. (I also used nivea post shave not listed because of the bots. Made in Mexico. Countries: 7.)
For the last day I didn’t want to play it totally serious, but how do you do a travel shave that’s not overbearing (yes, last year’s post went on too long.) Well I told my daughter someone has to go on a trip for this to work and she obliged by packing her bags. Joke’s on me though because I have 3 hour round trip drive to the sleep away camp. Also, a second idea came to me during a conversation with none other than u/pridetwo on the discord. I noted my wife has given me a ton of dopp bags since I started shaving. More than you can use since I don’t travel that much. Basically every free gift in a dopp bag lands in my lap. And u/pridetwo said they were useless because “you can’t lather them.” To which I responded, “but you can lather in them.” His retort was “SOTD with it, or it doesn’t count.” Well, travel day seems perfect for that. Sometimes on trips, your forget your bowl, it gets lost, or something else odd happens, and us bowl latherers have to improvise. So here’s a makeshift bowl lather in a dopp bag. Satisfied u/pridetwo? (Note: Dopp bag did not have a “made in” sticker on it anywhere. It was included in an Ulta order my wife made as a promo. Generally, these lower quality freebies are made in China, so I made sure my brush wasn’t made there. Other possible countries include: Vietnam, Bangladesh, Cambodia, none of which are in my shave. Countries: 8)
Finally, #photocontest we’re going to do money. Wait, how does that tie in? Have I completely given up my photo themes after yesterday? No. I mentioned to u/onionmiasma I spent some time in high school in Your Honduras, working in a nutrition center for impoverished children. So, here is a Honduran Lempira (yet another country included in the shave, up to 9!) I’ve been carrying around in my wallet for the last 21 and a half years to remind me of that time. It’s worth less than a nickel, but it serves as memory of both the good and bad I saw while working in the nutrition center. Years later another graduate of my high school would go down to the Center in college. (For various reasons, funds, housing, etc., only 6 seniors were allowed to go each year and he was not one of them his year. His brother was chosen later, which is how he became connected.) He fell in love with the mission and moved there to run the center. Soon he started a charity to both fund the center and expand upon its work. Amazing what a little yearly service project at a school in the Midwest can grow into. (The annual service project has been on hold for a number of years, hopefully they’ll restart it soon.)
Bonus country: I took this picture with my Canon T6, made in Taiwan, countries: 10.
Thanks to all the organizers and judges this year. I know drama hit at the end but let it roll off your back. Thanks to the side contest organizers too. You add extra fun.