First Ever

There is something about firsts.

We're fond of studying them in history.
First man to go around the world.
First man on the moon.
First woman in outer space.
First woman doctor.
First woman president. (Ok, I'm being biased about the women, :p)

As humans, we're also fond of noting firsts in our natural course of development.
A baby's first cry (the sign of life).
A baby's first syllable.
A baby's first step.
A baby's first tooth.
A girl's menarche (first menstruation).
A boy's first wet dream. (I'm sorry, this is the first example I thought of for boys in puberty).
A woman's first pap smear (coz accdg to our ob-gyne, every female has to have it done).
A man's first... (i dunno! Could anyone help me with this? Is there anything most guys haven't tried by the time they're already men?)

We're also fond of remembering other personal firsts (or if we're not fond of remembering them, we still remember them anyhow)
First kiss.
First dance.
First love, puppy or real. (And all the other God-knows-what firsts that goes along with it.)
First heartbreak.

Some also have their share of "firsts" that were originally planned as "lasts" but for some reason (valid or not) were followed by "seconds" or "thirds"...
First fiancee.
First marriage.
First annulment.
That first chocolate bar. (guilty!)

From here, I think I've already made my point. Firsts are remembered.

And whatever happens, no matter how many follows afterwards, the first will always be the first. At least, in terms of sequence. The importance of "firsts" for a person is a different matter altogether. Take love, for example. First loves do die sometimes thus making the second or third or nth love more important. Or a first kiss may be the sloppy and awkward kind (it's the first but not necessarily the most memorable).

Sometimes, history also gets re-written. Corrected, rather. For instance, Magellan was not the first person to discover the Philippines because by the time he arrived, Filipinos (who didn't even call themselves such) were already in the Philippines (which wasn't the name of our country then as well). The truth remains that those who first inhabited the land (although we could not be 100% certain but has been backed up by research) were the Itas. They were the first discoverers of our land. (thanks to Dr. Ambeth Ocampo, my History 165 prof, who pointed out that Magellan did not discover the Philippines).

Now, let me take a BIG jump to a topic totally irrelevant to most of you but is important to me... my hair.

For most of my life, my hair have had a salt-and-coffee shade. (Bry, I think "coffee" is more appropriate for my natural hair hue as compared to "pepper"). I already had a few strands of white hair at the age of 8. I inherited it from my mom and my lola, who were also strong advocates of not using dye and hair color.

But this morning, I had my hair cellophaned and it's now dark dark dark brown. I miss my famous silver-streaked and lighter-than-dark-brown hair. My hair is now a LOT darker than my dark skin. (well of course my hair has always been darker than my skin but now, the contrast is much more apparent). And I'm still not sure if I really like it. I kinda miss my old hair (pun wasn't originally intended).

So I had a cellophane, big deal. For me though, it is. Well, sort of. If shoes and scents (the latter idea was from cat's beauty blog) can tell others about our personality, I think our hair does too. So what does my original hair color say aside from I'm getting old? Hmm... that I don't care much even if people keep on asking me to have my hair dyed?

Anyhow, I haven't tried permanently dyeing my hair. And this is the second time I've ever tried using cellophane. (Anika, to answer your ques before... cellophane claims to have no damaging effects to our hair as opposed to hair dyes which could make our hair dry. Cellophanes also have that built-in treatment for the hair, conditioning our tresses in the long run, thus the glow/shine afterwards (In case I wrote something incorrect abt dyeing and cellophanes, please feel free to correct me here, thankee!) For me, having a cellophane then is a double treat!... A double treat that changes my "projected personality", nonetheless.

The first cellophane I had was last May 2005. And it was such a big deal that my friend was with me the entire time for moral support. (I'm just kidding abt the moral support but she was there chatting with me the entire time.)

As I said, we always remember the first ever of things. First bicycle accident. First blog entry. First blog comment. First grade of uno. First hair color change. The list goes on...

And I would never forget my own share of firsts... even my seemingly shallow hair color change.

How could I? I actually have pictures documenting my devirginized hair hue. Photos courtesy of Debbie Ty who witnessed the change in a few hours.

May 2005.

(Photo 1: The Exorcist) (Photo 2: Debs: "Lala" Lala:"Hmm?") (Photo 3:Burgundy baby!)


My hair back in May 2005 was screaming, "I'm young and free!"
My hair at present is sort of whispering, "I don't wanna look old... "
Or maybe I'm just biased coz I'm not used to it yet.
I'll let you guys know in a few days... :)