Those of you who know me (or who have seen me in the summer) know that my hair is naturally very curly. God gave me curls and I spend most of my time trying to lose them. So as I was packing for my recent trip to Thailand, I made sure I had a power converter so my hair straightener (called a flat iron) would work. I learned the hard way that I needed one when we were in Italy last year. I guess those 220 volts shooting into my 110 volt appliance wasn’t good – I fried my Chi just by plugging it into the wall. So this time, I was prepared…or so I thought.
The first night I was there I had been out at the pool and walking around town and was badly in need of a shower. I was supposed to meet some folks for dinner so I had to make it quick. Yea, right. When I plugged in the flat iron I didn’t smell that awful odor of electronics burning so I thought I was safe. I wasn’t going to toast two of them, but this one wasn’t even getting hot. Nothing. I tried it in the little shaver outlet in the bathroom too, but didn’t get anything other than a strange hum that couldn’t have been good. Hungry, I decided to go au-natural and left with a wet head to go eat dinner. My hair looked fine at first but by the time I got back to my room after supper the frizz had settled in. I had to make a presentation the next morning to 150 people and this was just not how I had envisioned doing it. I had to make a plan.
One thing that I have always found helpful in difficult situations is to accept the worst and then work to improve it. Worst case: I have frizzy hair. Most of the people who were going to be in the audience didn’t know me, though they’ll think I did a bait-and-switch on the head shots in the conference program. They would think I meant to wear my hair in a frizz ball. Once I had accepted that, I then worked to improve upon it. I wanted to make sure that wasn’t what happened. (more…)
I admit it – I was nervous about venturing out into Bangkok on my own. It was surprising to me, really, because I love to travel and have travelled internationally many times. I was really looking forward to my trip, too, but had begun to get anxious about a week before my trip. I think it all started when I talked to others who had been there. They warned me about the crowds, the pollution, and the strict dress rules for getting into temples. I suppose my expectations were set fairly low and I had resolved myself to treat the trip as just business.
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