Sunday, February 26, 2012

Hair Again...Hopefully, Gone Tomorrow

Or if not tomorrow, SOON! My hair has reached a length that is really starting to bug me. Since I've had some unhappy experiences with haircuts in the past (looks great for a day or even a week or two, then it looks like a shaggy dog), I'm trying to hold off getting it cut until I can get up to my favorite stylist in Chicago.

I never know what to do with my hair--even learning how to blow dry it was a major ordeal. I've had some bad hair days throughout my life:



Almost as bad as these fake hairstyles:



So in the meantime, I've been trying a variety of hair products to control it. Headbands are easy, as long as I control my urge to go crazy with bling. For instance, isn't this pretty? Um, yeah--if I was 19 and getting married all over again.



There are some pretty barrettes and combs available, too:




The problem is, I don't need these for a wedding, a ball or a Royal tea party. I just want to keep my darn hair out of my face so I can type without going cross-eyed. Also, my hair is very thick, so it takes either a very large comb or several hair pins to hold it back.

And, let's face it, I'm a little old for scrunchies. (Although some are pretty cute...)



If I could braid, it would be one thing. Unfortunately, hand coordination is not a strong point. Instead of braids that look like this:



Or even something simple *snort*, like this:


Mine look more like this:



Or even this:



You get the idea. I was born without the hair styling gene. You think I'm kidding? Okay, time to share a deep dark secret. You know all those little clippy things in the hair aisle? I don't know what the heck you're supposed to do with them! But desperate times call for desperate measures, so I've picked up a few of those gizmos lately.

I think these are called hair claws:



I put them in my hair and they promptly fall right out. Luckily, I bought the plain and cheap version, instead of the pretty ones I posted here. (Can't resist bling--what can I say?)

I thought about trying this, but I'm not good at tying scarves artistically, either:



I actually do remember how to do a ponytail pull-through, like the one shown below, and it doesn't look bad even on someone my age. But, damn, after awhile it gives me a headache:



I saw one of these doohickeys, and it looked kind of cool:



But it also looked as hard to install as a kitchen sink. I looked for one of these, which appeared moderately easier to use:




But I couldn't find that particular one. So then I picked up a stretchy comb-thingy by Goody. It's black elastic with a sort of Celtic knot design and two black combs attached. It looks similar to this:



There are no directions with it, and the illustration on the packaging shows a black stretchy thingy on a woman with black hair. Seriously??? But it looks sort of like this:




(Okay, I know this looks nothing like me, but use your imagination, for Pete's sake!)

Sorry, I'm a tad irritable, after wrestling with this damn thing for half an hour. Then my husband got into the act, analyzing the hair product as if it contained the mysteries of the universe. (For all I know, it does.) He couldn't figure it out either so, like a guy, he went online and looked up some tutorials, like this one:



All I can say is, don't be surprised if you see me with really short hair in the not-too-distant future. This is already one of the longest blog posts in recorded history, but now that I'm into this rant, it's hard to wind down. Maybe a couple quotes?

If truth is beauty, how come no one has their hair done in the library?
Lily Tomlin

And more:

“Red hair, sir, in my opinion, is dangerous.”
― P.G. Wodehouse, Very Good, Jeeves!

“Some of the worst mistakes in my life were haircuts”
― Jim Morrison

“Interviewer: 'So Frank, you have long hair. Does that make you a woman?'
Frank Zappa: 'You have a wooden leg. Does that make you a table?”
― Frank Zappa

“My hair had grown out long and shaggy—not in that sexy-young-rock-star kind of way but in that time-to-take-Rover-to-the-groomer kind of way.”
― Jim Butcher, White Night

“People always ask me how long it takes to do my hair. I don’t know, I’m never there.”
― Dolly Parton

“Beware of her fair hair, for she excels All women in the magic of her locks; And when she winds them round a young man's neck, She will not ever set him free again. ”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“She was the most beautiful creature on Earth - her hair said so in that language only hair can speak.”
― Gabriel Bá, Daytripper

“Symbolic of life, hair bolts from our head[s]. Like the earth, it can be harvested, but it will rise again. We can change its color and texture when the mood strikes us, but in time it will return to its original form, just as Nature will in time turn our precisely laid-out cities into a weed-way.”
― Diane Ackerman, A Natural History of the Senses

In the time it's taken me to write this post, my hair has probably grown another quarter inch. I guess I'll finish with a song that's been running through my head all day, from the musical HAIR.

Bye for now. May the, uh, brush be with you!

Saturday, February 18, 2012

You know it's time to get your hair done...

I haven't been up to Chicago since August, which means I haven't had my hair cut since then. (My favorite hairdresser is at Mario Tricoci, Woodfield Mall.)

