I haven't made a front page post in a while. So here's an update on how things are going with me:
I just found out that my hairstylist quit. Fuck! I have no idea where she went or I'd go there. She's been cutting my hair ever since I stopped doing the all one length hippie thing. So I made an appointment with another girl, but now I'm thinking, shit, maybe I should just go to the place up the street so I wouldn't have to truck all the way to Wicker Park for a hair cut. Now the loyalty aspect has been severed. I can do what I want.
There are so many strange and complex social structures in place for simple things in life. Like cutting your hair or who gets to sit at a certain table in a bar.
I think my parents are coming to visit for Thanksgiving. John if you are going to be around, we are having a big dinner. You are invited and my cousin Jessica and her boyfriend Ryan are going to be there too. So my mom wants to know what everyone likes/hates/is allergic to.
I've gotten to where I really love running. I don't even get tired anymore. I just run for an hour or so until I have to stop so I can get ready to go to some obligation or another. Like, I get excited about going for a run. If only I felt the same way about strength training.
I have a lot of random cell phone pictures. I think I might put some in the responses just to get them out in the world. Maybe I'll put some in flickr too.
I should clean the house though.
This is after the rehearsal dinner. Very flat ball, very short court, but still fun.
myriam [email] said at 11:12 PM 10-08-2006: wierd, I was just thinking the other day that I was gonna try that Aveda place by your house out next time instead of michelle! whoever did john's hair at that place did a good job. plus it's cheaper. i say go for it. salon relationships are weird... sometimes i wonder why i bother to have loyalties.
funny, i could keep on forever at strength training, but i hate running! can't stand the way it makes my lungs burn and choke me. what don't you like about strength training?
meredith [email] said at 10:37 AM 10-09-2006: If they let me cancel the appointment at Salon Blonde, I'm going to go to the Aveda place. Some places require you to give 24 hours notice. Although I can't see how they'd force me to go down there and pay them if ... if I won't go down there and pay them.
Strength training bores the shit out of me. And I'm just not naturally strong like you are. People are innately drawn to things they are better at. I've had to really work to even get my arms to where they are and you could probably still do more chinups than me. However, I could run ten miles without even realizing I've run ten miles.
myriam [email] said at 12:18 PM 10-09-2006: Yeah, that makes sense. I wish I could run like you do. Cardio is what I need, not strength...for the same reason that that's what I'm not good at! Why is life always like that?!
I should go running with you and attempt to keep up for as long as I can. Maybe I could learn something about breathing or pacing or whatever. I feel very discombobulated when I run, like my legs and lungs are angry at each other and refuse to coordinate.
julie [email] said at 12:23 PM 10-09-2006: Discombobulated-- same here. Running feels very unnatural to me. But I want to keep trying, because I don't want to end up old and brittle and weak. I think I want to start going running outdoors again. (As opposed to on the treadmill at the gym, which tires me out in half the time that running outdoors does, because it's all f'ed up and it sucks.)
myriam [email] said at 12:28 PM 10-09-2006: Oh yeah, running outside definitely helps! Also, I recommend the Kaiser Chiefs for this activity. Or Ratatat. Running outside is also a better workout. Have you thought about swimming at all? I have the same breathing issues with swimming but it doesn't piss me off as much.
rick [email] said at 1:56 PM 10-09-2006: It is funny because I find most running to be utterly boring . . . . except for the last couple of minutes when one feels like one is about to throw up or collapse or whatever and one can hear the "Rocky" theme music playing in the back of one's head.
jeff [email] said at 2:29 PM 10-09-2006: I knew a brother of the Scared Heart that found himself in communion with God during runs like this. It was a pretty moving account.
rick [email] said at 3:17 PM 10-09-2006: If one believes some fanatical bodybuilders, the "burn" one gets from long and intense training sessions is better than recreational drugs and/or sex.
I expect a new altarpiece: The Ecstasy of St. Arnold *Arnold is overwhelmed by feeling and is writhing and undulating like a kabuki dancer on crack while the Cherubrim Of Weight-bearing Exercise hovers overhead, ready to plunge the arrow of pure feeling into Arnold's heart*
jeff [email] said at 5:23 PM 10-09-2006: Bernini would be proud.
For this guy, though, it was less an issue of feeling and likely more a disconnection from self and daily distractions.
The best I can come to this is through my occasional mapless drives into rural LA where I can let go of everything behind me. Eventually things come to a closing point and I'll find my way home by heading the general direction that I think EBRP is at. It's at the very least a form of meditation and focus.
