Monday, October 31, 2005

The grand shampoo escape

Today (actually more like yesterday morning) marks the midway point in The Great Experiment for me. It goes something like this. Eons ago I heard that if you didnt wash your hair for some extended period of time like 3 months that it would return to its natural happy hair sorta state of mind. Three months seems like a heck of a long time but the idea bounces and rolls around in my head pretty frequently. Me and Kl talked about it at length at least once. It makes yah wonder what they did in the days before shampoo right? I mean kids usta wash their hair with mayonaise or eggs or all kinds of wierd stuff.

I don't know why it came up again in earnest but it did. (Around the time I was debating the blue hair, which I still am but its on hold for this experiment) It probably had something to do with the fact that 2 in our house shower at random intervals, shave less frequently and at least one rarely wears deoderant. Basically we are greaseballs with what would appear to be crunchy hippy tendencies except thats not the ultimate goal. Lazy is a better lable, or maybe cheap but we do not in fact resemble nasty gross middle schoolers. We still look like normal, well adjusted types. And we have conversations in our house about this all the time about how we dont actually NEED these things even though the talking box and popular culture seem to think so.

So I did a google search. I found just about nothing related to anything I wanted to search for which made me urninated. (Apparently about no one does this or at least no one is willing to admit to it) So I kept searching. I have no clue how or where I found them but there are 2 sites and maybe only 2 sites in the whole wide googleable world. One is some living ethically do I buy locally grown produce to support local small business farmers or organic imported fair trade to support less pesticides and fair treatment of other cultures type of news letter and the other is some random guys web site that mentions a daytime tv talk show with a similar experiment coming up during a bar conversation. Both come back with the same ideas 1) if you don't wash your hair eventually it will go back to the way it usta was after an initial grease period 2) upon completion you will swear you never want to use shampoo again and 3) the grease period lasts about 6 weeks.

So you have me the conscious scientist/ impulsive college student pondering this. I say to myself- self I say, neither of these is a very reliable source and they should not be trusted. Yes, I reply , but no one and I mean no one is doing it that means that you should do it. I mean think about it- you could free yourself from the social constructs of shampoo, you would be one step closer to living off the land, you would be dumping fewer chemicals into the world every day, you would be saving money and time... is any of this appealing to you? Clearly not enough...Um...you could supply the missing information in some logical and scientific manner and be famous in your own mind. Do it in the name of truth, of exploring, of finding new things. Well, I suppose so. And 6 weeks isnt that terribly long especially when I already have a 3 day head start from you deciding to sleep in and not to shower.

And so the experiment comenced on Sunday the 9th of October in the year of our Lord 2005, for dubious and sundry reasons. As far as quasi-scientific information goes my hair got progressivly greasier for about a week and a half and is holding pretty steady at it's current level. All signs point to a success with the experiment reaching completion the weekend before Thanksgiving. I have already decided to hold out for at least 8 weeks just incase 6 doesnt do it. My fellow partner in crime in the house is about a week and a half behind me and is reporting the same conditions.

Based on unscientific polls and random surveys most people are facinated (albeit slightly sketched out) with our experiment and are eagerly awaiting our results. A few are very disturbed by us and no one is particularly surprised. We are of the opinion that this generally means that even if our attempt is successful, people will be glad to know it can be done but would never actually try it.

If anything happens worth noting I will be sure to inform you. Otherwise I will write a lengthy scientific diatribe with statistics and graphs included when we come to the end.

So there you have it, whether you wanted it or not- Jn

Saturday, October 29, 2005

Today it snows

A Little Change (Ipswich House, 10/29/05)

I have 36 cents in my pocket
Some lint and a bus ticket stub
It doesn't look to get any warmer
So tonight I will play 21

I'll slide in close beside you
You look more harmless than the rest
Say, 'I haven't seen much cause I'm new to this town,
But what I've seen you must be the best.'

The first drink you buy me will chase off the chill
With the second I'll be feeling alright
When you buy me a third or maybe a fourth
I'll know I have a home for the night

Maybe I'll stay for a few days
Or you'll decide to keep me around
You'll save me from theives
And a world that ain't free
And keep me on the bright side of town

But you can't catch a falling star
They burn to hot, to bright, to fast
And while you might like the decoration
Pretty flowers never last

I'll break your heart when I need to
Leave you a note when I hit the road
With all the food I can pocket
In your old winter coat

I hope my memory doesn't haunt you
I'll try not to leave it behind
I'm just a vagabond
A wayward soul moving on
From a place that has slipped my mind.

