Genetics

Apparently, my father's eyebrows are now growing out of my head.

All those years spent wishing for curly hair... and when it actually does start coming in with curls, it shows up as colorless wire! (On the plus side, when it finally goes completely gray it will be white and gorgeous and have lots of body. So, y'know - thanks, Dad.)

Update

I keep meaning to blog, but I've been hit with a new round of 'no Internet access at home' and it's hard to stick to the To-Do List when vegging between lectures while at school. Eh. Also, I've been working on my dramaturgy blog (http://dramaturgytalk.blogspot.com/) which is part of my website (DramaturgyTalk.org*) and you're free to check out both/either. Today I started with an optional lecture on Verbatim Theatre (theatre built from the words of interviewees, event participants - no changing the words!), went right into a seminar on the Sarah Kane play 4:48 psychosis, and then headed to a Philosophy of Art lecture on "Two-Dimensional Versus Three-Dimensional Pictorial Design" which just sounded interesting. And then I came back to the post-graduate study room and blogged about it.

Seriously.

WHO AM I?

I don't even know, but I'm having a great time.

The hair has grown to the point that it goes completely wack-tastic under a hat, so a 'bad hair' hat day is, in the end, a hair DISASTER day (but it's covered by a hat, so it's just funny). My half-dozen cowlicks are coming out to play - I'm about to invest in hair gel (already!) because whole sections are regularly doing totally different fuzzy things than other sections. I've been terrible about taking 'progress' pictures - I did a tiny trim over my ears with nail scissors, and I'm back to considering the wigs since the way the hair is growing makes my head look lumpy. (Now you know why I haven't been taking the progress pictures.)

Things are good, my lecturers are awesome, I'm really enjoying my classmates, and ANY SECOND NOW my student loan and passport are going to show up (though not together, they're coming from different places) so that I can travel.

Next weekend I'll either be going to Turkey (see above re: passport/funds!) or back to The Doctor Who Adventure in London, and sometime soon (come on, Internet!) I'll start posting pictures from my Canterbury trekking. (The white cliffs of Dover are calling this weekend...)

Cheers!



* If the link doesn't work for some reason, you can also get to my website here: www.wix.com/cydlets/dramaturgy-talk.

Ramblings

For the last few days while I've had no Internet at home, I have constantly been thinking of things to blog about. Now, sitting in the cafe on campus with my computer and wireless signal, I can't think of anything interesting.

That doesn't mean I'm not going to keep typing, however.

- I think there's a good possibility that collectively, people in Canterbury are even crazier than the ones in London. However, they're also much more relaxed and cheerful about it all, so it balances out.

- I have never seen so many girls with over-processed hair in one place before - I thought I was going to stand out with my super-short 'do (it just doesn't feel 'shaved' to me, though that is technically the case) and I suppose I do... but only as an example of a cut from which other girls' hair would seriously benefit. Honestly, do you really WANT your hair to make you look intellectually deficient?

- In related news:

... this is the wig my parents were helping me buy, even though they didn't realize why. It's fun. I'm going to look for a couple of different hats to try with it. (One of my course mates really wanted to see it, so I got a picture.)

This is my 'first' wig - I got it for a black-and-white Alice in Wonderland costume and it's a lovely wig... the makeup, though, is going to need a little tweaking if I decide to wear it out.

I did not wear a wig to church on Sunday, and I guess it's a good thing - at least a few people knew me because the Relief Society President had shown them my picture on Facebook. Also, I was immediately drafted to play piano in Relief Society. It's always nice to realize that when they haven't had anyone, even someone who's not very good is a bonus! (I will keep practicing.)

- My housemate is a super-cute little Arabic girl called Sara (that's how they say it here: it's not what someone is 'named', it's what they're 'called') who talks a mile a minute. She's been mothering me since the minute I arrived, and felt terrible to be leaving me on my own while she went in to London for the weekend. Naturally, being the only one currently in the house this is the weekend I would lock myself out - even being in London Sara still managed to find an ex-tenant in town who still had a key to come over and let me in.

- I have a new ID card, a campus gym membership, a bus pass, the beginnings of a schedule, and the continuing hope that the student loans will come through to pay for it all... I'm off for a few more groceries and to do a final (pleasepleaseplease) revision on the paper for my OTHER programme. It would be nice to have all that done before classes start...

- Not having Internet at home is good for me, I suppose, as it means I get up and out of the house to get things done - and it's got to be beneficial that I'm not checking Facebook every 15 minutes (from a time-management perspective, if nothing else). Hopefully the shakes will stop soon.

Laterz!

I Paid My Two Bits

If you know me, you know that I love checking things off lists. Pretty much any list, really. Yesterday, I checked something off of a list that's been around for a while.

This is a picture of me from three days ago:

Three days ago I had 3/4 inch of apparently colorless root growth, a daily handful of hairs I'd dug out of the shower drain and bedroom carpet, up to an hour lost a day on washing/drying/doctoring/straightening my hair, and a mortifyingly large product budget. (And in spite of all that - or perhaps because of the last two - I still managed to get a cute picture!)

