I’ve been growing my hair out for the past two years now, with the goal of growing it long enough to cut it and donate it to the Locks of Love organization.  That’s something my aunt inspired me to do a few years ago when she did it herself.  She’s growing her hair out again to donate it again, she says she’ll be able to cut it again next summer if all goes well.  She told me that hair grows about 1/2″ a month.  I don’t know how she knows that, but I think she’s right!  Locks of Love wants ponytails of hair that has NOT been dyed or permed and they want them to be at least 11″ long.  My aunt says that they even accept gray hair.

Anyway today I went to a local cosmetology school and had them put my hair into a ponytail and cut it off and send it to the Locks of Love.  Then I had them style my hair in a cute “do” that will be easy to maintain all winter long.  They only charged me $10 for the hair cut and style, which I think is very reasonable, and they did a good job too!  I feel so good about donating my hair that I think I’ll do it again in two years, and encourage my friends to do it too!

I have been interested, and surprised, to see the demographics results of the presidential election.  The experts are saying that although the “youth” have voted in record turnouts, the way they voted really had no significant impact on the results of the election!  That really surprised me because I had kept hearing about how the youth vote was expected to heavily favor Obama!  I’d be really interested to hear more about the youth that chose to vote for McCain, what their reasons were for voting that way!

I cannot believe how many people are out there claiming to be undecided about who they are going to vote for in tomorrow’s election!  I suspect that they really already know who they are going to vote for and simply want to keep that information private.  I can’t say that I blame them, really, because I have seen a lot of very spirited arguments between close friends and family that have ended up with really hard feelings.

Our office has a policy that no politics can be discussed, upon penalty of being fired.  I think that’s a good idea, but have noticed that a lot of people try to discuss it with me anyway.  I just smile and remind them that it’s against the company rules to talk politics.  Mostly I do that with people who have already broadcast that they are supporting the candidate that I’m NOT supporting!

I’m planning to vote, and I hope you are decided and that you go to vote too!  Most elections don’t have a big turnout, so the results don’t really represent who the people really want and need.  It would be really nice if this election really DID represent the people who live here!

I have been helping a friend of mine look for a new job over the past couple of weeks.  It seems that for all of the “hype” that job search companies “put out” that for the area in which she lives, there really is no great job search engine.  She apparently lives in a “black hole” because whenever you type in the name of the nearest “town” where she lives, all of the results that come back are at least thirty miles away from where that town is.  That’s really a shame because the town is a faily large one, with a lot of businesses in it.  I would not have thought that those local businesses would not be participating in the large search engines that are available on the Internet, but the proof is in the pudding.  If she wants a job in that area she needs to KNOW what businesses are there and go to them directly, which is a pain in the neck to have to do!

I could not believe my ears today when I heard on the news that the big bailout that the US Government was putting together to save our economy has not passed the House of Representatives!  What a complete disaster!  I don’t know what President Bush can do now, I hope he can do SOMETHING, this is a huge crisis for our country!  I have to say that most of those people who voted against the bailout will probably NOT get re-elected!  What a huge mess!

I’ve heard of doing stupid things, but having sex on railroad tracks when a train is coming has got to be just about the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard!  I was reading about the incident (that happened in South Africa last Friday) on the BBC website, and it really made me wonder what in the world were these people THINKING? 

I almost have to assume that this was maybe a suicide pact?  Maybe they were both dying from AIDS and wanted to end their lives doing something they really liked? 

Crazy, stupid people!

I just wanted to comment how very concerned that I am about our economy.  The price of gas is way too high, with very little evidence that it will go down anytime soon.  The stock markets around the world are struggling, and the big insurance companies and financial institutions are on the brink of disaster.  This is a tumultuous time.  I’m very concerned about my job security - or lack thereof!  I’m afraid that many businesses are going to be laying off employees, and I’m afraid that I will be one of them!  It is not easy finding a good job in this economy - in fact it’s not easy finding ANY JOB in this economy.  These are scary times!

I’m one of those people who don’t react immediately to tragedy.  I go on “auto-pilot” and continue doing what needs to be done and then later on I realize the extent of the tragedy and then I react with horror and grief.  I remember that was my reaction on September 11, I just went “numb” and kept on about my business.  As the day wore on, and the newscasters kept talking about how horrible it was, it slowly sank in the extent of the tragedy.  It finally sank in and I still haven’t quite gotten over the extreme feelings of empathy and of grief for the victims of the horrible terrorist attack.  My condolences to all of those friends and families who lost loved ones on that day, and my condolences to all of the family and friends of our soldiers who have died as a direct result of that attack.

I was reading a story on today.msnbc.msn.com about how pre-teen girls are getting bikini waxes!  The article was talking about how girls as young as six years old are having hair-removal waxing done, from their faces, backs, and bikini areas.  I think that is way too early for something like that!  What kind of body image problem are these girls going to have as they grow up?  How can a mother be so irresponsible as to encourage this type of thing?  Why are we trying to force our kids to grow up so fast?  This is just plain silliness!

I was just thinking about the television news story I saw a couple of days ago about Richard Simmons going to testify in Congress about how important it is to keep phys ed in school.  He was talking about dedicating his life to making sure that kids get exercise, and even suggested that he might run for political office if that’s what it took to keep kids fit.

I was remembering how many times I’ve seen him in his sequined tank top and shorts and his flamboyant personality and trying to picture him sitting in the Senate’s chambers.  What a picture!