Saturday, September 26, 2009

True Story

9/21/09

On my new phone, there is an application called ‘Notes’. I often use it to quickly type something that I want to remember later. Usually, I type things like the name of a song I heard on the radio that I want to look up on iTunes later. This has been the case quite a bit recently, and the other day I remembered that I had two Notes in my phone and I hadn’t yet looked up those songs. I unlocked my screen, clicked the conveniently located ‘Notes’ button, and up popped THREE Notes. The first two were songs I had wanted to look up, but the third was something strange…
The time stamp had that day’s date ‘9/17/09’ and then even weirder: ‘12:35 AM’. “Why, I was asleep last night at 12:35,” I thought, “What could I possibly have written in my sleep?” I opened it and this is what it said:
“The giant moth that I was too scared/lazy to catch before trying to sleep is such a little busy-body. I hear it flitting about my entire room. I swear if I were to turn on my light, it would be reading my journal or something else obnoxious. Also, I don’t know what my pillow case is made of, but it sucks.”
Reading my journal? Really?
True Story.

P.S. The aforementioned giant moth is now dead in my windowsill. Life goes on…

Cakesters

9/1/09

“I want to eat Oreo Cakesters when I’m on my death bed,” I thought to myself, as I lay in bed eating Oreo Cakesters….

Happy Birthday to Me

8/21/09

20 Meaningful and Meaningless Things I LOVE about Life:
1. The Gospel, of course
2. My Family
3. My Best Friend
4. My Curly Hair! Even though I complain about it a lot…
5. My tan
6. My car
7. My lappy toppy, Baby ThinkPad
8. Animals
9. Blue Gatorade: does the body good
10. VS Bikinis
11. My Job
12. My somewhat gangly body
13. PCA
14. My future children
15. My future in general
16. Lasagna
17. Air conditioners
18. The beach
19. Christmas
20. Babies

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Last Week

7/25/09
Today I saw a woman who was apparently homeless, as she was holding a cardboard “Trust me, I’m homeless” type of sign and accepting cash from someone out of their car window. As I reached into my purse to find my wallet, my eyes surveyed the dirt pile she was headed back to with her wad of money...and there I saw her Chanel purse. She had it sitting in plain sight right next to the spot where she was bummin’ for cash. Are. You. Kidding. Me. ?. She made no effort to hide it. She just had it sitting next to her. Umm…I’ve had a job for nearly 8 years now, and I can’t afford a Chanel bag. I must be in the wrong business. But more appalling than that was the fact that people were obviously falling for her trickery. I witnessed a woman handing her cash. YIKES.
Also, Tova owns a mug that says “Dear God, Friends are Forever”
Here’s a good mug: “Dear Tova, you have an affinity for weird junk”

“Look for the ridiculous in everything and you will find it.” –Jules Renard
The End.

Forgiveness and Such

I would like to recount a story.
I grew up with a boy named Bill. He was in several of my classes in school throughout the years and so we knew each other fairly well. He was different, to say the least. He was constantly changing his name, his hair, his clothing style, his music preferences, etc, etc. We also all speculated that he was gay. But that doesn’t pertain to this story. Anyways, he seemed to be troubled, and I can recall that he was usually the subject of ridicule. Now, I’m a pretty nice gal. And I have no recollection of ever being mean to him. In fact, I remember standing up for him on several occasions. I was always one for fighting injustices, I like to think. But during our 6th grade, a year in which Bill happened to be in my class, it was discovered that he had made a lengthy hit list entitled “People I would like to make disappear”, and my name was on the list! I couldn’t believe it! Bill was suspended from school and after that I think everyone shied away from him a little more than usual. Well, the next two years went by without incident and then we were all off to high school. I do not remember whether or not Bill went to my high school, that’s how little thought I gave to him. By then we were all over the strange things he’d done and we were moving on to bigger things. I never saw Bill or heard anything about him until… About a month ago, Evan and I went to Macy’s to get some new work clothes before his month long business trip. We were spending a considerable amount of time there because he needed a ton of stuff and we had our own private room with a fashion consultant (named Lugman…) if we needed him, and so we were taking advantage of being able to bring hoards of clothes and shoes into the room, and put together outfits and such. Well, as I scampered about the store finding different sizes of things for Evan, I noticed an employee who looked really familiar. I kept thinking to myself that the guy looked a lot like Bill, but I really couldn’t be sure. The guy kept looking at me too, but I couldn’t tell if he was just weird, or if he thought he recognized me too. So anyways, after we had picked out all of the clothes Evan needed, we went over to the belt department to see if there was anything good. Standing there was that same guy, and his nametag read ‘Robert’. And I knew right then that it was Bill! His real name was Robert, he just chose to go by Bill… who knows why. So he looked at me and said, “So you were just going to leave without saying Hi?” and I’m like, “Hey Bill…how’ve you been?” So we carried on with the small talk for an awkward minute and then I went on my way and helped Evan pick out a belt. And that was that. Now, my first reaction to him saying that to me was, “Wow Bill, sorry for not knowing you didn’t want me dead anymore and it was acceptable to speak to you……” But, upon reflection, I’ve come to a different conclusion (or three).
Morals of the story:
(1) Don’t assume that just because someone used to wish you were dead, they don’t want you to say hi to them.
(2) Be extra nice to people who may possibly consider putting your name on their hit list.
(3) And most important, just apologize. Even if you don’t think you did anything offensive. Just say you're sorry. For all I know, Bill may have been tormented not only at school, but at home as well. I could have been a ray of sunshine in his life, but instead, he wished I would disappear. That is sad. I should have said I was sorry.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Two Things

