Crappy Customer Service

Keep Fucking That Chicken!

December 17 – Lesson Learned. What was the best thing you learned about yourself this past year? And how will you apply that lesson going forward?

It's something I keep on learning:  That you must come out of your own shell.  If you don't raise your hand and speak up, nothing important will ever be said by you.  I watched this great TED talk on why there aren't more women leaders and I was nodding along the entire time. 

December 18 – Try. What do you want to try next year? Is there something you wanted to try in 2010? What happened when you did / didn’t go for it?

A friend of mine once told me that she was amazed by my fearlessness.  She noticed that I would shrug and take on any task, no matter how ridiculous or intimidating, and if I failed, it didn't seem to be the end of the world.  Of course she only sees me from the outside - on the inside, I am kicking myself in the ass every moment and chickening out a million times.  But I have learned to give the negative self-talk little importance when the chips are down! 

Again, I am doing something I am intimidated by next year (Financial Accounting).  I am going to try and not listen to my negative self-lecture about that.

December 19 – Healing.

What healed you this year? Was it sudden, or a drip-by-drip evolution? How would you like to be healed in 2011?

Huh?  Um...what healed me?  Well, I always say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.  But Mr. W and I went for physicals this year as a part of preparing to join the gym.  I am disgusted to report that, in spite of all his unhealthy habits, Mr. W is healthy as a horse, whereas I, the careful one, have to watch my shit.  But it was nice to see that we are basically fairly healthy at a certain age.

December 20 – Beyond Avoidance. What should you have done this year but didn’t because you were too scared, worried, unsure, busy or otherwise deterred from doing? (Bonus: Will you do it?)

What kind of people do they think are answering these questions?  A bunch of super busy scaredy cats?  People not "living" their "authentic" "lives"?  I think these guys watch too much Oprah. 

The one thing I didn't do enough was garden.  By the time the season rolled around, I was back at work and too busy.  But I should've taken a half-hour to weed and water in the evenings so I could enjoy it more.  I know I won't have much time to do it this year either, between school and work.  I do miss it.

A Question

Mr. W and I have both been attending a health club since the end of August. We also take our evening meals together. Overall my diet is much healthier than his, since I have no Pepsi habit.

So, is it wrong for me to be a bit cheesed when we weigh ourselves and find that he has lost 11 pounds and I have gained 3? "You're gaining muscle," he says. The universe conspires against me, say I. Who is right?

Wherein The Author Takes Personal Pride In Her Extreme Density

Mr. W and I re-joined our old gym last weekend.  Life got in the way of workouts about seven years ago and it's just re-settled itself at a point where we can afford membership, both in time and money.

And first but not least - the dreaded body assessment.  They don't just weigh you or pinch your skin anymore.  They had a machine that measured my total non-fat mass, fat mass and liquid mass.  And as I've been saying for years...

my "ideal" BMI is 25 lbs. over the total weight of my non-fat mass, ie. my bones, blood, skin, hair & other organs plus 25 lbs. equals my "ideal" BMI.  If that was the case I'd be near death, trust me.  I've always known BMI was a total piece of crap - now I have my personal statistics to prove it.

And I have a piece of paper that officially tells the world I'm big-boned!

Briefs

• Things are settling in nicely at work, although I am having to get used to not working at a crisis-level breakneck pace; I figure it'll take about a year.

• I bought these Goody Hair Things to try for an up-do decent enough to be seen outside the confines of my yard.

• Don't be scared about the scary scary headlines in your local paper about the deregulation of electricity rates in our province, because most of your bill is fixed delivery rates.

• Hot/cold cycles this spring have made my garden pretty blah by killing the delicate flower buds.

• I am the last person in the world to get an iPod touch...which I managed to finally justify with my bus commute.

In Which I Talk About Makeup, Because No One In My Real Life Will Talk About It With Me.

Dreamdust writes about discovering proper makeup at the department store counter and watching online tutorials.  I've been thinking about the same thing lately.

