A question about all the compliments on my new glasses

 

Me with a new haircut and the new glasses

Back in October, I decided to take a chance and order a new pair of glasses online. I figured it might save me some money and at least two in-person shopping visits. (I am, let's say, "frugal" and I avoid in-person things because I am somewhat immuno-compromised.)

I went to an online eyeglass store and they offered a wide selection of frames. I picked ones that are blue because they were only $10 (have I mentioned that I'm "frugal"?) Also, they would be obviously different from my red-framed computer glasses.

When I got the glasses, I was shocked to discover that the light blue trim was much more prominent than I'd noticed in the image on the vendor's website. 

Had I realized, I probably would have paid five or ten dollars more for a more discreet pair of glasses. 

But when the lovely Manon saw the new glasses, she sincerely told me that she really liked them.

And it keeps happening. Even my mother complimented them.

What the frames looked like on the vendor site

It's kind of freaking me out. 

Two weeks ago, as part of my ongoing health journey, I was at an Ottawa Hospital appointment. The reception desk attendant who was clearly one of those hard-bitten no-nonsense types, looked up at me and said "I really like your blue glasses!" We proceeded to have a very friendly conversation about eyeglass frames in which I told her that I wasn't at all bothered by her saying that the frames went well with my gray hair because, let's face it, my hair is indeed gray. (Okay, she could also have mentioned my dreamy blue eyes, but I wasn't going to push it.)

Then on Monday, a friend who has been living out of town dropped by to borrow my car. Her first words were: "I really like your new glasses!"

"You know what?" I told her: "I've received more compliments on these glasses than on any pair of glasses in my entire life and I do not see many people these days."

The next day, I had one of my rare outings where I picked up some reserved books at the Rosemount Branch of the Ottawa Public Library. A young man was waiting at the bottom of the staircase as I was leaving. He looked up at me and smiled. "I really like your blue glasses!"

"Thank you," I replied.

So here is my question, my barber, the lovely Manon, says she would be happy to add a blue colouring to my hair. She says it will really go with my eyes and the new glasses. Should I have her do it? 

 

 

  

Getting Hats - Paul Wins

Hair coming in nicely, but head still cold

I thought I was onto something when I blogged that I lost a toque and got 4 new ones for Christmas. But my little brother Paul beat me. He got 5 new hats. And all he had to do was have his head shaved.

It may have helped that the Cornwall Seaway News published an article (with video) and said:

Paul Scrimshaw knows all about the perils of cold weather now – he's experiencing the skull-chilling feeling of being bald after having his head shaved to benefit a young family grappling with a cancer diagnosis.

He raised over $2000 and  the hats started rolling in.

First the Cornwall hats:

Then the hats from the artistically gifted Heather Smith of Bluefront Studio:

This gem is a Whoo Hat.

A Cake to take you to the Stars

If you are throwing a party for someone who has negative feelings about aging, I can tell you that an excellent way to prod them towards a more celebretory frame of mind is to make them a cake that looks like a spaceship.

However, I cannot tell you how to make such an awesome cake. You would have to ask the lovely Manon.

Mojo (Zen) Gardens

On my last day in Little Lepreau, I got into a difference of opinion with one of my band mates. Like me, she had collected many rocks from the beach. Unlike me, she had also collected other objects like pieces of wood and shells. She began arranging them and re-arranging them, occasionally having artistic flares of temper: "that's just not right!"

I suggested that she could make presents for people by bundling her found objects with sand and letting them make Zen gardens with them.

"I don't see it with sand," she said.

I gently tried to convince her that sand is the way to go, but she had closed her mind to sand.

Okay, I thought, I was gracious enough to let her have one of my brilliant ideas, but if she doesn't want to run with it, I will. The next morning, just before driving away, I filled a large coffee can with sand from the beach.

Back at home, I did some research on zen gardens. I learned that they should probably be called "Japanese rock gardens" because they have existed in Japan for a long time and it was an American who gave them the "Zen" title in 1935. Oh, oh, I thought, if the Japanese are behind these things, there are probably complex rules about the elements and their arrangements. That's no good for me.

So instead of making Zen gardens or Japanese rock gardens, I make mojo gardens.

What does a mojo garden need?

• A container with some mojo (illustrated here: a box made from Lego and a gutted answering machine)
• Sand collected from a special beach (optional step: to get a nice consistency with the sand, you can filter it through a collander)
• Objects like rocks and shells from that beach
• Other objects with mojo

What can you do with a mojo garden?

• I plan to keep mine on my desk at work. I will rearrange the objects or rake the sand during long phone calls.

More Products for Men Only

Remember my re-branded deodorant, toothpaste and dental floss? Because I am always thinking, it occurred to me that there are some products with gender neutral marketing that can be challenging for men who are not secure in their sexuality.

The first that come to my mind are skin cream and hair conditioner. Some people think that real men should just endure dry, leathery, itchy skin and hair like straw.

I'm all for stoicism, but bad skin and hair can interfere with cherchering les femmes.

Here is my solution. Rename the compounds and sell them in manly motor oil containers.

Let me know if you can think of other products I should add to the Big Dog line.

Introducing Astronaut Love Triangle

Back in July, Megan revealed that I had bought a keyboard "for a mysterious new project". That project was the evolutionary new musical group Astronaut Love Triangle.

We are all still basking in the glow of the adulation we received at our debut performance in Little Lepreau, New Brunswick, and looking forward to our next genre-bashing coup, perhaps as soon as next month at Sally's Salon.

Links:

• Astronaut Love Triangle Blog
• Video: Roberta Bondar: not a nut job

Critters Holding Hands

Because there has been nothing on this blog for Kathy A in a long time, here is a video of Otters holding hands. It is a classic tale of Otter meets Otter, Otter loses Otter, and ... wait, I won't spoil the ending for you. (Thanks to Cece for letting me know about it.)

Mojo Kits

I've been making mojo kits for about two years now and giving them to people who might like them or have a use for them.

(You know you have an early one if it was called a "Good luck mojo kit". I dropped the "good luck" when I realized it was redundant. )

A number of things came together to inspire me to start making them:

• my inability to not pick up odd little items;
• my insecurity that people will like gifts I give them leading me to give them more than one thing to increase the probability that they'll like something;
• the juju bags filled with items of power that Ghanaian fetish priests carry; and
• the obvious connection to luckiness and elemental forces of most of the odd items I pick up.

I'm only aware of two rules for things that can comprise a mojo kit:

1. Items should not be bought in order to go in a mojo kit; and
2. Coins must be found accidentally and face up.

Usually, I use simple small containers like small ziploc 3"x5" evidence bags or thin metal containers with the original writing sanded off. (One of these is illustrated at Asteroideapress). However, a mojo kit can go in anything (except of course a container expressly purchased to hold a mojo kit).

This weekend, I completed my most elaborate mojo kit so far. One of my friends was whining about not having a mojo kit of her own and I had decided a while ago that an old Philip Zimbardo Psychology text would make a good container to give her a present in, so I put those ideas together.

I don't know where I got the idea of carving "mojo" into the cover and putting a broken bicycle flasher behind it. Anyway, the recipient seems to like it.

If you're thinking of carving a hole in a book, I have two tips:

1. Cutting out the hole will be easier if you first clamp the pages together and drill holes at the corners.
2. White glue that has been mixed with water (~50/50) will do a nice job of holding the pages together so that you have a proper container afterwards.