Gusty Gales and Shrunken Roots

Originally written on the 13th September - but I didn't find my upload cable until this week.

As a guilty pleasure of mine has always been standing in strong winds in a warm coat, I have thoroughly enjoyed the last few days of Hurricane Katrin blustering about this little island, making the dustbins and fences and clothes pegs rattle to create a clattering cacophony.
There is something strangely exhilarating about surprising gusts of wind that force your steps sidewards, so that for a second, it was as though you were flying and taken by surprise by your own ability.   Even better than that, it's been dry and -

Even as I write this, it has started raining. Eh, I'm inside so I'm not too bothered. What timing though!

The presence of the exciting winds without too much rain (even if only momentarily) meant that, for some preciously brief hours, I could pretend that Autumn actually happens here, instead of that weird still-kind-of-summer-season where it rains 90% of the time and the vibrantly coloured leaves are already moulding before the leave the tree. Fruit is ripening everywhere, and the harvest suddenly coming into abundance means that people are picking and digging out and wondering what on earth they're going to do with 10kg of courgettes [zucchinis] or 2kg of damson plums.

One of my classmates decided to make damson jam for which I am incredibly grateful. It smells delectable and tastes scrumptious on crumpets.

Hi. Damsom Jam? Let me introduce you to crumpets.

I'm sure you'll be the best of friends...*cackles*

 Anyway, less about that, more about other things. I've been busy this week...no, this is the end of my second week - these past two weeks with my course. Seeing as I took my hair down, and then packed and then hoisted my entire livelihood on the train, then moved into my current lovely, kitsch [yet damp] abode, then threw away my duvet [I said it was damp in here, didn't I?] then bought some more and now I have blue feet.

Basically, apart from the weekly wash, there has been little to no time for hair.
For convenience's sake, I threw it into a bun after washing and detangling last Saturday. Not a doughnut/stretchy/on a braidout bun. Nope. Dripping wet hair, up and out of the way.

This lazy attitude plus my hair continually getting wetted by the rain (the convenient way to moisturise! At least I'm not setting fire to it) means that my hair has shrunk. A lot. So it has tangled. A lot.
Add to this the fact I've still been adding oil and leave in and shea butter (to weigh my hair down to keep it stretched) and you find me as I found myself earlier this week: with a big mass of linty, knotted, tangled buttery soft hair. It was lovely and moisturised and soft, but incredibly, incredibly tangled.

I already know my main problem: After having washed and conditioned and detangled my hair (never going up as far as the roots), I just don't want to deal with it any more and I hate styling it when it's wet so I don't twist it. I simply put it in a bun, where it eventually shrinks up in certain areas and promptly destroys the de-tangling effort I've just made.

What I need to do is motivate myself to twist my hair up to prevent it re-tangling, because if I'm not going to do it, I may as well skip the detangling process and start the locking process right here and now.

Mmmm....locking process....*strokes imaginary beard*

No, no locks. Must de-tangle. It doesn't even take that long. I just dislike being in the shower dealing with my hair. Evelyn can do all her washing stuff in an hour, and I don't even deep condition for 20 minutes like she does, so I'm sure I can do it in 30 minutes.

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Supporting the Brotherhood

I try not to post too many music videos up, because I dislike it immensely when other people do it - it feels like they wasted a post and also my time. My guilt in my hypocrisy is exemplified by the fact that this is my only post this week until I sort my life out this weekend.

But I seriously cannot get this guy out of my head. If I must blame anyone, I blame the Wonder Thing - his genuine excitement over this artist was more than infectious and now I'm blatantly obsessed. I'm beginning to suspect whether this is a conspiracy of some sort. I catch myself singing his songs at the most inopportune moments [for example, telling the driver "I can't, no I won't hush; I'll say the words that make you blush - I'm going to sing this nooow" whilst lugging a bookcase onto the semi empty bus can probably be described as one such inopportune moment. Or, if you wish to be more concise, just plain awkward].

His skill as a beat boxer and musician, using his guitar, his voice and a loop pedal is undeniable; his voice is simply beautiful; his lyrics occasionally disturbingly profound, while the music still continues to be..well, not depressing. His English tour dates are all sold out until January

I wish his music would stop having its holiday in my head for just a second so I can focus on other things, but it's difficult.

