News for yesterday: I REBONDED MY HAIR.
News for today: I PIERCED MY EARS.

Amazingly enough, I accomplished both without any intention of doing so. After fighting a losing battle with tangles, I decided that I am just not suited for long hair and yesterday was the day where I would finally do something about it. So I walked into the salon some time after math, fully intending to convert back to my secondary school hairstyle.

And I told the hairdresser: cut short. He asked: how short. I said: something like yours, slope cut.

He took a double take and stared at me with a totally appalled expression on his face, like I had violated some sacred rule of hairdressers: hair of My Length should not be reduced to That all at one shot. Very distressed, he reminded me of the long tedious journey from short hair to long hair--the mushrooming in between, the heat, the etc etc etc. SInce my experience of this was particularly agonising, I wavered.

But I decided, must stand firm. So I told him that it was getting impossible to manage. Rebonding would make my hair limp blah blah, and I simply do not have the time for it. The hairdresser then assured me that he would have two people working on my hair simultaneously to cut the time short, and all could be settled before the closing time.

What could I do in the face of such enthusiasm? I made one of my rare impulsive decisions (and had no time to rethink because the chemicals were produced with unbelievable speed). The whole process was quite amusing, really--I was very interested in all the chemical processes (Ms Tan in sec school: they destroy the hydrogen bonds in your hair...) but wisely decided not to ask. The hairdresser keep muttering over my hair; he didn't quite say that it was very thick and very tangled (for those who don't know, rebonding involves this ironing process) but repeatedly assured me that I had "a lot" of hair and that my hair quality was "very rare".

In the end it still took three hours, even with two hairdressers, because my hair was (surprisingly) resistant to chemical attack, and took a lot of time to iron out. Now I'm a total convert man. I hope it lasts. I don't particularly care if it looks better or worse. It's a certain thrill to be able to comb right to the ends of my hair and not wake up with hair all over the pillow because they strangled each other to death in my sleep. I must admit I'm quite relieved not to cut it too--I need to soften my image. I already have a domineering and bossy chracter; sHort hair would complete the image of a dragon lady. A girl has to consider her future prospects. BWahahahahaha.

I shall talk about my ear piercing now. I went to a jewellry shop to buy my cousin's birthday present today, and I was short of nine dollars to reach a hundred, after which I would get a membership that gives me twenty percent discount on all future purchases. The salesgirl was trying to convince me to get a pair of earrings, then took one look at my ears and exclaimed loudly: YOU HAVEN'T PIERCED YOUR EARS? (Fingering my ears somewhat protectively) I said: er, no. BUT YOU'RE EIGHTEEN! THen I was told that it was very fast, I could just do it there, free if I bought a pair of earrings (which would conveniently mark up the price to a hundred).

It went downhill from there. So, after years of not bowing to peer pressure, I succumbed to the relentless persuasion of a very charming and very persistent salesgirl. It really didn't help that she was such a friendly soul, in an unagressive way. I was utterly convinced that she had my best interests at heart.

Some people have optimistically described ear piercing to be like "getting an ant bite". After firsthand experience today, I can only conclude that it must have been a really huge ant. It feels like really what it was: having two holes bored into your flesh.