Dropping out for a short while...

I will probably not be blogging as much for the next 4 weeks or so because I have several projects lined up that will be taking most of my time. I am a newbie, so I thought I would post this announcement to let everyone know that I did not get bored and the novelty has not worn off.

And when I return, I plan to have some great new pictures because I intend to spend the week of the 4th in beautiful, sunny South Beach!





What's happening?

I've mentioned that I lost my job in early March. It's amazing to me what a blessing that was (and not even in disguise). I was 'let go' with 7 others. My position within the company was eliminated. My supervisor who hired me, trained me, and had worked there for 8 years was dismissed 10 minutes before I was and given 20 minutes to clean out her office. (Yeah. It was like that!) So, I didn't feel bad for myself. I knew it was nothing personal, no reflection on my job performance - but my God! Did the management handle it badly!

But that is not my point. I was working for a company that I liked, with people that I liked, and then someone (in management) decided that changes needed to be made. Changes did need to be made. And I am all for positive change, but.. that was not how things were shaping up. So, even before I was let go, I was thinking of making my exit. And as I sat in the conference room listening to the cliches and platitudes about what good workers we were and how sorry they were and how my supervisor would trade places with us if he could (Yeah, right!)...It was all I could do to keep from smiling.

There have been few times I have felt so free. I had reached a point where I wanted to quit, but that seemed like a very irresponsible choice, since I had not lined up anything else. However, being let go meant that I was eligible to collect unemployment while I transitioned and nobody would look at me crazy and say: why did you leave a perfectly good job that was paying the bills?

I called up all my friends and said: Guess what? I got liberated from my job!

They were worried because I sounded too happy. Everyone figured the reality had not set in. Nope. That was really how I felt. Finally free to pursue other interests and do some things I love. And maybe figure out how to make money at it in the mean time...

I am not entirely unemployed at the moment, only severely underemployed. I am naturally good at standardized tests, and I love to teach, so about 6 years ago I started working for a test prep company. I teach high school kids and adults how to get higher scores on SATs, ACT, LSAT, MCAT, GMAT, GRE and the like. It's a fun job and the hourly rate of pay is great, but it's a contract position and jobs are assigned on a first come first serve basis. All of the teachers/tutors in my area get an e-mail and whoever confirms a class first gets the job.

And even at that the classes don't usually run more than 4 or 5 weeks at anywhere from 3 - 6 hours a week, so... this job does not pay the bills.

However, the local office of my company formed a partnership with Clemson University. Clemson has a department that is focused on recruiting minority and underprivileged students. Every year they run a two week Boot Camp, and our SAT course is included in the curriculum. It's an excellent program that I am glad to be part of. Students from all over the state apply and a limited number (this year it is 125) are selected based on G.P.A and other factors - a lot like scholarship programs. I have loads of fun with them.

The camp starts on Monday June 11th and runs for two weeks. I will have to commute to Clemson and it is almost an hour each way. I've been teaching SAT for so many years I could almost teach it in my sleep, but I have been told that the course materials were significantly revamped, so I will need to prep 1 hour for each hour of class time. Plus, the course is normally arranged where I teach 2.5 hours a week over 8 weeks, but for the boot camp I will be teaching 4 hours a day, every day That leaves very little margin for preparation between classes. I'm going to feel like I'm back in school...plus there is all the driving.

I live within the city limits of a pretty small town. It has been a personal rule since I moved here that I would not accept employment that required me to drive more than 15 minutes one way. And in 9 years, I've been able to stick to it. So, I hate a commute, but what can you do? I'm not really complaining because I get hourly pay and mileage, so, it really is all good. But I said all that to say that the entire endeavor will be quite time-consuming and I really won't have time to blog.

I'll have one buffer week after the camp ends before I leave for Miami, but at the end of that week I'm attending a 3-day convention. Now, I am not complaining about that either. I am quite looking forward to time away from home and on the beach. Travel is my third favorite hobby (behind reading and writing, narrowly ahead of dancing - and you know I will get my salsa on in SoBe!) so I routinely surf the 'net looking for travel deals. I found a deal that included 4 nights at a trendy boutique hotel for about $250. Not per person, mind you, and not per night: total!

That's less money than it would cost me to drive to Myrtle Beach (which is so not as cool as Miami) and stay in a dinky motel that didn't even have beach access.

Unemployed or not, I felt like I couldn't afford not to go, so me and my bestis friend are flying out on July 2 to spend a week at the beach.

