A Little Night Shopping

Even though I no longer live in the neighborhood of the intersection of Fair Oaks and Howe Blvds. (my first neighborhood when I moved to Sacramento in 1990), I still get my haircut there. I will happily drive past dozens of hair salons and barbershops, in order to get to either the Supercuts on Fair Oaks, or now, the newer Supercuts on Howe.

So, I got a close-cropped haircut there on Howe (I hadn't been able to get Jean's approval for a haircut when I was in "Pirates").

Afterwards, the salonista started pushing hair care products on me. "Buy one bottle of Paul Mitchell's 'Tea-Tree Special Shampoo' and get a second bottle at half-price," she said. I said, "I'm worried about this shampoo." She said, "Worried about whether it is effective?" "No," I said, "I'm worried about whether it will change my sex!"

Lavender and tea tree oils found in some shampoos, soaps and lotions can temporarily leave boys with enlarged breasts in rare cases, apparently by disrupting their hormonal balance, a preliminary study suggests.

... The study reported on the condition, gynecomastia, in three boys ages 4, 7 and 10. They all went back to normal when they stopped using skin lotions, hair gel, shampoo or soap with the natural oils.

I told her: "If I develop breasts, you can be certain I will return!" (After all, every hermaphrodite must look her best at all times!) So, I purchased the shampoo, and now wait for magical results.

Outside the haircutting salon, there was a tempestuous debate between shopping center security, the owners of a nail painting salon, and a disappointed customer. Sounded like the customer lost in the end. C'est la vie....

I visited everyone's favorite clothers shopping outlet, Marshall's, but passed on a purchase.

Instead I went to Video Clearance Center, to see if I could locate the musical "Topsy Turvy", which I recalled as a fun and delightful movie, but which Steve recalled as a journey in tedium. How could the same movie be both? Turned out they had the 1999 musical only in VHS, which I was willing to do. The clerk said I could purchase five movies on VHS for ten dollars, so I may as well shop around. Such a deal!

Video Clearance Center looked like it had been frozen in amber from the 1990's, when DVDs were not yet in common usage. They have SO MANY VHS tapes! "Can you believe this?," the clerk said. "$23 for 'The Perfect Storm'?" "Once upon a time," I said, "once upon a time." So, I purchased those two movies, plus the original "The Producers," "A Chorus Line," and "Robocop," for $10.68.

I had to deliver a couple of costumes to Lillian Baxter at Runaway Stage Productions, for "Annie Get Your Gun," and "Pirates of Penzance," and pick up a few costumes from "Oklahoma!", in exchange. So, off I went to RSP!

I nearly killed several motorists, and a bicyclist, as I parked in front of Lillian's costume shop. As I walked up to the door of the costume shop, I noticed a dread apparition: the tree immediately adjacent to the door looked A LOT like the castrating Australian Tea Tree. So, I asked Lillian if she knew what the tree was, but she confessed happy ignorance of the local vegetation's identity.

I talked to Lillian, and Karen Day, about RSP's forthcoming "Jekyll and Hyde." They discussed how good the lead vocalists are. Karen talked about the skepticism of the show's "Board of Governors" to Jekyll's ill-advised plans. The skepticism of this 'reality-based community' to Jekyll's plans reassured me that maybe the Board of Governors are the only sane folks of show, and maybe not so poisonous as I've heard others say. It sounds like Jekyll mixed some almond oil with the Australian Tea Tree oil, as so instead of doing a male-female flip-flop throughout the show, he did a good-evil flip-flop instead.

And regarding "Topsy Turvy"? Apparently when I last saw the movie, I didn't see the entire thing. The first half of the movie is aimless and tedious, gaining direction only when the Japanese element is introduced (and from where I joined the movie). So the show is both things - fun and light, as I remember, and tedious, as Steve remembers.