#nsid-ious

01/05/2010

Three days in; stubble abounds…

I really want to shave.¹

I was no longer working at the ‘Co when the first #nsid occurred, but it was hard to ignore it last year. Planet was lit up with pictures of people looking all sorts o’ scruffy and seemingly lovin’ it.

We’ve been so busy at the Nest lately, that I’d forgotten that we’d come to the time of year to shrug off all facial-cutting instruments. It was Johnath’s eloquent post² on the subject, especially the new³ charity aspect, which convinced me to shave off the… half goatee⁴ I usually sport and take the plunge.

Being an #nsid n00b, I didn’t take daily photos⁵; the photos you see here are the only pictorial evidence that exists.

But participating in #nsid did teach me a few things about the world… and myself:

At the dawn of a new decade

• The complaint you always hear is the itchiness. I was surprised at how not-that-bad it was(n’t?)…
• Buuut, most people claim it goes away after a couple of weeks. At almost five weeks in, I’m itching as I write this.
• Slapping yourself sharply is a good substitute for scratching an itchy face; the main pro is it doesn’t further irritate already-itchy skin; the main con is you look like an idiot⁶, smacking the crap out of your face
• #nsid is apparently incompatible with my driver’s license, which sports a photo of a 19-year-old me: I got stopped going through airport security on my way home for the holidays. Both ways.⁷
• Late-December, I managed to snag whatever rhinovirus people were sharing at holiday parties, and I found out experimentally that #nsid and colds do not mix.⁸ Just sayin’…
• The Boyfriend started calling me “Fuzzy [His Usual Pet Name I Won't be Revealing Here].” I was not amused.
• To his credit, however, he did not invoke his constitutionally-recognized powers to call for a special session of shaving.
• If sdwilsh says he’s doing #nsid, demand a donation out of him; he’ll wuss out.
• I was having dinner with some friends, and one of them remarked “Hey! You’ve unintentionally embraced bear⁹ culture!” I threw my piece of raw salmon at him¹⁰
• Washing the whole… thing… was kinda hard. I never did really figure it out. Are you supposed to shampoo it? Use facial cleanser? Just ignore?
• After three weeks or so, it’s pretty weird catching this dark line running across the bottom of your peripheral vision; ditto feeling fuzzies when pursing your lips.
• Upon return from holiday vacation, I asked a friend what he thought; he said “Well, it’s certainly coming along,” which I note is distinctly different from “It looks good,” which prompted the question…
• Right near the end of the month, things were getting a little… squirely, necessitating this question to the #nsid judges: does #nsid imply #ntid (where t=”trimming”)? Consensus is that it does. Good thing I asked first.
• Apparently, my mustache hair likes to fraternize with my nostrils; damn the #ntid stipulation!

Now, if y’all will excuse me, I need to go find a razor blade.

A sharp, sharp razor blade… but only until next December…

_______________
¹ After you think to yourself “TMI,” you might wonder what the big deal is, since it’s obviously not December anymore. Well, I’ve been somewhat remiss in my blogging lately, so I told myself that I couldn’t shave until I blogged about my #nsid experiences…
² Which I tried, rather unsuccessfully I might add, to paraphrase on a number of occasions
³ And ingenious!
⁴ Or whatever it’s called
⁵ Truth be told, the four or so photos I did take took a lot of haranguing
⁶ Or mental patient
⁷ And I didn’t even have any explosives in my underwear!
⁸ Also? While paper towels sure are sturdier, facial tissue they are not!
⁹ These bears, not those bears
¹⁰ WE WERE AT A SUSHI BAR!