Monday, February 06, 2006

Up Late Reading

... and being distracted by the hairs on my ears


Part One: The Book


It's been a while since I last did it — stay up half the night reading. I was up until four the other night finishing Elizabeth George's With No One As Witness. Just before midnight I realized that I was in trouble. With only 200 or so pages to go, I figured that if I were to keep reading I would soon be inexorably hooked and would necessarily be up until all hours needing to finish it. Since I wasn't yet terribly tried and ready to pack in it for the night, I opted to keep plodding, and, of course, that led to a long night.


At around 1:30 in the wee hours, I found myself with only 100 pages or so left. Should I keep going or not? Well, at that point, it really wasn't much of a question. So it was that it wasn't until several hours later that I was sufficiently sated to haul my bod into bed.


George authors the Inspector Lynley mystery series. She's an American who writes British-based mysteries, and she writes them very well. She has the ability to draw the reader into the minds and emotions of the characters. There are some good writers who are unable to do this, and it's this ability that sets George apart from most to make for some very fine reads.


When I read the reviews at Amazon, I see that reviewers have generally divided themselves into two disparate camps. They either loved or hated this book. Those who didn't appreciate it seemed to be disillusioned by about some of the unexpected plot developments. Others thought this may have been her best work yet, or the best for a long time. I fall into the latter camp. I found it riveting, the unexpected plot developments utterly captivating.


 


Part 2: The Ears


So what's up with the ear thing? I don't know why, but I fidget with my ears when I'm reading. I probably wouldn't do this if they weren't hairy, but they are ... hairy, I mean.


Somewhere around my fortieth birthday, when most of my top hair was gone, the creator added insult to injury compensated me by gifting me with ear hair. I am given to understand that I am not alone in this, that it happens to many middle-age men, but I'm not totally sure because, quite frankly, it's not exactly what guys talk about. Can you seriously imagine guys drinking beer, munching pizza, watching football and discussing ear hair?


I attend fairly vigilantly to these annoying little earmcthingies. When I'm reading and discover one of these blighters lurking on the outer curve of my ear, I will attempt to uproot him with my fingernails, and/or I will get up every now and then to find Cuppa's tweezers and really take care of the interlopers. Sometimes I go as far as to shave my ears, and every now and then, when I really am exasperated, I ask Cuppa to do a very through tweezing.


To add further insult, the Creator has also caused hairs to grow inside my nose. Ungrateful wretch that I am, this displeases me even further. I mean, really now, nose hair brings absolutely no comfort for the stereotypically bald man. "Oh yeah, tease me about my baldness, but have a look up my nose. Hah!" As if.


I can't be the only one experiencing this silliness. You see, I have purchased a mass-manufactured nose trimmer. It's not exactly like the one in the photo but close enough. Can you believe it? All sorts of men are out there buying all sorts of varieties of nose trimmers. I know that it sounds silly, but believe you me, one simply doesn't want to use tweezers on nose hair. It smarts. I know.


 

13 comments:

Bonita said...

Yours is the second post that I've read dealing with balding men who have huge hairs in the ears and nose....must be an exclusive club.

Turtle Guy said...

Some words of (hopefully) comfort, my friend:

It seems you're troubled by something you've been "blessed" with - something you didn't choose. That can be frustrating. I share in your frustration, however not by the same example. I will, however, offer you this: a blessing of your own that you have obviously cultivated - reading, writing and comprehension. Your writing, both choice of topics and words, are a delight to our eyes and minds. A visit here is guaranteed to both entertain and provoke us to think. Thanks for sharing, and keep up the most excellent posts.

Rhonda Gibson said...

Elizabeth George is a very talented lady! I'm glad you enjoyed her book so much it kept you up. Someday I hope to be that talented...

Anonymous said...

Part one..the book:
I love it when a book holds me hostage. I am adding this one to my book list. Thanks for the review.

Part two.. ear hair:
You are definitely not alone. My hubby suffers the same ailment. No hair on top .. but plenty every where else. He owns two of those little razor thing-a-ma-jigs.
I am not sure that he would be pleased if he knew I was sharing this information.. so if you don't mind.. can we keep it just between us. :-)

Lynn said...

I use the small scissors in my combination knife. It requires a bit of concentration though. I think I'll go hi-tech like you.

Anonymous said...

You know, if you let the ear hair grow, you could do an awesome comb-over....

Granny said...

I was doing just fine until kmr chimed in. I can't get the picture out of my head.

Madcap said...

I'm desperately seeking out the perfect Marchbanks quote for you... but I'm having trouble finding it. I know it's in there somewhere, and you'll love it. Hang on.

The MacBean Gene said...

I've got to invest in one of those clipper things. My wife plucks, I cower when I see her coming towards me tweezers in hand. She gets the eyebrows (bad enough) but then procedes to the nose (unbearable) and ears. And I still have some hair left on top. Is there no justice?

Norma said...

Nothing keeps me from sleeping. Not a good book. Not ear hair.

Annie said...

One thing that I do when I am watching tv reading or sewing is rub my feet together. I don't even notice that I am doing it until somebody else points it out. My gramma does the exact same thing. :)

Dale said...

Yup. I'll be 48 this summer. Darned hair has been sinking into my scalp and growing out nose and ears for a while now. And what's with the crazy eyebrows? I tried trimming them yesterday. Now I have one and a half eyebrows. I look like a freak.

Lora said...

my hubby has the same problem, but he developed it at a younger age, but tried to ignore until I demanded action. He also gets these incredible long eyebrow hairs that I call his "wings".