Yo ho ho

I have had a couple of interesting experiences with people commenting on my appearance at work recently.

A couple of weeks ago, Buttermonkey and I were sneaking out for a cigarette and were joined by one of our favorite straight co-workers, Boyflex. As we were walking down the hall I was ahead, and suddenly Boyflex pipes up, “Have you ever noticed that Tony has a really nice ass?” While having some straight guy comment on my moneymaker was a little out of the ordinary, I am willing to take a compliment wherever it comes from these days.

Then a couple of days ago I was chatting with one of our visiting scholars. She had just received an express packet from her school and was a little put out. They were asking her to write a letter of recommendation for someone, and she is on sabbatical and is suppose to be excused from these chores. As we were talking I jokingly told her maybe I could get on a plane and go down to her school and beat up the person responsible. Just as I was saying this, her husband who is also a visiting scholar walked up. He said, “ I hope you don’t mind my saying this, but you look like someone for the job.” I am pretty used to this and said something to the effect that I know that I look like a thug. He looked surprised and said, “ Oh! No. You look like a pirate!”
So, Pirate.

Pirate booty.

Dry spell

I have been in mental limbo recently. My job which I like has been a little funky and my situation there as someone who works on a contract basis as opposed to a regular employee has been causing some concern.

There was also the wedding event, which actually went much smoother than could have been hoped for, though it brought up some issues dating back to my childhood due to a conversation with my older brother which I have been working through. All of these things are worth talking about and more. But I feel as though I am still digesting them. Also, it is autumn in New England which is somehow always a bit melancholy.

However it is time to get back in the saddle and start looking at the absurdity that is life in the world. To help remind me of that I have had yet more bald encounters. I saw a wonderfully bad toupee on the train the other morning, and as a morning for contemplating the chrome domes of the world I saw 2 adds addressing the worries of the follicelarely challenged from 2 different angles. The first, for those who miss their glory days of having a flowing mane was regrow in case you want to give regaining your lost youth the old college try. The second was for baldguyz which is a product I would be much more likely to give a try.

All of this could just mean that I am a little too obsessed with my own gleaming pate, but hey, finally it might be fine to try to be happy with yourself as you are. It doesn't mean that the market place isn't going to try and exploit your new found peace of mind, and sell you products to make you feel even better because you are bald or older or less than the ideal of the moment, but finally there might be some hope that you can get through a day without feeling like you have to make some superficial change to yourself in order to feel like you have a right to be alive.