a new hoop
When I came home from getting my haircut this
afternoon, I discovered that the mangled fishing net hoop
has been replaced with a real basketball hoop complete
with real backboard. Hordes of kids are playing out there
- have been for the last hour or so. More than before. So
much for my hope that the destruction of the fishing net
would end the problem. If indeed I hoped that.
small ball
They're playing with what looks like a soccer ball.
It's smaller than your average basketball. Come to think
of it the hoop is a touch smaller than average too. But I
swear this thing is a soccer ball. It thuds when they
dribble it.
rebounds and rim shots
Few of their shots go in. I hear the ball bounce off
the backboard about 50 times more often than I hear the
swish of the net. Periodically I hear "oh no" and hear my
gate open. Just heard the gate close again. Hmm, at least
now they don't leave it open.
sounds of a summer evening
I hear the skid of sneakers on sandy pavement. I hear
the ball thudding three times before it clangs off the
rim. I hear a robin chirping in the background. I hear a
small child screaming in a very high pitched voice -
repeatedly.He or she is obviously not getting his/her
way. Now the voice is yelling "I'm telling!"
parking
I parked my car out of harm's way across the courtyard
in one of the visitor spaces by the pool. I probably will
not go out and move it after the kids go in. I'll leave
it there til tomorrow when I have to leave to go to the
cat shelter. I might as well just give up parking in my
assigned space once school gets out anyway.
gray bubble
I got a haircut this afternoon. I got 'em all cut.
Short. Not as short as I wanted - hairdressers will
almost never do that. It looks awful. Before I could open
my mouth, she'd smeared in mousse and sprayed it with
stuff that made me cough and sneeze. I look like there's
a bubble shaped gray growth on the top of my head. I look
beyond middle aged. Actually, I think once I wash it
tomorrow and comb it out parted on the side it'll look
OK. I rarely have the same hairdresser twice. Mostly
because I never remember the names. Also because I have
to psych myself up for a haircut so much that I just do
it when the spirit moves me rather than making an
appointment. That almost guarantees I get the random
hairdresser who doesn't have a regular clientele.
disorganized
I could fix this problem, along with most of the other
problems in my life, with a little organization and
planning. Funny how the things that were my strengths
professionally don't even occur to me to use in my
personal life. I could make a PERT chart of the hair
process. I could do a "turtle" diagram from the Crosby
quality thing. I could flowchart this process. I could
find a hairdresser I like and stick with her/him.
But the thing of it is I hate even having to think
about hair.
a story about hair
Once upon a time there was a little girl who was born
with very straight hair. She was born in the 1950's, a
decade of curly haired girls and Toni Home Permanents.
The mother dutifully permed the girl's hair so she would
fit in with the other girls. The perm stuff smelled bad.
The curlers wound tight against the scalp hurt. The
little girl cried. But there was no help. The little girl
bit her lip, clenched her jaw and learned to live with
it.
When she got bigger, her mother took her to the
hairdresser for the perms. The hairdresser's shop smelled
like burnt hair and perm stuff. The hair spray made her
sneeze. Her head ached from the tight rollers. She did
not want to go to the hairdresser. It was most
unpleasant.
When the girl got to high school, she tried wearing
her hair straight against her mother's wishes and advice.
The other girls left a box of curlers in her desk with a
mean note one day.
Then suddenly it was the late 60's. Hippies wore their
hair long and straight. The girl grew her hair long and
straight. Her mother did not like it, but the girl was
big enough to make her own decisions. Besides that it
required fewer trips to the hairdresser.
The girl grew into a woman. The woman became a
lesbian. Only her hair is straight.
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