no-mo-december

thanks to my sponsors for mo-vember, RV and LR (you know who you are)! i managed to get through the harrying month of movember with the terrible pokey barbs of my facial hair jabbing at my upper lip and i think that i managed to raise a little bit of awareness about prostate cancer in our society. mostly this took the form of curious and often pitying second-glances at my face as i boarded or exited a subway car. but one encounter stands out in my mind as a success for the entire movember campaign. i was in a starbucks, ordering my coffee (a recurring theme, it would appear, in my life) when the barista remarked of my face, "hey - so you're growing that out" and gesturing towards his clean-shaven chin. this was around mid-movember when i still had some chin-hair, trying to salvage some sense of personal dignity and a modicum of self-image. i replied, "hey - it's movember - guys around the world are growing their moustaches to raise awareness of prostate cancer - it's real, you know!"

i derived a huge sense of satisfaction knowing that i had DIRECTLY raised awareness in exactly ONE other person about the disease the predominantly strikes men and is a huge mortality risk. it hardly compensated for the awkwardness i felt sporting a porn-star 'stache when i went to my yoga class, but it was something.

our company raised about a thousand dollars for the cause, and that's something that i am immensely proud of. but more than that sense of pride, i'm relieved to be back to my clean-shaven self, feeling far less self-aware, and not having pokey, wirey beard screwing up my complexion.

so thanks again to those of you who supported me emotionally, philosophically, or financially, in my cause. i promise that next year, i will do a better job of fundraising and construct a far more creative facial hair artpiece!!

- g