It’s that time of year again. Yesterday was Halloween. Everybody who is anybody was (apparently) out celebrating, dressed up like idiots tonight. (I stuffed a towel up my striped t-shirt, wore a skirt over my boyfriend’s jeans and stitched him a sweatband – we were Juno and Paulie, and I wasn’t the only ‘pregnant’ costume at the bar.)
Yesterday, men the world over shaved their faces/upper lips for the last time until 1st December swings around, to raise money for testicular cancer and show their support for cancer victims. Indeed, Movember is upon us. Having nagged/chided/sweet-talked my boyfriend for weeks (oops, this reads like I have to force him to do things…) about it, he finally relented and has the beginnings of a fine (perhaps terrible) moustache growing already.
I’ve been wondering how to join in. One year I did not bleach my upper lip for the entire month. Not fully of my own volition: I had just moved to an unfamiliar country, didn’t speak the language and I can’t say it was high on my priority list. I also didn’t want to follow the local practice of shaving – Korean’s use little razors for their eyebrows and ula (upper lip area). I kept the ‘tache. Until the Movember party, I went to. In support of all the guys who had ridiculous-looking facial hair, many of the women wore stick-on versions. I had a handlebar stuck to my face for a few hours. But it was hot, the ‘tache made me sweat and, with the handlebar, my make-up slid off my face. One of these honourable men, who looked laughable in the name of charity (usually an endearing trait), chatted me up. He leaned in close and, seeing my fake ‘tache was gone, commented: “oh, but you have grown your own.” So much for charitable personality. (This story also gets mentioned in: To shave or not to shave: why is that the question?)
So, growing my own facial hair is not an issue. So I returned to the issue of body hair… should I do a leg-hair / arm-pit hair version? Legbeardvember? Pitvember? I could shave on 31st and then do weekly updates on just how hairy I was getting…? My well-versed readers will likely already know about the time I didn’t shave my legs for 9 months… yes, it’s got pictures! (Check out: Does having leg hair make me less of a woman?) I decided against that option. Partly because I didn’t have time to shave my legs before October ended. (It’s been a while, so legbeardvember wouldn’t be much of a change for me.)
What is another challenge I could take up in November 2015?
Today is the start of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) The writers of the world have been gearing up for this day for weeks. My writing group have been discussing NaNoWriMo for the last month, each one of them plotting out their novels, narratives and word counts in minute detail. One of my oldest friends is doing NaNoWriMo for the tenth year in a row this November. But I’m not a fiction writer. Plus I cannot even find time to go to the weekly writing meetings, let alone write 50,000 words before December. That said, their communion has done me good, my old friend’s encouraging ideas inspired me, my boyfriend’s pride in my work encourages me and the huge rise in visitors to this blog in October (biggest month ever!) has got me all fired up!!
Last night, my (incurably late) boyfriend joined me in a bar. I’d made my decision while I waited for him. As he sat down and took a large swig of my beer, our conversation unfolded as follows:
Me: I’ve decided to do NaBloPoMo. It’s like NaNoWriMo, but for bloggers.
Him: Are you going to blog every day?
Me: Yes. I think it’s going to be really hard…
Him: I’m just glad you don’t have to blow a Post Modernist.
What a start to a month of writing. Watch out for a daily post from me for the next 30 days! Maybe I will find some way to proverbially blow James Joyce. You never know.
Zhēn de Gender 