"For duty, duty must be done; The rule applies to everyone."

Tuesday April 15, 2008:
Being of proper upbringing, I was exposed to the works of the Victorian era partnership of librettist W. S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan at a very early age. I remember the Kevin Klein and Linda Ronstadt version of The Pirates of Penzance and then the numerous rentals of The Mikado and The HMS Pinafore, and then the performances at the University of Portland until I was a teenagers. I am probably sure that those productions weren't all that great, however, it was nice that our parents kept us interested in wit and frivolity. One of the continuing themes in the works of Gilbert & Sullivan was duty. This sense of duty committed people to carrying through with their, well, duties. From the Pirate's Frederic, to the Pinafore's Ralph or the West Wing's Sam Seaborn, their sense of duty brought them to realizations of right and wrong, their past and their future, and how to cope with seemingly unsurmountable odds, and above all, carry on and shoulder the burden. And sing about them. It is this outstanding trait that brings me to wear today's tie - a bow tie. It bought this tie as a surprise to wear for Katherine's med school graduation ball, but, since I cannot keep a secret, I showed it to her. Oh well. It is black with purple and gold stripes (Go Huskies! Go Dali Llama!). Because the world now knows about this tie, I felt the duty to wear it. However, since I am on the brink of completion of this journey I couldn't wait till a Friday to hide it away from the world so I jauntily paired with my herringbone suit, white button down shirt, tied the tie around my neck and left to face the world, as the I am the very model of a modern gentleman.

*Blogger's note: You don't have to have my upbringing to catch Buttercup references; you could have caught Gilbert & Sullivan references in the TV shows The Simpsons, Mad About You, Animaniacs, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Veggie Tales, Frasier, and The Muppet Show.