The Prince of Tides

Recently, I have become interested in Pat Conroy. My book club picked South of Broad, his latest novel, for discussion last fall. I missed the meeting, but found the book at the library a month ago and checked it out.

South of Broad refers to the part of Charleston's peninsula that is south of Broad Street - where the blue-nosed, native Charlestonians live. I had met one of these folks out listening to music one night. He was my age - and a law school dropout living at home. Once I learned he lived South of Broad, I immediately judged him (perhaps unfairly), because I knew that was where people with old money in Charleston live. What I didn't realize is that people that live there refer to it as downtown, instead of the commercial center to its north, along King and Meeting Streets between Broad and Calhoun.

But I digress. I write this to explain why I was interested in reading South of Broad and how I have become interested in Pat Conroy. Supposedly, he airs Charleston's dirty laundry in the book. So, I eagerly opened that book. Early on, I found the most beautiful passages described Charleston and the Lowcountry:

"In the summertime, the saltwater that floods the creeks and bays and coves of South Carolina is warm and sun-shot and silken to the touch. It did not hurt or shock to enter the water, but soothed and washed away the frazzled nerves of our runaway week. The creek was dark with the nutrients gathered in the great salt marsh; you could not see your hand if you opened your eyes underwater. We were swimming in a part of the Atlantic that the state of South Carolina had borrowed for a while."

(Italics emphasis mine)

But the story itself seemed a little melodramatic, even for a Southern novel - I enjoyed it, but I would have liked it to be more tightly edited and realistic. Still, a story based on where you live is always a pleasure - it lets you see where you live through the eyes of someone else.

Next, I looked up Pat Conroy and learned that he writes semi-autobiographical novels that piss people off for that reason. Sounds like Thomas Wolfe, except he has come home again and continues to live in South Carolina.

Last night, I watched The Prince of Tides. Some of its melodrama I could live without, but I loved the marsh and beach scenes - looks to me like they captured the essence of Pat Conroy in this movie. Beautiful landscape descriptions and melodramatic, tortured Southerners.

I look forward to reading more of his stories and descriptions.

Natural Hair Dye

Like my mother, my hair starting showing gray while I was still in college. When I was in the Peace Corps, my Salvadoran boss used to say, "Ah ha, Michelle, !tiene sus ganas!", pointing at my hair. "Ganas" literally meanings earnings, but in this context means I am showing my gray hair (earnings, age). A few years ago, I tried some semi-disastrous (i.e., totally fake looking) home hair dye. After two or three applications, I then swore I would never dye my hair again. I didn't want to spend money at the salon, I didn't want the ugly home colors, and I didn't want the cancer-linked chemicals on my head or going down the drain. Instead, I cut bangs to hide the gray over my forehead. But, I have anxiously watched the gray spreading.

I have seen henna in Whole Foods, Earth Fare, etc., for a while, but I had thought they wouldn't cover the gray. Still, it seemed like it could be fun to try, with little environmental or personal repercussions.

So, yesterday, I bought Surya Henna powder in Ash Brown - which is a golden, rather than red base. (After further researching, I've learned that it means there are other herbs in there besides henna - likely, cassia.) I made a paste out of this powder, honey, and water, and applied it to my hair for 20 minutes, per the instructions. Afterward, my hair smelled like a plant and had a more golden sheen, although it didn't cover my gray. My gray does look more like highlights, though.

At this point, I have started obsessively reading about henna online and learning more about purity levels, colors, time to leave on, etc. I like the idea of trying this out because it is fun, looks like a normal hair color, and is natural.

Technical Difficulties

Last week my computer was temporarily incapacitated by a combination of a Windows automatic update and a nasty atapi.sys rootkit. Hence, the relative lack of blog posts. I really thought this time I was done for, and I gleefully looked at new computers. Then, I stumbled upon a fix, so now things are back up and running.

How did I get into this mess? I have chosen to forego investing in a McAfee Antivirus subscription on my 4.5 year old computer, figuring it is due for a replacement. As a result, I have been relying on the wonderful and free Malwarebytes program to keep my computer clean. Because it is free, it is more reactive than proactive, and I have spent more time becoming intimately aware with file types such as .sys and .dll. Sometimes I longingly look at Mark's virus- free Mac, but I also am enjoying the problem solving and learning related to keeping my computer clean. I also have switched to Mozilla Firefox instead of Internet Explorer, because it supposedly is more secure (i.e., lets fewer malware/adware programs inadvertently attack your computer).

More importantly, I now have everything I value backed up and a boot disk created. I suggest others with Windows-based operating systems (XP, Vista, 7) do the same.