Leukemia sucks.

Ok, I know that it is late at night and I should probably be going to bed instead of writing this but I am going to because I think it is something worth noting about college.

Tonight was shave for a cure. Here is what I was thinking:
Shave for a cure:

- you Rock up

-you sit in uncomfortable chairs in a crowded room.

- you watch three people get ready to have their heads shaved which isn’t entirely a big deal because everyone knows they needed a haircut anyway.

- you see approximately one swipe of the razor before a hoard of said shavees closest friends huddle around and conmpletely obscure shave from view.

- you sit bored chatting to your friends about other things until the crowd thins and you see a shiny raw looking bald head. Cool. Anticlimax.

-you leave feeling that you could have better spent that time watching ‘The Voice’ and speculating over why Seal has yellow fingernails because in the end you are just going to see the shaved heads at breakfast tomorrow, and every meal after that.

Well, after those expectations it’s a wonder I showed up. But I did because I finished my essay today so I wanted a break and I thought I ought to take full advantage of the college life. Here is the reality of Shave for a cure:

I head up to the JCR where there are couches and blankets and assorted chairs and everyone is gathered facing the stage. In the corner there is a pseudo tuckshop operating selling those excellent sour strip things to which I am addicted. There is a lively, jovial atmosphere as two committee members, Efftwo and Jim head up to the microphone to MC the evening. A number of people have signed up to sacrifice and mutilate various amounts of hair on their body. The raising of money is done auction style, with the winning bidder getting to do more or less whatever the hell they want to the victim. Often people would bid against each other until they got to a certain point and then they would combine the money they were willing to put in to do it. In cases like Effones stomach waxing he said he would do it if we raised $200, so the MCs put it out there that we could bid ten dollars each, enthusiastically announcing the incremental increase as more and more people raised their hands. At the end everyone who bid would put their hand up and get it recorded down so that they knew who had pledged money. It takes a surprisingly short time to get 20 people to agree to give $10.

It is something really quite spectacular about sitting back and watching a room full of young adults at the stage of life most commonly known as the poor uni bum stage, get together and be so generous with their money. I felt a bit proud to be part of a group of people who care. Of course, it could also be interpreted as a group of people who want to humiliate close friends and watch them suffer.

In the end I think $2000ish dollars were raised for leukemia. The various acts that brought this money about were as follows:

1 Letter waxed into a chest

4 waxed legs

4 waxed eyebrows

2 waxed gooches (I recommend choosing to remain blissfully ignorant)

2 Starburns

1 trident facial hair

1 Old man style semi bald head

1 waxed stomach (a VERY hairy stomach)

2 waxed feet (which is apparently ridiculously painful, esp. the big toe)

1 strikingly accurate giant penis and testicles covering a head

3 hair dye jobs which I am yet to see turn out.

Good effort!

I think its nights like these that aren’t a big deal but are one of the reasons why college is so amazing. Its cool to be able to have fun, be immature and do good things all at once.