NOVEMBER 23 - NATIONAL BEARD REGISTRY

I've just registerd with the National Beard Registry!
I'm Beard Number 2509 !!

On the confirmation slip, there is a disclaimer stating:
"You may be proud to have joined your brothers in corporate culture resistance." !!!

Here's their manifesto:

"The National Beard Registry has been established to encourage men in all walks of life, from every continent, to resist conformity, corporate culture, and androgyny by embracing the beautiful, unique and utterly personal habit of growing a full beard.

"In past generations, it was normal for men to grow full beards. Images from the past are filled with men who grew full beards. Military men, men of letters, activists, politicians, judges, farmers, professors, big men, small men, great men, heroes, famous and infamous men alike grew full beards.

"Today, wearing a full beard is often looked down upon and discouraged. Men with full beards are now accused of being un-patriotic, whatever that is. How silly we have become. Ninety-nine Civil War generals and admirals wore beards, three went on to become President of the United States, (their beards went with them).

"All beards are beautiful and worthy of registration. But the majestic and magnificent full and aged beard is the ultimate quest of The National Beard Registry. Like a fingerprint, a year or more of full growth on a man's face produces a one-of-a-kind appearance that defies trend, pop culture, and media driven conformity. It is a very natural and beautiful symbol of individualism, and honors the self-expressed essence within each man.

"It is our belief that by establishing the National Beard Registry, we will be supporting individual creative expression, resisting blind conformity to media driven corporate culture, and promoting the notion of a world where every individual is valued.
The National Beard Registry is based in America but the word National in its name applies to any nation. International boundaries are only in our minds. Conformity is an international malaise. Beards are beautiful on every continent.

"We therefore call for all men - who can and desire to participate, to grow a full beard, with only minor trimming for neck comfort, eating or kissing. We gladly register ALL beards of any length or type. We are also looking for naturally outrageous growth such as the braided Fu Manchu, dreadlock full beard, or long goatees and sideburns etc. You may register your beard online or at our booth at a festival near you.

"Thank you all men of conscience, together we will change the face of the future."

NOVEMBER 23 - CELEBRITY BEARDS

Hello there!

I thought it was high time for another blog entry.

The most popular entry by far, on one of my other blogs, is a post where I've taken some silly pictures of myself in various outfits, trying to get some feeling for characters that I was drawing.

(Photos are on http://grotesquefurniture.blogspot.com

drawings are on http://nazigold.blogspot.com )

So I decided to take some with me & my pink beard.

During my bearded days, many people have said "You look just like..."
Blackbeard, Osama Bin Laden, Cat Stevens, Captain Caveman, a rabbi, Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, Ricky Villa, a hermit, Brian Blessed, Rasputin, Jesus, etc etc etc. I have a list somewhere of my lookalikes.

Anyway, so yesterday, out came the camera and my box of assorted hats & accessories. I had enough props to make myself look like Che Guevara, and like Osama too, but I don't think I'll post the Osama pictures, just in the tiniest most miniscule chance that some loonie sees the picture, takes offence, and then hunts me down and jihads my ass. (Very slim chance, I think, but still, the Osama fans are not people to get on the wrong side of...)

So here it is: Pink Che!

In other news, I've been looking at other beardy blogs today, one of which was: http://www.placeboma.com/bigandbeardy/Which held this fascinating revelation: I'm not sure if this is true of women suffering Depression, but I'm sure research is underway.

The site also had links to http://www2.b3ta.com/namethatbeard/ which is rather fun!

You may also want to visit www.nationalbeardregistry.org

But of course, the most important thing is to keep donations coming in for Primhe!

www.primhe.org

NOVEMBER 22 - MESSAGE FROM PRIMHE

Chris Manning, Primhe's CE has now emailed me no less than three times thanking me so much for my barbered support. Chris has lots of local contacts and is receiving regular reports of sightings of the 'Purple Bearded One' all over the locality. One of Primhe's staff today suggested that this mechanism would be far more effective than tagging!

NOVEMBER 17 - TOUGHER THAN I THOUGHT

Hello hello.

I never thought this was going to be a stroll in the park, but never thought that I'd find times to be so moving. It's been quite tough hearing people's experiences of depression this week, but I'm very flattered by the number of people who have felt comfortable in approaching me and opening up so much.

I think a number of people have heard about what I'm doing for Primhe, or have read my posters, and have then approached me as though I'm a sort of 'depression guru', and might have some answers. Really, the best I can offer is to listen. Another six weeks of this will probably be quite hard work.