Like others, cosmetics store counters intimidate the hell out of me.  I am good at applying my own makeup but am generally a minimalist.  I feel lost in front of a thousand choices.  I have a good set of brushes, I just needed some help picking foundation, which I have never ever done right in my entire adult life. 

I am a hard skin tone match.  I have freckles, so I'm actually about a thousand skin tones, so even if one matches the other 999 look like crap.  Also I have rosacea that needs covering.  And I'm oily so the cheap makeup vanishes in about half an hour, even if I don't touch my face.  Where does it go?   I dunno.  I imagine my liver is full of mineral powder.

I visited the MAC store in Vegas since I had the free time.  A nice man helped me.  The idea of a man in the cosmetics store made me a little skittish.  What's a man doing there? I thought.  But then I thought that was terribly sexist of me.  He picked the exact correct shade and weight of foundation I needed after looking at me for about ten seconds.  I have been looking at my own face for 37 years and I couldn't do it, so I guess I'm eating my words.

Face and Body Foundation has very light coverage and is sweat-resistant.  It sticks to my face and doesn't give me that OMG-makeup look that I hate on anyone.  Plus they had the shade I needed for my very cool pink tone, which is wonderful.  The broads (& dudes!) at the local Sephora wouldn't give me the time of day, so MAC gets my business for the foreseeable future.

And whatever you do, if you don't have hours to spare, DON'T go looking at makeup tutorials on Youtube.  You will disappear from your life.

Mood: Raw, Sore, Grouchy. Wishing for Spring.

It's kinda funny what brings the traffic to one's website, isn't it?  Apparently I wasn't the only one pissed off with Westjet.  Mr. W has put in a claim for our missing hygiene products, and we'll see how it goes. 

In the meantime the entire city has been sick this week, including me.  My class was cancelled...my work was down about 30% of its staff...and everyone is miserable.  Business as usual for an Edmontonian February with two weeks of cloudy skies.  I have coughed myself into a headache. 

I missed half a day of work and the planet damn near cracked apart.  What the heck are they going to do if I get a new job?

I love being busy, and I enjoy being essential - but there's a line that shouldn't be crossed.  Am I the only one that feels this way?

Going Natural - Just Like Tyra Banks!

Listen, my hair is not a subject of conversation that interests anyone but myself.  I understand that, so I'll keep my discussion on the subject as brief as possible.

I mentioned a couple of months back that I'd reached a high level of frustration as to what to do about my weird hair.  I surfed the Internet for answers out of sheer desperation.  I remembered discovering the amazing Oil Cleansing Method through the long hair forum so I thought maybe those guys will have some ideas.

I found naturallycurly.com on my journey back.  My hair is not curly, just badly behaved, so I started reading and reading...for like a week.  There was a vast cavern of useful information on what the fuck to do with your hair when you're at your wits' end.  I have since begun to adhere to some of the tenets of being a Curly Girl, including:

• Stopped using sulfate-based shampoo
• Stopped using terrycloth towels on my head
• Stopped using any products with silicone - this one's difficult and involves a patient husband standing at the end of the hair aisle while I read about 1000 bottle backs
• Started using hard-hold gel instead of hard-hold hairspray
• Using my diffuser to cup my hair as it dries

This has created quite a change.  I'm in the process of growing out extensive flatiron damage.  I also had to have my hair thinned quite a bit so I'm growing that out too.  I'm hoping in time to actually look like I give a rat's ass.

I'm Fancy

 
On the right - Lavender, Ginger
On the left - Carnation, Lemon, Sandalwood

On the weekend I found out that London Drugs is running a hella special on Roger & Gallet boxed soaps - 3 soaps for $10.99, where one soap is usually $9.  While quantities last, people!  You're going to have to shove me away from the shelf, though, because I've been on a soap buying spree.  It's not as bad as it looks because my mom asked me to pick some up for her.  Handmade soap is great but you haven't had a good experience with a bar soap until you've used triple-milled French soap.  They really know what they're doing over there.

 

Heck, it's worth it just to get the gold-foiled boxes.