Sparkly Clips and Poofy Scrunchies.

You can watch virtually any T.V. show online these days.  And I do. There's the trashy stuff : ANTM (America's Next Top Model... and many of it's international satellite shows), Project Runway, and Biggest Loser.  And then there's the slightly less trashy shows: House, The Daily Show, and Jeopardy.

After working a run of days at work I find I can easily fill a day off with catch up episodes online.  Mini marathons. It's fantastic.

However, oftentimes I just want to watch the tube. I want to sit on the couch with a bowl of yogurt (or some other minimal effort food), flip on the T.V. and "chillax," for lack of a better word.  I want to let the great T.V. God to give me a small selection of mostly things I would never seek out online to peruse.

After 13 hours at work, this is what I wanted.  Tuesdays are usually promising.  I figured out recently that Biggest Loser is on on Tuesdays (so I can watch it "live" instead of online.)  Unfortunately, there was a basketball game on (not that I particularly dislike basketball, but really, it's no Biggest Loser).  I was so irritated that I made a point with the T.V. not to watch the game.

It's never a good sign when gymnastics on the sports channel is the winner.  But I will not complain about this. I actually like watching gymnastics.  The leotards are always so fun and bejeweled; those girls push the boundaries of where rhinestones can be worn. 

What I like most about watch gymnastics is that you can play the role of commentator and say things like, "oh, she didn't stick it.  That's going to cost her," and other nonsensical comments about how trivial things like a "wobble" on the beam will make the difference between gold and silver.

So, here's what I have a problem with.  While I do enjoy the outfits.  While I love the sparkles, bright colors, powdery chalk covering every body surface, and the elegant uniformity of the gymnasts,  I hate the hair do's.  They are such hair-don'ts!  The glittery hair clips pulling tighter a pony tail that looks like it could also function as a face lift, held up by a fluffy outdated "scrunchy."  And, to top it off, the placement is never high enough to be a true high pony (which might look cute in a childish kind of way, which those petite little girls could totally pull off) and never low enough to look dignified.  It's a travesty.  Perhaps I am watching too much ANTM and Project Runway?

So, I was commenting to my roommate that if I were an elite gymnast (because we were apparently playing the imagination gone wild game) I would never where such a gaudy statement piece. I most certainly would refrain.  And she argued that these accessories were part of the uniform, that as part of the team I would be required to partake in clips and scrunchies.

It was an Epiphany.  I suppose I assumed that these young girls had all individually chosen to wear these accessories; that each girl, in seeing gymnasts before them is similar garb, had thought to themselves, "that's a credible look, I too should were sparkly clips and colorful scrunchies."  Writing out this way has made it appear all the more ridiculous.  Of course they would never actually choose to wear those pieces.  Or would they?  What do you think?