Tag: #Balding

  • ODDS and ENDS: Traffic Tickets, IG is Harmful, and the Sadness of a Bald Man Getting a Haircut

    “Odds and Ends” is my continuing series of random thoughts and follow ups…

    It’s Friday, which is normally the day I that have to do the Alt Side Parking dance in the City. We had taken the car to get inspected at the start of the week, and the parking spot we found was Friday 9:30 to 11am. That time really didn’t work with my schedule, so this morning I went to go get the car and move it to a place where I knew I could get an 8:30 to 10am spot, which is much better for all the stuff I needed to get done today. Anyway, when I got to the car this morning, I had a ticket on the windshield for “Illegal Plastic Cover on License Plate.” That’s a thing? I say that because the car has been in the city for a long time. Long enough for us to get a couple of other parking tickets, all while that plastic cover was on the plate. So… why is it worth a ticket now?

    The one story this week that went by that I say got no traction was the leaked internal report from Facebook that Instagram is harmful, even toxic, to girls sense of worth and self-esteem, even though Facebook had been denying that for years. Wait?!?! Corporations lie? I will compare this story to the one about cigarette companies knowing that smoking was killing their consumers. It’s the same thing how alcohol companies know they need alcoholics to stay in business. Doing the right thing and making money really don’t go hand in hand. As someone who has a daughter, this only makes me want to keep her off of social media as long as possible.

    I need to get a haircut, I am a balding man, and this is an uncomfortable issue that comes up every three months or so. Not the way you think. I am balding, and I am okay with it. I knew it was coming since I was a little boy, as my father, and grandfather were bald, and also my grandfather on my mother’s side. So, there was no avoiding this. What makes getting a haircut uncomfortable is that I have half the amount of hair, and yet I am charged the same amount of money as if I had a full head of hair. I should at least be getting some sort of discount. The barber doesn’t have to work as hard on me, as my only options are short, or shorter, or no hair at all. I think 25% off would be fair, as I feel like I am subsidizing full headed men on their haircuts.

  • No More Late Night Snacks

    Spring is here and Summer isn’t too far away. The seasons of rebirth and change is upon us. I think I have mentioned that I have put on twenty pounds of the course of the pandemic, and before that, I had put on a stress ten pounds from my former shitty job situation, my mother’s death, and moving away and then back to NYC. Food was the only thing giving me any comfort, and ice cream was my best friend. So, I’m front loaded now; just completing my slow transformation to middle aged white male – balding with a belly. As you can read, I’m not too happy about this.

    I am trying to wrap my head around getting back to a healthy lifestyle, as I don’t think I have really ever had a healthy lifestyle. I just sort of lived, and it all took care of itself. Well… those days are over, and I have to move this to the forefront of my thinking. This week, I am starting small; no more snacking after 9pm. This might be low hanging fruit, so to speak, but I think it is the lynchpin of the issues I am having. Mainly, no discipline. I want to see if I can go a week without snacking, controlling my behavior. If I can do this, then I think I can move on to more complicated things.

    And the complicated things are; running, maybe daily; eating better, or at least what we all can agree on as a family; and the really ambitious one, hiking.

    But before I can get there, I have to say goodbye to my 11pm ice cream break.