The Pile System - An Ode to a Type B Lifestyle

I have never dyed my hair. I never used sun-in in middle school. I never had an ill fated halloween costume that stuck. I didn’t go through any sort of goth phase. In general, I exist with the belief that my  hair color is my hair color and I ought to just make due with what I’ve got. Plus I’ve always had some affinity for not being “blonde” or whatever. I realize now that might be internalizing the patriarchy to pit brown haired women against blonde ones. I digress. 

Lately though, I’ve lusted after the jewel toned hair that folks like my students have been sporting. Instagram ads for overtone for brown hair (low commitment! Easy to do!) snowballed with quarantine boredom, insomnia and monotony, and here we are, blogging with gusto to show you my latest mess. They should not let type B people dye their own hair. Also, instagram never shows you the behind the scenes. Does everyone’s bathroom look like a murder scene when they do this? I’d like to know. Um thank god it came off my face. 

So it’s been five + years. A good chunk of life has happened, undocumented here in the annals of the internet. Rest assured though, there have been piles. Some things never change. As it happens though, this tumblr tagline will. No longer can I say “what I did the night I didn’t join OK Cupid”. As it turns out, I joined Tinder instead, and reader, here I sit, 5 years later, in a shared apartment with my truly excellent husband. #swiperight 

There’s much to say about finding someone truly excellent (particularly via the internet), learning that they, in turn, find you truly excellent, and figuring out how to build a life together. But that’s not why we’re here. As it happens, Our first challenge as a couple was navigating the natural enemy of the pile: Bedbugs. 

I took this picture way back then, perhaps as an insurance policy that no matter what happened with this relationship, I’d at least have a good photo to add to this blog. So now, I present you that photo with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight. I didn’t have bedbugs, but boy should you check for them in every hotel or place you ever sleep. And what the hell, swipe right, you never know.