We're going to pretend like this is 01-01-11.

Well, today was my first full day fully shaven. I'd like to say it was a magical day full of self-actualizing revelations, but it wasn't. I got up, went out to an incredibly late breakfast/lunch, came home and did some gaming. It was a good day though, all told.

I took pictures again today, so day one went okay in that regard. I have to say that I'm not all that happy with them though. I always had a suspicion that the beard did some minor mystical trickster illusion wherein it hid, to some degree if not in totality, how much weight I've gained over the last couple years. Never mind how pointless it would be to have a head that appears to have missed gaining it's part of the couple dozen pounds that the body it's attached to has picked up over the last five years or so, the photograph provides enough evidence for me. Unless, I suppose, we're sticking with the idea that the camera adds ten pounds... and an extra chin. Either way, here's today's photo:

I need to work out  a process for this. I'd like to have all the pictures taken of me so that I'm in roughly the same position and taken from roughly the same distance. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

In addition, my girlfriend snapped this one of me today as well:
 

 

I like it a lot more, in no small part thanks to the fluffy bastard behind me, giving the camera his laser eyes. That's Theo, the cat I mentioned in my original post. Not the sweet one. The other one. The bad one.

When I'm either less social or a little better at writing this during the actual day, I'll make a couple longer posts about my experiences so far. For now though, I'm collecting some general impressions that I can share. Stuff like

• The world is a lot colder. The day I got shaved was unseasonably warm, like around 60 degrees or so. Today was more like winter, with the temperature being somewhere in the 30s, I think. I've always been pretty wimpy in regards to the cold to begin with, but I never recognized just how much my hair did for me. Even now, in my apartment, I can use my shorn scalp to detect the various drafts, cool breezes, eddies, and currents in the air around me. I can't help but note that this would be useful, were I an archaeologist or dungeoneer, exploring some subterranean depths in search of secret entrances and passageways. 
• The world has a lot more friction. Or at least my world does. At the very least, the part of my world that involves sliding things across my head, such as the head opening of a t-shirt, the hood of a hoodie, or even my pillow. I'm continuously surprised with how often things catch and snag on the sandpaper-like stubble I'm now sporting up above.
• Reactions so far have ranged from bewildered to amused, with very few of them dipping anywhere near the negative. People who've seen me in person have reacted with the proper amounts of shock, but people are mostly supportive and amused. This has helped me stay positive. People on the internets have so far given me a lot of "haha oh wow" which... Well, I'm going to pretend means they're being supportive. It works better that way. The only wholly negative reaction so far seems to be my mother, who appears to be angry with me. Mom, when you read this, try and remember: it's just hair, right?

 I've got a few more that I could throw into the bulleted list, but I'll save them for later. To tell the truth, I'm not sure how long I can expect this to stay interesting to me, so holding back a little doesn't seem like a bad idea. Rainy days and all that, right?