On John Muir

When I was in Scotland on my bustour of the highlands, towards the end, the driver began quizzing us on various famous Scots ("who is __?"). One of the people he asked if we'd heard of was John Muir! This was toward the end, and no one had really been answering, so he didn't give us a chance to respond as he moved on (given up, I suppose). He proceeded to admit to us that he didn't expect that we had heard of him (much to my horror!).

And now, for those of you who weren't sure where I got my blog title from, here is a quote from one of my favorites:

"When we contemplate the whole globe as one great dewdrop, striped and dotted with continents and islands, flying through space with the other stars, all singing and shining together as one, the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beauty."

John Muir The Story of My Boyhood and Youth (1913)

On Haircuts in Ireland

There comes a time when a haircut becomes necessary. So today, after nearly five (yes I know, it's terrible) months, I had my first haircut here in Ireland. For the price ($50 USD) it was a rip-off. But everything here is expensive, and while I'm sure I could have found a cheaper place, it's location and quality may have been questionable. So I settled on the close and easy place. I did, thankfully, qualify for the student discount (20% off), but it still cost €32. The haircut did what was necessary; I am now free of my gross split ends, and it falls more sleekly and with better style. The process took approximately 30 minutes (that's about €1 per minute, folks), and I couldn't help but notice she spent as much time drying and brushing it as she had cutting it. Never a good thing. I got a wash out of it that I hadn't been expecting (apparently a "dry haircut" involves a full washing?), and was offered tea or coffee (both of which I rejected out of the fear that they would add additional fees to my total cost). Overall, I was quite unimpressed. My haircut in August was superior in every way.