The Trials and Tribulations of a so-called Trouble Teen

Chapter 3 - Air Guitars and Surgery

AN: In this chapter I very lightly touch on use of racist language and ableist language, however I tried avoid using the actual words as much as I could. If any of you have better ways of addressing these issues or know a better way of censoring words (although I feel like there's not much more I can do right now), do not hesitate to tell me! I'll take as much input from you guys as possible.

TW: Mentions of self harm and violence.

As the sun rises, it reminds me of one thing: I am not a morning person. I hate getting up before midday, but I just can't stay in bed all day sleeping. I won't lie, the mornings are a complete and utter struggle to me. There are mornings where I'm so physically exhausted and emotionally exhausted that it makes me feel sick. I could be "off" for an entire day. I feel trapped in my body, like there's this giant weight on top of me keeping me from doing normal everyday things. Why can't I just be neurotypical like the rest of my family and friends?

I recently picked up this new shampoo bar from Lush. I've never tried one from there, but I heard good reviews and feel as if it's time I tried one. Usually, we pick up our shampoo bars from the supermarket while doing the shopping, but I had received a gift card from my aunt Melissa in Dublin so got a few things. It's made of honey I believe and it smells so nice! My senses are heightened so when it comes to soap, I have to consider a lot of things such as the scent, texture, size and shape. I'm VERY aware of things when they touch me so I can be jumpy or frightened quite easily.

On the topic of senses, I really enjoy loud bass music because of the vibrations. I love being in a music venue that's really loud and just feeling the floor pumping. I will play my music loud at any opportunity I have and just lie in my bed and absorb it all. By far, my favourite band to do this with is Green Day - with the song Homecoming being my preferred choice. It's quite long, standing at just over 9 minutes, but goes from kind of slow to really fast and aggressive. When I was younger at behind the stage at some of Brian's gigs, I would just sit on the floor and stay there for the 2 hours, staring in awe and the fact they were out there playing. I guess I still kind of do it today when I'm playing gigs in Empire or at other shows. The last time we saw Green Day as a family, we watched from backstage and just had a party. Similarly, with All Time Low, the guys, Val and I had managed to get barrier while the rest of the family watched from behind. I was right in the middle so was getting an even amount of bass and just couldn't stop smiling. Funny thing about All Time Low actually - I've met them so many different times that whenever I see them it's like a small family reunion. I'm looking forward to their future projects and I really hope they come back with an album soon. I miss them I guess.

What am I gonna wear today? My favourite colours to wear are red, white and black, often together. Red for me really jumps out and will look like the "bigger" colour when compared to other colours. I have a sweet pair of red jeans I thrifted quite recently and I might pair it with a band shirt. What about Paramore? That could work. I'll wear my ¡Dos! Converse to go with it.

Back to the shampoo for a minute. I like it. It's quite smooth to apply to my hair and washes out like a dream. It doesn't over-bubble and is the first shampoo in a while that hasn't irritated the eczema on my hand. The history of shampoo is a funny one. Apparently the current "concept" of shampoo originates from India. People in the subcontinent started to use a variety of Ayurvedic extracts (so a type of herb) to rinse their hair. The earliest effective shampoo was made from boiling something called "soapberries" with dried Indian gooseberry and the strained extract would be used. The word shampoo comes from the Hindi "champo" which came from the Sanskrit word "chapayati" which means "to soothe".

At some point, a Bengali traveller called Sake Dean Mahomed introduced the concept of shampooing to England. He had an Irish wife, therefore I automatically like him. They opened what is called a shampoo masseur bath in Brighton. From here, English hair stylists would boil soap shavings in water and give them fragrant herbs to wash locks. This wasn't really ideal though because hair would, over time, get an unhealthy film.