2001-10-08 - 8:01 p.m.

On the internal soundtrack: "The Morning After", from "The Posiedon Adventure"

Well, I returned home from a tea with several neighbors to find that we've begun bombing Afghanistan. Sigh.

I'm sad, worried, scared. Hopeful, too, I guess, that what we're doing might actually severely weaken the terrorist network.

With that, I'll move on to the mundane details of my life.

So, today I am extremely irritated with Playboy magazine.

I've had a subscription to the magazine off and on since I graduated from college. I think during college I discovered the Playboy Interview (I am an interview freak) in some male friend's copy. I've read a lot of really good interviews over the years, most recently the interview with Gary Johnson, the Republican governor of New Mexico who's openly for drug decriminalization.

So, with this, the fun articles about sex, and me not being opposed to photos of naked ladies in general, I decided to subscribe. I read the magazine cover to cover, and Poindexter and I look at the naked ladies together and discuss whose boobs are real and whose are not, that sort of thing.

In the last few years, though, the airbrushing has gotten completely out of hand. I can't stand this. Naked ladies is one thing, but airbrushing them to the point that bits of their anatomy actually disappear just galls me. Either pick a different angle, or don't photograph it at all, but don't airbrush it out like it doesn't exist. Between that and not having enough time to read it anymore, I decided to let my subscription lapse. It should have done so in April.

Instead, I kept getting weird vague threatening notices from Playboy, hinting that I had agreed in the past to pay them for a second year, and they were billing me for that. There was a possibility that I might have signed up for two years, but if I had done that it's most likely I would have paid for the two years in full, not in yearly installments. The letters kept getting more and more threatening and the magazine kept coming, so finally Poindexter called them.

Those were RENEWAL notices. Those FUCKERS. I was right, I didn't sign up for two years. I really can't believe it. The letters made it sound like I'd previously agreed to two years. So basically they're trying to TRICK people into renewing! That alone is a good reason to unsubscribe.

The woman who took Poindexter's call asked the reason for cancellation. He got Playboy mixed up with Glamour or something, and said, "because of your anti-gun stance." Groan. I can't clearly recall Playboy's stance on guns, mainly because they mostly talk about sex and legalizing drugs. Now I'll have to write and tell them it was the overzealous airbrushing, as well as to express my distaste for their method of "encouraging" renewal.

On Saturday, after I'd been bitching all week about my dire need for a haircut, I got an appointment at the salon. I invited MIL to come along and check it out, since she's read about the salon in InStyle magazine or someplace like that.

Awhile back, three years ago probably, MIL started telling me I should get highlights. On Saturday, however, the word of the day was "eyebrows". We got into a whole big discussion about eyebrow trimming and such. She's very big on it. Says it's part of "grooming", like brushing your teeth. My feeling is that it's just more work (maintaining it means lots of tweezing and shit) for a result that I don't particularly care about. If you don't like my eyebrows, tough shit.

So, when we left the house I wasn't going to do anything but get a cut, but once I got to the salon I went into Girly Mode and said what the hell. I got highlights and had my eyebrows waxed. My MIL was extremely pleased and said I looked beautiful and that it "opens up" my eyes.

Well, to be perfectly honest, I don't see how it "opens up" anything, although Poindexter mentioned a day or two later that maybe it did. I should have taken before and after pictures, huh? Either way, for 20 bucks a pop I guess I can wax the brows now and then. Maybe I'll try taking a little more off next time. They were kept very "natural" this time, nothing drastic. MIL seemed to think it was a dramatic improvement, though.

I do like the highlights. I have stripey hair. It's very cool. And I got a really good cut, although due to problems with the perm (didn't "take" as well on the underneath) the cut looks very bad unless I use the curling iron, so I guess it's back to straight hair for the winter.

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