busy hands

Yesterday a friend told me something shocking.

We were talking about nail polish during a break in Trusts & Estates, and she mentioned that she'd promised her boyfriend she'd stop painting her nails.

If you ask me, that sounds a little strange.

She told me that nail polish apparently is insanely dangerous to your health and the environment. Apparently, it contains known carcinogens among other toxic ingredients.

Now I haven't done my independent research on the topic but to be safe I thought it might be a good idea to cut down on the number of times per week I paint my nails.

It started last semester. I found myself snacking like a fiend while watching Hulu before bed. Instead of snacking, I turned to painting my nails. It kept my hands busy while allowing me to pay attention to what I was watching. I was also not likely to snack after I was finished with the polish since I didn't want to smudge my new manicure. It wasn't long before I found myself repainting my nails every night.

I am inclined to believe that nail polish is harmful to my nails; I noticed that they've been rather discolored lately. Not just the usual deprived-of-oxygen yellow. Sorry that's probably too much information. But it does make me believe that I should cut back on the nail painting. The harmful to the environment part does not surprise me in the least. I mean, have you smelled nail polish? There's no way that stuff isn't harmful to the environment just based on smell alone.

So that leads me to a crucial question: what should I do instead? I have to keep my hands busy so they can't reach for the chips.

I'm leaning towards taking up knitting. From what I've heard, it's mindless once you get the hang of it. I used to cross stitch when I was little but that requires too much concentration.

In the mean time I have some research to do.