After hearing some very moving stories on Tuesday, I couldn't help but feel quite emotional.

In other news, keep your eyes on the Richmond & Twickenham Times - hopefully my gurning mug will appear in its pages in the next couple of weeks!

Last night, I dreamed of shaving, and was quite upset (in a way) when I woke up to a shock of pink hair and beardiness this morning. I'm increasingly looking forward to shearing it all off at the end of the two months - I'm beginning to forget what I looked like before the beard, and in fact, if I ever did exist before the beard...

NOVEMBER 14 - MY SHOES

Hi again - just posted the cartoons, and have seen that they've not all come out the right size, and some of the detail & text isn't terribly visible.. I'm happy to share these, however, so if you'd like me to email you the jpegs, please get in touch.
(Please note: in the colour images, you can see my awesome trainers: Adidas Cross, which I bought in New York, and are the best trainers ever! I rather use them as a "self-portrait" motif nowadays, but am not sure for how much longer - they're starting to wear out!

NOVEMBER 14 - CARTOONS

People have told me I'm brave for dyeing my hair & beard, but I don't think I am at all. Something I've been delaying, something I've been scared to do is to publically show some of the pictures that I've drawn when I've been at my lowest, coming out of dark places, or trying to understand the little crazinesses in my head. I've decided to post these images today - just some from 10 books of similar drawings that I had decided never to show anyone. These are pictures from a time that I have left, happily, in the past (although I still do think of myself as a bit of a Quixote, a Nerval, and a Stanshall - and for you literary types, even as a bit of a Raoul Spifame).

I'll add some further text at some point - I'm currently running horrendously late, because I have to get some photos to the Richmond & Twickenham Times - I finally managed to get an interview with the paper - not through my copious amounts of emails, but through barging into the offices yesterday evening!

Anyway, hope you are all well and sane.

As always yours but forever myself,

CT.

NOVEMBER 11 - THE POINT

Thank you to everyone who has laughed or smiled at my beard - I think they've got the point.

NOVEMBER 9 - ALL GOING WELL

Thank you so much to those who have contributed so far!
I collected the cash & cheques from Real Ale & the Old Anchor yesterday, and will set up an account today for the cash to go into: at the end of the two months, it will all be transferred across to PRIMHE, so we can see what the grand-total will be!
So far, in a little over a week, we've raised over £350, which is really great.
Obviously I'm hoping for more - hopefully local newspapers will get their act together and reply to my emails! I'm going to arrive in fine style at the Informer Newspaper's offices in about half-an-hour, and ask for some coverage!
Just to repeat, donations can be made at:
Real Ale Ltd shop, 371 Richmond Road, Twickenham,
The Old Anchor pub, 71 Richmond Road, Twickenham,
The Rifleman pub, Fourth Cross Road, Twickenham,
or by emailing me at Chaos@London.com for details.
You can also donate through the Primhe website www.primhe.org .
Their donations page is at:
www.primhe.org/markup/support-donate.cfm
Or you can send cheques addressed to "PRIMHE" at:
Unit 6
2A Laurel Ave
Twickenham
TW1 4JA
Thanks once again,
As always yours but forever myself,
Chris.

NOVEMBER 7 - DISADVANTAGES

So far, my only problem with this beard and this colour, is that I've met a really nice girl, who I'm dying to ask out (dyeing, ha ha!), but she's only known me with a beard. She doesn't know that beneath this beard is a non-beardy!
I can't imagine that a big pink beard can be much of a turn-on for sane intelligent beautiful girls, so I'm a little worried about making myself look ridiculous by trying to ask.
Anyway, let's see! Who could resist this:

?

My god, I'm handsome! What a nose!

(Who'd have thought that it's been broken twice!)

NOVEMBER 7 - CARTOONS

If I'm feeling brave tomorrow, I may publish some of my cartoons that I'd drawn for Primhe at the end of 2005 and the beginning of 2006, when I was at a fragile stage. I had wanted to keep them private, but I've got this far, so why not got the whole way? So many people have told me I'm brave for doing this dyeing for 2 months, but I'm really not. Dyeing is just a gesture.
Dyeing has been really fascinating, watching people's reactions, and how they see me - smiles and scowls, laughter and insults, questions and indifference.
To dye - that is the greatest adventure!

*Later note: Nov 11, Still no cartoons posted, but I'll try to scan some tonight if I remember.

