So, here�s the thing about curly hair: it has a mind of its own. I generally like having curly hair, but I�ll tell you something� I can do the same exact thing to my hair every morning for ten days, and my hair will come out looking ten different ways. This particular morning, the curls came out pretty okay, but for some reason the front of my hair was flat to my scalp. It was as if I was wearing an invisible hair band � which I wasn�t. I�d gone straight from the shower, to applying all my regular hair goop into my towel-dried hair, to blow-drying it (with a diffuser, of course). Instead of the big, flowing curls I was hoping for, I had �invisible hair band head.� I didn�t have extra time to futz with it, so all I could do was stick a non-invisible hair band in to make it seem as though I�d meant for it to look like that.

Such is the life of the curly-headed.

I�ve been having such vivid dreams lately � subjectively very random, but all so vivid and detailed. I wonder why it is that sometimes we tend to remember our dreams so clearly and other times it seems as if we haven�t dreamed at all. Anyone know?

Last night I had a dream about Nosferatu (I have no idea where that came from), and it went like this: It was the middle of the night, and my sister and I were in our old room (the room we shared while we were growing up). We were lying in the twin beds we used to sleep in, but we were the ages we are now. Apparently, we'd been talking about Nosferatu earlier that night, and it freaked my sister out. She thought that our discussion of Nosferatu somehow invited him to come for us. I wasn�t scared, but because she was I wanted to check on her. So, I turned over to face her and whispered her name. She jumped and turned to look at me, all wild-eyed. I tried to calm her down by telling her it was just me checking to see if she was okay. All she said was, �Please don�t say my name. I�ve been hearing someone say my name all night.� Then she turned over and went back to sleep.

I thought she was just hearing things, so I turned over and laid on my back in preparation to go back to sleep. Just then I felt weight on the bottom right end of my bed. Immediately, I laid completely still to make sure I�d felt something (just like how you stop breathing to see if you heard something), and I distinctly felt something touching my feet. I thought, �She was right! It�s Nosferatu!� I started making scared, whimper-y noises, but instead of my sister waking up to see what was the matter, I heard Non�s voice saying, �Honey, are you okay?� I woke up and realized that what I�d felt was his feet rubbing against mine. In my dream I was sleeping alone, which is why I thought it was the ghost of Nosferatu touching my feet. It was a strange mix of dream and reality � feeling what was going on in reality, but translating it into my dream. I answered Non and simply said, �I had a bad dream.� He pulled me close and whispered, �It�s okay, I�ve got you.� I fell back to sleep with an overwhelming sense of relief knowing that I�m never going to have to sleep alone again.

I have an appointment this evening to get an eyebrow and bikini wax. I�m looking forward to the final product, but OY! Is it going to hurt. I haven�t been waxed since I moved because I didn�t know of a good place up here. Eyebrows are no big deal, but the longer you go between bikini waxes, the more painful it is. I wanted to get a recommendation for a place from someone I knew, but the handful of women I asked weren�t of the waxing variety. I finally ended up making an appointment at an upscale looking salon in downtown Palo Alto that seems professional enough not to rip my skin off.

I never used to be a waxer. I�m a fairly hairless person to begin with, so until the age of 26 if I wanted an area to be smooth, I just shaved. During grad school, however, I started working at a day spa, and after hearing countless women trumpet the benefits of waxing, I finally gave it a try. I became a convert in no time. Some of the girls at work even taught me how to wax, so I could do their legs or arms for them (anything beyond legs or arms required much more skill than I ever dared have). While I worked at the spa, I received all waxing services free because I was an employee (which was great because it can be really expensive). Even after I quit that job, I didn�t pay for waxing because the aestheticians I went to were friends of mine and refused to be paid.

So, today will be the first time I�ve ever paid for waxing. The bikini and eyebrow wax alone will be close to $100 (which I think is WAY overpriced), so yesterday I bought my own wax pot online. I�m not talking that NADS crap (that stuff is so sticky it hurts like a mother just to spread it on your skin). This is a heated pot with wax that was made explicitly for hair removal. It�s just like the kind professional aestheticians use. In supply stores and salons, you have to present your license in order to purchase professional equipment and products � not so on the internet! For the pot itself, the wax, some spatulas (to spread the wax, of course), and muslin strips it cost me less than the price of ONE leg wax. How�s THAT for a deal and a half?! And I ordered enough wax and supplies to last me several months, so there�s just no calculating the amount of money I�ll be saving.

And that, my friends, is the haps in Minired Land for today. Until next time, here�s wishing you and yours a vampire-free day.