The Day My Hair Caught on Fire

Yesterday, my hair started on fire.

Yes. There were flames coming out of my head, and the smell of burning hair gel in the air.

Let me further explain.
Last night, I went to church by myself as usual. I walked in a bit late, so I settled for a secluded spot next to the wall. I sat down, and leaned back to survey the crowd and see if there was anyone I knew. All of a sudden, I spot a girl I know motioning to get my attention, "Colleen!" she yelled, and signalled for me to move. I was confused, and another guy I knew was motioning for me to come sit next to him. I got up, and all of sudden noticed something wasn't quite right. My head felt warm and there were sparks flying off of it.

"Omg," I thought, "my hair is on fire." The rest of the events are quite blurry, but I started patting my head to put out the flames. I succeeded in putting out the fire with my bare hands. Thank you very much. I then sat down, stunned. I was in the front, and the entire church saw my hair catch on fire. I began touching my head to get a feel for the damage. A chunk of hair fell out and my coat was sprinkled with ashes. I sat stunned. Stunned and laughing.

As soon as the worship began a woman I know who works at the church came up and got me. "I am so sorry your hair started on fire in my church!" she exclaimed. We went to survey the damage in the bathroom. Not bad. It just looked as if the front of my hair was pretty singed. "I owe you a haircut," she said. I told her not to worry about it. She convinced me to stay despite my embarrassed and I went back into the service, only this time, up in the balcony.

I did, however, leave early, since I was too embarassed to face everyone coming up to me and asking if I was okay.

Oh man. I cannot believe my hair caught on fire, in church, in front of everyone. Good story. When I got home that night I had to cut like major chunks off the end. With the right amount of hair product, it looks okay now.

Since it happened in church, maybe it was a holy sign. God has lit me on fire. I now bear witness with my scorched hair. Can I have an amen?!

Crashing the St. Patty's Day Parade

This post is a few days late, but I had the best St. Patrick's Day ever. Hands down.

Let's just say that the day started out with me and three friends going to a St. Patrick's Day parade, and ended with Anna and I being in a parade. Holler.

So around noon on St. Patty's Day, a few of us headed to downtown St. Paul to check out the parade action. The parade action turned out to be people carrying banners that said family names like, "Mulligan," or something, with individuals dressed in green following behind. It was totally lame so we lasted like 10 minutes before heading to the nearest Irish pub. While drinking green beer at the pub, we discovered that Minneapolis was having a parade at 6:00 p.m. That's when Ana came up with the brilliant idea to crash the parade. Hey, if it was as lame as the St. Paul one, all we'd need to do to be in it was dress in green and sneak our way into an unsuspecting group. Armed with our idea, we headed back to Minneapolis to get more decked out in green and find the parade's starting point.

A green scarf and some facepaint later, we head to Brit's downtown to grab a few drinks and conspire. A half-hour before the parade we made our way down to its starting point, and nonchalantly began mingling with people, grabbing some of the free food and and a bud light at the bar.

Soon, Anna and I spotted our perfect crashing opportunity. We snuck into a group that was simply wearing green and singing some Irish song. We even got someone to give us one of the flags they were waving. So, waving our flags and lip-syncing the unfamiliar song, we paraded down Nicollet Avenue yelling happy St. Patrick's Day. I was laughing so hard I could barely pretend to know the words. At the end of Nicollet Ave., we got a bit bored and decided to duck out. We had left the rest of our group at the parade's start so we headed back that way.

I had never been in a St. Patty's Day parade before Wednesday. Ha, it was such a good time. I guess, on this St. Patrick's Day, I actually had the luck of the Irish.

Inner Conflict

I just finished the most disturbing movie. So disturbing that everyone should see it. It's called the Stoning of Soraya M. It's about a woman in Iran who was wrongly accused of adultry to further her husband's adulterous goals, and thus stoned.

The whole movie has got me thinking again. I have always been passionate about furthering women's rights in the world. Especially in developing countries, or theocratic countries where the injustice runs deep.

How do I do that? How does anyone do that?

I'm currently looking for a job. The careers that interest me around here, and the ones I'm qualified for are mainly in advertising or public relations research. If I take a job in one of these fields, am I settling? Or, is there a way to do good for the world, no matter what your career is (well, obvious immoral ones not counting, i.e. murderer, Phillips-Morris employee, etc...)?

