Awkward Hair... Kinda Care

Well, this schedule of new content every Friday is already turning out to be trickier than I thought. I wrote a long post a few days ago, but (after some reflection) I decided I hated it, and that you all would hate, so I scrapped it. Yep, literally just deleted the whole thing. So, here we go again!

The original post was about my hair and the difficulties I have been facing lately. I'm still facing those difficulties, and this post will still be about my hair. As I wrote the original one and read it, it just fell flat. It was boring and it also sounded like I was just whining and complaining. I don't want you to think I'm a whiner. Or a complainer. So rather than lament about the state of my hair, I will just try to describe the hilarity that is happening with it at the moment!

I'll start at the abbreviated beginning. Except for a miserable time in 4th grade at the age of 9, I've always had long hair. I've always considered it my best feature. I've never found myself to be extraordinarily attractive-- I suffer from bad skin and acne, I'm average height, have to wear glasses, and had really crooked teeth as a kid (I was even "that" kid that had to wear an embarrassing head-gear...not just at night, but during the day. At school. And if you don't know what a head-gear is, you lived a blessed childhood!) Now that I'm an adult, I still suffer from bad skin and acne, I'm still of average height, I still wear glasses, but my teeth are perfect!

Me with awesome purple hair!

Despite all these physical "obstacles" (I will concede I'm a good looking person, but I'm no runway- or super-model by any means), my hair has always been awesome. Long, thick, healthy, and just about every color that's possible to have your hair. Although in retrospect I find this exchange to be a lot creepier than I did at the time, I once had a boy in high school look me dead in the eyes and told me to "Never cut your hair. Never." When I sort of chuckled and assured him I hadn't planned on getting it cut, he again stated, "just never cut your hair." Yikes. Again, much creepier in adulthood, looking back!

Still, I didn't lie to him. I never did cut my hair short. Well...sort of.

You see, four years ago, I did decided to cut my hair short. Very short. All shaved off, in fact. But only half!

Where did all that hair go?? Photo by Greg Inda

Yes, I decided to get a "side-shaved" haircut, and it's 100% that best style I've ever had. I loved it so much. It really felt like the most authentic me! During the side-shave time, the color changed a bit (first a dark brown, then bright purple, then red), but the style remained. Everyone complimented it-- friends, strangers, co-workers. It really was the best!

But I must now sadly announce that I am letting it grow out. After four years, it has now been about five months since it was last shaved. It's not a decision I wanted to make, but one I felt like I needed to. Because my hair is so long, it's going to take a long time for the shaved part to grow out to be able to catch up. Probably two years. Conveniently, I have about two years left in school. I guess I kind of need my hair to look more "professional" for the job that I will be going after as soon as I graduate. I could have continued to shave it while still in school, but since the only way to really even it out would be to shave all of it off and start fresh... well, there's NO way I would ever do that. That boy from high school wouldn't hear of that!

Super awkward short hair AND super awkward face.

Right now, it's super awkward. The short side is all shaggy and sticks up in weird places. It's getting harder to slick it down with hair products, but I'm still fighting with it and figuring out how to make myself look presentable. I haven't had my hair cut or trimmed on the long side since *last* January. It is so long, down to my hip bone! It's crazy. I also can't really afford a haircut at this time, so the ends are a little frizzed. The last two times I performed (both for "That's a Wrap!" filming and my last burlesque show) I resorted to wearing wigs. (Fortunately, I own many wigs, but they kind of hurt after having to wear a wig cap for a long time.)

Extreme length on the other side. You can't even fully appreciate
the length in photographs. But trust me, it's long!

There is good news, though! So... I'm actually not really ready to give up the side-shave completely. My new goal is to fully grow out the short side now to then get another side-shave, but just much more subtle! Previously, it really was half my head (as seen in photos above). But I think I need to let it all grow out, and keep a good portion of long hair on the right side of my hairline part, and shave underneath. It will look more natural, more subtle, and more professional. I've already been searching for photo examples on what I want.

Example of a more subtle side-shave.
 I have no idea who this is, but she's awesome!

Check back in two years when I can finally accomplish this new goal!! Or maybe not! Who knows, once it's all grown out, I may just like to leave it all long. Until then, I'm planning to dye my hair again, probably go back to all black. I'll let you know how it goes in this continuing "Awkward Hair" saga.

Site Features, Updates, & More

My second post! Another milestone we've reached together, dear readers. I was going to make a post today with an amusing story about my hair, but instead I think I'll cover what my plan is for the blog and point out some featured pages I've created! You will, hopefully, still find this entry enjoyable and informative. (And don't worry-- the story of my hair will likely appear next week!)

My goal is to update and have a new post every Friday. It's a reasonable goal, to be sure. But if I'm going to be completely honest, I may not always hit that mark. If I fail to update on certain Fridays, it's very likely to do with the non-performance side of my life. You see, the life that belongs to _______ is, as I said in my first post, a lot less exciting than Ramona's life. Ramona dances, makes costumes, performs, acts in television shows and movies. But ______ .... well, she's back in school getting her second degree.

Look, I even have a notebook for all my ideas!

As much as I love school (and what I am studying is absolutely fascinating and would probably blow your mind), I don't really want to talk about it on here. This decision saddens me because it really is interesting and would be a ton of great material for blogging. But since my initial goal was to create the persona/stage name of Ramona to keep my two lives separate, I am going to honor my own plan. So while I may not write about school or what I'm studying, just know that at times it can keep me busy and it's something I need to focus on. (Of course, if we're actual "IRL" friends, as the kids say, feel free to ask me about what I'm doing in school. It's kind of crazy!)

