Time Spirals

On August 29, the University of Washington underwent its Google Change where our shared gmails and drives for certain shared accounts stopped working. This change affected my office, but besides some tedious hangups with Outlook, Teams, and OneDrive, I think we managed.

I had scheduled two appointments that day since I figured if anything broke, I wouldn’t be able to fix it right away anyway. On August 29, after all, Skynet becomes self-aware. At least back in 1997.

August 29 is also the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall, yet it’s salient. During my sophomore year of high school, I adopted a style change that led to longer hair. For the most part, my hair had been cut short, but eventually I grew out my bangs and sides.

A picture of a yearbook picture.
Post-Katrina sophomore A.J.

 

I was early so I picked up a treat, noticing three very similar, yet distinct choices: Wetzel’s Pretzels, Auntie Anne’s, and Cinnabon. All things equal, Cinnabon wins for me because of Better Call Saul, and general overall deliciousness.

 

Hair

Overall, my haircut took about an hour, but I wonder how much shorter it would have if I didn’t laugh.

Part of the ritual included a shampooing and an awkward walk back to the chair. One side of my hair was longer than the other. Whenever she ran the comb through she pulled up strands of long hair. The mullet-like, Tiger King style midpoint Halfway through the haircut, I started laughing so hard because her deliberate cuts and sneaky footwork reminded me of Salt Bae. She started laughing, then I laughed because she laughed. We managed, but the serious face led to more laughing.

The spin with the mirror to look at the back of my head is a smile and nod.

I didn’t shave, so my shorter hair blended into the beard, a look I just wasn’t used to.

 

Between Time

Since my bus transfer pass had until 5:30, I took a trip to a different mall with a convenient route back. The app gave accurate timings for transfers, so I budgeted my time and picked up some new threads and comic books. The comic book store had new DC books out already, although the traditional “New Comic Day” is Wednesday.

 

Teeth

After a trip involving a long walk from the transit center, I took a five-minute appointment at the orthodontist for “Looks good. You might want to check with a periodontist for any final detailing. Any questions? I’m here for you.” I have a removable retainer for right now, and I called the periodontist’s office for an appointment in three weeks.

 

Discussion

I don’t mind occasional appointments with professionals when they get results.

 

[Draft update.]