I’ve been given a homework assignment by Contemporary Troubadour , so I’m going to try to get right to it! The assignment is to write about 7 things that I’ve never talked about in my blog. This may be a bit difficult for me because I’ve written about a lot of things. š
1. Taking Contemporary Troubadour’s cue, I’m going to talk about my hair. I have horribly curly hair. Now, I don’t mean that it’s very curly (which it sort of is), but that it’s unruly. It has a mind of its own and will frizz at the slightest hint of humidity. In my circle of friends in Grad School (and now that I think of it In General– with one exception), I am the only person who has curly hair. Despite this everyone has a theory as to how to style my hair to make it behave. They all suggest this, that, or the other thing- and it drives me nuts! As a kid I used to wish for straight hair. Now, I just wear it in a ponytail.
2. I’ve been told that I have a mild form of synesthesia. I associate letters and numbers with being either male or female, personalities, and, in some cases, colors (but I don’t see them in color; it’s more of a feeling). Like the number 2 is female, nice, and usually blue. The number 8 is male, slightly juvenile, and green. The letter L is female, a proper lady, and yellow-orange. I thought that all people did this until my first year of graduate school. I had a course that talked about actual synesthetes and this was mentioned as a subset group. And that’s when I learned that not everyone associates gender/color/personalities with letters and numbers. Funny what one thinks is normal, huh?
3. I’m very bad about not thinking before speaking and I tend to be very emotional. It’s one of the things about myself that I dislike. I’m especially prone to saying things that I don’t mean when I’m angry. It’s led to some funny situations, though. Like my first Journal Club. I was explaining a study about drosophila and, fortunately later (not during my presentation and thereby not in front of the entire department), someone asked me why they should care about fruit flies. All I could think of was, “Well, you see, it’s a vast conspiracy between the left wing and the right wing.” Or during my last committee meeting one of my committee members asked me what my next step was if my last-ditch-effort didn’t pan out and I responded with “I’ve seen these ads for alpaca farming on late night TV…”
4. Also, like Contemporary Troubadour, I seem to do my best thinking in the shower. These leads to a lot of conversations with the words, “And then in the shower it hit me…” I need to remember to strike that phrase from my vocabulary. I don’t have those insights while washing the dishes, though. So, I don’t know if it’s any mundane activity or just the shower.
5. I had a male “Honor Attendant” in my wedding. One of my closest friends is male and it felt strange to have him stand on Dr. Man’s side when he was my friend. This bothered my mother and grandmother to no end. However, this did not bother Dr. Man’s family (or at least they didn’t mention it to either me or Dr. Man). He– the Honor Attendant– was a good sport about things because he put up with a lot of teasing about being on the girl’s side. He also came to my bachelorette party.
6. I hate movies like Saw. Even the previews make me tear up. I feel so bad for the victims in the movies because it has to be terrifying to be in such a helpless situation. It makes me sad and just a tad bit scared. In fact the scariest part of the Scream movies for me was the opening scene of the first one. (It’s the one with Drew Barrymore and she can see her parents coming home.) Anyhow, it’s the one genre of movie that I refuse to see. That’s saying a lot because I like almost all sorts of movies (I love action movies, adventure, video game based movies, etc.).
7. I took ballet for about 8 years (ages 4-13– except for when I was 7). I’m still not all that graceful, though. I started taking ballet on the advice of my pediatrician. I was “pigeon-toed” and the pediatrician said that ballet would help that. So, I started taking lessons. My parents still have all the VHS tapes of my recitals– even though I was never very good. However, I was never much of a girly-girl. And I hated wearing the required make up for dance recitals.
I don’t know who to tag, so I’ll pull a Cath. I’m tagging anyone who has ever taken dance lessons or who has curly hair.
Well, I wouldn't do this one since I have straight hair and never taken dance, but since you tagged me on my blog I will! Need to think a little bit first.
As far as speaking without thinking goes, it sounds like the stuff you blurt out is really funny. Way better than if it were rude! And I totally pictured you with straight hair and a teense on the girly side – now I have to reformulate my image of you. š
Re: point #1- If you are willing to shell out the cash, try No Frizz, sold at Sephora. It's in the $25 range for a medium-sized bottle- expensive, but the shit works. I use it for special occasions.
