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I've taken to reading self-improvement stuff lately. The Centre for Clinical Interventions has some self-help information packs/modules. I've been reading through the self-esteem one and finding it insightful in the best way: "Here's some stuff you already sort of knew, except contextualized slightly differently. Also, explanations for why the things you do that help, work, and some additional things that help." In the same vein, The Art of Manliness has a series on resilience that covers a lot of the same stuff, but from a more self-improvement angle. (As a tangent, I prefer the Advice For Men over Advice For Women, since the For Men is more gruff self-improvement, whilst the For Women stuff tends towards the neurotic, and I would rather encourage the gruff I-can-do-this-if-I-try attitude within me than the neurotic this-will-be-hard one.)
One of the things I've learned (via Resiliency, pt III) is that feeling in control – even of a houseplant! – will improve one's life. Now, the hair dye discussion over at the good ol' TGE chatroom had already gotten me in the mood for trying some hair dye, so, a tube of L'Oréal Colorista Washout in Aqua later, my hair has some teal-ish stripes. I am satisfied: I have visibly changed the universe. I have interacted with matter!
As for the actual dyeing procedure, my hair is waist-length and thick. Getting all of it would've required at least 4 tubes of the dye – rather pricey for 5 to 10 washes (tubes are 7.45€ apiece here). I used to have light, golden brown hair, but the last hurrahs of puberty and spending less time in the sun have darkened it to what I would call a flat brown. (Too dark to be liver pâté/maantie, but most of y'all would still probably think I'm a blond.) As a result, the aqua/turquoise pigment is more teal green-looking, but it's still flattering imo. It's also quite subtle in places, though I chose the 20min setting time (as opposed to 15min) after spending half an hour squeezing out the hair dye cream thing.
In other news, I've also started to exercise more regularly. Just yesterday, I intended to run a small path beside a lake, then accidentally ran around the whole lake instead, oops. The scenery was very rewarding, though! Gender remains confusing, but apparently there's a local helpline. I'll call there the next time I'm having a bad evening. My job remains satisfying when there's actual things to do – one of the things the media doesn't tell you about is that an experimental scientist's job is mostly waiting for reactions to occur/things to pump/equipment to cool/measurements to finish/etc. I've also been reading Judith Tarr's SFF Equines series of posts on Tor. It's quite interesting, and reminds me of my horse days.
Also, this says Love your crooked neighbor with your crooked heart. W.H. Auden.
One of the things I've learned (via Resiliency, pt III) is that feeling in control – even of a houseplant! – will improve one's life. Now, the hair dye discussion over at the good ol' TGE chatroom had already gotten me in the mood for trying some hair dye, so, a tube of L'Oréal Colorista Washout in Aqua later, my hair has some teal-ish stripes. I am satisfied: I have visibly changed the universe. I have interacted with matter!
As for the actual dyeing procedure, my hair is waist-length and thick. Getting all of it would've required at least 4 tubes of the dye – rather pricey for 5 to 10 washes (tubes are 7.45€ apiece here). I used to have light, golden brown hair, but the last hurrahs of puberty and spending less time in the sun have darkened it to what I would call a flat brown. (Too dark to be liver pâté/maantie, but most of y'all would still probably think I'm a blond.) As a result, the aqua/turquoise pigment is more teal green-looking, but it's still flattering imo. It's also quite subtle in places, though I chose the 20min setting time (as opposed to 15min) after spending half an hour squeezing out the hair dye cream thing.
In other news, I've also started to exercise more regularly. Just yesterday, I intended to run a small path beside a lake, then accidentally ran around the whole lake instead, oops. The scenery was very rewarding, though! Gender remains confusing, but apparently there's a local helpline. I'll call there the next time I'm having a bad evening. My job remains satisfying when there's actual things to do – one of the things the media doesn't tell you about is that an experimental scientist's job is mostly waiting for reactions to occur/things to pump/equipment to cool/measurements to finish/etc. I've also been reading Judith Tarr's SFF Equines series of posts on Tor. It's quite interesting, and reminds me of my horse days.
Also, this says Love your crooked neighbor with your crooked heart. W.H. Auden.
