What I'm Up To

HAIR UPDATE

Some of my principal excitement in the last year has been about what I've done with my hair. For a while in 2002-2003, my hair was long and blue. However, eventually I got tired of the upkeep (blue fades quickly) and how the bleach was wrecking my hair.

So, I took it all off, shaving my head (down to the skin) in March 2003. It was something I had to do once in my life, so I'm glad I did it. I wasn't really crazy about the no-hair look, but I did like the extremely short look:

I may go back to that one day, who knows.

The idea was that I was starting over and would no longer bleach or dye my hair. The no-dye resolution only lasted a few months before I got bored again. (I still plan on never bleaching again - the damage wasn't worth it.)

Last summer, I decided to dye my hair black after looking over a bunch of old photos and remember how much I liked it last time I had black hair. Steve suggested I do one more wacky color before going to (the basically permanent) black. I was amenable, and told Steve to choose the color.

I trusted him so much that I let him put the color on my hair before finding out what it was. I was expecting maybe orange or bright red, but instead he chose green, my favorite color.

To my surprise, I really liked the way it looked. And to my further surprise, green is an excellent hair color because it doesn't really fade. If you don't refresh blue every couple of weeks, you start to get a really gross color. Green, on the other hand, loses some vibrancy but the tone stays pretty much the same. The only times I've had to re-dye is when my roots get too long.

I shelved the plans to go black and have kept the green since then. So far, I still like it and am planning to continue as my hair grows back. Here's my current color and length:

OTHER STUFF

I'm still enjoying my job, which has a core of tech support, but since I have a number of different skills, I'm always getting to do projects for various people in the company, so I have lots of variety. I'm also in charge of the company's CRM system, so I get to sink my teeth into database work, too. And throw in some webmaster work and technical writing. Small companies are great.

I'm ostensibly working on a number of mundane projects around the house, such as a new filing system and building a shed. I am also creating a four-foot-diameter mosaic to be the centerpiece of our garden.

I continue to play soccer once a week, which I really enjoy. I also run and lift weights. I'm enjoying getting some muscle definition in my arms for the first time in my life. Just being in shape is reward enough for the hard work of getting there.

I read a lot these days because I take the bus to work. I really cherish the time I have on the bus to read - it's time I wouldn't otherwise take out of my life. One notable book that I have read recently is The Brothers K, by David James Duncan. At the moment, I'm working my way through The Ends of the Earth: A Journey to the Frontiers of Anarchy, by Robert Kaplan, which has a lot of interesting ideas but can be quite slow at parts as he tries to cram centuries of history into a couple pages.