-Jn

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

How much wood

would peter piper pick if sally sold sea shells in a rubber baby buggy near unique New York?

This one time I lived in Ipswich. This would not be that time. I live in the Penthouse right now and sleep about as much there as in my sleeping bag in Ispinach. About the only reason to go home for me right now is to change clothes and repack my portable pantry. Oh yeah and to add to my stack of undone dishes. All I really have to say about it is Anh.

The past 2 days when I woke up it was still dark. Now I understand when I wake up at 330 am for work it should be dark. Not an issue. It should not still be dark at 630. The sun should come up at 6ish and set at 6ish regularly. Then the day sorta makes sense. Get up and get ready, eat breakfast, walk some transects come back and eat lunch, walk another transect take a shower and compile your data, eat dinner and go out for a few hours. You can be back under your misquito net by 10 or 11 and get plenty enough sleep to start the cycle over again the next day. Alarm clocks are no good, Electric lights are only sometimes good, 8 hour work days are not bad as long as they are balanced with some ratio of about 8 hours sleeping and 8 hours hang out/live life time.

It has been raining. I have been writing. These are not necessarily related. When I get some time to unwind at home that does not get delegated to housemates and laundry I will polish something and post it since I know thats why you keep coming back anyways. This week doesn't look good. Nor do the next 3. Ha!

I have been told the answer to all unknown math questions is 5 and all unknown geography questions is France. This is not either type of question so the answer still eludes me.

-Jn

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

The monster ate my homework

Sometimes, when I go to type a post and the verification code is really long, I hit refresh so so I get a shorter one.

It is a rainy grey day here in sunny New England. It has been raining for the past 3 weeks. Exept on Sunday when I came in to work there was a bit of sun. I was confused. It was really so strange. So we are in a state or perpetual morning because the morning crisp and greyness never quite goes away. I was a fan week one and maybe even week 2 because i like the rain and grey and whatnot but it is cold in our house and our heat wont get turned on until later this month so I am pretty tired of the rain. Not so much for the rain itself but the fact that i can never get warm and dry.

I carry a plastic grocery bag with me pretty much all of the time with a little mini pantry full of snacky foods. I used to pack a respectable lunch with a sandwich and all that good stuff except it just didnt work for me. I start eating around 1030 with a little snack and end up grazing on various bits and peices all day. I am never hungry enough to eat a sandwich in one sitting when I have time. In fact I never really get hungry even if I dont eat anything for like days- I just get sick and kinda passoutish. Anyways I just start eating in class to give me somethign to do and so I can stay awake- I am less fidgety. I tell you all that to tell you this. I am sitting here in the Chair of Power (COP) grazing on some dry cereal that I procured from my personal portable pantry. It's called Mighty Bites and it is people shaped. And all i keep thinking is geeze its like dog food or something. Yah know like those dog biscuits that are mailman shaped or whatever, Except this is people food and I am eating people. What does that say. What kind of message are we sending to these wee crunchy granola kids whose crunchy granola parents feed then this cereal (It's Kashi cereal). And I mean its such good cereal too. I wouldnt have a problem feeding it to my kids only well it is people shaped. Couldnt it be like tree shaped or stars or something if it cant just be plain old O's. I mean it is kinda fun setting up a little town and then going all Godzilla on it and I am an avocate of playing with your food but do you really want little timmy telling his teacher he eats people for breakfast. You are just asking for trouble. My vote is still out- by that I mean I will still by the cereal but I might not let my kids have it...since I have a horde of kids just begging for cereal...or someting.

Speaking of swamp monsters. Me and 5l were watching football on the talking box and started talking about serial killers and stupid movies and we decided we should make one for the Gordon Globes. We even came up witha decent like plot and everything. The big problem is that the movie can only be 3.5 minutes long. That is not nearly long enough to develop the character of the salt marsh monster. So we are reworking the plot and getting a new ending. We also need a video camera and an editor and a pitchfork. But we are hopeful. This stupid thing has been on m mind for the past 3 days. I cant eat or sleep or do homeowrk. Nothing. Just thinking aout the monster. Any time anything moves out of the corner of my eye it must be the monster. When egg dishes end up in the dishwasher and get the eggs all baked on if was the monster. When I wash the floors and leave footprints everywhere it was the monster. When water comes up through the basement floor you better believe the monster did it. So if we can't have the monster I dont know what I am going to to. I might decompose. I might become the monster and that would just be no good really at all.

