Thursday, November 6, 2008

Brad In The Land of Women

2007 was a momumental year. David Beckham came to play with the LA Galaxy. Oprah left $30 million to her dogs. In October Microsoft purchased a 1.6% share of Facebook for $264 million. Britney shaved her head. And five million people worldwide died from smoking.

In the midst of all of this excitement, some things were over-looked.
Exhibit A;

Christin introduced me to this movie, In the Land of Women, about six months ago. Its a decent movie. Not great, but decent. Adam Brody moves into his grandma's house and ends up getting thrown smack dab in the middle of a lot of girls, and ends up becoming a central role in all of their lives.

I reference this because at times I feel like this is very similar to the life I lead. I have been surrounded by women for much of my life. God placed me in a family with no brothers, only two sisters. As a result, my ninja turtles often ended up going on dates with barbies. When I was in elementary school I would spend time nearly everyday in BodyShapers, an all-women gym where my mom taught aerobics and also had a hair salon. I have grown up watching movies like Sleepless in Seattle and Bed of Roses. I have still never seen all of Ace Ventura, Forrest Gump, or Dazed and Confused (not that those are movies only guys watch. I'm just mentioning them for contrast). Presently, I live surrounded by girls and seem to be able to be helpful at times or a shoulder to cry on occasionally. Thankfully I still turned out as a straight, fairly normal guy.

I say fairly normal because there are still some weird things about me. I still like chick flicks. I get a little emotional almost every time I watch Extreme Home Makeover. Buying clothes is one of my favorite things to do. It drives me crazy to have the toilet seat left up. I sew fairly well. I prefer cooking to eating out almost always, and I do that pretty well too. I bake. I'm a sucker for sappy love songs, and I'll rock out to I Will Survive whenever I feel like it. And I enjoy cosmetology.

p.s. I understand these are generalizations and that these are not all things that only women do. Just go with it for now though.













A little over five years ago I did my first haircut. Exhibit B;


I think that was possibly his last haircut.

During my mission I improved some. I became many elder's barber. Except that I wasn't paid for it.

Probably eight months ago Ariana wanted me to trim the back of her hair. That was my first time cutting a female's hair. Over the summer though Bridget thought that it would be a good idea to have me cut and color her hair. I am to this day not quite sure what gave her the confidence that I would be able to do such a thing. But I did. And actually, it didn't turn out too bad. After that followed Francesca, which I did a great job on. Arianne wasn't as happy with hers, but really, I wanted those extra four or five inches of hair out of the way. Sorry . . .



Last of all Kristine felt like I would do a better job cutting her bangs than she would. I had never cut bangs. Nor did I have any idea what she wanted done. But she ended up happy.



So thanks to all of the women in my life, thanks for making me who I am. And to all of you that have let me cut your hair, thanks for letting me practice when your better judgement told you otherwise.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm very proud to say that I was the first female to allow you to practice your hair cutting skills on. Heck yes. :]

Don't ever lose your funny little quirks. They just make you even more wonderful.

(And that movie poster is hot. Wow!)

Sweet Em said...

Aaron cries at Extreme Homemakeover as well...That Ty...he's an emotional manipulator.

bradleyjohn said...

I know, right? Moving the bus, the whole family waiting, having the CMA's send the family awards and LeAnn Rimes singing Amazing Grace. How does anyone handle this stuff?

indeazgirl said...

I just love that you make such an awesome, up-for-anything roommate. I love having someone around who will actually watch "In The Land of Women" with me without thinking he has to be so macho. And provide the entertainment of watching you sew a scripture case and cut hair way better than I ever could.
And still bring the office and how I met your mother into my life. And the manly perspective. Yay!
You're the best.

Ashley said...

Like I said earlier...only you. You are one of a kind! I love you Brad!! :)

RC said...

How many times have I told you that cooking wins a womans heart EVERY TIME, son? Whether it be brisket, breakfast, bread, or steak, they love us for it always! As for the hair stuff, well, I will leave that one for you. Just don't get into TOO much. Go ahead and tear up when necessary, you know I NEVER do.......

Sweet Em said...

RC - you are totally right! All of us highschool friends still talk about how you made us a HUGE breakfast one morning after a sleep over! You won 6 hearts that day!

RC said...

This is Mom NOT RC. Back in your High School days, you would come in from a football game bruised and bloody,(you loved to see my horrified face) and you would still be laughing and smiling! I would ask your Dad "how can my son passionately LOVE a stupid game that he gets hurt and hurts others in?" Your dad would say "Bonnie, for heavens sakes, the kid grew up with two sisters and you telling him to "be nice and not hit" all the time now FINALLY he can be in a game where he can BEAT THE CRAP out of someone and people cheer and put your picture in the paper!!!! I could never see it but I think after four concussions (you should do a blog on those), you finally came to your senses and realized that even though silly cheerleaders loved you, real women love a man that cooks. Also remember... you will get better results (after you get married) when you do the dishes afterwards!!
Don't change a thing!!!!! p.s. your dad colored my hair for nine years because he did better than anyone else!

Anonymous said...

That's what I like to see. There is a possability that your future wife will have no domestic skills and all these skill you have will really come in handy.