Herpes, exams, haircuts

Don't you just love statements like this: A cure for herpes has not yet been developed. Once infected, the virus remains in the body for life.

Doesn't that just make your day? Well, it could be worse. In most people the herpes is at least controllable, and often it becomes asymptomatic - that is, it ceases to show any symptoms, like cold sores. It just hides inside you....for life. It's a bit like Alien.

Herpes isn't exactly the topic I intended discussing, even in the small amount written so far. But the Internet being what it is, and my curiosity being what it is, here I am writing about it and discovering the exciting fact that herpes simplex 1 is a fancy name for cold sores or fever blisters - and also for the nasty herpes associated with the genitals. Incidentally, here's something else that'll impress you: herpes means creeping.

Okay, not impressed? Never mind. Let's consider something else that's not so pleasant: I have to do an exam on Saturday week, the first exam I've done in about a hundred years, and while I'm not exactly quaking in my boots, I can't say I'm looking forward to it much either. Never mind, at least the kindly lecturer has indicated the likely subject matter for the exam, so it's possible to focus revision and further study on certain topics. I'd be much happier writing another couple of essays, though.

And I'm feeling distracted from study because I've written the music for the first two scenes of the musical, and have a good deal of the music for the third. And of course, that stuff keeps going around in my head, taking up room that's needed for study.

I'm just reminded by the fact that our dog is running back and forth between my wife and me -we're in separate rooms -he's probably checking to see if we're both behaving ourselves; I'm reminded, I say, that we gave the dog his first hair cut yesterday. Initially we started out at a friend's place; she's cut her own dog's hair frequently, and her parents' dog's hair as well. (Parents' dog's hair? confusing.)

Anyway, she got us started, showing us how to go about it, and we then went to my daughter's (she's done hairdressing) and finished off the job. Now the bundle of fluff, the furball that was running around the place has turned into an elegant looking specimen of caninity. The fur over his paws got shorn, amongst other things, and now he looks as though he has tiddly feet. I used to like the little paw gloves he wore previously. No doubt they'll grow again.

So there, how to get from herpes to hair cuts in three easy steps.