I am going to go grade papers for an hour.

Slightly more different than a swamp monster and out
Jn

Tuesday, October 11, 2005


I am posting this 1 Because Kt told me to 2 Because I miss Arox and 3 Because I want to be here now instead of in NE in Dispatch Posted by Picasa

Monday, October 10, 2005

two unlinked thoughts

...which happen to be like unlinked protiens in that they are both unlinked but that is really all...

I haven't posted in a while. Not exactly because there weren't things to talk about in the moment. Just that I never had time in the moment and out of the moment if there was time there wasnt a computer or maybe there weren't words. So tonight I am supposed to be writing a diatribe on a book that I strongly dislike and I am 'talking' here instead.

The good Dr. B. has been talking to me lately about writing opinions for the Tartan (school paper) a prospect that bohers me of oh so many reasons. Apparently I have a lot of opinions and apparently I like to share them, maybe a little too much (indicated by my talking priviledges being revoked). So her goal is to get me out of talking and into doing something productive. But the Tartan scares me because everyone reads it and everyone is always hyper-critical of everything that was written and everyone that wrote. It bothers me less that people will attack my opinions because that rarely happens. What is more likely is that they will attack me and while I do not mind and can hold my own in personal coversations I don't think I fair well nor do I desire to argue about my virtues or the apparent lack in print. So she is trying and I am skirting the issue. Maybe the Wittenburg Window because people rarely use it this early in the year and perchance it will be ignored by the masses and only read by the people who care enough to pay attention. It feels slightly safer. The other aspect that is being worked on is what is my actual point. I can't just wildly disagree with everything I need to have good reasons and stand up for them or alternately choose to agree very much with whatever redeeming qualities are there and try to flesh them out. That is not a normal mindset. Thursday Shuff sorta threw a little light in my direction. He called me a rebel without a cause and said I am just walking around looking for causes to fight for. He isnt really wrong I guess. Just give me something that bothers me even a little and I can make it bigger or catch me on a particular style of day and we can battle. I am just pugnacious. More so lately than I remember formerly. Maybe its cause I feel more sure of myself or care less about looking like a fool or maybe I am just more jaded and easier to bother (though I very rarely every wore rose colored glasses) Maybe its just that I have more energy at my disposal to do the fight picking or that I just needed a break coming out of highschool. But the problem still stands that I can't just be annoyed by everything. I need to work on direction. And maybe writing for some kind of public forum. Maybe.

In other news apparently our house has started a new sort of ministry. We house alcohol for campus types who cannot house it themselves and then have them over for a little stress relief on weekends. I don't know exactly how that one works theologically but I dont exactly mind. Peoples just need a place to get away from what ails them sometimes and for most people of my genre it has something to do with the campus (either THE MAN, classes, a boyfriend or a crappy TA job) so you give them a little corner of the house. Honestly what else does one have a house for if not to share it with other people. In reality what is the point of being a person if its not for other people. I don't mean being used or anything. My current ideas along these lines is that if you surround yourself with enough Good People and pretend you aren't real proud you will end up getting filled up with goodness so you never run out. Thats the idea anyways and I have collected enough good people that it seems to be working. Its nice to have people to give to also because then you dont start to feel stale and crustly. So I have a good job that I like very much which lets me buy food and gas and helps me pay for rent type things and I have a lot of opinions and an open sort of mind when I want to and I like to hear/see/taste people think which means I like to listen. I have a lot to give if people want it and I want to give, but then again I am no gonna force it on anyone. That makes everyone kinda bristly and unpleasant. So send me your wayward and wandering souls, those seeking peace or dinner or bed. I can't promise reform or perfect quiet, but the food should be eatable and the bed nice and warm and I can promise that I will do my best.

