Growing up

I made a new friend over the weekend. We spent the day at the mall shopping. And when I say day I mean the ENTIRE day. We stared around 1pm and stayed until the mall closed. Anyhoo, at one point we were in the fitting room, trying on bras (trying to maintain 'stealth' while changing clothes in front of someone is not an easy task; I seem to have a knack for getting myself into precarious situations). I put one on, and it didn't really fit. Not by a little - but by quite a lot. Now, I am aware that bra's have adjustable straps, but it was off by enough where I figured no amount of adjusting would really help it enough, so I didn't bother with it. To make a long story short, she ended up adjusting it for me and, as it turns out, it fit just fine.

At one point later on in the day she asked me, "So have you gone your entire life without knowing how to properly adjust a bra?" Now, I know how to adjust one. But I don't have very much experience with needing to do it. Most of the bra's I've tried on at this point fit perfectly fine and only needed a little bit of fine tuning. But she was expecting me to have a lifetime of experience, when in fact, I've only had about a years worth. The end result is that I come across more... what's a good word for it...naive, perhaps, then I should be for someone my age.

Now, I understand that I will never have the same experience most girls have as they grow up. It sucks, but there's nothing I can do about it, and I'm OK with that part of it. And I have no problem explaining my past to people in a way that doesn't really bring up too many questions about my gender. I'm starting to get used to not being able to relate to other girls when they talk about their childhood, or their first period, or something else that I've never experienced. I've made peace with that aspect already, since there's not much I can change about it. My issue is when my lack of experience makes me feel, well - like an idiot. I feel like it's assumed that I would know how to do certain things, but I've just never had the opportunity to learn them before. You know, stuff like working with my hair. I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing with my hair. I've learned a lot over the past year, but I still feel like I'm the slow kid in the class when I'm around other girls. There's only so much you can learn on your own.

I know there's a lot of girls out there that don't know a lot (or anything) about this stuff either, but it still bugs me anyway - mostly because it's things I WANT to know more about, but just haven't had the opportunity to learn or experience yet. And then there's the little things that come up that you never even thought about. I think that's the double-edged sword of going stealth (I am really disliking this term more and more, but using it is still the quickest way to get my point across). At least when you're first starting out anyway. You get to learn things from other girls and gain experience that you might not get if they know your past, but because of the age you're learning it at you feel like an idiot. Sigh...It's like I'm in my awkward teen years learning the rules of how to fit in all over again.

Oh, and despite the all the negativity of this particular subject I still had a pretty awesome day. I really enjoy shopping and it's always better with a friend there to enjoy it with, and she really did teach me a lot. Little nagging things like this aside, I still love pretty much everything about being a girl! And besides, if it's anything like my first time going through the social learning phase, in about 2-5 years I prolly won't have too much of a problem with this anymore. I've just gotta bit of catching up to do. Good thing I'm a fast learner.

Asymmetry

So I've noticed something rather interesting this morning. It appears that the hair on one side of my head grows at a slightly faster pace then the hair on the other side. Either that or my head is partially lopsided, and I've just never taken notice. Come to think of it, it's never really occurred to me to check before.

Wouldn't that be tragic? Going through life with a partially lopsided head and never noticing. Everywhere I go having people whispering excitedly behind my back in a stark British accent, "Look! There she is Margaret! That's the girl I was telling you about. The one with the partially lopsided head, the poor dear. I wonder if she knows." Yet everyone would be afraid to tell me, so I would never find out. The British are so polite in that regard. Though I'm told that ignorance is bliss, so I would assume it wouldn't make any difference in the end now, would it?

But I've a feeling it's not my head that's partially lopsided after all, which I find rather fortunate. But then again I'm particularly biased on this issue, so you really shouldn't believe anything I have to say on the matter. All I ask is that if my head is indeed slightly off kilter that you'll be kind and not judge me for it. After all, it's not my fault, now is it?

On a more encouraging note, I'll be getting my hair cut this weekend. If that does nothing to address the problem at hand, then I just suppose I'm doomed to an ignorant life of bliss.

Easter

Yay! It's Easter-time again! Growing up I used to do all the fun Easter stuff - coloring eggs, hiding them and finding them. Eating chocolate bunnies. Going to church (though I HATED getting dressed up. I will never wear another tie again!). All the fun stuff.

Now I don't do anything, save one single tradition. Every year around this time I make sure to buy and devour a pack of Peeps (or two or three). Mmmmmm....Peeps! Sugar-coated marshmallowy goodness! It's a wonder I'm not diabetic ^_^