It helps to have good weather. Some photos I took on one trip:
ed [email] said at 12:07 PM 10-09-2006: I am insanely loyal to the lady that cuts my hair. One time pretty recently, I delayed a much-overdue haircut for almost three weeks because of various factors that kept me from being able to get an appointment with her.
myriam [email] said at 12:23 PM 10-09-2006: Also, I was just looking through my text messages on the way to work and realized I totally missed one from you from last week--so, congrats on getting your third stripe!!!
julie [email] said at 12:24 PM 10-09-2006: Meredith, that photo reminds me of that 80s commercial for Easy Spirits, with all those women wearing pumps while playing basketball.
julie [email] said at 8:14 PM 10-09-2006: That ad is totally burned into my memory. I just couldn't get over the spectacle of so many people running and jumping in pumps.
Also: My mom bought me Easy Spirits black pumps (my first pumps!) to wear to church. They really were comfortable!
meredith [email] said at 6:57 PM 10-10-2006: I know the exact commercial you're talking about. Perhaps this live action video of me playing very shittily will ad to the nostalgia.
anthony [email] said at 9:42 AM 10-10-2006: Running is completely awesome, unless you're prone to injury or just starting out.
I didn't read all the responses above, but you should just call the salon and ask if they had any idea where the girl went. I doubt it's that unusual of a request.
meredith [email] said at 7:00 PM 10-10-2006: I went to the Salon that I used to go to. The girl did an okay job, but ... she only cut like half an inch off. I suppose I should have specified that I'd like at least an inch to two inches off because of how long I tend to go between visits, but ... eh.
I'm definitely going to try the one in my neighborhood next time. To be honest, I'm kind of glad not to have this loyalty factor now. I can try out new places. This also gives me the opportunity to move one more necessary place-I-must-occasionally-visit into my beloved Lincoln Square.
anthony [email] said at 10:33 AM 10-11-2006: I tried a different girl at the place I go to, and the next time I went back to my regular girl, she immediately said "wow...we should be able to fix this within two haircuts"
So I generally am not down for going somewhere new when I find someone that does a good job. I think it's nice to not have the loyalty factor if you want to try something completely new, and yes it would be nice to have the best of everything right in your local neighborhood.
meredith [email] said at 10:44 AM 10-11-2006: Yeah, I have no idea where my girl went and I am not happy with my hair the way it is. So I'm going to try the new place. Maybe I'll try John's girl Amy.
myriam [email] said at 11:06 AM 10-11-2006: Yeah... for me, though, every time I sit in the hairdresser's chair lately, I can't help but think "does she *actually* remember me? Does she truly remember the haircut she gave me six months ago?? I bet she doesn't, how on earth could she, she sees a million customers..." and then I feel like my loyalty is totally pointless and one-sided and I may as well just go somewhere convenient.
I felt that way the last time Michelle cut my hair, actually, Meredith. She didn't take enough off and it totally didn't look as good as the first time she did it. At that point I was kind of like "why am I spending $80 on this "loyalty"?!" So... I say, go to the place by your house, why not. I'm gonna try there next time I think.
I mean I think loyalty makes more sense for guys, who get their haircut every 3 or 4 weeks. For us, though, like every 6 months? They're not remembering you.
meredith [email] said at 11:10 AM 10-11-2006: The thing is though, I had been going to Michelle for three years. She knew everything about my hair. Every cut she gave me grew out really well because she knew how long I went between haircuts.
That's the thing about loyalty. Once they've been cutting your hair for a few years, they know what they're doing and you don't have to worry about it so much.
The good thing about Michelle was that the first couple of times she cut it, she would hold up a bit and say, "is this much okay?" because she knew how weird I was about the length.
john [email] said at 12:54 PM 10-10-2006: The Aveda place down the street on Lincoln is good. I went there a few weeks ago and this girl named Amy did a really good job on my hair. I made an appointment with her for 11am today, and at fucking 10:48am, as I was driving there, I got a call from the place telling me that Amy couldn't make it for my appointment but I could come back at 5pm if I wanted to. That's pretty shitty. I'm going to give her another chance though and go back at 5pm today since she did such a good job last time. It's really, really hard for me to find a person to cut my hair that doesn't cut it waaaay too short when I tell them "just a little off the top". Plus she did that razor cut thing. I like that.
josh [email] said at 1:05 PM 10-10-2006: i hate it when i have to change barbers, mostly because you have to "get to know them" again, they ask you about your work, if you have kids, etc. i just always get mine cut "shorter" but i imagine for a woman or a guy with a fancier haircut it would be stressful getting them used to what you want as well.
