In the seventh grade, I didn’t worry about my hairless cheeks and upper lip, even though most of my friends were beginning to shave. I knew my time would come.

Seven years later, I am a junior in college, and my facial hair situation, or lack there of, isn’t much better. I can grow some, but my once a week shaving schedule has not changed in about two years.

This has not deterred me, however, from participating in No Shave November. As an added twist on the annual tradition, some of my friends and I are shaving our beards but not our mustaches.

For some of us (or I guess some of them) this means that by the end of the month we (they) will have a full and bushy mustache. For others (me), the end of the month will be another embarrassing reminder of how incapable we are (I am) of growing respectable facial hair.

I started No Shave November in October so I could have a couple additional weeks to grow the ole ’stache. But I don’t think it has done any good. The pathetic mix of peach fuzz and occasional strand of black hair that I have cultivated is hardly noticeable.

Some do notice it, but don’t say anything because they seem to figure I forgot to shave that morning.

But I remain steadfast in my quest to grow a mustache, thick or thin, by the end of November. I still have three weeks. Who knows, maybe I’ll hit puberty within that time frame and by the end of the month have a mustache that rivals Tom Selleck’s face-wear from Magnum, P.I.