26 April 2001
Last year: I'm still a little skitterish at the thought. I'm such a baby.
I think I've found a hair stylist that I actually want to ask for again. She asked me about eight times if I was really sure I wanted that much taken off. But then she scolded me for waiting so long before coming in for a trim. I asked her about coloring my hair - I've been thinking about it, off and on - and she had some actual advice, and was straightforward enough about it that I might actually take it. She even noticed that my hair has some faint reddish highlights, which most people don't.
Astonishing. But my hair is a good two inches shorter today, and much easier to comb. And that's really all I wanted.
Well, because absolutely nothing of interest is happening in my life, I'm going to gossip about Random. He's been dating the same girl, off and on, for something like six years now. Maybe longer. About a year ago he explained to me that he didn't think marriage was right for him - that he just didn't think he could stand not being able to get away. And if he had that attitude, I had to agree with him.
Lately, he's been thinking of looking for another job, preferably somewhere else. Preferably back in Boston, where he lived for a year and loved it. He wants her to go with him, but she told him pretty unequivocally that she wasn't going to quit her job and uproot herself without some sort of commitment on his part.
So suddenly he's thinking about it. It's a little amusing to watch him inch his way closer and closer to a decision. I think his biggest problem is that he swore so many times that he would never get married, he thinks people (the nebulous, unidentifiable they, I suppose) will laugh at him if he changes his mind.
This week he took a big step: He asked her to move in with him. I'm all in favor of couples living together before they get married. By all means, rent an apartment together, split the chores, sleep in the same bed. Better to find out in advance how you both prefer to handle money; how much of a slob/neat-nazi the other is; whether you eat the same kinds of food; whether the other steals the covers. A lot of marriage is about compromise and working with your partner toward a solution. Better to find out before you sign on the dotted line if you can find a happy medium. Better to have to have your heart broken early than have to juggle your emotions and legal battles and maybe even kids. I do think that living together should be a preface to marriage - not necessarily an engagement, but the understanding that the possibility of long-term commitment is being seriously weighed.
Oops. Got off on a tangent, there. Anyway, for reasons best known only to himself, Random decided to ask his girlfriend's father for permission to live with her. I was floored. I could sortof understand it if he was getting ready to ask her to marry him. At least there's a tradition for that, and it's even a little bit romantic in an old-fashioned sort of way.
But to ask for a blessing on a living arrangement? Better still, to ask for permission to do something when you have no intention of not doing it if the answer turns out to be "no"? What's the point?
(In case you're wondering, he said, in essense, "I won't give you my permission or my blessing, but I understand that I can't stop you, either.")
Heh.
I sat down yesterday evening and wrote up a list of all the things I want or need to get done in the next week or so. Boy, was it a list. It was a little daunting even to my spring-charged mind. But there it is, and there's nothing I want to take off the list, so I need to just get on with it. I knocked off two things last night, but they were relatively minor.
Tonight, I plan to make a trip up to Lowe's. That won't be trivial, either - one of the things I want to get there are some border-stones for the flowerbeds and maybe even the garden. I saw a style I really liked while I was riding around on my bike; I just hope Lowe's carries something similar. But if each stone is about a foot wide, I'm going to need around fifty of the darned things. Could get pretty heavy. It's a good thing Matt agreed to come with me!
And if I get them, I'm going to have to add placing them to my list. I can't believe I didn't think of that...
Yes, I know: I'm stunning you with the excitement of my life. Try not to be too jealous.
Currently Reading:
- nothing
Current Projects:
- Kris' afghan
- garden