“Maczter’s Movember Update Part Deux: My Name is Not Gordon”

This is a guest post from our Movember Correspondent Chris Carter. For the month of November, Chris shared his experience growing out a mustache to raise awareness of cancers that affect men.

Admittedly, the photos in my first Movember update weren’t terribly interesting unless you just enjoy seeing facial hair grow. As previously mentioned, I had something a bit more involved than a simple mustache in mind, so growing in a full beard was a necessary evil before grooming down to the mustache I had planned.

Shortly after submitting my previous update to the editor, the initial grooming commenced. I decided on a slightly tapered Trucker mustache with a chin strip and medium-length sideburns, a look I dubbed “The Evil Trucker.” As it turns out, this is not a look for the lazy or forgetful groomer. It took 10-15 minutes to properly shave and trim my face once the initial grooming—a 25-minute affair on its own—was done. Also, as it turns out, I had unknowingly/subconsciously selected a style that closely resembled one of the greatest video game heroes to date.

Week Three:

If you aren’t sure which game hero I inadvertently modeled my look after, don’t feel bad as I didn’t realize it myself until it was brought to my attention since all the time I had spent playing the game which starred this character was spent playing as the character himself and viewing the world through his eyes and never really viewing the character himself other than on the game’s packaging and in story mode, which I skipped right past in order to play the game in multi-player mode with my former co-workers at the end of long work days.

Week Four:

The Mo is Cool. How Did the Fundraising Go?

I am a bit disheartened to report that my effort in growing and grooming my mo apparently exceeded the frequency and/or effectiveness of my fund raising efforts (I guess I didn’t spam my friends enough) because I only ended up raising $88 (Thanks, Mom and Cathy!), $50 of which I donated to the cause myself. Additionally—and likely due to my late timing and lack of naming a specific position desired—my donation matching offer did not result in any solid job leads, though I made a few new LinkedIn connections with some Twitter followers who saw my challenge.

Fortunately, other members of my Movember team were able to raise some significant amounts, putting our team over $16,000 as of December 3rd and the friendly competition we had going with the Boston team resulted in their raising over $20,000 for the cause. Not a bad effort overall.

Oops. I Meant to Chip in a Few Bucks But Forgot. Sorry. Now Who’s This Video Game Character You Look Like?

Still not sure? I threw the following image together after the resemblance was brought to my attention by some friends on Twitter…

I am Not Gordon Freeman (Gordon Has Green Eyes)

Yep, it turns out that, when groomed with my Evil Trucker look, I’m a dead ringer for Gordon Freeman of Half-Life fame. Unfortunately…or perhaps fortunately, the resemblance wasn’t brought to my attention until a couple of days before the big Movember Gala, else I would have had no choice but to suit up and go as Gordon himself in order to take home the prize for “Best Mo in Character”, which instead went to a guy who dressed up like a greaser. Oh well, there’s always 2010!

That’s Rad. Now I Feel Bad for Not Chipping in. Is it Too Late Now?

I thought you’d never ask! If you’re in Austin and you’d like to meet members of my team and/or help push us closer to our $20,000 goal, we’ll be having a get together on Thursday, December 10th at Boomerang’s Pies on Guadalupe. Check out http://twtvite.com/vgvrfi for more details and to RSVP! Hope to see you there!

Chris Carter is a tech-savvy creative.  Check out his LinkedIn profile. Hire him!

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Related posts:

1. “Movember Monday: Maczter’s Update…With a Twist”
2. “Movember: Why Non-Hipsters Are Suddenly Growing Mustaches”