And...just yesterday I got an e-mail from the test prep company about a 5 week workshop in Paris! How awesome would that be! I replied right away, but I feel like everyone and their brother is going to jump at that opportunity, but it's sort of short notice (it begins on July 10) and I'm just hoping that of the people who are qualified to teach it, most have job or family obligations that would prevent them from following through. That's why I never did. It still doesn't pay much, but, hey! It's a free trip to Paris!!!

What's not to love?

I wanna say wish me luck...but I know luck has nothing to do with it.

Anyway, that's an overview of the next four weeks for me. I'll be back to post when I can.

Thanks for all of the positive feedback on the photos. Even though I love looking at everyone else's pics (and that's one of my favorite things about blogs) I was very self-conscious about putting my own out there.

Pets with Dreadlocks

Since so many SL bloggers seem to be dog lovers, I thought I would point out Naadii's latest post: Pets with Dreadlocks.

I'm not sure what's wrong with the code. The first two pictures aren't downloading, but it's a fun post all the same.

Enjoy the link!

More Pictures of Me ( I mean my hair...)

Just what you were waiting for, right?

It occurred to me today that I've been doing an awful lot of posting lately...well, that part is not the revelation. I have indeed been prolifically expressive in the last two weeks or so...

I've just had a lot to say for months and I've been keeping it to myself, and well, truth be told I always have a lot of opinions on everything. I have about 10 unfinished posts waiting to be fleshed out as I write this one. It just happens that I read other posts, even old ones, that trigger my thoughts on certain topics, and I start my own post about it, but then, inevitably I get interrupted and have to stop. But then the next time I am on again I start writing something new.

But none of that is where I was headed. I was scrolling trough my blog today checking out the look of it and I realized that I don't have enough pictures. Chronologically speaking it hasn't been that long since I took pictures.

I really don't consider myself especially photogenic, so it was not my intent to post a lot of pictures of me. I planned to do only monthly updates so I could track my growth. And I would take pictures when I tried new hairstyles. Which I still haven't done. (What can I say? I'm a freestyle kind of girl.) Or changed the color or noticed some change in my locks, which I really haven't. You know, milestones.

But...like I was saying, today I was scrolling through my blog and felt like there were just miles of uninterrupted text...So...I pulled out the digital camera and went to work. And I figured you all had seen enough of the insides of my bathrooms, so I took it outside. Natural lighting is better anyhow.

I'm in a slight funk about my face...I haven't been eating well and my skin is showing it, but my locks are lovely!

My locks are changing and growing. (I had convinced myself that they were not!) The front is shrinking, so it looks shorter and I just assumed the back was too. I am so glad I took pictures. I have a lot more length than I knew. I never get a good look at the back of my hair in the mirror, so I had no idea what was going on back there.

I took a bunch of texture shots. I even took a few close-ups of my new lock babies. (Clicking on all pictures throughout the blog will enlarge.) I took way too many pictures to put in this post and I haven't set up a fotki account yet. And like I said, it was really my intention to break up some of the text from the last week of shameless blogging. So...I said all that to say that I invite you to scroll down, even if you have read my previous posts, because I took the liberty of including new pictures!

About my recommendations...

I don't want anyone to feel left out or offended that I did not include them in my must-reads. I actually track about 50 Sisterlocks/locked* blogs by RSS. I highlighted these four because they were most helpful to me for several reasons.: 1) they have been locked longer than most and have updated so regularly* 2) they have included many quality pictures of their locks and 3) they have taken the time to answer a lot of questions and have given a lot of useful advice and product recommendations. But there are dozens more that I enjoy because of the wit, humor, and authenticity in their writing styles. (I value the sisters who keep it real even when they feel like their hair doesn't look good and they aren't feeling their locks for a while.)

I posted my recommendations and came up with my 'links you might like' using the same principle that catalogue companies, video rental stores, and online retailers do. You know how you click on a book at BarnesandNoble.com and they come up with that little suggestion list that says: "Customers who bought this book also bought..."?

Part of the fun of blogging for me has been discovering new blogs. It's kind of like a treasure hunt! I like reading comments and wondering if I'll find a new user profile. And then sometimes when I do, they have people in their links and comments that I've never heard of. I recommend reading every blog you find and like! I just wanted to give people a place to start, because that's what I wanted in the beginning.

I was doing research and I found so much info at once; I would have liked for someone to say to me: here, it might be helpful to read these first.

I still ended up skipping around a lot and following links out of curiosity.

