movember: week four

"Free at last, free at last, thank god almighty, I'm free at last..."

Today is the last day of Movember, and tomorrow I can finally shave my top lip again!

Actually, I'll let you in on a little secret, I didn't want to have to go through all the Christmas Tree Construction with my own little facial hair tree lurking on my lip being all moustachey, so last night I trimmed it back to about the same stage as the end of Week One. But I still haven't shaved so technically it's still there (but then I can rationalise or justify just about anything, so we won't go there).

Can you tell that I've been having some sort of moustache-related cabin fever for the last few days? Maybe it was because the end was in sight, maybe my mo was just getting a little bit long (although it doesn't look like it in the picture, bits of it were kind of long and straggly and generally pokey)... but it had just been getting on my nerves. Part of the problem was it was growing more or less at a right angle to my face... which is why it never quite looked as lush in the photos as perhaps it did on my face (I say "perhaps" with very little certainty)... it was all sticking straight out before it started on the downward bit... stoopid inability to grow sensible facial hair...

Before I trimmed it, I was slightly conflicted about how I would feel once it was gone... it's been around for a whole month, which could be a record as far as me and facial hair goes (it certainly is where mos are concerned, that's usually the first bit to go)... and in some ways I have grown attached to it (no pun intended), attached to stroking it and taking it's photo every afternoon when I got home from work, and it just generally being there.

But like I said, over the last couple of days it's started to feel like a burden and like it's been getting in the way. So once I trimmed it, no big guilt, just relief... which I can only assume will increase when it's gone for good.

And honestly, I think this is a memory that will stick with me, but if I make even the vaguest suggestion next year about taking part again, could somebody please point me in the direction of this post? Then please smack me upside the head and tell me "no"...

I'd like to give big, heartfelt thanks to fellow blogger Tom and local lurking commenter Liz for their donations... your contributions are greatly appreciated *hugs*. Without checking all my bits and pieces, I think I've made between $90 and $100 in donations all up, which is pretty good I think... not great maybe, but decent.

So... so long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen and goodbye to my "lip rat", it's been interesting, but now it's time for you to go...

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photo friday: mo tiki

I shot this a couple of weeks back, on the same trip as last week's Photo Friday... obviously, this is the work of Benzo... but I thought this one was particularly appropriate just at present, it being the end of Movember and all...

Speaking of which, I'll probably expand on this more on Sunday... but damn I'm glad it's nearly the end of this whole mo growing experiment... it will just be good to be shaved again (and suddenly I realise how that sounds, but you know what I mean).

Work continues to be frustrating, chaotic, confusing and confronting... and I'm loving every single damn minute of it. As I got told today I have a habit of picking that one tiny thing about a project or (in this case) an email and there being the tiniest bit of validity to what I'm saying... hehehe... I'm both frustrating and right... I love that.

I also had a slightly inappropriate conversation with one of the guys from a different unit in the bathroom... well, if you're going to have an inappropriate conversation, that's probably the place to have it. Ever since I first met this guy I've felt like I've met him before or encountered him out in the world somewhere. I'd kind of assumed that he was one of The Gays... he's not stereotypical, but there's something about him that made me wonder. So I asked him... turns out, not so much (thankfully he wasn't offended that I asked, which is good). But at least I know now... hehe...

I headed over to the Central Market at lunchtime, and about halfway there I got a call from Stu, asking what I was doing for lunch... so of course I ended up having yum cha with him...

This weekend is going to be fairly out of the ordinary... I'm flying solo for Shopping Adventures, because Sunday I'm heading up to Ma's to partake in the Annual Swearing At The Christmas Tree. So that should be... eventful...

Other than that everything continues on pretty much as normal...

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movember: week three

And so, we enter the home stretch of Movember...

I'm having mixed feelings about the imminent loss of, as Ma called it last weekend, the "rat under my nose" (thanks Ma, way to be supportive!)... on the one hand I'll be glad to get rid of the thing... it prickles unexpectedly, I've found people staring at it instead of making eye contact with me and it still looks semi-scruffy... but at the same time I think I'm going to miss it when it's gone... it gives me something to fiddle with, it cuts down on shaving time in the morning and it's only just now starting to look like a "proper" moustache. I'm pretty sure I'm just going to shave it all off once December 1 rolls around (since I'd look worse with this much mo and a straggly little goatee), but I think that facial hair might have to have a reprise early next year... we'll see.

It's also interesting that I've both noticed a lot of guys with mos around the place, but at the same time there don't seem to be that many of us. It's kind of like when you know somebody that's pregnant, suddenly you notice everybody who's pregnant, or you buy a particular brand of car and then every other car you pass on the road seems to be the same kind. The weird thing is that you don't technically know that they're also Mo Bros... okay, anybody running around in the big ol pornstar mo is pretty much a dead certainty, but everybody else is up for debate.

So, this being the start of the last week, this is pretty much your last chance to DONATE...

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movember: week two

Behold... both Week Two and the Halfway Point in my slightly tragic facial hair experiment for Movember...

On the upside, I don't feel anywhere near as scruffy as I did last week. I think that's because I shaved off all the fluff under my lip last Monday... helped a lot with the "lack of scruff".

And it's not to late to DONATE...

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movember: week one

Behold, my inability to grow decent facial hair in a timely manner...

Welcome to Movember, Week One!

