Archive: March 2007

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Thursday - March 22, 2007

Takin' a walk with my iPod

I volunteered to take some papers to the Main building this afternoon. None of our student workers are around and I was copying files from one PC to another. My mind wasn't being taxed too heavily. So, I volunteered. For some reason, I remembered to take my iPod with me. I never remember to take it until I'm already half-way to my destination. Today, though. Ha! And, boy was I glad! As I got going, "Come" by Fleetwood Mac started playing. Now that is a good song to walk around to. I got to the Tower in near record time. Then, while wandering around trying to find the office I needed, I listened to "What Did I Do" by Nathan McEuen. Gail sent me a CD sampler she bought at a house concert he did. Good song. And, kind of appropriate for someone wandering around a big building. I thought I knew where I was going but once I walked up four flights of stairs only to find the wrong offices, I was not too happy. So, back down...then up the other side. Sigh. Then, "Like a Rolling Stone" by Bob Dylan was playing as I started back. And, for some reason I remembered Joyce Dougherty...who I knew in high school. She also went to UT. We ran into each other right there by the Tower a couple of times my Freshman year...back in 1981. Wow. I hadn't thought about her in ages. And, she just popped into my head. I've walked past that area of campus plenty of times without harking back to the dark ages. Dunno why it hit me today. Was it Dylan? Heh. And, then, as I got close to the office: "I Want to be Your Girlfriend" by Mary Chapin Carpenter which just makes me smile. No matter what I'm doing.

Later on, I took the How Smart am I? test and got 25 of 25 questions correct. Which supposedly makes me smarter than 98.93% of the rest of the people who took the test. I don't think that's really true, though. It just means I did better than 98.93% of the people who took the test. Surely there are plenty of people smarter than me who took the test and got a question or two (or more) wrong. Doncha think?
Update (May 16). I got a note from my mom saying she'd taken the test so I thought I'd take it again...just to see if I would still score 25/25 or if I'd lost some of my gray matter (no doubt that is happening). And, I did score another 25/25. But, my percentage score went up to 99.23%. Hmmmm...

Posted by Joanna | Permalink

Sunday - March 18, 2007

Suddenly shorter hair

My hair's been bothering me for a few months now. It's been way too long. It was so long that it was getting caught in the door of the car when I'd get in. I'd pull on it every time I carried a bag over my shoulder. It was generally a tangled mess. So, when I started thinking about my trip a couple of weeks ago, I started dreading getting on a plane with all that hair. And, what about carrying a heavy bag? That would really pull at the hair. So, I went in to get it chopped off. I figured I could get enough cut off that I could donate it to Locks of Love and still have what was left fall below my shoulders. So, that's what I told the stylist I wanted to do. "Oh," she commented, "they require 10 inches if you want to donate it." I was pretty sure I had more than enough to do what I wanted but told her to go ahead and cut off a little more if she needed to do so in order to get 10 inches. And, so she set about her job. She made a pony tail, whacked it off, and set it on the counter in front of us. It looked like quite a bit more than 10 inches to me but...whatever. So, she went about straightening things up and when she was done, my hair was very short. It bobbed around above my shoulders. Hmmmm...

But, it was okay. Shorter than I wanted. I couldn't make a pony tail with it anymore. But, it would grow. So, she put the pony tail in a bag for me and away I went. When, I got home, though, I had to measure. I had to see. 'Cause, clearly, it was more than 10 inches. And, lo:

Yep. 18 inches. She cut off almost twice as much as she needed to cut! What do you think? Should I take a ruler to the woman so she can figure out just how long 10 inches is? Nah, probably not. I'm over it. And, in another month or two, my hair will be as long as I wanted it when I went in. It does grow, doncha know? Heh.

It's funny. It startles some people. And others, mostly of the male persuasion, don't seem to notice at all. And, let me tell you, it's a big change. I don't think I've had hair this short in nearly 20 years. Most people that notice ask if I donated the hair. Which strikes me as kind of odd. That's a rather personal question, doncha think? But, then, I'm not one for asking questions like that. I never presume to touch someone's belly when I see a pregnant woman. But, you see (and hear about) that sort of behavior all the time. So, who am I to say what's personal and what's not? The times, they are a-changin' and I'm (apparently) just an old-fashioned kinda gal when it comes to that sort of thing.

Posted by Joanna | Permalink