What's wrong with this picture?

Wrong? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Ok, so I might feel a little bit better now, seein this and all.

Today's agenda...

Today, I will be doing a good bit of this: (pic removed)

Yes, painting. Yes, naked.

But not exactly this kind of painting. I'll be doing the more
run-of -the -mill wall painting. Something I had been putting off for too long.

Naked is the only way to paint. It makes the whole damn process more tolerable and for messy painters like me, clean up is a breeze. Just hop in the shower. Course it's much easier to paint this way on the INSIDE of the house.

Interestingly, this was the closest "naked painting" image I could find on ol' Google images that wasn't an actual nude portrait (one thing Google has yet to introduce is the ability to distinguish subtle nuances, such as between "nude" and "naked" for example). Nontheless, it is a guy painting and he happens to be naked while doing so, thus the illustrative requirements I was searching for are satisfactorily met. And strangely coincidentally, the painter is bald. Imagine both my surprise and my glee (a word that gets so little usage these days, but which is so purely fun) over THAT bit of synchronicity. Obviously, this is not my photo. And since I'm not to sure of how Mr. Coombes might feel about making a "guest appearance" here on Cranky Old Fag*, I'll only leave it up for a day. (If it's any consolation to you Mr. Coombes, you have a nice butt.)

What's also curious about this image popping up in my search (and pleasantly so), is that I happen to harbor an ongoing hankering for art. So, natch, I was intrigued and had to pursue this a bit further. First, I found the page from which I "borrowed" the photo. Upon perusing this page a bit, I got more curious...as one does...and had to find out more about Mr. Coombes and his work, which led me here, and here. (Oh man, he is SO easily gonna be able to track me down now...) And you know what, me thinks I'm going to have to go back and read a bit more about him and take a more careful and thoughtful perusal of his painting(s).

But not now.

No.

I have huge expanses of wall awaiting me and I gots to get to it.

Fusion vs. Mach III, final answer?

The end result? (re my earlier post) I have to say the Fusion comes out ahead (no pun intended) in this mashup. No, I'm not trashin my trusty Mach III. I'll keep it around (and def keep the second one in my travel gear)--but it will likely be relegated to "second string" status. In other words, a backup--though there is nothing wrong with that. Outside of Garcia, whose proven the Eagles need McNabb as much as they needed TO to win, I can't think of a more reliable "back-up" to have waiting for duty.

Smooth like this...

So, I wanted something to illustrate just how smooth I meant. Like this, only minus the tatt.

I can't believe I'm about to say this...

but, it just might be that the Gillette Fusion is indeed the better razor--at least for keeping the pate properly smooth.

I really am a big fan of the Mach III. From the moment I first tried it, I knew it was the only blade for me. The angle of the blade head was PERFECT for shaving the ol' noggin. (And this is def NOT true of any number of other razors.) Perfect angle + three blades meant fewer nicks and fewer passes over the scalp, so also less irritation and fewer razor bumps. All good.

Then one day, quite awhile back actually, it arrived in the mail. I was sent a free trial Fusion, courtesy of Gillette. (Great, now what mailing list was I on that I didn't know about.) I was, to say the least, skeptical about there being any real validity to the necessity for five blades to attain a close shave. I mean, I had three blades at my beck and call on the Mach III and that certainly seemed sufficient. Wasn't five a bit much? Like overkill. Really, first three, then four (Schick Quattro), now five. When would it stop? Enough already. So, I threw it in a drawer in the bathroom and forgot about it. Until the other day.

Looking for some vaseline (not what you think) I came across the forgotten, unopened Fusion. I was going to toss it out... Then, I thought maybe I should just try it before throwing away a perfectly new razor. So I did. This morning I tried it. After getting used to the way it felt different in the hand, I got into a groove and the shaving was easy. More importantly, it was also pretty quick. And smooth. I was kinda taken aback, caught off-guard. I'd been fully prepared to hate it and that was clearly not the case. I was even a little impressed, but not enough to declare it a done deal. So, I figure I'll give it a couple of days, then switch back to the Mach III for a final comparison.

How Daddy Got His Smooth Back....

Long story short: For some reason, after all the sun and surf of the summer at the beach, I got lazy and let my hair grow back. At first I told myself it there was not enough time to shave and this worked for like the first week. Then, it was: well, we'll live with the short buzz/crew for a bit just for something diff. Then, I thought I would let it come in long enough to do a good fade for awhile. 'Fore I knew it, well....you get the drift.

So, recognizing I could no longer stand it and that I really wanted my "smooth" back, I took first the clippers to my noggin, then the blade. Gone. Done. Hey, it's only hair. It'll grow back. Though likely, I'll be keeping it shaved for awhile. Missed it. Missed the feel of it. Missed the way the warm water in the shower rolls right off. Missed the no muss, no fuss, no hathead. And though it may be hard to believe, the crisp cool December air feels perfectly, bracingly, fine.