Hee hee, love your list! And you are way better at managing what comes out of your mouth when you're angry than I am. The fact that you can actually print what you say is proof of that for me …
Alas, during my perm years, I couldn't really say any product worked perfectly, but I depended on Paul Mitchell's leave-in awapuhi conditioner. It at least controlled some of the perm damage (dryness, breakage). I did the ponytail thing too but started losing hair where it kept breaking off around my hairline. So if you find you have that problem and need to give your hairline a break, this stuff is pretty good.
7 things? huh.. I will need to think about that. I have taken dance lessons, even if I don't have curly hair.
I love you post! THe numbers and colours, I have never heard about that. interesting. I have some feelings in regards as that, but not "same colour for same thing every time". Wonder what that means.
And the speaking before thinking, I guess that will be number 3 on my list, or something like that š (It's been called "missing a few steps for people to understand" or something accordingly, I'dd try to explain it)
I'll pick this one up as I also was put in dance at a young age due to being 'pigeon toed.'
Synesthesia is fascinating! After learning about it I wished I had such a unique perspective on things =) The Grackle's godmother sees colors when she hears music and has turned it into a very successful career as an artist. We received a painting and it's associated Debussy music for our wedding and it is one of our cherished belongings.
I have an astonishingly flat straight hair and have always wished for some curls, so maybe we should trade š No dance lessons for me though (just music).
I am impressed that you had a male wedding attendant! I considered that as well (well, actually, I considered having all male "bridesmaids" as most of my friends are guys), but the backlash I had was weird and I don't think the guys would have been comfortable either. I found them other roles in the wedding instead and they are in all the pictures, but why is it that I couldn't put them in the roles they really belonged in just because they were male? I applaud you for being able to make everyone get past the unimportant stuff.
Fellow curl-girl here. And I hear you on the annoying advice from straight-haired friends. "Oh, just blow dry it while running your fingers through it. It'll look great!" Um, no, no it won't. Or, "Just sleep with it in a bun, take it down in the morning and it'll look all wavy and great." Nope, not true either. I'm mostly in pony-tail mode, but I do have a ceramic straightener by Chi that works absolute wonders.
Also hate movies like Saw. I liked scary movies before they started going all graphic-torture like the Saw series. I've had horrific nightmares where I'm in some Saw-like trap. I can't even watch the previews of scary movies anymore.
And the synesthesia thing is really cool. I guess it's not realy the same thing, but I used to picture numbers as being little social groups of friends, like the numbers 9,6, and 15 are good friends. Weird.
Nice blog, by the way!
I can't hide from the self-tagging concept, given that you all know I have curly hair! It's actually my defining feature… I can't get a blow dryer anywhere near it without frizzing up. People with straight hair really Just Don't Get It!
Now, the next question is, can I think of 7 things I haven't waffled on endlessly about already? Stay tuned…
well, my hair is mostly straight and still frizzes… haven't found a reliable solution to that either.
The thing about male friends and weddings is interesting to me, I don't think that would have been so much of an issue here (but I haven't been in the situation, so I cannot really tell).
EGF: I always feel hesitant about tagging people, but after your post, well, not any more š Some of the stuff I blurt out is funny, but not when I'm angry.
CE: I'll have to try it. I've used the Bumble and Bumble curl creme and loved it, but it's very expensive on my stipend.
CT: I may try that too. It's a relief to have other people who understand my curly hair angst!
chall: The number/letter thing has been remarkably consistent. I had Dr. Man test this to make sure. Oh yeah, and I do tend to talk and skip a few steps for people to understand, too. š
Albatross: I'm not the only one (re: pigeon toed)! Most people look at me when I'm nuts when I mention that. The Grackle's godmother's version of synethesia is way cooler than mine!
SG: I am so jealous of your straight hair. Trust me, straight hair >> curly. It hadn't really occurred to me to have my friend as anything other than one of my attendants. My mother raised holy hell, but eventually she was quiet about it. I think it was the one thing that I really stuck to my guns about for the entire shindig.
SS: Hi! Welcome to the blog š And I'm so glad that you get the curly hair thing. I've used a Chi once, but it's so expensive that I haven't bought one… yet. In my reading about synethesia the number social group thing is another form. At least that's according to the very trustworthy source of wikipedia. š
Cath: I forgot that you have curly hair! Based on that evidence alone you could probably blog about something you've already talked about and we'd (or I'd) be none the wiser. š
Amelie: The male attendant prejudice may be more of a cultural thing. There's a lot about weddings that just scream normative gender roles.
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Lucy
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That's really neat about the synesthesia!
I totally hear you about #4, I solve most of my programming problems in the shower. It's hard to explain to someone who's waiting for me to solve their coding bugs on the spot.