Fingernails

I have to admit that this is a fairly "random" type of post, but I thought it needed to be said, because I just really noticed it for the first time today.

When I was younger (most of the way through my teens), I loved the fact that I could grow really long nails completely naturally. Where other girls had to go and get fake nails, I could just grow mine out, and quickly, too. The fact that I rarely had cause to paint them is another story entirely. This period of my life was also largely before I was introduced to the joys of the computer. It was, after all, only three years ago (maybe four) that I learned how to email people. I wish I was kidding, but I can clearly remember demanding that my mother teach me how to send email.

Anyway, then junior/senior year at high school happened. In between my junior and senior year of high school, I went to a pre-college summer program. Because they thought it would be a good idea, my parents shelled out the bucks to get me a laptop (the same laptop that I'm typing this up on, as a matter of fact). That was probably when I started using a computer for more than about five minutes a day, and the usage slowly increased up from there, to the point where I can easily spend quite a few hours sitting in front of it a day.

Typing is perfectly possible if you have long nails, just mighty uncomfortable, I've found. In that respect, it's kind of like playing a guitar (which I did, briefly, possess the ability to do). You can do it, but it's a hell of a lot easier to do it with short nails.

Why did I just come to terms with this?

Well, about two weeks ago, I was about to cut my nails when I remembered how much I enjoyed having long nails, even if I did nothing with them, and so I wanted to see if I could still grow them out. Five minutes ago, right before starting this post, I cut them. It's just so much easier to type, so much quicker, and my fingers slip so much less easily off the keys than fingernails. I'm a fast typist, and having fingernails slip off keys is a very real event for me.

So maybe it's unfeminine to have nails that are incredibly short. I'm not a very girly-girl anyway, I don't wear make-up, dresses, or skirts, and I don't paint my nails. Of course, there are things that long nails are good for: untying knots, changing the time on my watch, and the like.

Ah, well. C'est la vie. Can't have everything.