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Take time to ponder the eyebrows.

In 500 B.C., Roman women used tweezers to pluck their eyebrows. What made them decide to do so? In the 1970's, Brooke Shields made it popular to have thick brows again.

What happened in between? I don't know. But since then permanent cosmetics were created, so you can tattoo them on. It's like I've said to L before: we've conquered the frontier and been in space. The next logical thing to do is alter our bodies or put things into them that we never would have imagined. There's nothing else left. Of course this conversation was in a totally different context, but you get the picture. It's a part of the restlessness of being human, I suppose.

It wasn't until I moved to Boston that I ever considered tweezing my brows. I had always been pretty all natural, with an annoying amount of hair on my face that is only flattering if you are a male or live in a culture that embraces female facial hair. My friend Sarah plucked my eyebrows for the first time. I got very congested and sneezy, but the results were dramatic. It's a horrible thing to keep up, though. If you don't you get lots of small wayward hair and then look a little weird as the hair grows in.

As a treat I when down to the local beauty parlor today and had them done in anticipation of my vacation, which begins in 7 days. The woman who does it never remembers me and I'm glad, since she gave me a really bad cut once and I now go to a pricier salon in town. Still, Jenni does a fabulous job. It's only 5 bucks, so I gave her a $10 and wished her a happy new year. It's cheap and so worth it.