My hair grows really fast, so I'm turning into one of those Weird Old(er) Ladies with Long Hair. My husband prefers it long, so it's not entirely a bad thing. Except that it suddenly hit me what my hair reminds me of: an afghan hound.


I asked my long-suffering husband, who is much handier with Paint and Photoshop than I am, to clarify this:


Yep. That's what it looks like. Good thing I'll be in Chicago next month. Until then, I only have one thing to say.

"Woof."

Monday, February 13, 2012

Really, Bad, Awful, Terrible Writing - We Want Your Worst!

ROMANCE UNIVERSITY'S FIRST ANNUAL TAINTED LOVE CONTEST


Whether it’s a bouquet of well-intentioned, half-dead flowers from the corner liquor store, the stale box of drugstore candy with someone else’s name on it, or the Valentine that never came, everyone’s got a love-gone-wrong story. 
As the world prepares to celebrate Valentine’s Day, RU is thrilled to announce our first annual Tainted Love Contest.

We want your absolute worst.
The most wretched, overwrought and bruise-worthy purple prose you can possibly fit into one sentence containing no more than seventy words
We want a sentence so bad your keyboard will cringe and your monitor might explode with the awfulness of it.

Here are examples written by RU staffers: 

Sloppy kisses sounded romantic in a bodice-ripping way, but with his tongue slithering down her throat like a slightly furred snake and his stale tobacco flavored saliva mixing disgustingly with hers, she decided to leave French kissing to the French in the future, and to avoid men with hot eyes and flecks of egg in their beards altogether. (Becke)

The party was winding down, as parties do, when my wandering eye caught the startling beauty I just had to have – her black ski mask contrasted with the rough and tumble red locks dangling from just under the hem, and the blue eyes that sparkled with mischief from behind the twin holes in the mask as she aimed the Uzi in our general direction. (Carrie)


It wasn’t the smoldering like a five-day tire fire, wanna-get-lucky look Wanda gave Earl beneath her press-on lashes, or her soft, sweet lips, reminiscent of a mashed praline on Bourbon Street in mid-July, but her breasts, which resembled two fried eggs that had him yearning for a Denny’s Grand Slam breakfast. (Jen)


TAINTED LOVE IS NOW OPEN FOR ENTRIES!
Place your entry under our comments section at the link below:
http://romanceuniversity.org/2012/02/12/rus-first-annual-tainted-love-contest/
Entries must be received no later than 11:59 p.m. PST on February 14th.
One entry per person.
One sentence containing no more than seventy words.
Judges: Editor Theresa Stevens and the RU staff 

First place prize:
A writer’s toolkit – Includes things every writer needs (yes, chocolate too) 
Plus a $20 Amazon gift card. 
Second place prize:
A $20 Amazon gift card.
Third place prize:
A $10 Barnes and Noble gift card.
***
Winners will be announced on Sunday, February 19th.
Contest limited to participants in U.S. and Canada.
Hope you’ll join in the fun!


Here are some groan-worthy vintage Valentine's to get you in the right frame of mind!

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Messages from the Universe

I've been in kind of a holding pattern with my writing for a few weeks. At first it was a conscious choice - I wanted to take a break and re-charge. But this last week, every time I sit down to write, I end up...not.

I keep coming across quotes that make me feel as if the universe is telling me to get off my ass and write. I'm paying attention, honestly. But sometimes it's like a magnetic force separates me from the keyboard, at least when I have a .doc file open. A Cone of Silence of sorts.

First of all, this quote resonates with me:


But these are the messages I really needed to hear:




This should be my motto:


I need to remind myself of this:


And this final thought:


Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Winter Dreams

A friend of mine recently sent me a poem she wrote for me. She said to "Picture one of your red-hot character lovers next to you!" 


(Thanks - I will!  happy smiley #541 )  


A big shout-out to Kathy Shattuck, who blogs at Prosetry in Motion. She gave me permission to share this - enjoy!

Winter Dreams

By
Kathleen Sara Shattuck





Close your eyes my nightingale
Visions in sleep will soon entail
Solstice scenes
Within your dreams

Close your eyes to landscapes untold
Hold them near as they unfold
By the fire on cold winter nights
Wishing dreams of beautiful sights

A crackling fire sings of past glories
Floating, drifting, to lullaby stories
Soft and warm, and near to my heart
You lie beside me, and feel the spark

Encircled, entangled, in ecstasy
Our bodies glow in the firelight
Smoldering, burning, tumultuously

Our hearts catch on fire, as the blanket on the floor
Grab the fire extinguisher
my love
and head for the door!