different names for the same thing

Where can you get a good and not too expensive haircut in Oxford? For my last one I put myself at the mercy of a Toni & Guy's trainee, a very odd little girl with unnerving pale bushbaby eyes and the tiniest head you ever saw. I asked her to cut it up to the nape of my neck and not leave anything hanging down below that, because it would flick out in the opposite direction to the rest of my hair and look ridiculous. I have a shoebox of terrible late-90s photos that attest to this. Predictably, I ended up with two inches of hair hanging down below the rest, doing their ridiculous flick-out thing, and had to get oxfordslacker's dad to chop it off with his rusty barber scissors.

I think I'll feel less daunted by the Arts Festival thing if I haven't still got my messy all-over-the-shop transitional hair which has been in transition for a year. I was thinking of handing out sweets to the audience, but that's too needy, right? Maybe small objects, like I put in the envelopes... You should come, though! There may be Indie Disco afterwards.

[Edit: I've just seen the Arts Festival programme. a) aaaargh! yikes! b) They say I'm going to give out comics to the whole audience. Oops. Did I say that in my audition? I think I did. Credit-card-sized minicomic it is, then. c) I'm on after Bear In The Air, who I slagged off here before. Heh. d) They spelt my name wrong, but then they also have a massive typo on their front cover, so *shrug*. e) Argh! Help!]

Most of my students seem to be halfway round the world - still stuck in Russia due to visas, gone on holidays to China, that sort of thing. In the meantime I am on a huge writing roll, nearly finished the kid SF book. Getting to the exciting bits at the end is both thrilling (oh the pictures in my head!) and nervewracking (will I be able to convey the pictures in my head? see also last entry). Aliens! Political intrigue! Corrupt priesthoods! Weird pictorial telepathic language! It's fun. Part of the reason for being on a roll is that I've promised myself a Copic marker from the art supplies shop for every chapter I finish. Copic markers are love.

I'm off to Truck festival this weekend, via a Space Heroes of the People gig at the X tonight. Truck got dislocated from July to now when, on the weekend it was originally supposed to happen, they found themselves under three feet of water. A festival with autumn in the air is going to feel weird. Everything this year has been a bit out of joint.

And - thank you to everyone who put something in the comics tip jar. I should have thanked you personally by now as well. The tip jar is sated and happy. The tip jar loves you. And so do I.