I've been asked more than once, "Did you know that red hair and blue eyes is the rarest combination?" Yes. Yes, I did. How did I know? Because I've heard this same spiel one hundred times, and I've only been a redhead for about six months.

  I am not a real ginger.

  Let me rephrase that -- Unfortunately for my dad's wallet, I am not a real ginger. (Keeping up with red hair is expensive.)

  I used to be the brilliant brunette with many blonde moments, who was voted "loudest voice" among her classmates. Now I'm the genius ginger... who still has blonde moments... who always sits in back and rarely speaks to those she's not friends with. But the personality change is a story for another chapter...

  Before I go on, I just want to say I have the most amazing hairstylist in the world. Okay.

  My friend (who for anonymity purposes I'm going to refer to as Felicia -- because she reminds me of Felicia Day) has natural red hair. I have always been so jealous of her in that aspect. I've wanted red hair since I was six, and that came from a love of my Irish roots. When I was thirteen, my friend (who I call Blondie) introduced me to the TV show Supernatural, where I instantly fell in love with Felicia Day's character, Charlie Bradbury (and by that means, Felicia Day as well). Which brings me back to my love of her gorgeous red hair. For some reason, I just really like redheads & gingers.

  So, in eighth grade, I convinced my parents to let me get my hair dyed... It didn't go over too well.

  The first time I tried, my mom took me to the salon where we normally got our haircuts done. The lady there was really nice, but in all honesty, I don't think she had a frickin' clue in the world what she was doing. She got the dye all over my face & shirt, and it didn't even come out red because my natural hair was so dark. Now my brown hair had a violet tint to it, and it just looked really crappy. And even though it turned out horribly, we still had to pay her $60.

  On the second go, I took my friend's advice and tried using one of the drug store 'd.i.y.' brands. I chose a burgandy color that I thought would look similar to my friend Felicia's over my brown hair. My mom helped me put the dye on and I waited. Once I had completed all the instructions I looked at my hair in the mirror. Oh, no. My hair looked no different. There wasn't even a reddish tint on it. I was so upset I started to cry.

  Finally, I convinced my mom to call a professional salon that my dad had recommended (he works for an air & heating/refrigeration place, & fixed their air conditioner on more than one occasion). The wonderful employees are always so nice, and they did a great job. I got my ginger hair two days before I started my new school and most people thought it was natural. Yeah, sure, I get lots of ginger jokes -- souless and all that jazz; but to tell the truth, I got accused of being souless before I dyed my hair.

  So... I guess the whole point of this chapter is that I'm not really ginger.

  And originally, I wanted to dye my hair blue...