A Bag of Hair and a Trip to Vulcan

Lots of people who haven't seen me in person have been asking for a photo of my new haircut. I give you a bag of hair, and the back of my neck. :)

I sent 12 inches of hair to 360 Hair in BC - they make wigs for children with cancer - so I'm really happy about that. And people donated $225.00 through my Canadian Cancer Society fundraising page as well. I'm THRILLED to have short hair again, so all in all, a successful endeavour, I think!

Last Saturday I went down to Vulcan with Shelli to check out the parade, visit the new Star Trek museum (but the grand opening was actually cancelled :( ), and gawk at Robert Picardo (who played The Doctor on Star Trek Voyager). He was also there with Ethan Phillips, who played Neelix.




Parade Float - it played music, and there was smoke coming out of the nacelles.



Phillps and Picardo, in a blue Mustang.
(A vintage blue Mustang convertible is my fantasy car...)



This is HILLARIOUS on so many levels...



An old-school school bus.



There were bagpipes! I didn't get a good shot of them because there were too many people in the way. :P



Picardo and Phillps clearly understand the weight of responsibility that comes with being inducted into the Star Trek Walk of Fame in Vulcan, Alberta.



They gave him a replica of a hypospray used by a Star Trek doctor. I think it might be an original series hypospray - I couldn't hear very well! But it was a very cool gift.



The tourism centre

I give you tweets, mostly by Picardo, who is HILLARIOUS. He's wearing his "You never forget your first doctor" shirt in some of these shots, which is of course a Doctor Who reference, but his Doctor was MY first Doctor, so I really appreciate it. :)

A haircut is on the horizon!

It's been almost a year since my original post on this topic, and my hair is finally long enough to cut off! I've booked a date with my hairdresser: May 18. It's far away, but I have exams and papers between now and then, so I'm leaving it till after the semester is over, and then I can celebrate being deadline- and hair-free all at once. Plus, my steampunk hat for Comic Expo will require lots of hair to anchor it... :)

It didn't take as long to grow out as I thought it would - I have a 13-inch ponytail already! The minimum is 8 inches, and there's no maximum, so I'll probably do 10 inches, although we'll see how much it grows between now and May before I make a final decision about how much to send.

I have a fundraising endeavour for the Canadian Cancer Society - you can check out my page, a geeky photo of me, and make a donation to the charity! The donations don't benefit me in anyway, it's just my way of trying to make my aggravating hair-growing as beneficial as possible to people dealing with cancer. :)

...And it has been literally a pain in the neck...if I don't blow-dry it, it's so heavy it gives me a headache! And being winter in Alberta, half the time if I went out with wet hair anyway, it would literally freeze to my head. :P I will definitely be glad to put this ponytail in the mail.

Here's a photo of the last time I had my hair cut really short - this was for my staff Christmas party in late November of 1999!

And if you want to see what it looks like now, go look at my fundraising page... :)

Seriously though, cancer is something that has touched nearly everyone I know, one way or another. Please consider making a donation to the Canadian Cancer Society! And if you're from the USA, consider donating to your local cancer society!


And in other news, SEASON 3 OF BBC SHERLOCK IS FILMING NOW! AHHHH! That is all.

HAIRitage

I have really thick, ridculously healthy and slippery, fast-growing hair that drives me NUTS. There are days when I'm tempted to just shave it all off and have done with it! However, I've decided to something a little bit more practical...I'm going to grow it out until I have an 8-inch ponytail, and then I'm going to chop it all off and donate it to an organization that makes wigs and donates them to the cancer society to be given to cancer patients. At the rate my hair grows, I think it'll probably take another year to year and a half.

When it comes time for the haircut, I'm going to partner with the Canadian Cancer Society to collect pledges and raise funds for cancer research and patient resources, so I'll definitely keep you updated as the hair grows.

I've been thinking about doing this for a while, but what brought on the decision was one half of the beloved and classic Lutheran duo Lost And Found, Michael, announcing that he has cancer and is going to be undergoing radiation and chemo. Michael has this curly blond afro, and one of his classic concert jokes is about his HAIRitage, and so it makes me really sad to think of him loosing all of his hair during treatment. I can't give him mine, but I've got so much of it that I don't want, I could give it to someone!

So, I hope you will keep an eye out for my cancer fundraiser, probably coming next fall. I don't think I know anyone who's life hasn't been affected somehow by cancer, and it feels good to be able to help someone, even someone I don't know, in such a practical way.

Stein auf! (Rock on!)

Michael and George of Lost And Found at my church in Nov 2010