Threadraiser: Thread on Earth
However, other than the piles (PILES!) of clothing I have to inevitably wash, Threadless provides something relatively more appealing: community. It is difficult to find real communities on the Intarwebs, and even more so to find one that is so closeknit, unified, eclectic as Threadless. Artists and designers of all different types, shapes, colors, and species; photographers; musicians; self-proclaimed writers (like myself); people who just like the attention (also myself). Everyone so different and individual but joined together by the single entity that is a t-shirt site, huddled around the Threadless bonfire just to share anecdotes and interests and deliciously melty s’mores.
And staying warm because of it all: the shirts, the fire, the people.
I have been through my ups and downs with the Threadless community. That goes without saying. Despite the goods, despite the (recent) bads, in my deepest of hearts, I cannot say that I regret any of what happened. It would be all too easy to dismiss everything, to cut open my heart and brain and carve out whatever malignancies that might exist, but I would be left a mere whisper of humanity. Besides, things were never that easy for me.
So why should you choose me? What sets me above the several thousand others who are, no doubt, more deserving? The amazing deliciousness of my fried rice and English muffin pizzas and my not-as-well-received quesadillas? My undying admiration for Elliott Smith as an artist, a musician, and a poet? The fact that I can communicate with dolphins, though they don’t like talking back to me? Some kind of affirmative action? I am not entirely sure.
I just know that I am me, and without Threadless, I would not be the me I am today, the me that I, quite literally, wear on my sleeve every day.
And who knows? Maybe someday I will get the opportunity share those s’mores with everyone in-person.
But until then, I have some shirts to fold.
canceromega (Anna)
Nude No More: My Life as a Never-Nude
It begins with mild surprise.
"This website has some cool shirts. I think I'll buy a couple!"
Upon discovery of scoring designs/interacting on the Threadless forum, it progresses to attachment.
"These guys are such characters! I hope they know I exist." (Longing gaze into the computer screen)
Eventually attachment manifests itself into a nasty obsession, only able to be kicked by years of intensive shock therapy*.
"C'mon, man, just give me a little bit of Wi-Fi! I just need to check the new prints this week. That's it, and I swear I'm off it for good"
But beyond my declining social life and growing pile of t-shirts, I've discovered what it means to be part of the Threadless community. For me, being part of this group of people means forming bonds with one another under certain commonalities. For example, you could be fourteen or forty, male or female, and either way jpiatt is still going to creepily hit on you. It's just the little things like that that enable us to relate to each other and bring us closer as a community.
My history with Threadless begins in July of 2006. In the beginning, there were only a few shirts involved, but as I grew increasingly more bored, I filled my time with perusing the blog forums. Understandably, I quickly came to the conclusion that the "bloggers", as they called themselves, were slightly insane, so I kept relatively quiet, only appearing in blogs occasionally. It wasn't until a fateful night in February that I decided to interact more, and so I entered the infamous "Bacontaco" video chatroom.
What happened that night, I will not say, mostly because I can't remember it. What I do know, however, is that I kept coming back to the chats every night. It started out as just a fun thing to do to waste time, but soon enough I was growing attached to the pixel people I would see on camera every night. Names and phone numbers were exchanged, and I finally felt comfortable including myself in Threadless' social network.
The friendships are more real than our digital confines. The bonds sometimes stronger than the ones we have with people in real life. My time in this electronic haven has not only taught me that it's not just the pedostache that makes Randy creepy or that Charlie Festa's beard is easily the eighth wonder of the world, but also that companionship is available in the last place you'd look for it. My homies on the Internet are friends that have permanently lodged themselves into my heart, and meeting them would only be a physical validation of our relationship where we can high-five and create secret handshakes, and man, that's all I need. That and a Choco Taco.
*This may or may not be true.
ofthecoast (Kelsi)
I have a date tonight.
Since I never go on dates, this should be exciting to me, and it is. It’s also making me a little bit nervous. It’s a first date, and pretty much a blind one at that, considering I met the dude on the internet in April and have been communicating with him via facebook messages ever since. So I’m nervous. But not really nervous in the way that you might imagine. While there should be 600 different fears about all the ways in which this dude could be psychotic running through my head, that’s not what I’m thinking about.
What I’m thinking about is what I might miss on the blogs tonight since I won’t be home, and I’m a little bit worried that tonight might be the night that the chats come back in full force and I’ll miss it. I’m a little bit worried that I might accidentally say “lol @ ______” while talking to Ethan tonight or describe how much fun I’m having in terms of a percentage. I can’t help but wonder if I’ll develop an attraction to this guy that will rival the crush I have on (insert blogger) who lives far far away, or if he’ll pale in comparison to the way I laugh at stupid crap on the internet.
This thought is somewhat depressing to me.
The most pressing thought on my mind, though, is “if this thing goes somewhere, I wonder how he’ll react to knowing that I have friends on the internet?”
That’s how Threadless affects my life. I formulate blogs in my head while I’m walking, eating, teaching, and even (apparently) getting ready for dates. Maybe I need to win this contest and come to
I’ll be home late tonight, but I’ll still check in. That’s what happens.