But my thought process is this: if you like my blog (at all) you'll probably have some of the same favorites I do, for similar reasons.


I feel like it is important to say that I have learned something from everyone! Even the people who had complaints and bad experiences. Even people who cut theirs off or took them down and started over. By the time I started my own locks I felt like I had a well-rounded view of pro and con. I didn't expect not to like them or go into it with low expectations, but I made peace with some of the things that could (and still might) go wrong.

I've even learned from people who haven't posted entries or pictures in 6 - 12 months. Although it makes me kind of sad that some of my would-be-faves seemed to have fallen off the face of the 'net...ah well....

*I'm going to look like such a nerd by asking this, but does anyone else have grammar and spelling issues with their references to locks and Sisterlocks? I write some sentences and the pluralization, verb tenses, or subject-verb agreement just seem off no matter how I write them and it bothers me (much more than it should). It's like an equation I can't get to balance.

My last SO was an engineer and it was not uncommon for us to speak to each other in literary and math analogies. It was one of the reasons we fell for each other and hit it off so well. *sigh*

Why didn't it work you ask? (Alas, the answer would take me too far off-topic)

And, well, let's be honest: You didn't really ask.

Until next time....

More Pics...and Must Reads

For those of you starting online Sisterlock Research, here are a few blogs I suggest you read from beginning to end: Blaqkofi, Brunsli, Creyole, and Maryee. These women are excellent bloggers and have been through all manner of experiences with their hair. Their posts and comments are incredibly enlightening. If you're wondering what to expect on your personal journey to SL Freedom, visiting their sites will give you a good idea, and a well-rounded knowledge base. (Plus, they're amazing women you'll want to know better!)

And I can't ever get enough of pictures that showcase the beauty and versatility of Sisterlocks!

Cammalocks, Coils 'N Curls, Naturally Yours Boutique.

Enjoy these links!

Birth Announcement!

Break out the cigars! I am the proud mother of 5 new baby locks! (Ok, it's not that serious...)

I had a few more places around my hairline (at the nape of my neck and my wannabe widow's peak) where I had habitual escapees - little pieces of hair that just did not want to stay with the locks to which they were assigned. And I couldn't stop fiddling with them, so 1) they always looked messy, and 2) I was genuinely afraid I would have breakage. I was messing with them constantly and those areas are already more sensitive and vulnerable. So...I dropped by my consultant's house this afternoon and she was kind enough to do me the favor of forming them into tiny new locks for me. Although at first she looked at me like: you've got to be kidding.

She is so much more laid back about her locks than I am. I also want to be like her when I grow up... I wish I had taken 'before' pics so you could see why I was bothered, but it didn't occur to me to do so until after I had them tightened up into locks, when I was admiring them in my rearview mirror as soon as I'd left her home.

Meet Apollo and Artemis, the divine twins. They don't always look like insect antennae, but I've been pulling on them for the pic. Plus they're new and tight, and the rest is well on it's way to needing a re-tite!

Svetlana and Sergei...You can see how the last two compare in size and length to my more established locks. The two longer locks are actually two of my test locks. They are 4 months old.

I didn't name them all. That would just be silly!

Like so many other SL wearers, I suffer from a chronic case of hands-in-her-hair-itis. I always played with my hair a lot before SLs, so I knew I would be terrible after. But I was assessing my new growth and it seemed to me that I had more of it in the previous 4 weeks than I did in the first 5 before my first retightening. As I have mentioned before, I had I good rate of growth, but it was less than I expected and Phyllis told me I could likely go 8 weeks until my next retightening, but when she looked at it today (4 weeks) she said I should come back in two.

I had just washed it with the shampoo I still had on hand - a thirst-quenching, moisturizing shampoo for curly hair, no less (I am doing so many things I probably shouldn't) - and it feels soft and nice, but at the same time my locks have remained really tight. I haven't experienced any slippage or unraveling or holes. And she said my ends are finishing off nicely. (Yay!) I love my hair!

It took her all of five minutes to twist in my new locks, but I visited with her for a little while longer, just because I enjoy her company. On my initial locking session I told her I was starting a blog to document my journey. She is a creative spirit like so many of the rest of us blog authors. I thought she would enjoy reading the nice things I've had to say about her, as well as following some of the links to a few of my favorite blogs, so before I left I gave her the address to my blog.

I have got to get some business cards printed!

Here's to you, Phyllis! Thank you so much. I can't imagine having had anyone else start me on my journey to Sisterlocks Freedom!

