Pictures !

Day 3 vanity trumps sickness

Today's highlight was having my picture taken in numerous places by someone who actually gets paid to take pictures, exciting :). I don't usually like my appearance in photos, there is usually a bit too much face for my liking. I think I have a kind of reverse dysmorphia where I think I look way better than I actually do, however couple of these ones are actually quite good, and will be on this site ASAP, as well as hopefully in the list.

In beard related news, today I was walking through the meadows past a group full of students who had to completely stop their conversation, before thinking they were at a safe distance to say 'Ohhkayyy'. heh heh. I'm not sure why I find that amusing, but I do. Perhaps it's because it's like being back at school where my Chewbacca bag would draw similar responses.

Tommorrow I am going to force myself to talk about Reclaim the night, or at least give a flyer to everyone who says 'nice beard'.

Day 2 Morning

Putting the beard on this morning has been a bit of a challenge as I have one of those colds that seem to affect your entire body, a cold that is probably not influenza in the worldwide epidemic sense, but still feels rubbish.
The beard is on nonetheless, I have another class today and coffee with a friend (who I think may have forgotten about the beard thing). I think today will be a quiet day.

Day 2 Afternoon

I have learned the following today :-

* Eating chewing gum whilst wearing a false beard is inadvisable unless you like chewing false hair.
* The hardest thing about wearing a false beard is not the embarressment, but taking time to explain to strangers about Reclaim the Night. When people say 'nice beard' it's much easier to say 'thankyou'. This might be because there isn't an obvious connection, and the beard thing is just a daft way of raising some money.
* I feel very arkward asking people for sponsorship. Even though the money is for causes I believe in I still feel somewhat sheepish, and just kind of hope people will just give me money when I say the word 'sponsored'
* I don't know how to react to heckling. For example, today when I was walking home, a group of blokey blokes in a van yelled 'where's the fancy dress party'. Now if they had been wolf whistling or yelling under normal circumstances I usually take a the very mature approach of responding by yelling a swear word. I do believe that women should be allowed to wear false beards without being heckled(though it's low down my list of priorities for feminist action) If you do go around in a false beard then really, you are asking to be heckled. Having said that, one could use the above line of reasoning to argue that women in short skirts should expect to be yelled at; it's a very faulty line of argument. See - confusion!

Day 1 - Baptism of fire, nearly.

Today was the day I was most apprehensive about, but everything is going well so far. Meeting with my new work colleagues went well, (they seemed amused and mildly impressed) I had warned them before-hand, though they said that it would have been funnier if I hadn't.
A bus driver said 'nice moustache', I walked past a group of builders who went quiet. There have been a few stares and giggles though on the whole I have been surprised at the capacity of the Edinburgh public to ignore absolutely everything.
I was interveiwed for Leith FM which was quite exciting, and my sponsorship total creeps ever upward. A good day all in all.

The main problem I have encountered so far is the chaifing of my ears by the beard's elastic. After about an hour it gets quite sore, I think tommorrow I will try to clip the beard to my hair. Eating is also a bit of a problem. I have had a very busy day with no time to eat until around 4, It is very difficult to eat with a fake beard on because I can't open my mouth very far.
The most dramatic event of the day came towards the end when I was lighting the hobb on our oven. I brought the match close to my mouth to blow it out..... Thankfully I remembered quite quickly that was wearing a fake beard, otherwise that could have been quite nasty.

Beard Bought :)

Today I bought the beard ! It's a charming brown nautical beard which will hopefully match my own hair colour for a natural look and realistic appearance.

I deliberated over the above beard, and a big curly pirate one with the woman who works in the shop, but decided that the smaller cheaper beard would be more comfortable.
I asked for a discount on the beard because I would be wearing it for charity, but was declined, so no free publicity for them (they obviously don't know how important I am...).

I still feel really happy about how well last night went, and how many awesome people I spoke to. There was a general feeling that perhaps next week would be a trail run, and if I come through unscathed, next year more women will get sponsored to submit to their hairy desires - either by growing body hair, or getting a fake moustache - the possibilities are numerous. I think it would be awesome to make February Ladyhair month ( that's not as catchy as Movember, but maybe we could collectively come up with a better name)


My flatmate suggested that I would raise more money if people would sponsor me to do specific things in the beard. I have already had one offer of £50 if I can pull in the beard (this seems quite a challenge, I'm quite picky).


So.. any suggestions? email them to alwaystwirling@hotmail.com

Gig went well

So the practice paid off and the gig went pretty well. I also raised 25 pounds and 17 pence for the beard challenge - without even wearing the beard!
Currently feeling really happy, thanks to all who came out and supported. I want to do more comedy now, which is a good feeling.

I thought I would reference some of my information sources, as someone asked me where I got my info from.

When I mentioned that London had one dedicated rape crisis centre, I got this from this website also, the guardian article about the donkey sanctuary can be read here - though I said it was in Dorset, but it's actually in Devon (oops, sorry).

Anyway, bed time ! Thanks to all who came out and sponsored so far, and to all the Reclaim the Night team for putting on such a fun event.