The radio stations have been playing A-team for what feels like months, and I still join in despite the fact I don't like the music video [and that was a big enough reason to put me off Artic Monkeys' "Scummy Man"]. I love the intensity of the lyrics, rhythm and chromatic video of You Need Me (a couple of words means it's not really suitable for little ears) which is so much stronger compared to the rest of his lighter, sweeter stuff. Listening to the lyrics of Small Bump makes me feel tingly and melancholy all over, like I want to lie down and weep in a field of flowers. There's a strange sort of satisfied passion that seems to emanate when this guy plays his - what is it? Half-size? - guitar.

And I relish every single second of it.

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Philosophy

If I purposely don't wear a hat when it rains, does this still count as moisturising my hair?

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Looking at my Future through my Past - Aspiration Analysis

I hope this post goes up in relative peace and serenity, whilst in real life I suppose I shall be losing my head as easily as people during the Tudor dynasty.

It's interesting looking at the list and seeing what I've done well and where I haven't done so well  and then reflecting on the whys and hows. 

But it's so good to see the stuff that I've been working on, seeing where I started and how far I'm getting. There have been less additions to the list the time around and more editing of old goals to modify them to where my mindset is at now. It's weird to see how much  (and yet, at the same time, how little) I've matured. For example, I use far less exclamation marks than when I first got into the swing of blogging. I like to think that this reduction, as well as my continual use of ellipsis,  shows I've gotten calmer...

General Life and School Aims

 Have an awesome stall at Fresher's Fair!    DONE

Get a  2:1 or a 1st in my degree DONE

 Quit Theatre Group!  DONE

 Finish my dissertation DONE

 Get onto a PGCE DONE

Help my college team get 3rd or 2nd place in the league FAILED 

Two match losses dropped us two places from potentially battling it out for first place to a firm 4th. 

Ah well, we've advanced a lot since being in last place in first year :)

 Stop getting sucked into the ridiculous drama of a certain friend group(s). DONE

 Focus on the Belly dancing society properly DONE

 Stop ignoring my commitments. Or, stop signing up to so many (sssh, pretend we don't see the irony!) DONE -  so far. But a new year brings new opportunities for failure...

Be able to have a gentle conversation in Mandarin and/or Japanese (revising)

Learn to use the family camera (because my camera phone is pants)! 

(I have a beginner's grasp on how to use the camera but my assumption that I would be able to use it freely has been proved wrong. So I think I'm letting this one go).

Do more with the blog - post at least once a week. Maybe do some give aways or something (still working on it - a continual work in progress).

Finish my PGCE


Try and stay organised with my classwork - if that means giving up a hobby or fun class to sort myself out, then so be it

Remember not to be afraid to ask questions about what I don't know - which seems to be a lot.


Start doing yoga/stretching regularly again.

Move out - possibly abroad for a bit.

Hair goals

Hit Bra Strap Length with the hair 

(Really, I'm aiming for Waist Length by 2014. And I've hit Armpit Length (APL) already. But my goal for reaching Bra Strap Length is by the end of December 2012)

Master the art of flat twisting (in progress)

Grow out my mullet sides (because they're not funny any more).


Remember to trim the middle section.

Focusing on Food

6. Cut cake making down to once a month    DONE 

(Perhaps in excess - I haven't baked properly in months)

Get my bento making game up to scratch! 

(in progress - I lost my food container again. But it's going to be even more important this year for me to keep myself fuelled.)

Try some Jackfruit. 

(Because you're only young once...)

Financial

Save up £1000

Try and get a year without paying any unnecessary library fines.

  (Prompted by having to pay £19 at my library the other day because they'd changed their fining system and I didn't know.)

Out and About

 15. Run a 5k....? Okay, maybe that's reaching a little bit (meh, still thinking about it) [I don't know if I will ever run a 5k - it's not a prospect that excites me greatly at the moment. However, I do want to start this running business properly and am joining a group this autumn]

 Stop being a chicken and get someone to teach me how to swim properly (Finally taking the plunge  [heh heh] this autumn, as soon as my leisure centre sorts out its swimming schedule)

 And skate. Preferably roller, since I don't like the cold. (Another activity taking place this autumn, now that I've found a seemingly wonderful group that I hope to be able to access at least on a monthly basis. I'm seriously, seriously excited about this)

If the J.E.T programme doesn't happen, go to France for the summer. 

(*Sigh* This is probably my greatest disappointment. I was placed on the Alternate list for the JET programme and assumed that I would be eligible because of the disaster in March that meant people would be reluctant to go. This prediction proved correct. However, the changes in tuition fees meant that my PGCE university is not making any deferrals at all. So I could've gone to  Japan this year, but I can't do my PGCE interview whilst abroad. And then I needed to work this summer, so no flitting off abroad for me!)

