Hair Chalking

For those of you that don’t know, I’m in Beijing. Improving my Chinese, but back being a student again has also freed up my time a lot more. (After all, I have to start practicing my procrastination again, no?)

I saw hair chalking on Tumblr about half a year ago and the thought crossed my mind that I’d want to try it, but work took over and it just slipped through my mind. I can’t remember what triggered it in my mind again but I set out to find an art store and actually buy some soft pastel and do it myself.

It’s really simple, all you need is:

• Soft pastel (has to be soft pastel) – about RMB 3.50 each
• Water – tap water is fine
• Comb
• Curling iron to seal the colour in (optional)

I found a lot of small art shops along Dongsi W. street if you guys are looking for where you can get some in Beijing.

There are tons of Youtube tutorials out there, so I’ll just give you the basic run down. I have extremely black hair, so if you’re blonde, just skip the step of wetting your hair.

1. Choose the colours you want to use, unwrap them if they have a paper around them

2. Part a small section of your hair

Oh wait, first, either make sure you’re wearing an old shirt, or you’re naked. I usually do it in the toilet, because the chalk really does get everywhere.

Ok, so after parting a small part of your hair…

3. Dampen the section of hair. I usually hold the section with one hand, then wet the other hand with tap water and then just use that water to dampen the hair. You can also use a spray bottle or whatever.

4. Use the comb to comb through it to flatten it out and even it out. Some people say twisting your hair gets more colour on it, so it’s up to you.

5. Wet the chalk and then start colouring your hair in a downward motion. Going up and down will create lots of tangles, so try and avoid it. Don’t be afraid to experiment, you can overlap the colours to create rainbows or gradients, so just try things out. If it looks bad you can just wash it out. Easy.

6. Wait for it to dry and enjoy.

Warnings: This will get on your hands when you fiddle with it/touch it. It will get on your clothes (so wear a similar colour shirt), don’t worry though, it’s washable. If you’re really worried you can tie it up in a bun or braid it.

They say not to wear it if it’s raining… It does wash off in one go, so you know what rain is going to do. It doesn’t get on your face, so don’t worry if the hair touches your face.

To wash it off, just shower. It does absorb a lot of the moisture from your hair though, so just remember to condition that day.

Fortunately my hair is too short to touch any of the clothes I’m wearing. Unfortunately it’s too short for me to do the back tips by myself to make it look as nice.

Here’s some examples of some I found online:

And this is what I’ve experimented with so far (yes, I’m a poser!):

I’m enjoying it so far :D Any questions, ask away

Aged

Sometimes it worries me how much my parents have aged. When you’re around them everyday you tend not to notice how much you've grown or how different they've become as time as passed.

Has so much changes since I've left to UK? Sometimes while I’m looking at them, it'll hit me how much weight my dad has lost or how much white hair my mom has begun to show on my mom’s head.

Then when they start to become forgetful, the worry hits me harder. Maybe I watch too many movies... but what if one day they forget who I am? What if one day it is me that has to look after them, but I am no where near ready?

It makes me want to spend every possible moment with them. It makes me feel guilty when I’m cooped up in my room while they're at home.

I need to stop depending on them. I need to find some stability in my life. They won't be there for me forever, I need to start preparing myself to be there for them. After all, they sacrificed so much me already, it's the least I can do.

Starry Starry Night

Why did I call myself starrynite? I don't know. It originated from somewhere. I remember seeing it as a name of a bed mattress shop in Malaysia. Maybe it stuck from there? I like the sound of it. And after hearing Van Gogh had a painting of it or that Don McLean had a song about it, my feelings for it just grew, I guess. And now it's stuck. Something that no one else ever takes. 

It gives me hope that I am something more than I am so far. There is light in the darkness.

The Perfect Facebook Game Requirements

So I always have all these blog ideas running through my head and I never just sit down and write them. So here’s what I’m doing. Prepare for an onslaught of random entries that don’t link together and may or may not have anything to do with my life in general.
***
I’m a Facebook game addict. There. I admitted it. I will join any game and play it until I get bored. Therefore, with the many games I’ve played, there’s a few things that I’ve realized will keep me hooked or just make me find it a chore to click on and continue the game.

1. Action: Games like MouseHunt, Mafia Wars or whatever are boring. Not only do they have other listed factors that I dislike, but click a “do this” button and then seeing a progress bar increase in a list of things is just no excitement to me. I need something where I can see people moving around, see little animations react to my mouse, etc.
2. Energy limits: I hate games that have energy limits. I choose a game because I want it to kill time. If you limit me to how long I can play a certain game, then I won’t enjoy playing it.
3. Time limits: Like energy limits; a time limit controls you. It will make you come back within a certain time frame just to make sure your “crop” or “potion” or whatever doesn’t spoil. I don’t want to rush home and go on Facebook in an hours time just to harvest my crop *cough Farmville cough* Because if I do happen to have a life, and I miss my time frame, then the thing isn’t going to magically unwither without a cost. Who wants to get punished for having a life?
4. Goals: Games that have goals are good. They make you want to keep going because the feeling of achieving something is good. However…
5. Goals that need friends: Goals which require you to send notifications to your friends or require you to post on your wall for your friends to click on is annoying. Not only is it embarrassing – I mean it’s sad enough to play Facebook games, but to have to admit them?! – but it is also annoying for most of your friends to see it on their newsfeed. Who knows, before long someone could delete you! I’ve bypassed this (sort of) by creating a friend list that plays these games, so when I do need to publish something on my wall, it will only be visible to them. Doesn’t stop it from being annoying and a chore though.
6. Adding neighbours: Gee game, thanks for pointing out the fact that I have NO FRIENDS. Because if I did have friends, I certainly wouldn’t be stuck at home playing games like this. Goals that make you add your friends as neighbours just to complete goals is also the same annoyance as the games that want you to post shit on your wall. What if none of your friends play that game? Then what?
7. Thinking too hard: IQ games hurt my head. As do hardcore strategy games. I like Tetris Battle and Bubble Island and what not, but those aren’t turn-by-turn strategy games, nor do they measure your intelligence like Brain Buddies. I mean, who is going to enjoy a game that makes them feel stupid?

So there’s my list. I know, I know, I’m picky about something that doesn’t really matter at all.
Anyone have a perfect game for me to try? So far only Bejeweled Blitz seems to have check all my boxes, but it can get a bit tedious.. So I dunno…

Other games I’m in the process of trying:

• Castleville
• House MD Game
• Triple Town
• Treasure Isle
• Hidden Chronicles – this is on the decline and won’t last very much longer…
• Happy Hospital