NOVEMBER 7 - WIERD THINGS ARE HAPPENING

Yes, wierd things are afoot - today I ended up borrowing a shower-cap from my mum, so I can shower without my hair getting wet (and therefore too much dye coming out in the wash). I'm still keeping to my daily shower routine, but I was told that I should try to only wash my hair once a week, to keep the colour in. (That's a bit nasty, so I'm washing it once every 2 days!)
But even with a shower-cap on, I can't always keep the beard dry, as it touches my chest, and gets a little splashed. So the edges are getting a little blonde, and my roots are emerging rapidly...
The colour of this mass around my face is rapidly changing (I think it's looking cooler by the day!)
The highlight of my day was when a family came into the shop today, and their little son thought I was Father Christmas. I was hugely moved, and hugely grateful that he offered his whole week's pocket money of 50p as a donation to PRIMHE. When I remember how many sweets that 50p could buy when I was his age, it made me realise how much of a sacrifice he's made! Yes, I may have grown this beard for 3 months, and am keeping it magenta for another 2 (and therefore 5 months of no fun with girls), but, this young fella has denied himself a whole week's worth of sugar. And that is an effort that we all should applaud.

NOVEMBER 6 - ONE WEEK IN...

Thank you to all the England and New Zealand rugby supporters who donated over the weekend!

Here are a couple more photos taken at my drinks evening at the Real Ale shop last Monday. PINKBEARD!!!

NOVEMBER 4 - STILL PINK

This was taken at a drinks evening on Monday - thanks to all those who attended and donated! Hope you all had a great night. I spent most of the afternoon posting posters around Twickenham. I still found it rather frustrating how many places won't accept charity posters, but would like to thank all the pubs, restaurants, laundrettes etc who took my posters today. There's even one up outside Twickenham station, which I'm rather chuffed about.

There's international rugby at Twickenham tomorrow, England vs Argentina, which is expected to be a capacity crowd of 82,000. I'm hoping that a good number see the posters.

I'm working in the shop tomorrow, so unfortunately I can't go out and leaflet as much as I'd like to, but I'm hoping a fair few pop into the shop and leave a little donation, or come in and collect a flyer. And then of course, I can pop into the Anchor after work, and see if I can drum up a little more interest there too.

NOVEMBER 2 - SCHOOL REUNION

Well, tonight I went to a school reunion type-thingy in central London - the first time I've travelled away from the Richmond/Twickenham area since dyeing...

I was really actually quite nervous about doing so, as at least round here I have some posters up, and I'm reasonably well known round here. But I have to say it was OK - people didn't seem to bat an eyelid. On the train to Waterloo I bumped into an old friend from university who I hadn't seen for years, who didn't recognise me at all until I spoke to her!

And at the reunion, I was really pleased by the reaction I got. Yes, there were lots of people who came over just to have a look, and to satisfy their curiosity, but there were also a whole bunch of people who asked what it's all about, and gave me their encouragements. I'm so glad that so many people believe in what I'm doing. Many thanks to those who expressed an interest in donating and asking for details of this blog!

I'd also like to thank all the people who have been coming into the Real Ale shop & leaving donations, and everyone who have left donations at the Old Anchor. I haven't been back to the Rifleman to check for progress quite yet.

In general, people's responses here in Twickenham have been great - lots of smiles and thumbs up, cars honking horns, and people saying "I love your hair", or "What's it for... good luck!" The occassional group of school kids have given me a bit of sarcasm, but when I've told them its for charity, then they've been OK. Old women have tutted, or crossed the street to get away (!) but they've got blue or pink rinse hair anyway, so that's frankly hypocritical... One guy leaned out of his car window and shouted "Freako!" to me, but he's obviously a nob, and not a contender for the Nobel Prize for Wit and Intelligence. (I am!)

However, I've discovered something quite disturbing about the whole situation: namely, the state of my moustache... The moustache was the most difficult area to bleach and dye, because it's right between the nose & the mouth (that's where you USUALLY find them anyway), and we didn't want either bleach or dye in either of 'em. And as the tips of my moustache hairs sometimes end up being dipped into the top of my pint, or brushed as I wipe my mouth after eating, the dye is fading fast!

By the end of the week, I could have a pink beard and hair, but a blond 'tache!

Quel catastophe!

I'll try to get a photo up soon - there's no one awake to take one at the mo!

Another thing that I've noticed is that after having the bleach in my hair for almost one-and-a-half hours on Monday, I had some inevitable dandruff this afternoon (it seems to have gone now). But it wasn't ordinary dandruff - the scurf was pink!

Good night, beard-fans!