I'm never going to a Russian salon again. Ever! I'm wearing my Yankees baseball cap right now. And I'll be wearing it for at least 2 months straight. My hair should be ok by then. I don't even wanna talk about it. They totally messed it up.

Norm came up this morning around 8 and we drove into the city around 10. I met up with Amber at Eric's apartment. She was gonna have her hair blown out at the same salon. Norm made the appointment. We watched Maury and a little Springer (we both love trash tv) and left. We got to the salon and the first thing that goes through my head is: "Norm's got to be kidding. But hey ... if she comes here it has to be good."

Three people. All Russian. None of them smiling. They barely even said hi to us. Now ... I have nothing against non-english speaking people .... but you always know that they're talking about you. I find it pretty rude. I'm not saying that should have to speak only english around me ... but a couple words (since they know some english) ... wouldn't be bad. But no .. they're talking at 1,000 words a minute in a low malicious tone. It seemed malicious to me anyway. I wished I knew Russian so I could wait a while and then just say something like "Yeah ... well at least not (...insert something mean here...). Come on Amber ... let's go." and leave. Y'know ... like totally shock them.

Anyway ... I notice one of the women reading the box of the hair relaxer. I turned to Amber and said, "Oooh boy. I'm in trouble."

"Naaah it'll be great."

They were gonna totally straighten my hair and then cut it. Simple enough right? Noooo. *grinds his teeth* ..... Anyway ... they straightened it (Norm even dropped by for a while).... didn't blow dry or anything and Boris dove right in with the scissors. By the time the smoke cleared it was already too short. Too short and too late. I mean ... what was I supposed to do? Yell at him and tell him to put it back? So after looking in the mirror and seeing that I sort of looked like Keanu Reeves in the Matrix .... I forced a smile said "thank you" and we left.

"Aaaah its not so bad. It'll grow back," I thought.

"I like it Angel Boi," said Amber. Running her fingers over my tortured head.

I sort of just pushed the whole thing in the mid-section of my mind. Plus I didn't run into many reflective surfaces so it sorta faded for a while. Amber and I had lunch and then walked over to Barnes & Noble. I needed to get this Paul Monette book Ricky was telling me about. 'Borrowed Time'. They didn't have it but they did have a couple others in stock. I ran my fingers over the books scanning for anything by him. I tip-toed and stretched ... still scanning the book spines. I felt this guy watching me as I did. He was sitting on the floor, reading. I couldn't find anything and I kept thinking that he might have the very book I was looking for.

People rarely put the books back in their original places. That pisses me off because it makes it so hard to find what you want. I finally found 'West of Yesterday, East of Summer', found Amber and headed to checkout. Norm was driving back up to White Plains so I came back with her. She likes it.

This apartment has several mirrors. Maybe even too many. I was reading the book I just got and i was pretty caught up. Until a while ago. My eyes were getting dry so I went into the bathroom for eyedrops and .... WHAM! ... I get hit by the large mirror above the sink and counter. I turn and WHAM! ... the full-length mirror. I ran my hands over my head, stormed to the closet and got my Yankees baseball cap.

"I'll be wearing this for a while," I whispered. "It'll grow back ... it'll grow back. My hair grows pretty fast."

I stared in the mirror a little more, reasoning that its not that bad and it'll grow back. I'm thinking of dying it like a deepish blue or black cherry or something. That might shift the focus a little. In the mean time ... I'll keep wearing the baseball cap. I mean ... I root for the Yankees anyway.