This is a picture of me from yesterday:

Yes, that's me. Yes, that's my hair on the floor. No, it's not Photoshopped. Yes, it's a pretty great T-shirt.

Some time ago I started making a list of '100 Things To Do Before I Die' (technically, I think I got up to 80, and they're on this blog somewhere - if I can ever find the right posts I'll link them) and one of those things is "shave my head". I didn't want to go for the full 'skinhead' look (at that point I'd feel obligated to get a tattoo, and that is NOT on the list), but I did want to:

- definitely deal with damaged hair
- find out what color it actually is, even if that color was 'dishwater gray'
- free up time from 'doing' my hair for, well, anything else
- wear lots of wigs
- save some money
- Just. Y'know. Start over.

So, I did it. I'd asked my hairdresser about two months ago if she'd do the cut, and after running through my reasons and explaining how long I've been wanting to do it (5, 6 years?), she agreed. I have video, and once I edit it down I'll find a place to post it. I'm moving to a new town to start a new school year at the end of the week + I still live in the UK + I'm studying theatre and people are used to theatre folk being a little 'quirky' + it's hugely difficult to get the shade of haircolor I like over here + plus the 'shedding hair EVERYWHERE' thing was getting intensely annoying = #4 clippers and Away We Go! I've gotten lots of great responses from friends on Facebook, and a few startled glances from people on the street - I emailed my family, and have yet to hear back from my parents. (I hope nobody's clutching at a heart attack somewhere, because of that email!)

Today's been great - no shampoo in the shower, just the body wash and loofah. It was practically dry by the time I got up the stairs to my room. I was even caught in a short rainstorm that soaked me, but when I got to the Tube station I just rubbed my head with a paper towel and it was dry by the next stop. I've never been out in a storm and NOT panicked about my hair before! Every time I look in the mirror I get a little jolt of surprise, again - and then I laugh. Do you have any idea how awesome it is to laugh and grin every time you look in the mirror?!? It's amazing. I can't stop running my hands over my head - it's all bristly. (How can guys ever get used to it? It's just so cool!)

I also think I lucked out - I was pretty sure it was going to look terrible, but that was worth it for the chance to start over. Instead I find out that while I do have quite a bit of gray (I think it's going the white-gray, wooo!) I also have a lot more color than I had thought - and it really is still red. SUCH a relief! My head seems to be a fairly nice shape (which is important when there's no hair), and the first thing my hairdresser said when she finished was (and she was also a little surprised) "It suits you." (It's even more fun if you can imagine the surprise coming with a Scottish accent, which she has.) It's strange to feel the breeze so close to your scalp!

I'm determined not to color it at least until December, and I have packed up my hairdryer and straightener and all the various chemicals previously employed to wrangle my hair into submission. (Funny story: earlier today I went on a tour at the Globe Theatre and the guide started listing off modern conveniences we just couldn't live without: "...phone, camera, hairdryer..." There was a guy across the group from me who had the same haircut I do, and on 'hairdryer' we caught each other's eyes and both smirked and shook our heads.)

Shocking, I know - I am, in fact, eating sushi. 

At the Globe Theatre - not only did I have the lowest-maintenance
'do' in the place, I was also the only one to recognize the tour guide's
quote as the opening lines from Hamlet. Oh, yeah. Big deal, right here.

There will be more pictures to come, as the wigs I have are black, black with red streaks, brown (flippy), white, and blue. Should be fun!

Watch out for falling turtles (even the ones you plan for)!

Cyd

FAIL

Not one person mentioned (good, bad, or other) my haircut today. That would normally inspire me to start hacking away with the nail scissors, or adding blue streaks and a perma-updo. Apparently, I crave attention. Who knew?

Also, it's September. I'm a little shocked we allowed that to happen already. In protest, I need to go dye something.

You can color too, while you wait.

Day 7 - A Poem

A few weeks ago a friend and I went to a "progressive performance art" show, which was... interesting... and one of the pieces was titled "Residue of a Day." The actual dance/video piece was fairly forgettable, but I was struck by the title. What is, after all, the "residue" of a day? What's really left? It ocurred to me then that the title would make a good creative writing exercise - what do think of when you hear that phrase? In a very rough first draft, here's my answer.


Residue of a Day

Sticky happiness
Like jam-fingers catching blown kisses
Salty sorrows
Like rainspots on an early-spring window
Silty disappointment
Like sand-dust drifted under a crooked door
Spicy laughter
Like cooking scents coloring and warming the air
Slippery dreams
Like half-remembered songs that fade in shifting light
Silky memories
Drifting over raised fingers, colored lights and snatches
of song woven into a plush cloth that drapes
and shelters and warms
with love.


What comes to mind for you?

* * * * *

In other news, today I have Sarah Palin hair.