1) I’m desperate for Holly to give birth. I just want to meet this baby soo bad. I know he’s going to be precious and delightful and adorable, and I just want to know what his little face looks like and what his cheeks feel like when I slurp them like pudding. I can’t imagine what it must be like for Holly, lugging him around with her for the past nine months, but still not fully knowing who he is.

2) Baby, Baby, Baby. “The baby couldn’t be cuter,” I remarked yesterday. But yesterday I was a fool, for today she is somehow even cuter.


Stephenie...

07/21/09
Thanks to the summer death heat, no one is around the outdoor shopping center in which TB&WC lies. Which means no clients. Which means I’ve been doing a lot of reading. I just finished The Host by Stephenie Meyer and I absolutely loved it! It was sooo much more romantic than I expected. It definitely wasn’t very Twilight-esque, but she is so good at making you fall in love with characters (mainly man characters) and pulling you in so that you never want to put the book down and you feel like you lost some friends when you finish reading it, that it reminded me of Twilight in that sense.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Wednesday, Thursday, Happy Days!

Wednesdays and Thursdays fill me with joy. Hope, my roommate at work, uses the room those days and I fill those days with sunshine and salt water. I figure that since I will never have another summer vacation as long as I’m a working woman (and I’m only going to stop working to have babies…aka vacation ruiners) I should take advantage of my mid-week 2 day break and use it as my vacation time. I go to Marine street beach every week, and am sporting a pretty decent tan (for an esthetician). I know it’s bad that I allow myself to bake, especially since I know the great effort my little melanocytes make to keep me safe from the sun’s harmful rays, but I just love being tan. Sorry little melanin friends.

Specs

Oh yes, I got glasses.
If I were Stephenie Meyer I would leave the next several pages blank for a more dramatic effect. But I’m not Stephenie Meyer.
I started to realize several months ago that my eyeballs were being ridiculous. It was like when I would try to focus on something new, they would scramble to see what I was directing them at. I felt like a cartoon with my swiveling eyes. So long story short, I went to the optometrist and he told me that I’m far sighted. Perfect. So I got a prescription and some cute frames, and now I’m rocking glasses.

Tova's Beautique & Wellness Dungeon

My boss, Tova, is a white Jewish woman from South Africa. I don’t know if it’s because of where she’s from, or if she’s just a miser, but that woman does not run the air conditioner. Ever. She prefers to keep the front door open. So that the cool breezes that don’t exist in Rancho San Diego can blow in. I’m a Browning, which means I sweat. Sweat+Makeup=not so cute.

Socially Inept...

07/06/09
I’ve always been aware that I am somewhat lacking when it comes to social situations. I find I often say awkward things and then I tuck myself away in a corner somewhere until I can slip away unseen and get in my little car, Ruby, and drive to the safety of my home. (Even keeping a journal is slightly horrifying because it requires sharing what’s in my head). I knew when I started Esthetician school that my ineptitude would be something I would probably need to work on, since I was getting myself into a profession that requires marketing, and meeting, and introducing, and talking, and blah blah blah. Tons of scary things like that. So I worked on it…a little bit, at least, and figured that the rest would just have to come naturally...this is not the case. I’m nowhere near being as extroverted as I’d like, and I prove that to myself over and over again just about everyday.
I had a guy walk in to the shop one day a few weeks ago. He was a decent looking guy (dressed nicely, hair short and groomed, etc). He was obviously a business man type of guy, as he started asking me about our internet/fax/phone provider and whether or not we wanted to buy a package deal, etc, etc. Well that day, I happened to have Baby Thinkpad with me (my laptop is a somewhat old school IBM Thinkpad) and my boss had her newer laptop out sitting on the front desk next to mine. And as the man talked about our internet provider, he gestured at the two computers sitting there and referred to them as the ‘company computers’. Now, instead of explaining to him that the little beauty in front of me was my personal computer, and the other computer belonged to my boss who wasn’t in the shop at the moment, I let him tell me his whole schpeal, only because I was too awkward to open my mouth. Oh and part way through his speech he said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name…” making me realize that when he courteously introduced himself to me, I failed to introduce myself to him. I just don’t think of those things!! Finally, when he was finished, I couldn’t think of anything helpful to say, so I just gave him my boss’ business card and told him he could call her on her cell. I’m sure she appreciated that… I just wanted to get him out of there though! I didn’t know what to say! Looking back on it though, I feel like saying, DUH, to myself. How did I not know what to say? So, I’ll keep working on that social thing.

