My parents bought me my first electric razor for high school graduation I believe. Prior to that, I really didn't need to shave very often. After that, I really didn't need to shave very often either. As I read in a fortune cookie once, "The gift of a razor does not a shaving man make." Of course, in college, I thought it was sort of cool to be a bit "shadowy". I remember not shaving once for a week or so and then going to an off-campus party a friend was throwing, but shaving just one side of my face right before the party. No one noticed. Or they were too polite to say anything. I had brought my razor with me ... I quietly slipped into the bathroom at one point and shaved the other side of my face.

I remember my freshman year discovering that my roommate had used my razor to shave his legs. Something about the hair getting caught in his socks when he played basketball. It was a little bit disturbing for me that he did this and probably, at least in part, led to him just moving out of our room one day and moving in with a friend of his whose roommate had dropped out of school.

I used that razor for several years until it quit holding a charge when I bought a new electric razor. I have thought about using a "real" razor and shaving cream but, whenever I try, I end up cutting myself. I don't like the sight of blood. Especially my own.

Recently, I was faced with a dilemma. My razor needed new blades. I knew this because, for the past couple of years, shaving has inflicted great pain upon me. I don't like pain. Especially my own.

New blades cost about $30 ... or, I could get a new razor. I looked at the new ones. They ranged in price from about $20 to almost $200. The really expensive ones can be used in the shower, with shaving cream, etc. Apparently for those folks who like using shaving cream but don't like the sight of blood. Especially their own. It seemed silly to me to want to mess around with shaving cream with an electric razor. And, even if it is battery operated, using something electric in the shower just sort of makes me think of really bad movies I have seen (parts of) where angry wives electrocute their husbands in the shower or bathtub by throwing a plugged-in toaster or electric skillet at them. (Why those things would even be in the bathroom has always been beyond me.)

So, I chose a nice $40 razor that you cannot use in the shower or with shaving cream. I do not like buying things for myself but this was only $10 more than the blades I needed so it seemed like a decent decision. Lisa was out of town at the time so I had to decide on my own. I'm so mature -- shaving and making decisions!

So far, I have been happy with it. It is pretty lightweight which worries me a bit in that it may not last as long as my previous two reazors which must have lasted about 12 years each. But you can clean the little whisker shavings out of it by running it under hot water. That is very cool. I like being able to clean it quickly and easily. That way I don't notice the fact that my razor clippings, which used to be jet black, are now quite salt and peppery.

Life goes on. I do seem to have a huge zit coming out on my nose right now. Not sure what that is all about.

Sorry for subjecting you to that.