 Get creative with my crafting and try and finish at least one project a month (Oh, another way to fail! However, winter is coming up...and that means hats! Lots and lots of lovely hats for me to start cracking on with)

I'm more than a little eager to get my teeth into this next step now - roll on Autumn!

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My First (proper) Festival

Though the festival season in the UK is trailing off now, I was very fortunate enough to go to one last weekend with The Wonder Thing and his family. Festivals in the UK tend to mean three things:
Great entertainment, Porta-loos (that have transformed into Porta-Grossness by the last day) and a notable lack of showering. When I usually go to a festival, I'm working, but this time I was going to be able to have fun!

I knew it was going to involve camping, and probably rain and not enough time/resources to 'nurture' my hair properly.

So my initial plan for Friday went like this:

- Wake up at 6
- Shower, wash and condition hair
- After drying slightly with towel, apply some wheatgerm oil
- Section hair into 24, apply leave in
- Dry hair in Curlformers (and to have done all this by 7am)
- While hair is drying, pack everything
- When hair is dry (hopefully in 3 hours), remove Curl formers one at a time
- Twist each section with Shea Butter
- Leave house, catch bus, walk to station, buy tickets

And of course, there would be cherubs singing a celestial song as I did all this, and the edges of my vision would be all misty and not quite in focus.

I woke up at 7am, and then realised that I must've been off my rocker when I devised the original plan the original plan was completely unrealistic.
What happened instead was:

- Shower
- I run around the house packing furiously, which somehow took me 2 and a half hours because I was looking for my sleeping bag and head torch
- I start twisting at 10:30am
- I stop twisting at 11: 30am. This doesn't mean I've finished, just that I've run out of time. 
- I start running around panicking about what I may have forgotten for 10 minutes and then leave the house to walk to the bus stop
- The Littlest Sis runs after me. I have forgotten my phone (of all things).
- I tuck the unfinished section of hair behind my ear as it starts raining.
- The bus is late. It is still raining. I ponder what design error meant that my waterproof coat was made with no hood.
- Bus finally arrives. 
- Power walks to train station.
- When I arrive at train station, I am almost wheezing too hard to ask for ticket.
- I buy my ticket, leap onto the train that has just arrived, find a seat and complete the unfinished section of hair.

Between 29 and 40 twists. I still haven't counted them.

The weekend was brilliant. I enjoyed it so very much. Lots of walking and joking and laughter and fun and listening to amazing music.

My hair held up well. I just wore it in its normal bun for the weekend. At occasions, it was very messy, but I'm sure nobody noticed *hopeful face*

If you can see my scalp, does that mean my parting is getting better?

The only kit I took with me was my satin scarf, and an elastic band to hold it on while I slept. The elastic band turned out to be completely useless because I'd forgotten my torch, and couldn't find the (black) elastic in the dark. I also brought some hair bands, my scrunchie and hair pins, but I only used two hair pins to keep up the twists who wanted to do their own thing. So no products and near to complete minimalism on the hair accessory front.

However.

By Saturday, my scalp was itchy.

By Sunday, it was on fire. I'm not someone who should really go more than a 5-7 days without washing my hair, and this was pushing 10 days.

The Wonder Thing was not having his hair being greasy, so shampooed with cold water.

Let me repeat that: COLD WATER.

I considered it, because the little dance he did when they poured the near freezing water over his head was inventive enough that I nearly wanted to join in.

Plus, there was always the possibility of boiling some water up so I could wash my hair with warm water.

But I was far too lazy and my hair was not my priority at that time; it would have to wait until I got home. I thoroughly enjoyed myself using the time I would've spent on my hair listening to some awesome people.
Such fun!

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A Grand Plan

Whilst desperately working my butt off this summer, in the midst of beating off boredom, apathy and wasps, I suddenly had A Bright Idea.

Why don't I try and save up £1000? 

It's not that I've never had £1000 in my bank account before, but that money, dutifully loaned to me by the Student Loan Company to maintain my very existence, was usually already earmarked for 'rent.'. 

I have never in my life had £1000 to call my own, that I could control without having it already destined for some greater, other purpose. I'm that type of student they talk about in the news - not the one who didn't need to worry about fees too much since they already had had some money tucked away, but the one whose entire university education was based completely on loans. And in the face of the £20,000+ debt I currently owe the Student Loan Company, I think £1000 would be a little ray of sunshine.

