Draining

What kind of shower drain do you have at your home? I've been noticing that the type pictured above (I call it the "pluggy kind") is becoming increasingly popular, especially at newly-built establishments. My last three places of residence have had these installed. I'd like to state here, once and for all, that I HATE this type of shower drain. I don't know what is causing this boom of popularity -- perhaps they ("they" being... um... those shower drain choosers, of course! They're everywhere!) have never bothered to ask women their opinion. Because any woman with a thick head of hair will tell you that unless they keep an eye on where every single strand of hair happens to end up and catch them all before they go down this drain of doom, they will end up with a clogged shower in 4 to 7 days. And who should have to keep track of where every little strand of hair goes? Showers are supposed to be leisurely!

I, for one, probably shed about a pound of hair every day. It's amazing that I don't ever go bald. It seems my hair replenishes itself like some kind of supernatural weed. Since having to deal with this "pluggy kind" of drain, I've had to learn to throw my handfuls of hair outside the shower curtain onto the tiled bathroom floor periodically throughout my shower for later cleaning. (Yes, I come up with a handful after every shampoo/conditioning/rinse.) Then, at the end, I have to fish around for each loose strands I missed and toss those outside as well. Even using this method, our shower clogs about once a month. And the other bad thing about this "pluggy" type? It DOES NOT come out. You'd think it would be easy to just yank the thing out, pull out a wad of hair, and call it good and unclogged. But these things are designed to stay put. We tried everything, and my husband is a mechanic. They don't come out. So the only thing you can do is use Drano.

Which works just fine and everything, but each bottle only lasts for one or two uses. Which is pretty lame.

Now, at my old house that my parents still live at (it was probably built in the 70's or something) they have a better system going. The shower there has what I call the "netty kind" of drain.
Sure this drain may not look quite as attractive as the "pluggy kind," but it's all worth it for the functionality. When you shower with this kind of drain, you don't have to think about your loose hairs at all. You just shower leisurely, thinking about whatever else you want, maybe even humming a little, and at the end all you do is pick up the wad of hair that is nestled neatly on top of the drain and throw it in the trash. I grew up being one of six full-headed women using the same shower for close to 20 years and we probably had to unclog the drain every 10 years or so. WAY more effective.

So, for all of you shower drain choosers, I highly recommend that you start bringing back the netty kind of shower drain. It will make the world a slightly happier place.

Second-Daughter Syndrome

I've always felt there should be a book written about my family. There's something enamoring and captivating about an all-girl family -- how each daughter is so different in personality yet all are united by the unmatchable bonds of sisterhood (yes, yes, I realize I am completely biased in my statement.) It almost makes you want to "collect them all," if they were action figures, right?

I've also always imagined that I would be the heroine, or at least the narrator of the story.

Hey, before you start rolling your eyes at me, let me present the evidence for this. Think of the other stories about all-girl families you've read or heard. The most famous are probably the Bennett sisters in the much-loved Pride and Prejudice and the March sisters in Little Women. There are even the five daughters of Fiddler on the Roof (I can't think of their surname off the top of my head.) Now, who is the main character in each story? (Disregard Fiddler for now.) Elizabeth Bennett and Jo March, right? Both are the second daughters. Like me. And it doesn't end there.

You know the first daughters, Jane and Meg, and even Tzeitel? They are the role models, and always remind me strongly of my older sister, the first daughter of our family (just take the following comments with a grain of salt and humor me, Hatsuho.) They are obedient and wise and prettier and more practical than the second daughter. Thus, they don't get into as much trouble, and have the sense and good fortune to marry the first good, hard-working young man they meet. I'm not saying that my sister didn't have her share of challenges, but she has an impeccably cleaner record than me: she has never gotten a speeding ticket, been in a car accident, failed a class, gotten a detention in high school, been in debt, missed a deadline, or really been careless and irresponsible in any way. Basically, she hasn't done anything to cause my parents grief since she was a newborn, and even then I hear she was really good at sleeping through the night. Nobody really has to worry about the first daughter. I, on the other hand, have been and still am the complete opposite.

But I also like to think that I possess some of the good qualities of the second daughter: the dreamer and schemer with a love of writing, getting into scrapes but learning from them, taking risks, and hopefully in the end finding a man who adores her imperfections (another trend is that the younger daughters get married before the second daughter, and that's OK.) Now, I would be pretty happy with myself if I could also acquire Lizzie's wit, Jo's intellect, and Hodel's grace. There's always room for improvement, right?

So there you have it, some of the foolish and slightly narcissistic thoughts that go through my head as I go through this thing called life. You can agree or disagree with me, but I firmly hold that second-daughter syndrome exists, and that I am infected with it.

OK, now you can start rolling your eyes at me.