...That's What She Said

As week three of my low carb diet comes to a close, I am finding myself to be just as loopy as when it began, but a lot less grumpy and a lot more smiley now that I'm not just stuck eating meat, cheese and leafy green crap. My thoughts have drifted from how much I miss carbohydrates to how much I appreciate some things that I haven't paid much attention to in the past. For instance, I was eating a tangerine for breakfast this morning and after getting over the awe of how sweet and delicious it was after the first bite, I took an enthusiastic second chomp. This resulted in a hefty squirt of tangerine juice into my hair. I wiped most of it away and then smelled my hair... mmm, tangerine. Three hours later, the front strand of my brown locks still smells wonderful and I've sang the third verse of The Flaming Lips' big 90's radio hit over and over and over again in my head. Even now, the ending of She Don't Use Jelly is playing in a continuous loop inside my brain.

"I know a girl who reminds me of Cher
She's always changing
The color of her hair
She don't use nothing
That ya buy at the store
She likes her hair to be real orange
She uses taaaaaangerines... taaaaaaangerines... taaaan-ger-ines...."

Naturally, a smile has been plastered on my face the entire time I've been secretly singing to myself, but how could it not be? It's such a happy tune! Then I began to think about how lucky I was to have seen The Lips perform this very song live at the ACL music festival last year (considering that it's probably one of their least favorite songs to do). As I was sitting at my desk, letting my mind wander back to that partly cloudy Sunday afternoon in Texas, I could feel the happy energy from the crowd and the screams of delight as confetti and streamers rained down on us. I remembered thinking that my best friend who'd passed away in October of 2001 would have loved to have been there, as The Lips were his favorite band. Then as that third verse repeated in my head again, I recalled the time that he and I were sitting in his room listening to this very band and discussing the pros and cons of having cancer. He mentioned that what he missed more then anything in the world were his eyebrows. We joked about gluing some of the hair from Hershey's brown spots to his forehead because they were the perfect length. Bringing my thoughts back to the present day, I sniffed my delicious citrus scented hair and realized that the tangerine had been so incredible because I hadn't had one in years. It's funny how we take common items for granted... like little orange fruit and eyebrows. Now I find myself pondering over the question of why Whoopi Goldberg doesn't have eyebrows. It's always bothered me. I mean, why would you not have them if you could? Does she have a barren forehead on purpose or is it a freak genetic flaw? This is the main reason I cannot sit through an entire movie with her in it... I'll never know how Jumpin' Jack Flash ended and it completely ruined Ghost for me.

"She uses taaaaaangerines...
taaaan-ger-ines, tAAAAn-ger-ines..."