a free dreadlock! just wear a scarf!

i'm not sure if i meant it to be mean or if it was a sincere question, but i remember trying to find the right words to make it into a question...

did you, um, get up late or something? why didn't you do your hair?

i know i wasn't trying to insult him. but his hair had always looked so nice and tamed with gel. but this time... it looked like he had just gotten out of bed.

i was kind of offended by the state of his hair; this was supposed to be (i imagined) some romantic trip to chicago, how could you show up to a date with your hair messed up? it made me feel like it wasn't something important enough for which to go to the trouble of fixing his hair.

we ended up in a fight about something inane; i learned what he really thought of me and my life - well i don't have some LUXURY SUV to go riding around in! he said, or at least something along those lines. i never thought my life could seem that different from his own; but i guess when you looked at it, it really was: i went away to college, the top public school in the state, my parents were together, my father was employed... yeah i guess we did lead pretty different lives. i didn't realize it then though.

what made me think of this? he was probably thinking of me at the same time - things like this always happen: i'll be thinking of something and then randomly i'll think of someone to whom i haven't spoken in a while. usually the next day i get an email or i see that person.

anyway i was thinking of how i would wear my hair for travel to my winter vacation destination. i was thinking of how the person who said he'd pick me up at the airport upon my arrival told me once he though my hair looked better straight. so i thought i would do it straight. but then it occurred to me to ask myself if i wanted to arrive with straight hair to impress him? would i straighten my hair just because he said he likes it straight?

well, the answer is no. i prefer my hair straight when i'm in public places. it doesn't get as messy when i turn from side to side trying to sleep on the ten-hour flight. i mean, i get my own free dreadlock at the end of every day where my hair is curly and i wear a scarf.

plus i think it is always polite to try to look your best; one could feel offended if you show up less-than-presentable for anything.