In other news I went to the fair, I got really sick, I got better in a step sorta way, 4 helped me change my oil, I went to a Philipians dinner at Dextah compliments of Kt, my computer found itself a virus and is currently residing at the campus computer hospital, the current band of 'us' took shuffles out for his 21 (yay everyone finally being a proper age) I manned the bio room of the science fair (in which my igg's were a highlight) all by myself because the entire departement is a bunch of lazy ass losers (there we go with opinions again. Some people had good excuses. But most people had none other than maybe- I thought someone else would do it. Some people- or everyone since there was no one- decided not to show up. So in reality there are about 10 people I am not actually angry with. There I have become less randomly violent about it.) I went to a kick-bottom concert for in to support a good portion of the 'us', a crazy band of overly stressed persons came over to our house to play and I went to church were I got to meet 4's cats as it is the day of St. Francis and pets get blessed. I didnt bring the igs cause they were stressed out from stardom the day before and it was more than a little chilly for their metabolisms. These are the weeks worth of events that were worth noting and maybe at one point deserved more words but now will get none.

This week we are housing a campus visitor/friend/camper of 5L for I don't know how many days and Quad break starts Thursday. That means everyone sorta scoots to some exotic off campus location and I sit in DPS more often than usual doing (hopefully) less dispatching and more homeworking than usual. The Red Queen is lost in Idaho until further notice and I do not wish that I was there because I am enjoying the misty/rainy/less colorful than it could be NE fall even as much as it is a warning of winter and I am already cold. Sorry queen mum.

Now to find some positive aspect about a book for fairness sake and then procede in describing different methods of employing flame.

-Jn

Saturday, October 01, 2005

dichotomy

Yesterday reaked of goodness but it alsy reaked of badness. I think goodone the day but that bad is still lingering around like badness tends to do so we will see.

I am sick. Not the I have a mandatory cold type of sick though I have that and not like a knock down drag out flu type of thing. This is like the internal working of my body arent working kinda sick. It leads to random food cravings (which is easily fixed) random blood pressure changes, loss of focus, adgetation (How do you spell this word?) and my falling asleep in random places all over campus. Not so stellar. All things a college student has to deal with anyway now magnified beyond belief. Make it go away.

Thusday night I was non-functional by 6 (meaning I was awake and could stare at a wall but there was no chance of coherant conversation or logical action) and I decided to go to bed. The roommates woke me up for dinner but that was like a good dream. Even with all that sleep I was late again for work but not as late this time and progressed to doing nothing at all on my shift but writing down opening times.After work I failed miserably at physics homework and went to go talk to the prof. He unconfused me up a hill and I was standing at the top glorying in the view of amazingness and how wonderful life was and he kept talking and confused me right down the other side of the hill rolling as I went. I was in chapel but I have no clue what was said because my brain was sleeping. Apparently it was good and BB should have heard it. Thats what i got anyways. Then I fell asleep before phys class and woke up supposedly for class but I dont remember it. Finished physics just in time for class and managed to be coherant through class. I bet you are wondering where the goodness is hidden in this day. It starts now.

I went back to the biolibrary after class to do some work and fell asleep on the couch for a good long time while Udy was working on the computer and keeping me safe from scavenging gnomes. I woke up for Bio-Tea and my Kt was there. Apparently she has been coming to tea more than me which is weird because she is a music major. I love her anyways. She told me we (we being her) were making dinner and hanging out and that the Frog was coming as well. So we cleaned up bio-tea together and went to find him. We got lost in his dorm for a while then caught up in the harvest party where we saw at least 2 handfuls of cool people and were fed free fall foodstuffs. When we got to full we went to Dextah to get supplies and again got distracted. Kt played me music (I dont know if she intended it to be for anyone else but it was definately just for me) andI read a book she stuck in my face. Then we went to Frogs house. We got to play with his animals andsee the mini frog and his parents who cannot help but throw food at us because they assume we are starving. We stayed for ever but Kt kept getting sicker so we left by way f CVS and drogas and got to I-spinach at like 8 still needing dinner. Frog found us a pizza shop and we ordered and wandered around I-spinach and I found a better/cheaper packie though we didn't by anything. We came home and found 5L almost falling asleep wanting desperately to be distracted- so we did. We watched the red sox win and ate pizza and played video games and when we got tired I took the campus types home. It was such a good night because I never get to see these people and they are some of my favorites. But I got a whole night full of them and next weekend I might get the same only with more people because we are celebrating the 21st anniversary of the birth of one Shuffles. I am excited. We will see if i can make it through this week first though.

Really the only reason i am posting this is because the RQ seems to think I am dying. I might be but I am not dead yet so there is really no problem. But now she has internet confirmation that I am in fact still around. Now I am going to go play with my car.

Wanna-be Mechanic out-Jn