*          *          *

So last night as I was creating this page, I decided I wanted to make it a sort of website as well. Primarily it is a blog, for sure. But I thought it might be helpful to have some menus at the top directing readers to various pages with other, non-blog stuff. So far, I have three pages in addition to the main home page, which contains the real blog posts. I encourage you to check them out, especially the---

Videos, Films, etc. Page!

This page contains quick blurbs and descriptions along with embedded videos of some of the projects I've been in or worked on. Now again, these can all be found at the top of the page, just under the blog title. Just click on the menu tab, and bam! It will take you there.

The first two films posted were made by my friend Mary. You can thank Mary because she is the one who encouraged me to start this blog because she loves reading blogs! And she's also a blogger herself! You can find her's by clicking this link right HERE. But more than that, you really should watch the two films I have embedded, as well as the other films on her YouTube Channel. I promise there will likely be future collaborations between us as well as me showing up in her new films. Mary is also my cosplay partner and collaborator, so, really, you should get to know her now because you will be hearing a lot more about her!

Social Media Sites

This page is super straight forward. I am on Facebook and Instagram. If we're not friends in real life (like we haven't met face-to-face), please don't be offended if I don't accept your Friend Request on Facebook. I do post some "friends only" stuff, but I try to make my performance related events and other stuff available publicly. Facebook has an option to "Follow" someone (rather than send a Friend Request), and I encourage you to do this.

As for Instagram, I believe that is a public page, so I allow anyone to start following me! My feed there gets most exciting around C2E2 time here in Chicago (C2E2 = Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo) because I am working on cosplays and then going to the con in the cosplays. So you can expect a lot of photos. You can also expect to see a lot of pictures of my dog and cat. Deal with it. And for those of you who are just here for the burlesque photos... I don't often post what are known as "pasty shots," but if I do, they are always exclusively on Instagram.

About Ramona Mourir

I hope this one hardly needs an explanation. But basically, it's a performer bio. Very straight forward. Check it out. It also contains a couple of links to groups that I perform with regularly, so check out those as well!

See... it's legit. Blog Ideas.

Alright, I think that brings this post to a close. Since today is Friday, I have already succeeded in keeping to the schedule in my first week. I will return next Friday (or sooner... who knows...) with an actual story post. Hope to see you then!

Goodbye for now! Me (center) onstage at Motoblot 2014

Welcome to My Blog!

Greetings! Welcome to the blog of performer Ramona Mourir!

UPDATE: On January 18, 2018, I was diagnosed with Invasive Ductal Carcinoma, otherwise known as Breast Cancer, at the age of 33. In the past I have been a horrible blogger, but in an effort to keep my friends and family up-to-date with my progress and journey through this mess, I will be writing about my cancer and treatment here. And hopefully it can serve as a resource to other young women who are going through the same thing. (I'll probably still blog about random things from time to time as well, so it won't be all doom and gloom.) Thank you for your support! Original post is still below.

January 2015, photography by Greg Inda

It's been a long time since I've had a blog, and I've never had one under my performance persona. But don't worry, the "character" of Ramona Mourir is honestly really just me, the actual girl behind the name. That's right. Spoiler Alert -- Ramona is not my actual legal name. It is a stage name, a nom de plume, and performance character, if you will. 

I've always been a performer. I started dancing and performing when I was four years old, and although there have been times here and there throughout my life when I wasn't active in some form of creative arts, I like to think I'm a "lifer." When I created the stage name and character of Ramona in 2012, it was simply to perform burlesque and a way to keep my stripper life and my normal life separate. 

Now, that's not to say that I'm embarrassed or try to hide the fact that I make money by taking off my clothes; I'm not and I don't. My family (yes, even my parents) is very supportive of all my theatrical and dance projects, including burlesque. They have seen me perform in ballet shows and they've seen me take off my clothes in front of a theatre full of people. However, I recognize there are some people that may not appreciate the art for what it is, and also my real legal name wasn't very exciting to be shouted out by an emcee. I mean, Lady Gaga sounds a lot cooler than Stefani Germanotta, right? Same principle with Ramona. 

My very first performance with Original Tease in 2013.
I don't even do this act anymore! Photo by Pez Photo

Over the past few years, I started asking to be credited as Ramona on other things too, not just burlesque performances. I acted and worked on a couple of independent television shows, took part in some short films by my friends, and started figure modeling. My life as Ramona was a lot more exciting than my life as ______, so eventually I even deactivated my regular social media pages and started to exclusively present myself online and in my creative projects as Ramona Mourir! 

So, that is where we find ourselves now! If you are here, reading my blog, that likely means you either know me or are familiar with my performances and other projects. And hopefully this blog will keep you entertained with posts and stories about the projects I have worked on or am currently working on. I hope to cover burlesque stuff, modeling, cosplay, and other performances, as well as just talk about some of the things I love to do, watch, and read. I might even have a few regular "segments" focusing on some particular hobbies or amusing anecdotes!

Thanks for stopping by and reading! As I finish typing this, it will be the first post on this site and I'll also mark it as the first post that should be read by new viewers. So right now (as of January 5, 2017), there's nothing else to read. But maybe you're in the future! And it's years later, and I've made hundreds of posts (because I will obviously diligently and faithfully update this blog on a regular basis...of course). If so, now that we've been properly introduced, go check out the archive and all that there is.

~ Ramona

Also from January 2015, by Greg Inda