no more braids
erica's back!

took down the braids last night. oh, right. you guys didn't even know that i had actually gotten the braids. well, i did. found a salon at 52nd and hazel in west philly that would do my head for $80. showed up at 8:30 am on 10 july and had to immediately go back home to wash my own hair because their water was not working.

returned, bought burgandy-colored synthetic hair at the convenience store next door, and got started. i got to work that day at 2:30, which means the entire process took 6 hours. 6 hours. 'course, not all of that time was spent braiding. there was the hair washing, the fake hair buying, and then, about 1pm, there was the ceiling falling in on us from the weight of all the water that had been collecting there from the plumbing problem they were having. hmmmph.

dawn, my stylist, didn't do as good a job as i had hoped, but i was totally strapped for time. the braids were uneven in places, and they weren't nearly as tight as i wanted them to be. whatever. i was going camping.

they ended up being asslength. longer than my hair has ever been. but i quite liked it--having hair so long. felt cool to have it swish across my lower back, or brush my legs when i sat down. i took them out last night, after my mom told me they looked like they were starting to get matted near the top. 3 hours or so to get the braids out (there were 40 braids, btw), then another couple of hours last night and this morning to get the mats out. my head is very sore from the pulling, and there's a huge pile of my hair in the trashcan. oh well.

erica's back from kosovo! she got back in the country on the 15th, and has been crashing on jan's couch in manhattan. she's starting a grad program at the new school in the fall, in liberal studies, and will be living in brooklyn. i got the following extrodinarily cute note from her, upon her return:

hey!

i am back in vienna, unfortunately. soon to go to new york, fortunately. to crash on jan's couch, luckily. i heard you were in california, strangely. picking up trash and hiking, apparently? will you be back in philadelphia shortly? i could visit you, possibly. write back quickly. yours sincerely.