So, I thought to myself, why not? My jobs this summer have given me a nice spring board of about £400. That means that there'd £600 left on me to somehow raise, by this time next year.

Why a grand? Why not two or three or ten? 

Well, for me, it's a realistic goal. It's something I can see myself working towards and at the same time, it's a goal I'd be happy to achieve, but at the same time, it's a bit of a challenge. A goal that my thrifty skills can  A nice little pillow of money so that if things  go belly up [as they are wont to do], then I wouldn't be in such a tight spot.

Hopefully, by now, I should have opened my very first ISA to get the ball rolling.

Oh my goodness. I'll have an ISA. Does this mean I'll be an adult soon?

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Mama Do

My mother was attempting to carefully coax me into the chair, using her tried and tested methods of maternal nagging and emotional blackmail. She succeeds - I'm down, in a room without television to encourage any distracted squirming. Product is generously spritzed onto my hair and a comb is magically made to appear, as though from thin air.
The comb is led towards the hair; its teeth, that had previously seemed so non-threatening, now seemed to give the comb a predatory air, that promised of tugging and pain and general discomfort. My skin started to creep with anxiety and fear, and my throat started to close up tightly in fear. I couldn't help myself. I winced in anticipation of the incoming pain....

That's not a memory from when I was a kid. That was me on a quiet Sunday evening a few weeks ago. I have to admit, it was all my fault really.

Mum: Do you ever comb your hair?
Me: Yes ma, of course I do.. I comb [de-tangle] at least once a week. (Sanctimoniously) In fact, I'm about to do it now.
Mum: Oooh! Let me do it!
Me: ...Er....
Mum: *bemused* You never let me touch that head of yours, you know. What's so special about it?
Me: (Guiltily) Nothing. Er. I mean. Okay. Let's do this.

Hoisted by my own petard.

I'm not a fan of styling my hair when it's wet, but I don't mind it damp or dry. But dry would've been a nightmare. So I mixed up a herb based detangling brew and poured it into a spray bottle. I also got my trusty wide tooth shower comb.

Boots Shower Comb - only the finest!

I plonked myself on the chair, separated my hair into 7 rough sections and liberally spritzed the spray onto the first three areas we'd be working with. When I flinched, my mum gently poked me in my forehead.

Mum: I'm your mother. I'm not going to intentionally hurt you.

I appreciate the fact she kept her promise.

The detangling brew made things so much easier since it gave quite a bit of slip (and made my hair sooo darn soft. But that's another post for another day), and my mum started from the ends and worked her way down to the roots. I helped out, finger detangling the next section she would be working on and twisting the sections she had just finished.

But my mum was not content with simply detangling. She'd been having a lot of fun playing in my hair ("Oooh, it's so soft!") and wanted to see it through to the end.

Which meant styling. And new tools to use.

*Jaws theme tune*

Luckily, about an hour earlier, I'd left out a couple of my flaxseed gel ice cubes to defrost, so that was my styler sorted. For the tools, my mum got to pick. Her hair tools of choice [from the limited selections I offered her - I hid my Denman] included a soft bristle brush,  as well as the fine tooth comb for the parting.

Re the soft bristle brush: I'm not a fan of brushing, but the way my edges curl up annoys the heck out of my mum. When I used to be on forums a lot more, I remember posting a thread topic asking if anyone could help me deal with my thick edges.
I. Got. Crickets.
Nish.
Nada.
NOTHING.
Apparently, thick edges is not seen as a serious problem. Thus I let them be and then, ultimately, forgot about them.
But my mum could not forget and took great joy in being about to brush and smooth them out.

 I don't know where we actually got the brush from, but I think it is actually a body brush.

When she had finished, she declared her handiwork 'beautiful!'.

To her credit, I can honestly say my mum put more work into my hair styling in that half an hour than I do in a week.

That's not a hair accessory.
That's my wonky lampshade.

Oooh, flaxseed gel, how it glistens.

It was...all sleek and had reduced volume and whatnot. I was bemused by how much my mum loved the way it (now) looked.

I learned that my mum can be trusted with my hair and my mum learned about the versatility of natural hair. Brilliant, right?

Mum: You know, I saw this girl, and she has natural hair and she straightens, no, she said she "presses" it, and it was so straight it looked relaxed! Maybe you could try it...just for special events, not every day.
Me: *firmly pretends not to hear*

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