Only me. If there is something oddball in this life, it seems to land flat on my lap. That isn’t strictly true since some of it gradually works into my affairs. Today I found myself in a window display fixing revolving bases for wigs. See? Without knowledge of the background how weird it seems. Like most displays, the dust of ages was in there along with 70% burned out light bulbs.
Now, do I state the facts at the risk of being called sexist? Sure, why not, it isn’t as if I care what you think, you know. The place has the telltale signs of lack of a man around the house for the past twenty or so years. I go further to say a competent man. This is not as bad as it sounds, for part of the mechanical world does give advantages to the technical minded. Some examples will clear up my meaning.How about eight different brands of “white” lightbulbs. No, they are not the same, there is a slight variation in color from flat white, to pale yellow to slight purple. All replaced by a set of the purplish ones. Why, it was asked, did I replace bulbs that were working? Go back to what I said about competent. Or spare parts all around with the wrong base, or the wrong model. Things like that all over the place.
By now somebody must be curious about wig prices. This is surely one area where you get what you pay for and cheap is not going to get you anywhere. The majority of clientele are women and for medical, not cosmetic reasons. While I have never viewed hair as a “secondary sex characteristic”, most men do. A lot of them without realizing it. Certainly some hairstyles spell “available” or “conservative” but I cannot blame any amount of importance women place on nice hair.
The custom made wigs take ten days to manufacture, all by hand. I do not understand the methods used to anchor the hair to the scalp piece, a very light and flexible piece of material. There are hairpieces and extensions, the two major categories of wigs. Extensions are braids or pony-tails that are clipped on. At this point I should distinguish between synthetic and human hair. The human hair is definitely the better option if you can afford it. More, there is no synthetic material that looks remotely good enough to fool anyone who looks.
A proper wig costs between $2,800 and $3,800. They have to be combed, brushed and styled because they are real hair. Yes, you can change the style within reason, and they do have to be professionally cleaned regularly.
I’m getting behind at the computer shop, my regular customers are asking what happened to me. I’ve installed Linux Mandrake on half my computers to discover it lacks a module for copying disks, program called “Kaffiene”. Plus, I am missing out on deals. Steve sold a sphygmanometer for two bucks, something I would have bought. What? I told you before, it is one of those arm cuffs for taking your blood pressure.
Or laundry. I’ve been out of soap for a week. Fortunately, I’ve got plenty of clothes to last that stretch and working in a thrift helps immensely. In other news, the Canucks (called “Snowbirds”) have arrived in, well, flocks. I moved in just as they were leaving for the season and now I see what all those little lawn shuffleboard courts are for. My God, I hope I never, ever get that “retired”. It serves for social interaction however, which is good for people who operate on that level.
Tackling the soap crisis head-on, I went to the Canuck swap meet. That is the outfit over on the Greyhound lot that is a little gold mine if you poke around. Especially those Hindu Canadians who must use some weird import law to get stuff dirt cheap, and then drive it down here by the trunk-load. By coincidence, they have a lot of bicycle parts because those three-wheel trikes are popular with that bunch.
Here’s something new, a super loud whistle. It is plastic, thus is not rugged enough to replace my good old tin whistle. I had to buy it as a novelty because of the astonishing volume. You blow in the little side-hole and it emulates a truck horn. While it lacks the deep bass, it is easy to startle people a good quarter block away and get attention at twice that. They are labeled for use at “sporting events” with a wise warning not to blow it in anyone’s ear. For a plastic toy, it is quite well built and the white cap you see on the end is a rubber skin that produces the sound.Even later, I see that my monopoly on the laundry room is gone. I used to head over any time and get all three washers but not any more. If you’ll excuse the bad pun, it is not my province to explain it, but those Canadian women look far better than American women the same age. In equally exciting news, Maxwell House has hit another great batch of coffee and I’m making an extra pot-full right now. It is still the best but it can be spotty in value. I stocked up this time.
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