I have always wanted to make my very own special tee. One that I can walk around and glamour at my friends (which make me infuriate when they have something like a chapstick with “Microsoft Office” on it). One that I can actually wear, unlike the “Microsoft Kid” tee my dad bought when he went to Redmond.

In a nice marketplace in Lijiang (Yunnan, China) that has kept it’s culture and history, my dream came true (I know, that sounds familiar).

We were visiting the marketplace, looking for my friend of my mom’s friend. That person owned a shop in the marketplace that made shirts.

“Do you know where a T-shirt making shop is?” we asked a handsome looking guy who was sitting on chair in a shop.

“Are you looking for Mike?” he asked us with a grin that could make anyone suspicious.

“Yes, why?” Mike was the name of the shop owner.

“I am Mike.”

The rest of the evening was spent like this: He offered a suggestion. I rejected it. He offered another one. I changed it up and made it mine. He offered a suggestion for that. I accepted it, provided I was allowed to modify it.

Finally, it was ready. The printer started printing out first the front, the back, the sleeves… all on one sheet of paper.

The front was up first. The paper was aligned on the shirt. It was then pressed by the presser-thing so it was flat. Then it would be heated. The words would stick onto the shirt.

I watched as the procedure was repeated for the back and each of the sleeves.

Here’s some pictures of my dream tee.

Left (or top, if your screen’s really small): Front of shirt. It says: I live to geek, and I geek to live. Text stolen from Livehacker’s motto and then edited.

Right (or bottom): Back of shirt. It says: And don’t forget to visit my blog! chaoticmortal.com. (I love ads.)

Left (or top): Zooming in on back.

Right (or bottom): A sleeve of shirt. (the other sleeve says my name).