wrote this over Saturday and Sunday; since then, I have come to like my haircut.
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It's the same every week-I cram way too much into a Saturday. It's a hopeful act on my part, but one that's becoming increasingly debilitating. I have to cut down, and I have to be more wise about my choices for grooming maintenance activities and social plans.
I am torn between wanting to join in with opportunities offered for cancer survivors and desiring at the same time to not self-identify in that way. The damned disease has been so influential in my life, way before my own diagnosis, that I've long felt that I could claim the title, although I really didn't participate in events at Gilda's or the Cancer Center or whatever. Now I'm starting to do a bit of that, and it's interesting to see what is working for me and what is not. I went to a writer's workshop for cancer survivors led by a couple of engaging grad students and I realized that I've never done a creative writing workshop in my adult life. I've done a couple of songwriting symposium-type things, and I've co-written with lots of writers far talented than myself, especially my husband, and I've gotten lots of beneficial input on my writing, but no formal workshops. I was excited. But by the end of the day, I doubt I'll go back, for the same reason I don't like to go to songwriter's nights...participants spend way too much time explaining their work rather than just presenting it and then allowing a response. And one participant really wanted to talk politics and that pushed some buttons for me, even when I agreed with him. I wanted to write without the interruption of his convictions. Are all workshops like that? That wasn't a cancer-survivor turn-off, it was a room-full-of-amateurs turn-off. I suspect any writer's workshop might seem that way.
Later that day, I went to have my hair trimmed and ended up with an extreme cut. I had purchased a set of coupons for nail services and because they were booked out a long ways, I opted for the haircut switch they offered me. I told them when they stated that I could have any service I wanted that I did not care for color and just needed a trim and some styling ideas. I was told that my coupon would be good for this. But once the hairdresser took me, he told me that I would owe an extra $5, and at that point, tired and having waited long and starting to experience some pain, I agreed. He tried to talk me into some color. He cut my hair nicely, but much more than I had wanted or thought that I had indicated. Of course after the event, he offered me a greatly discounted rate for the future; I don't understand that kind of business-building attempt-bait and switch at the outset and then hope for return patronage. My hair...I have so little of it and found myself regretting every clipping, cringing as I saw myself looking more and more boyish in the mirror. Why could I not say, "stop"? Well, I wanted to see some other looks, and now I know what I don't like.
Somehow, with those coupons, I ALWAYS get talked into spending much more than I had intended... they rarely end up being a really good deal. And I don't really like the salon experience, so I'm glad I tried something new, but I had a hard time letting it go, blowing off the frustration of the situation. I even had him wax my eyebrows. Gotta get better about nailing down my agreements, time-wise and financially, when I book appointments. I don't expect everyone to bend over backward for me, to give me the "cancer-survivor special", but I hate it when I am told one price and charged another.
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It's the same every week-I cram way too much into a Saturday. It's a hopeful act on my part, but one that's becoming increasingly debilitating. I have to cut down, and I have to be more wise about my choices for grooming maintenance activities and social plans.
I am torn between wanting to join in with opportunities offered for cancer survivors and desiring at the same time to not self-identify in that way. The damned disease has been so influential in my life, way before my own diagnosis, that I've long felt that I could claim the title, although I really didn't participate in events at Gilda's or the Cancer Center or whatever. Now I'm starting to do a bit of that, and it's interesting to see what is working for me and what is not. I went to a writer's workshop for cancer survivors led by a couple of engaging grad students and I realized that I've never done a creative writing workshop in my adult life. I've done a couple of songwriting symposium-type things, and I've co-written with lots of writers far talented than myself, especially my husband, and I've gotten lots of beneficial input on my writing, but no formal workshops. I was excited. But by the end of the day, I doubt I'll go back, for the same reason I don't like to go to songwriter's nights...participants spend way too much time explaining their work rather than just presenting it and then allowing a response. And one participant really wanted to talk politics and that pushed some buttons for me, even when I agreed with him. I wanted to write without the interruption of his convictions. Are all workshops like that? That wasn't a cancer-survivor turn-off, it was a room-full-of-amateurs turn-off. I suspect any writer's workshop might seem that way.
Later that day, I went to have my hair trimmed and ended up with an extreme cut. I had purchased a set of coupons for nail services and because they were booked out a long ways, I opted for the haircut switch they offered me. I told them when they stated that I could have any service I wanted that I did not care for color and just needed a trim and some styling ideas. I was told that my coupon would be good for this. But once the hairdresser took me, he told me that I would owe an extra $5, and at that point, tired and having waited long and starting to experience some pain, I agreed. He tried to talk me into some color. He cut my hair nicely, but much more than I had wanted or thought that I had indicated. Of course after the event, he offered me a greatly discounted rate for the future; I don't understand that kind of business-building attempt-bait and switch at the outset and then hope for return patronage. My hair...I have so little of it and found myself regretting every clipping, cringing as I saw myself looking more and more boyish in the mirror. Why could I not say, "stop"? Well, I wanted to see some other looks, and now I know what I don't like.
Somehow, with those coupons, I ALWAYS get talked into spending much more than I had intended... they rarely end up being a really good deal. And I don't really like the salon experience, so I'm glad I tried something new, but I had a hard time letting it go, blowing off the frustration of the situation. I even had him wax my eyebrows. Gotta get better about nailing down my agreements, time-wise and financially, when I book appointments. I don't expect everyone to bend over backward for me, to give me the "cancer-survivor special", but I hate it when I am told one price and charged another.
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