shaved legs, plucked armpits, and obama's policy in afghanistan

this year some of the m5s wanted to start doing conversational english classes, so during 9th period, maddy, abby and i switch off teaching one of the two groups. today i was "teaching" (hanging out with) a group of about 10 of the juniors. at first we were having light conversation about how their weekend was--always boring, they're always just sleeping and playing on the computer--then we started talking about motorbikes and the only boy in the group showed me his motorbike scar. i, of course, had to show mine back.

this was slightly embarrassing for me, though, because i haven't shaved my legs in a week. i was like, "ughhh, guys, sorry, it's kind of gross but i haven't shaved in a while." the girls talked in thai with each other for a minute then looked at me.

"you shave your legs?"
 "yeah, usually every other day, but not always."

thai women in general don't shave their legs, as far as i understand.

"you guys don't shave your legs, right?"
"nooo."
"do you want to?"
"nooooo."
"why not?"

they didn't want the rough hair that comes from shaving. they know that if they shave their hair off, it won't be soft and thin anymore. i told'em yeah, that's true, then let them touch my gross, rough legs. does it hurt? they wanted to know. no, because it's not like the razors are going into your skin...just right against it. but sometimes if you go too fast, it hurts.

all this girl talk has everyone really going. everyone's pulling up their pants to compare hairiness of legs, and i can tell some girls are embarrassed but nobody's so ashamed that they can't speak. the boy was totally cool with all of this.

"what about your armpits?" i asked. they all made plucking motions by their armpits, to which i gasped. "NO WAY. ow. does that hurt? how long does it take? how often do you do it?" yeah, it kind of hurts, it takes about 20 minutes, most of us do it once a week.

the conversation somehow drifted to obama and they asked me if i liked him. yeah, i said, but nobody's perfect. we started talking about the afghanistan war and then i was somehow explaining the obama administration's war policy and democratic peace theory in brief (which i hope hope hope i explained right). everyone listened silently. at one point in my explanation, there was a break and i paused. "no no no, keep going," the girl next to me urged. they were fascinated. i love these kids.

i gotta go now. i promised'em i'd shave my legs today so they could feel, which is sort of creepy, but everything is a learning opportunity.

i have no idea what i wanna do

it's funny...i spend a lot of time thinking about future nicki. she has so many possibilities.

when i come home in november, i mostly wanna just hang out at home for a while. thanksgiving comes up real fast after i get home, then i'll spend some time in december seeing everyone all up and down the coast, then i'll revel in the beauty that is christmas in california.

after that...hard to say. after i lived in paris, i swore i'd never live in a big city. it's too easy to get shuffled along with the rest and never make an impact on anyone/anything. but walking home in suphan tonight, i felt stifled and swore i'd never again live in a small town cuz there aren't enough things to do.

location figures pretty prominently into what job i get, but it's not like there's one place i wanna be. i think i'd like to be in the yay for a while, maybe get a job and an apartment for a little while. then again, if nothing works out for a while and i get really tired of san ramon, i wouldn't mind moving down to san clemente for a while, getting some wifi in the condo and job hunting down that way. the whole west coast actually looks pretty sweet right now.

if a sweet job worked itself out in sacramento, i wouldn't mind sacrificing my coastal passions for that. actually, sacramento's a neat city. and my nerdy heart would be thrilled for some excellent job in the capital, even if it is in a nearly bankrupt state.

also, if things were looking real bad in california and i just couldn't stand it anymore, i'd go live with amber in zuni for a while. i think it'd be cheap enough for me to just hang out there jobless for a while.

on top of everything, if obama called me and offered me a job in dc, i'd take it in a flash.

*sigh* future.

it sort of hurt, but now it feels pretty good

check it outtttt! i ended up going with the bamboo tattoo, not the machine tattoo. maddy got hers first (i'm sure she'll put a picture here soon) by this little guy appropriately named mr. noy ("little" in thai). after she was done, i asked him if he did machine tattoos (yes) and showed him my design, penned by a girl in one of my favorite 11th grade classes.

"oh, i can do that in bamboo."
"really? no way. i don't believe you."

i quizzed him endlessly on bamboo tattoos (would he be able to do all the detail? the shading? how would it fade over time? with this last question, i proceeded to look at/question all the tattoos on half his body, and the whole group of us pointed to pictures of flower tattoos around the room to ask if they were bamboo or machine.) noy was ultra confident in the bamboo. it wouldn't fade--if it did, he would fly to california and re-do it for me. he could easily do the shading and detail--in fact, it might even be easier because you can go slower with bamboo, so you can get all the nitty gritty nookes  and crannies.

i slept on it and decided YES bamboo tattoo, that's it. we all went in on saturday (tattooing is a social affair) and the place was popping. two adorable children were mobbing around, everyone was hanging out in the tiny tattoo place, pets were running around outside--in short, it was loud and semi-crazy and an excellent distraction for a person getting a tattoo. he put the outline on my body and i laid down and noy got to work.

re: the pain--hurty. you know those hooks they use for fishing? the ones shaped sort of like arrows that go in really easily but are really hard to pull out? that's sort of what it felt like, except on a really small scale. i got used to it after a while, but it's bizarre how hyper aware i was of that one little spot on my body. i could tell exactly when he was on a rib--ow ow ow--and when he moved more toward my fatty boob--pain, not so bad.

as he had promised on friday, it only took half an hour of poking and then i was done. the neat thing about bamboo tattoos is that they affect the skin differently (hence the reason i think they fade differently) and you don't get any bleeding/scarring that you get with a machine tattoo. just a couple hours after, i could go swimming and kick it in the sun and basically do everything i could ever want, no bandage on the tat or anything.

i'm so incredibly happy with the tat. tattoo virginity: lost with no regrets.