No, this is not my 156th post. I’m far from that.

I don’t weigh 156 pounds. I’m far from that too.

So, what is 156? Aside from the integer following 155 and preceding 157, that is.

It’s how many shirts I own.

Let that sink in.

156. I’m also not factoring in my dress shirts or any shirts I have which are awaiting me to sew a button back on or something like that. These are shirts ready to wear and which I would be willing to wear to school tomorrow.

156. That’s a lot. A freaking lot. The overwhelming majority of these are also not ones I bought. Most are hand-me-downs from siblings or my dad, gifts from people, or shirts that my mom and Wendee would get me when I was in high school (when I never bought my own shirts and rarely went shopping for any).

The funny thing is, while I was going through these shirts, I could remember exactly where and at what point in my life I aquired these shirts. Talk about useless memories.

Let me show you what these shirts look like in photo format. First, the pile of hangers on which these hung until recently:

That’s a lot of hangers. It wasn’t until all were thrown into this pile that I realized it wouldn’t be the most fun hour of my life to untangle them all. Alas, that’s what comes from poor planning.

I separated the shirts into two piles. The first pile, containing the majority of them, is the pile which I will need to sort out and decide what I want to get rid of for good and what I want to pack up for future use. The second pile is the shirts which I want to keep around me so I can wear them whenever. Here’s the first pile, consisting of 123 shirts:

Now for the second pile of 32 shirts:

Those two numbers of 123 and 32 only add up to 155, so let me show you the elite of the elite, the shirt which is in a pile of its own and of which I will keep in as excellent condition as I can:

This shirt was a preorder bonus from Software Etc when The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was coming out. I have never seen another of these shirts in my life. I love it. It was this game that put the concept into my head that indeed, I was a gamer. This shirt has a special place in my heart. Yes, a shirt. Link is just so bad-A.

This shirt is from my “club” phase, when I thought flashier = better. I refer to it as my Mithral Mail +4 shirt:

Just a note about this shirt. Because I was such a nerd and compare this shirt to magical enchanted armor, when I would wear my Link shirt I felt I needed some extra protection. As that protection I would wear my Mithral Mail. .. +4.

This shirt I won the night I went to see Mission: Impossible 2. One of the managers of the theater came in before the showing and was asking questions and handing out prizes. The last question he asked was “What is the best seat in town?” I was sitting at the very top of the theater and raised my hand before he was even done, and at the same time as Steve Hansen who was sitting next to me. Being the two quickest hands in the theater, the manager saw us and pointed up and yelled “Fro!” I answered “Cinemark!” and got the shirt. That was the very first afro I grew and it won me a shirt. Win.

This next shirt was one of my prizes for spending 10 days of my life outside the Megaplex 12 at the Gateway while awaiting the release of Star Wars Episode II:

This shirt is a remnant of my days at Bingham High. In my junior year, my friends and I attended the football games at home. We got WAY into rooting for Bingham. Not because we had school spirit, but because we liked making fun of the opposing teams. I have a couple funny stories to tell about that, another time though. I made this shirt out of the school shirts for my junior and sophmore years. The jocks and cheerleaders all loved it when I wore it.

Well, those are some of my shirts. It’s sort of fun to be downsizing my wardrobe. Oh, and this is what those shirts look like in a pile and not stacked on top of one another nicely:

So many shirts!