Adventures in Marketing

07/02/09
When it comes to marketing, I’m really not the type to stand on a street corner and wave a sign. I prefer a more subtle approach…such as postcards. I found a really great website called VistaPrint.com and I make all of my business things through it. They have the prettiest business cards and postcards and brochures, and they’re really affordable too. Here’s where I’m going with this though, after I’d ordered a ton of business postcards offering discounts and services and all of my information, I realized I didn’t really have anyone to send them too. I got online and looked up programs where you can buy local addresses in bulk, but I’m a little too poor for that. So I thought of a much cheaper (free), much creepier way to get addresses… I call it “drive around the neighborhoods surrounding my little shop and make a super cute ‘I must be lost…’ face as I inconspicuously scribble down addresses in the notebook I keep hidden in my lap”. It’s not my favorite thing in the world to do, but it gets the job done. I really try to make it look like I’m lost, and luckily I don’t have a mustache or anything to make me look too creepy, so I think I pull it off pretty well. But I do feel kind of odd sometimes.

Cute...

06/30/09
So, I’ve slowly been trying to make changes at Tova’s. When I began working here, the display in the window was absolutely hideous. Tova had made an arrangement of fake flowers, thrift store pottery, and a stuffed animal bear sitting on a throne. No freaking joke. That was the first thing I changed. I waited until Tova’s day off and came in and revamped it. I added pretty blue curtains, some large jewel-toned glass vases, and a candle display. A thousand times better! If I do say so myself. I am no longer embarrassed to be seen sitting at the front desk. Oh and the bear on the throne? I hid it in the depths of a dark cupboard.

Memoirs

06/28/09
Memoirs of an Esthetician
When I think of my sweet Grandma Browning, a lot of things come to mind. I could go on to list those things, but that might make me a little weepy. So instead I will cut to the chase: Grandma documented her life. Beautifully. And in that way, I would like to emulate her. So here it goes. My memoirs. Memoirs of an Esthetician.
I’ve been working as a CA Licensed Esthetician for two months now. About a week after I got my license, I made contact with a woman who went to Marinello, Hope, and she hooked me up with a pretty good job at the small wellness center she was working in. The place is called Tova’s Beautique & Wellness Center, and it’s in Rancho San Diego. I work boothrent, which means I pay the owner, Tova, to work there. Hope and I share a good sized room as well as equipment, bedding, towels, and products. The only thing we don’t share is tweezers (or so she said)…but mine go missing quite a bit.
So far, so good. Things here have been a little slow. I think it’s because the industry I work in is considered to be more of a luxury or an indulgence, and people are giving those up these days. I can see why. I haven’t had my hair cut since January. Yikes! I just can’t afford it. But I’m hoping things will pick up sometime soon. For now I just keep giving services away for free or for a very discounted price. It’s a tough time to be a small business owner.
As for my actual work, I love it. I love love love giving facials and I’m starting to enjoy waxing more. Eyebrows always make me nervous, because my client has to walk around with my work on their face until the hair grows back. Something about it makes me skittish still, but it’s getting less scary day by day. Large-surface waxing, such as backs or chests, is my favorite. There’s really nothing you can do wrong there. It also really satisfies some weird part of my OCD to see all the hair gone off a large surface. Haha…I don’t know.
When it comes to clients, I greatly appreciate all of the people from church and all of my family members who have ventured out to Rancho to see me. I don’t think they realize how much that means to me. My other clients, people I’ve taken as walk-ins or people who have responded to my local marketing, are great too. In this profession, it’s easy for people to really open up to you and tell you all about everything that’s ever happened to them. We were taught in Esty school techniques for helping people shed their problems, without taking those problems home on your own shoulders. I remember the first time I really felt someone’s burdens slip through them and into me. I was in school and I’d reached 300 hours of training, so I was out on the floor taking clients. I had a dear, sweet woman who was battling cancer come in for an aromatherapy facial. I remember feeling a little bit of her pain slip out of her as I tried to soothe her sick body. When the facial was finished, she expressed her gratitude to me, and I expressed mine to her. I felt like I’d helped, and that reassured me that I was doing what I was supposed to. That was the first time I cried after a facial. Cue the violin...

So that's my career as an esthetician thus far. More to come.