You know, at this rate it's going to take me the whole month before I even HAVE a proper moustache... I was thinking about aiming for something in a Van Dyke kind of style... I've left the little "soul patch" (and what the hell does that even mean anyway) unshaven too (since you're allowed to according to the rules of Movember and I wanted to keep my options open), but it's all a bit slow going at the moment...

A bit like my donations really... very, very, very, very slow going so far... you like how I slipped that in all subtle-like...

Honestly though, I look a bit scruffy at the moment (which is fine, I can live with that), but because I'm not feeling well, I also FEEL really, really scruffy (which isn't so good). I'm not going to whine though because I know that it's mostly the sick talking...

I'd forgotten how oddly my facial hair tends to grow in... not only is it very coarse (as compared with the fine hair on my noggin), but like the rest of my hair it's never particularly one colour... my mo has bits of dark brown, red, blonde and (horror of horrors) white in it (hard to see in the photo, but it's there, trust me). Weirdness...

And because I'm so very tactile I've found myself slipping into a pattern of stroking my mo... not in a twirling, Snidley Whiplash kind of way... more in a thoughtful, "what the hell is this thing doing on my lip" way... I used to do a similar thing whenever I've had a goatee or any kind of chin fluff.

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random timbermo hotness

Unsurprisingly, today's Random Hotness has a moustache theme... although you would think it would be fairly easy to find vintage pics of hot guys with moustaches. Not so much...

So instead, I give you Justin Timbermo Timberlake from his role as Jacques Grande in The Love Guru... and however crappy the movie may have been, Justin in a speedo (whether or not that's actually all him) is still worth seeing.

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movember: it begins

There we go... proof I didn't, to quote Tom, "get a head start" on Movember... *grin*

I'm not exactly Hairy McHirsute, so it'll be interesting to see how long it takes before something reasonable develops...

But, hello, how unflattering is extremely close-up photography?

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movember

This year I have decided to take part in Movember and become an official Mo Bro...

Let's get the "technical" stuff out of the way first:

Hi All,

During Movember (the month formerly known as November) I'm growing a Mo. That's right I'm bringing the Mo back because I'm passionate about tackling men's health issues and being proactive in the fight against men's depression and prostate cancer.

The money raised by Movember is used to raise awareness of men's health issues and donated to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and beyondblue - the national depression initiative. The PCFA and beyondblue will use the funds to fund research and increase support networks for those men who suffer from prostate cancer and depression.

Did you know:

• Last year in Australia 18,700 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer and more than 2,900 died of the disease - equivalent to the number of women who will die from breast cancer annually.
• Depression affects 1 in 6 men... most don't seek help. Untreated depression is a leading risk factor for suicide.

For those that have supported Movember in previous years you can be very proud of the impact it has had and can check out the Fundraising Outcomes.

Thanks for your support.

Obviously, my Blogging Bretheren are a sizeable (and sometimes more influential than I'd like to admit) part of my life, so I'm asking you all for your support...

But since my Movember profile has to have my real, actual name on it (I probably could have used a pseudonym, but then that might have confused the people who know me in the flesh)... and I'm always a little twitchy about having my "mild mannered alter ego" out there on the interwebz, especially having it connected to the blog (it's a whole paranoid "Two Degrees of Kevin Bacon Town" thing), so I'm doing things a little differently...

Use the email link below to...

ASK FOR MY DONATION INFORMATION

... and then I'll send you the link for donating online.

Convoluted, yes... and I'd probably raise more if I just put the link in, but I know you'll all be good Bloggers (and hopefully some good lurking readers too) and email me.

Remember, all donations over $2 are tax deductible.

So, why am I getting involved this year?

There isn't any one particular reason... part of it is because of being semi-involved with all the hubbub around Pink Ribbon Day this year... and seeing just how many marketing opportunities there were and how many products were used to push the Pink Ribbon device... everything from bread to Tim Tams to bottled water to dip to chocolate bars.

And there really isn't a similar sort of push for Movember (or for Prostate Cancer in general, even given the stats mentioned above). There isn't a ribbon or a teddy bear or a rubber bracelet that you can buy (that I'm aware of anyway)... and the prostate (and, for that matter, depression) isn't all "sexy" like... well... breasts. Or at least as talked about...

Having said that, I think that, as gay men, we're actually more "in touch" with our prostates (and I leave any and all pun related activity at your discretion)... much more than straight men... or at the very least we're more aware of where they are and what they can do.

And while I've never suffered from "Big-D" Depression (thankfully), I have had my bouts of the little-d variety, and that's never fun. When you add to that the fact that as queer folk we're "six times more likely to attempt suicide than people who are straight"... I'm more than happy to try and do my little bit for beyondblue.

Plus I'm working during Movember this year, so it seemed like a good time to milk rely on the generosity of both current and former workmates, friends, acquaintances and random people I know for a donation.

As soon as I'd committed to doing this and signed up, I then started second (and third and fourth) guessing myself (which I do whenever something unknown is coming up and I have time to panic about it... what can I say, it's a gift)... not about the cause, just about the reality of dealing with a Month Of Moustache... whenever I've grown facefur before, it's always been the mo that I've gotten sick of (and hence gotten rid of) first... so this should be an adventure.

I also realised that the Feast shows I'm going to are during November, so here's hoping I don't end up looking like a complete tool...

I'm thinking that I might do a weekly update on the Mo Situation... if I remember, I'll snap a photo once a day, come up with some sort of Mini Mo Montage and maybe post it on Sundays... or if that turns out to be really, really, really boring, I'll come up with something else...

Now all I have to remember to do is not shave properly on Monday morning...

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