How the Hairdresser Caused My Sunburn

So it's been awhile since I colored my hair, I think it was either January or February when I had it done last, and the whites were beginning to show like crazy if I wore my hair down. Not wanting to feel older than my 25 years, I decided that it was finally time for me to get it colored and a 4 day weekend meant that I had ample opportunity to do so. Especially considering that I had a formation at 0700 that morning, and since I was already over by the PX after picking one of my Soldiers up from the MP station (don't ask).
The girl cutting my hair seemed to understand what I wanted when I said that I wanted to keep the base color the same, but warm up the highlights a bit since it is summer and I wanted to look a bit more seasonal. So imagine my shock when I'm done, and my hair is now somewhere near the shade of what happens when you take a bottle of Sun-In and a hair dryer. It was definitely a shock, and definitely not what I asked for. I decided that I'd play along though and see if it grew on me - judging from the comments I got at work today asking how long I'd spent in a pool full of chlorine, the general concensus is that no, it hasn't grown on me. However, when it's down and straightened it's not too bad, it's just very bright when pulled back into a work-approved style.
In my wisdom, I decided that part of the reason the hair color looked so shocking was because of how pale I was, which obviously necessitated a trip to the fake and bake. I only went for 10 minutes, but the brand new bulbs in the tanning bed left me resembling a lobster. Of course, I choose to blame the girl who colored my hair. She gave me the suburn, or at least that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Shitty News for My Mom

Breast cancer. It's official, my mom received her results yesterday that not only does she have breast cancer, but she has the dubious honor of having two different types at the same time. It's always wonderful when the doctor's say "oh this is unique." After all, that's what they told my uncle, and he died 4.5 years ago from cancer.
Of course, then there was the phone conversation about her courses of action, and I'm not quite sure how one goes about telling one's mother that you think she's looking at things oddly. Of course I have less of an emotional attachment to her bosoms than she does, but I'd say lop 'em off, and why worry about reconstructive surgery at her age, it might be nice to be flat chested for the rest of your life. Besides, it'd be a quick and easy way to lose a few pounds of fat. A bit irreverant of me to be so flippant, but hey, it makes dealing with the situation easier. And I can live with sounding somewhat bitchy if it lets her think of some alternate perspectives.
Of course, this now means that my likely medical future has shifted, because now I'm in the higher risk category since there's a family history. Probably selfish to think in those terms, but again, I'd rather deal with the realities of things than sugar coat them. I said something to the effect that now I have potential time bombs on my chest, but she didn't find it nearly as humorous as I did.
I'm just thankful that our deployment got pushed back from June until September, because it's a little easier to be here and offer the support I can from New York instead of somewhere in Iraq. I guess things really do happen for a reason, I just wish in this case that it weren't for a shitty thing like having to deal with my mom having cancer. It would have been much better if the reason were that I'm meant to win the lottery in July or something.

#2 for the Family

My little sister is headed to Afghanistan. It's strange. Been there, done that, and will be heading back over (well to Iraq, but still), and didn't really think too much about it. It's a lot stranger being on the family side of things. She called today to say she'd been delayed a day or two or three, and I felt relieved. And then I felt bad, because I know how frustrating it is when you want to just go and get it over with already.