SPIDER Re-Release, part one of ?
For the first set of re-releases, I'm going to post a few of my favorites that somewhat outline my former blog. After this series, the re-releases will come singly and periodically; I'm just trying to catch up on a whole bunch of back-posts, as you can probably tell.
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Aug 6, 2009
The sucky thing about trying to grow out your hair is that the world always seems to be conspiring against you. I know for a certified fact that the reason why Houston is in the midst of 95 degree+ heat wave is because I'm trying to grow out a long, thick head of hair, sans mullet. I wake up fresh and neat, with little product on my head, because I'm going for the natural look, and by mid-afternoon, a thin film of oil and disgusting-ness seems to accumulate, partially seeping out from my scalp but mostly from the dreadful humidity. And even when it rains, it is no relief; what we get is an unwanted free sauna in the rain shower. Silvered drops of intended heat-relief drop on the cement pavement and sizzle and fade away, only to leave the taste of polluted steam on our tongues.
But enough of the weather--that's what you get for living in the South (or whatever region would encompass Texas). Back to the story at hand: So I haven't had a haircut in maybe a month and a half. For women, I don't think this is a big problem, but for guys who get fades, it feels like wearing two caps on your head all the time. The only relief happens in the midst of an ice-cold shower. So why all this inconvenience for hair? Is it for fashion/looks/etc? No--it mostly looks like a dead possum, with some tones of light brown when the sun hits it a special way. It looks bad. Really, really bad.
Have you ever watched those Chinese movies with the martial arts and actors/actresses flying around aided with invisible ropes (eg, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon)? Well in those movies, the guys had even more luxurious head fur than the ladies. It is downright hot (well, in a weird movie kind of way). It would be awesome to have that kind of hair for a day truly growing from my scalp, but I doubt I could stand the maintenance. People would look at me weird at first, but then think about what I put in my jet black locks to keep it so shiny and flowy. Nothing at all, folks, nothing at all. All naturale. I jest, I jest.
In all seriousness, I've had a fade for the past ten years or so, ever since my brother discovered the wonders of an electric clipper. Mama and the rest of the old-folks thought it was traitorous and a disgrace to the family, and warranted death to have short hair. 'You're just like those bui doi (literally translated, dust of life) and the cu li (coolie or cooly, a low-class day-laborer in Asia) on the streets.' 'Ok, Mama, I'll grow it out.' But we never did grow it out, and Mama eventually learned to use the electric clippers too.
Today she complains that I need a haircut, that I look 'bright and smart with when your hair is short.' Strange how things work out. So why the change? Why not? My life was built on reason and logic, a suppression of all feeling, an eunuch of emotion. Now that the levees have broken, levees which were stronger than those in Nawlins, the floods have come. One of those floods is impulse, and this is an impulsive decision, to let the locks flow. With some mutton chops too, to help frame the gorgeous jet of hair once it grows out, a reflection of the abysmal depths of my soul, and all that good nonsense that incites emotion and helps sell books.
Finished The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, will start on Slaughterhouse Five by Vonnegut
Hopefully I'll finish a few more of Emerson's essays and O'Connor's short stories before these two weeks are up.
A few points on McCullers's style that I like on the next post
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Interestingly, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter was the last novel I read. Then life got interesting with the move to Dallas and the start of a new job and all. But recently, I've started on Don Quixote, something I always wanted to read. I'll let you know how it turns out.
In case you were wondering, I shredded those mutton chops before I went on my interview for my current job.
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