digital.goth.geek

I’ve just got back from the hairdresser. Argh!

I wasn’t too keen on going to a hairdresser, not having visited one since I was a schoolkid (many, many, many moons ago) but I thought that I really needed to, as the ends of my hair were bleached to buggery and it wasn’t unknown for them to be split now and then. It really did need a good tidy up.

It was a truly nerve–wracking experience, walking into that unholy den of œstrogen. The oldest biddy in the joint — who I assumed was the chief dresser–of–hair — wasn’t slow in giving me the dirties. However, I bit the bullet, plonked my arse down in the (what appeared to be) repurposed dentist’s chair and sat very still, awaiting the arrival of a scissor–wielding maniac.

The hairdresser I was assigned — a young lass of probably Spanish or Italian stock — was very friendly, which I gathered more from her encouraging smiles rather than what she said (I wasn’t able to understand most of it for her strong accent) but surprisingly I felt at ease, even with the evil-looking crone peering at me from behind the back of another customer’s shorn head.

Thence came the dampening, the drying, the combing and cutting, smipping and shaving, feathering and layering, trimming and shearing, resulting in a mass of chunks of hairy blue fragments on the cutting room floor. Egads!

Is it usual for them to ask if you want to take the cuttings home in a bag? I thought this a strange custom, so I declined politely explaining that I supposed that the cat would be inclined to try and ingest it, which is probably likely considering the frequency of her miaowing to be fed.

And the price? I was expecting it to be in the order of £60-70, but it turned out to be a nice round £16. Bargain!

Result: I’m now the proud owner of a feathered, long–ish bob (a “bobby” perhaps?). Now, I just have to pour half a gallon of bleach and midnight blue dye onto it to complete the look. Oh, and a good crimping. :-)

This also counts as one of my 43 Things. Woo!

Photo’s on Flickr.

‘Alf-inched from http://www.theregister.co.uk/:

Has anyone pointed out to Microsoft, how OneCare[1] sounds, when spoken with a comedy French accent, Inspector Clouseau-style?

Ahahahaha!!!

[1] their subscription-based Windows PC health check service. They can’t be bothered cleaning up their act and make Windows secure in the first place, so they offer a charged-for subscription service to clean up your computer after it’s gone tits up.[2]

[2] Nice work if you can get it, innit?

Edit: since I wrote this, the pledge has been taken over by the refuse pledge, which has reached its goal within a single month.

If you haven’t seen the No2ID pledge then take a look.
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The recent MORI poll on ID cards is stupid.
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The British Government is lying about the reasons that it’s trying to introduce ID cards: they won’t stop terrorism, they won’t stop illegal immigration, they won’t stop crime.
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I spent a few hours last night (when I couldn’t sleep) reading all about self-hypnosis and NLP, as I’ve recently been to see an NLP master practicioner for some stress-related issues. It’s not like I imagined, and as films and tv often portray: there’s no swinging pocket watches or black and white swirly cardboard discs, just a willingness to try and the ability to relax.

So I gave it a whirl when I went to bed, and it seemed to work, with the suggestion that I should fall asleep pronto and wake up all bright and refreshed.

It seemed to work, so I think I’ll be giving it another go, and picking a few other choice suggestions that I’ll try and drill into my subconscious.

Some companies, with a vested interest in making sure more copies of Windows are sold, seem to think it’s a good idea.

Personally I think making you pay for Windows (either off–the–shelf or pre–installed on a new computeralso known as the ‘Microsoft tax’) and then expecting you to pay for a subscription to clean up the mess it leaves you with, is not just immoral and contemptible, it’s criminal.

Of course, if you have more money than sense or no sense at all then it’s probably a good idea to sign up. Otherwise, I’d suggest either using one of the non–Microsoft anti–virus services (some are free) or dumping Windows altogether.

A couple discussing something on the frozen aisle:

I know it’s low–fat, but it’s not going to do anything about your arse. You might as well just get the crisps.

I guess the woman who said this also complains about the guy’s shoe collection, mother and nagging habits.

Today I had the first of my three hypnotherapy sessions to help me get over a bit of stress (and stop smoking). I won’t write anything about the actual experience, but I will say that it was extremely helpful, has given me a lot to think about (and do) and I really do think that it’ll help me not just in the short term but in the longer term too.