Girl and City

$500.

That is, apparently, the cost of my vanity.

I went for a Japanese Straightening earlier this week. Four hours, $500 later, my hair was sleek, shiny, and pin straight.

It was exactly what I had wanted.

But I felt uneasy. When did I become so vain that I would drop $500 on my hair?

It wasn’t just about vanity, it was also (mostly) about convenience. I may be vain, but I am damn lazy. I want to look like a high-maintenance girl without being one, especially on this Europe trip¹.

I used to have zero-maintenance, naturally straight hair, but after I permed it, it became a frizzy mess that required blow drying and flat-ironing every day. It’s been a huge pain in the ass, and the more I flat-iron it, the more damaged it becomes.
Japanese Straightening is supposed to keep your hair straight without requiring any effort – you can step out of the shower and your hair will air-dry straight, you can put it up in a pony tail and it won’t leave a kink, etc. When I researched the effects of Japanese Straightening, many people said their hair actually became healthier, because the straightening lasts for 6-10 months, so the hair is saved from being flat-ironed for all that time. It sounded like the perfect solution.

After the straightening, my hair wasn’t too different from what it used to be before my perm, albeit smoother and shinier. Given that I had naturally straight hair, the hair stylist said that this will last at least a year for me, and it may revert my hair back to pre-perm conditions, which means I may never have to do this again.

So it wasn’t so much about vanity as it was about getting my old hair back.
But I still can’t believe I spent $500 on my hair.

What’s the most expensive treatment/product you’ve ever given yourself in the name of vanity?

1. I considered the fact that we would be staying mostly in hostels, sharing a closet-sized bathroom with upwards of ten people, potentially not even having a mirror in the bathroom, etc. and I realized that there was no way I could prep my hair for 40 minutes every morning. [↩]

It’s been a peaceful few days since I moved back to The City. I have had an abundance of free time with no looming deadlines in the future whatsoever – and, if you know me at all, you are quite right to be alarmed and fear for my well-being. I don’t do “peaceful” or “free time” well, not well at all. I get restless and anxious and lose sleep and eventually get swallowed by the monsters that go bump in the night. (more…)

Yesterday, The Business School threw a banquet for the graduating class of 2010 (that’s me!) and it was awesome.
Normally, I’m not into banquets and such because they’re boring, the food is bad, and I hate having to make small talk to fill the time. But this was basically the last hurrah for my Business School peers and I, and I was going to make the most of it.

We started drinking at 4pm at one of my classmate’s house, because obviously by now we are alcoholics and need to have a pre-drink before every single conceivable event. The weather was beautiful and we took tons of prom-esque pictures on his patio. I tried to be in as many pictures as possible because I had spent hours curling my hair¹, and obviously everyone needed a reminder of my beautiful face in their photo albums.
It was so great to see my old classmates all together again², and everyone looked beautiful in their suits and dresses. Despite the fact that I would not consider most of these people my best friends, even feeling like an outsider at times, I know I won’t see some of these people ever again, and certainly not all together like this, so I tried to savour every moment. It was an afternoon spent in the sun, toasting to our youth, congratulating ourselves on surviving Business School, and anticipating what’s to come. (more…)

1. The process of getting my hair to curl (and stay curled) was a Herculean task. I’ve only used a curling iron once before, when I was 18, so I burned myself several times in the process. [↩]
2. Last year, we all had the same classes together as a ‘section’, but the sections got split up this year. [↩]

Dear SnootyAsianGirl,

I never had a good first impression of you, but I wanted to give you a chance by including you in our negotiations team. What do I get in return? You are a clueless, useless member of the team, and all you do is flirt with the guys on the other team. When you took the wrong hand-out at the end of last class and ended up being unprepared for our negotiation, do you remember the first thing you said? “SG, I think you gave me the wrong hand-out!” Um, no. You took the wrong hand-out, and then I chased you down as you were leaving to give you the right one, and you STILL ended up reading the wrong one!
You seemed like a smart girl at first, but now I am having serious doubts. I mean, if you realized you read the wrong hand-out, you probably aren’t in a position to negotiate concessions with the other team when you don’t even know what you’re talking about. When we were close to reaching a deal, you randomly started threatening them, breaking down all the rapport we had built with the other team. In those situations, shouldn’t you just keep your mouth shut? How clueless are you?

So, please, do us all a favour – for this week’s negotiation, just be quiet. In fact, don’t even show up to class at all. I’m sure the rest of us will do just fine without you.

Your Frustrated Team-mate,
SassyGirl

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Dear CockyBlondeJock,

You are an arrogant prick, and I don’t like you. I don’t know why you insist on teasing/flirting with me every chance you get but it is getting really annoying, so please STOP. What else do I have to do for you to get the message that I don’t want to talk to you? I’ve already tried ignoring you, dissing you in front of your friends, and yelling at you to leave me alone. Seriously, how stubborn are you? There are plenty of other girls in our school who would gladly flirt with you, why don’t you bother one of them? If you have an Asian fetish, there are plenty of other Asian girls here. If you have a petite girl fetish, there are also plenty of petite girls. But if you have a SassyGirl fetish, I can’t help you.

Not Interested,
SassyGirl

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Dear BoysFromClub(s),

I am really liking the new trend of asking to dance with me as opposed to just rubbing yourselves against my behind. Thank you for that. Unfortunately, the answer is still, “No.”

Nice Try,
SassyGirl

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Dear Value Investing,

I hate you. Every day, I wonder why I took your course. I don’t care that it worked for Buffet, it is not something I plan to do. And yet you continue to punish me with these dense annual reports of companies I’ve never heard of. Why, why, why do you torture me like this?

Your Anti-Disciple,
SassyGirl

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Dear Value Investing Group Members,

If you can’t speak English, don’t write the report. And if you ask me to edit it for you, then why did you still hand in the unedited version? Thanks for wasting my time.

Ungratefully,
SassyGirl

At first glance, I fit the “nerd” stereotype. I’m smart, I do well in school, I’m good with computers (bonus points for having an online persona), and I wear glasses. But that is where the stereotype ends. I drink, I party, and I make friends wherever I go.

I am also a slacker.
Most people equate good grades with studious. But this is an illogical conclusion. Case in point. This morning, I had a four-hour exam. I spent the entire week watching Queen Seon Duk, a 62-episode Korean period drama, telling myself I would study when I got back to University Town. I got back on Monday, and spent the entire day yesterday watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy¹. I spent an hour in the morning blow-drying and straightening my hair². And I spent most of the four hours during the exam trying to scrape off the chipped nail polish on my fingernails.

But I wouldn’t be surprised if I got an A on the exam. It’s happened before.

If my friends knew how little I study (for exams or in general), I think they would all stop being my friends. So I always pretend to be studious when it’s close to exam time, and I always pull in my weight for team projects. After four years of university, my peers have yet to realize what a slacker I am.

1. I suppose that earns me extra nerd points, but to be honest, it was because I had no other DVDs in my apartment, and I wanted to watch something on our plasma TV as opposed to on my computer. [↩]
2. I always have to look good for exams. I don’t know when this ritual started, but I cannot allow myself to go to an exam with sweatpants and messy hair. I may look like that all week, but at the exam, I will look pristine. [↩]