Somewhen between six and eight weeks after the last time I get shorn, I go in and tell them to do it to me again.

This is all well and good, and a couple years ago I found a franchised salon-type shop whose people do good work. Every now and then, however, I get a new person who doesn’t know what I don’t like, and because I’m not paying 100% attention to what they’re doing I find myself with styling gunk in my hair by the end of the visit.

The irony, if that’s the correct word to use because gods forbid I misuse that word in this day and age, lies in the fact that when I was running around with much shorter hair I gelled the hell out of it every morning. I was going for that youthful spiky-haired look or some-such. One day I grew up, grew out the hair and threw out the goop.

All of this is to say that I spent all day yesterday going to comb my hand through my hair on subconscious reflex and ending up with sticky fingers. Damned hair gel, anyway.

I let it get away from me again, didn’t I?

Let’s be honest: Not much newsworthy happens in my life. Each week looks mostly like the one before it. The big difference in the last few weeks is that I spent several of them very, very sick. Two rounds of the Death Blarg Of Blargish Death takes a lot out of you. Also, I burned through all of my “for-spending” tax refund money before the end of March. One shiny new 37″ flat-screen TV, one new computer full of LEDs, two flat-screen computer displays, and a bunch of random odds and ends later, and I have… more stuff. I did spend some of the money on important things, mind you… I own several more books than I did at the start of the year, for instance! I ran out of money before I could acquire a new bed, but, them’s the breaks.

Work is flying me to Vegas early in May for a vendor conference. I’m 100% not thrilled about flying, let alone to Vegas, in the Age Of Being Groped By Security Apes. But them’s the breaks. It should be an interesting conference, hopefully worth the indignity and bother.

The webcomic is winding up its second year of production, and I’m looking forward to taking a short break in May to recharge my creative batteries. I’ve also been reading up on photographic tricks and techniques, which I intend to put into practice going into Year Three. I also need to upgrade the shooting environment. In particular, my desktop is looking a bit the worse for wear.

My adorable rugrats are pretty much all grown up now. One’s most of the way through his first year at DigiPen up in the Seattle area, and the other is out of school and looking to start working so she can get out on her own. I’m proud of them both, albeit for wildly different reasons.

In addition to the usual couple-times-per-week diversion that comes from playing City of Heroes, some of my gaming time goes to Puzzle Quest 2. Think of it as Bejeweleder’s Gate, if you like: It’s a gem-matching game grafted onto a computer-RPG. That may sound absurd, but trust me, it works and it’s addictive as hell.

So… what about you? What’s new in your life this spring so far?

Downside: I went to get my taxes done today, to the tune of nearly-two-hundred-dollars to have a professional give everything the once-over it needs. (There are complications due to the divorce and, this year, due to Spud being a college lad.)

Upside: I’ve learned that having a fully-dependent child in college is good for your chances at a rebate. Quite good.

Funnyside: The great State of Oregon is giving me a refund this year (unlike last year, ugh)… a whopping, extravagant, don’t-spend-it-all-at-once… seven hundred… cents.

Downside: $40, and that was on sale.

Upside: Pants that fit. (Thank you, Levi Strauss.)