It's been such a long time.

This is how I feel today:


It's my sister's fault. She came over last night so that I could bring her to the therapist Billie and I see. Every time she visits, something happens. Last night, she lost her keys, so we combed the pavement outside the apartment, got her car opened by AAA, searched the entire car, searched the entire apartment, only to find them later, tucked in the couch right next to her.

Sigh.

Also, I did six loads of laundry last night. I'm tired.

Anyway, as you can see, I got a haircut! I went to the same barber shop as last time, where the owner and barber remembered me (I'm pretty sure they're a couple), and gave me very nice treatment. The owner mentioned that most traditional barber shops won't serve women, if they even let them in the door. While that strikes my feminist sensibilities rather uncomfortably, I can understand the need for men to have their own "male space." However, they often don't seem to notice that many spaces are male spaces.

In any instance, I'm glad that a space exists for women to get their hair cut in a shop that's not frilly, reeking of hairspray and dye and full of gossiping beauticians. I'm certainly not butch enough to go to a traditional barber shop, but hair salons for women make me deeply uncomfortable. Every time I enter one, I feel like I've been teleported back to high school, and the time my mom dragged me in, had my hair highlighted all blonde, and let the stylist put curlers in it. Remember that scene from Beauty and the Beast, where the candle and the clock try to make the Beast look classy and put curlers and bows in his hair? And then the Beast snarls at them? Yeah, that's how I felt.

The barber did a great job, as usual. She even used hot lather on the back of my neck and my sideburns and cleaned them up with a straight razor! She put stuff in my hair that smelled amazing, too. What service! And at $15, what a value! I highly recommend The Barber Shop on Cherry ave, in Long Beach, CA.