Monthly Archives: January 2010

Static

13 Replies

No, I don’t mean the kind of static that occurs between people, or on the radio — you know, the important kinds. I mean static in my hair. And a metric ton of it.

As many of you know, the consistency of my hair is very much like a baby’s. I just have more of it; what the commercials used to call “flyaway hair.” And boy does it fly in the dry winter weather.

Seems I’ve tried every method out there to get rid of my static flyaway. From conditioners to humidifiers, I just can’t survive the winter. I dread pulling a shirt over my head. Here’s stuff I’ve tried, to limited or no avail:

  • ionic hair dryer
  • fabric softener sheets through the hair
  • leave-in conditioner (icky)
  • spraying clothes and hair brush with Static Guard (I keep a can at home and a can in my desk at school — it works temporarily)
  • keeping lotion on my skin and hands

I don’t know what else to try. Here’s some sage advice I found on the web:

You can apply olive, almond or coconut oil to your hair and leave this on overnight at least twice a week. This will start changing the texture of your hair from dry to generally healthy. A cup of milk cream with a tablespoon of lavender oil will also make your hair very healthy, sleek and glossy. Applying castor oil to your scalp and fomenting it with hot water will also help to moisturize the roots of your hair. Soak a towel in extremely hot water, squeeze it out and wrap it around your head after applying the oil. Once the towel cools, repeat the process. Do this for at least about four to five times before you wash off the oil.”

Yyyyeah OK no.

I am considering (and I am not joking), the Jamie Lee Curtis cure:

At least I could wear pomade and it would look decent. I don’t know….I just might do it. What say you, Finkites?

All right. Time to go tame the savage follicle beasts.

Blark.

If you had no fear…

4 Replies

…what path, then?

From the abstract to the explicit, fear has many faces, and as some of us know too well, spans great distances and knows no cutoff age. To the youngins who read RtB: any adult who tells you that you grow more courageous and clear-minded as you get older is, well, clearly not thinking clearly. And he/she is probably scared of a lot of stuff. That’s why those of us who’ve had an epiphany of sorts need to share. We’re out there. We just need a forum where we can write our stories. Hey, wait.

As far back as I can remember, I’ve had an intense need to be accepted, liked, appreciated: the typical right-brained, overachieving, insecure performer’s bane. It really didn’t matter what the activity was — music, writing, dancing, sports, games — where personal (outward) performance was concerned, I had to be as good or better than anyone else. As you might correctly surmise, I was disappointed on many occasions. That, in no small way, explains much about my secretly obsessive personality — and from whence/whom it originated. But that is a story for another day. Back to fear.

As a result, I spent many years in fear of being found out; discovered for the jiggly, scared-crapless mound of goo I really was. To stave off that inevitability, I added more and more mountains in my path. You know, just to prove to people that I could climb them and get across to the other side — where hopefully someone would clap. In other ways, I avoided the hard stuff, choosing instead to do things I knew I could master. The fear of being viewed as a failure was, if nothing else, an intensely effective motivator; I was an absolute slave to it. And I’m not referring to some time Long Ago and Far Away, fiends. We’re talking as recently as a stone’s throw back some months. It’s only been fairly recently that I’ve decided not to allow old ghosts to rule the day so easily anymore. Fun is the priority now.

So, back to the question. I wonder what I would have/could have done had I not been completely ruled by the fear of failure and non-acceptance. Would I have risked it all and gone to New York when I had the chance in 1978? Would I have chosen English instead of music as a college major (which actually almost happened), and thrown myself into being a serious writer instead of a teacher? Those two decisions (not going to NY and choosing a music major) were both, quite honestly, made out of abject fear.

[Insert beautiful sunrise music here.]

But really, it’s all about how you look at things, isn’t it? (What would I do had Seamus and Lars, Helen and Hannah, my beautiful grandsons, my fantastic stepchildren, and the Thriller not come into my life? I shudder to think.) You can’t change the past; the best you can do is make some sense and purpose out of it, and use it to make a better future. Lucky for me, I’m doing just that. Everything in my life happened for a reason, as cliché as that may sound. Same goes for you. But I wonder, for those of us who stayed on the “safe” side:

What would you have done differently had you not been afraid of the repercussions? Do you regret taking the path of least resistance? Not taking big chances to realize the big dream?

Are you aware that it’s not too late? :-)

Philosofink out.

Today’s Cartoon

4 Replies

This morning I read that explorers Christopher Columbus and John Smith reported having seen “mermaids” on their travels at sea (1493 and 1614, respectively). The sightings persisted into the 19th century. Marine scientists later postulated that the men might have in fact been seeing manatees or dugongs –– not maids.

Hence, today’s little funny.

Haha.

FO

This Just In II

6 Replies

More of “all the news fit to roll your eyes at.” At.

So…remember all the hoo-ha about cell phone EMFs being dangerous? Check this out. Seems we mobile hounds might have cause to take heart. According to the new experiment results published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease:

The researchers say that if cell phone exposure was begun when the Alzheimer’s mice were young adults, and before signs of memory loss became apparent, their cognitive ability was protected. And if older mice with Alzheimer’s were exposed, their memory impairment improved. What’s more, months of cell phone exposure even boosted the memories of normal mice…”

How about that? I hope they’re right…

===========

I am most decidedly not ready to be shocked at what I read regarding this subject. Not. And I haven’t been on a plane since the 90s.

===========

I still want a Droid. But I’m looking out the corner of my eye at this. But it would have to be unlocked. Me and T-Mobile…maaaah I don’t think so.

===========

Ya THINK? Boyfriend had a condo on the side he openly shared with his lady luv, while still refusing to divorce his wife. You tell me.

===========

On the “the fact that this is important to people creeps me out” scale, I’d give this about an eight.

===========

Blark. Time to get ready to go to the school house. Too much news, not enough hours in the morning. FYI, my dinner theatre auditions went very well last night. Fun show this year…or at least I hope it will be.

FO