We Interrupt This Blog for an Important Notice: Men's Health

Movember mustache as of 11/5 (Guy Fawkes' Day)

My lack of posting lately has been due to a number of factors, including work being extraordinarily busy, having had the world's longest and most severe sinus infection ever (my doctor yesterday put a tube up my nose to look and actually said, "Wow, that's impressive"), and actually trying to, you know, fit in some actual geek stuff like gaming and reading comic books.

Before more regular posting resumes, I wanted to stop for a second to point out that I am participating in this year's Movember event, which is an international cause devoted to "changing the face of men's health." If you're not familiar with Movember, in a nutshell, what you do is completely shave on November 1st, and then for the rest of the month of November, you grow a mustache. No beards or goatees are allowed - mustaches only. And, while you're growing out your 'stache, you solicit charitable donations from your friends and family, all of which goes toward organizations that specialize in men's health issues, particularly focusing on prostrate and testicular cancer. You can read more about Movember here.

Movember mustache: 11/12/2012 (notice how little it's changed)

I am notoriously known among my friends for being completely unable to grow decent facial hair, as the accompanying pictures will attest. I fully believe that the ability to grow facial hair is inversely proportional to how much hair you have on top of your head. Since I am bless with a thick head of dark, wavy locks, I guess I'm okay with being unable to grow a mustache that doesn't look like what your average 12 year-old would have right after they hit puberty.

Movember mustache: 11/17/2012 (my 11 year anniversary!)

I should also point out that my wife absolutely detests facial hair on me. On our honeymoon about 11 years ago, which lasted about two weeks, I didn't shave the entire time, and when we returned home I decided to give the old facial hair thing a try. I spent the next year walking around with an odd, patchy mustache and goatee, and a very bad, untrimmed neck beard, before getting wise and shaving most of it off. Now that I work from home, I actually usually go about a week between shaving, and even that is something my wife can't stand.

Movember mustache: 11/26/2012

But, she is fully supportive of my involvement in Movember, and it's for a great cause. I know dozens of friends who have been affected by prostrate cancer in their lives, and it's an important issue for men to deal with. Given that most of my posts are about OSR gaming, and knowing the average age of most OSR gaming types, I would think this issue would be of primary importance to almost all of you, even if it's for your spouse or partner.

That said, if you'd like to donate to the cause, you can head over to my personal Movember page here and easily make a tax deductible donation. If you're strapped for cash, at least just pass the word on and maybe think about scheduling a physical with your doctor in the new year. :)

Thanks for listening, all!

Coming Up... posts about my first time playing the WH40k RPG at our Friday night gaming session a few weeks ago, my thoughts on DC's New 52 now that we're a year in, more thoughts on the current state of comics, more postings about old game shops, and more.