On Making the Decision to Lock (Part 2)

I have previously stated that it is my mission to include insights and resources that helped me along the way. When I was making the decision to lock I wanted to find blogs that started before women started their locks. Because it is a different perspective.

It has been my observation that the overwhelming majority of women who get Sisterlocks are happy with their decision, with the exception of those who did not do enough research (and therefore had unclear or unreasonable expectations) and those who unfortunately got step-sisterlocks or had some other type of bad experience with their consultant or trainee.

And in one way it is reassuring, but in another way it is intimidating. I remember one blogger saying she felt like Sisterlocks were based on some sort of pyramid scheme and another saying that there seemed to be a cult-like enthusiasm in the community of online Sisterlockers. Before you actually get SLs of your own, it can be hard to wrap your head around how and why so many people are so excited about them.

Even if you have decided that SLs or other types of locks are for you, there is usually some element of uncertainty about how they will look or what people will say. As I am continuing to discover more blogs, I am encountering a surprising number of women who decided to get SLs without ever having seen them in person. That in itself makes it very difficult to know what to expect. There are just so many questions and unknown variables.

So...I think it is good to have a view from both sides. I liked reading blogs of the women who had not yet 'crossed over' because I found that I could identify more with their fears and insecurities than with the women who had found their way to Sisterlock freedom and were thrilled with their choice.

This is an excerpt from my first post:

"Everyone tells their story looking back from the day or the week or the month they started locking their hair. Or perhaps with the confidence and experience (and objectivity) of years. Maybe her story is out there and I have not found it yet (I am reluctant to believe that I am the first), but I am looking for the sister whose story starts before she got her locks done, when she was still as uncertain as I am now. When she still could turn back.

"I have seen many posted replies and inquiries from those who have not yet committed, but every blog I have encountered until now has begun after she started on her journey towards locked hair."

Since then, I have encountered several blogs that predate the authors' installations. I thought it would be helpful to others who feel as I did to have them all in one place. I have only come across a few as of now, but I will be adding to this list one by one. If you are contemplating locks and happen to read this and would like for me to add your blog to this list, or if your locks (and blogs) are established, but fit this criteria, feel free to post a comment or email me at the address to the right.

I am toying with the idea of adding a page element with links to these blogs, but I want to see how many I get. I already have a lot of stuff on my sidebar and I don't want it to get too out of control. Fortunately most of my posts are kind of long, so there's usually plenty of room.

The links that follow will take you to posts at the beginning of their journeys (although not necessarily the very first post): Ms Stella, Sis. RJQueen10, CloudNine, Goodnapps.

Not SLs, but still relevant: Jaidalon

And this is a link I found that offers Dreadlock Tips and Guidelines. The information is not specific to Sisterlocks, but it gives good answers to FAQs about locks. I decided to include this link because sometimes in the early stages of researching SLs, it is easy to lose sight of the characteristics they have in common with traditional locks.

Zee Black Russian: eez good drink, da?

OMG! Sunsail visited and commented too! I LOVE her sense of humor. She cracks me up!

She was intrigued by my screen name. I've had it as a nickname forever. It is a good drink. How can you go wrong with vodka and coffee liqueur? What's not to love? It's strong (with a little warmth). Bold (with a little bite). And rich (with a little sweetness). You can draw your own conclusions as to why I chose it as my internet alias.

Sunsail, I'm SO jealous that you're dating a Russian! My most exotic ex- was Mexican. All of the white guys I ever dated were just plain American. Whenever I meet Russian men, they always comment on my name. It's been a lifelong ambition to learn the language, so that when they ask me if I speak it, I can say, "Da!" And follow up with something really clever. Wouldn't it just blow their minds?

My last name is plain and English and Anglo. I've always thought it would be awesome to have a hearty 4 or 5 syllabled Russian surname to match my first. It would make for interesting experiences when following up on resumes and other situations where my name would precede me.

Imagine their surprise. The Russian name would probably conjure up pictures of a leggy, blonde model-type. And then I would walk in: five feet tall, chocolate brown and dreadlocked. I would never tire of the reactions I would get!

Natasha Dostoyevsky
Natasha Baryshnikov
Natasha Kournikova
Natasha ....mother of two, a boy and a girl: Sergei and Svetlana...Sorry, I got carried away.

Those of you who will choose to follow my blog will also learn that I am a COMPLETE goofball who rarely takes herself seriously. I find it saves me the trouble of being offended when other people don't.