For the past few years, I have kind of wanted to be a journalist, because I've loved the idea of telling people's stories. But the true fact is, is traditional journalism is dying. Could there, however, be another way to tell truth, change the world, even if I don't work for the BBC?

I'm really wrestling with this at the current moment. Particularly because I'm really interested in advertising research. But how do I reconcile the things I'm passionate about, like women's development, justice, etc..., with a career in advertising research?

I feel like there must be a way. But maybe I'm just convincing myself of that. But maybe, changing the world isn't so much about the career you have. Maybe, it's about changing yourself, and standing up for truth wherever you find it. If anyone has any advice for me at the moment, I would gladly take it. Especially anyone who works in PR or advertising!

And back to the Stoning of Soraya M. Please, go out and rent it right now. It's a story that definitely deserves to be told.

Someone Help Me Decipher Lil' Wayne

I usually don't read TIME magazine anymore because the cover's always have some version of "How to fix (insert health care system, the world, the economy, etc...)," and I think it's lame because if they really knew how to fix things, they would be fixed. Plus, come up with a headline that doesn't begin with "How to."

That is beside the point however. The point is I picked up the latest TIME because I was bored yesterday and had already watched four episodes of Keeping up with the Kardashians. I turned to the quotes page and one by Lil' Wayne was highlighted. He was finally heading to jail after several delayed sentences, and his response was, "Law is mind without reason."

Um, ok, will someone please explain that quote to me. I've been racking my brain and I just can't seem to figure out how it makes sense. Essentially he's saying law is unreasonable. I guess? Not that I should expect literary greatness from someone who wrote "Lollipop," but I guess something that made sense would be good. If anyone has any insight that can explain this mystery to me, I would appreciate it.

Thank you for your time.

Me.

My Unblievable Life

So I just got back from a lovely weekend in Florida/Alabama with my college roommates. It was beautiful, and is making me long for a longer warm-weather getaway.

The first night we spent at the Hilton on the ocean. Then, we drove down to no-man's land Alabama, where one of my old roomies lives with her baby and military-man husband.

It was such a good time, but it's sooo crazy how different my life is from theirs. I mean, five years ago, we were all in the same boat. And now, well, I'm in the same boat and they are both married with babies. Well, one is only pregnant, but the baby will come.

It was funny, on the way to the beach we were reminiscing about college and they were like, "ohh remember when we used to go out, sleep in late, yada yada." I was like, "ummm...I don't know what you guys are talking about but that is still my life. I go out somewhere like every night, and don't wake up until nine every day." They were like, "really??" Like they couldn't believe it. Haha. My life is unbelievable. I love it.

It did kind of make me realize however, that the single life is somewhat of a privilege. I mean, once I get married and have a baby there is no more jetting off to India, or even to the corner bar on a Friday night. So I might as well enjoy my freedom while I can. Sure, I don't want it for the rest of my life, but for now, I might as well live it up. Maybe being single is more fun than people make it out to be.

Life Shower

I have a bone to pick.

I think that if you are still single by the time you turn 30, people should throw you a "life" shower. For this life shower, you should receive the wide-array of nice domestic items that married people receive for their weddings.

I mean, why should married people get all the fun & nice stuff. They already get the love of their lives, plus a stunning array of Williams Sonoma bakeware. For those who are single, it's like, "sorry, you have to be alone, and stuck with your grandmother's second-hand dishes from 1975. Have fun with that!"

I feel as if this is wrong. We no longer live in an age where people get married at age 22 as their starting out on their domestic lives. No, most of us are well-established before we get married, or rather, if we get married these days. Consequently, married people should not have all the fun!

If I'm single when I'm 30, I am throwing myself a life shower. I will make all my friends come. Yes, I will look pathetic roaming around Macys, little register remote in hand, by myself. And perhaps even more pathetic when the clerk asks me when I'm getting married and I reply, "I'm not." But, at least I will have the same hosting capacity as my married friends. Crate & Barrel dishes and all! So there.

Anyway, just an idea. And a rant. Onto another run (which is going great btw, weeee!).

Selling Used Underwear?

Um, yeah. This is gross. MSNBC reports.