Sans Makeup

I’m in the middle of something of a personal challenge right now. A very uncomfortable one, at least for me. I’m going without makeup for an entire week.

First, let me explain. The skin of my face is super, super sensitive. It’s a battle to keep it happy, no matter what I do. Makeup – even hypoallergenic, organic, natural makeup – just seems to irritate it. I want to claw and scratch by the time half the day is over. It’s not that my skin is “bad” to begin with, it’s just that every time I get a bump, the redness stays long after the bump itself is gone and so my skin tone is very blotchy due to how pale I am. I look like I’m constantly getting over the measles.

Secondly, I don’t even wear that much. I wear a concealer on the reddest spots, a powder foundation, occasionally some blush, and rarely one color of eyeshadow. I used to wear mascara but it made my eyes itch and didn’t agree with my contacts. Lately I’ve come across a couple ladies with gorgeous skin, just blooming with life and vitality – and they don’t wear makeup. At all.

So I decided to give it a try. For one week, I’m only using my facial wash, toner, and moisturizer – which I admittedly would sometimes skip if I was in a hurry to get ready in the morning, probably compounding the problem. If, after one week, my skin feels significantly better (not going on looks here, since if I was slightly allergic to the products I was using it will probably take longer than a week for the skin to settle again) I will probably continue for another week.

But I’m having a self-esteem crisis. I hate going out in public. I feel like everyone is staring at my blotchy face. I feel ugly and naked. And it shouldn’t be that way. I hadn’t realized how dependent on my makeup I’d become. I’m really hoping this clears up fast, so I can swear off makeup forever. I’d much rather have enough of a natural, healthy glow to not have to worry about it. At the moment, though…I want a paper bag.

End of the Month of Mail!

Here are the last few days of mail I sent for the Month of Mail Challenge. I enjoyed it and will do it again!

February 27: a letter to a penpal in Canada.

February 28: Postcrossing card US-1564063.

February 29: a thank you note for a birthday gift.

Happy Things

* Mornings when I don’t have to leave before 8 am.
* Working with awesomely positive people.
* Leftover snow on the ground, but clear roads.
* Sunshine!
* Opening my mailbox and finding interesting (I.e., not bills or credit card applications) things.
* Books in an organized library.
* Seeing snow-covered mountains on the way to work.

Second Week of Mail

In spite of being sick with some dreadful combination of nasties (bronchitis, sinusitis, and laryngitis, according to the doctor) that had me wishing to die (almost), I managed to get something mailed for every postal day this week. Well, ok…the postcard that was supposed to be mailed on the 10th went out on the 11th because when I went to put it in the box, the postman had surprised me and ran early. But it still counts, at least to me.

February 6: A letter to a long-time friend.

February 7: A thank you note to my grandmother.

February 8: A postcard to my little brother, because he likes football and I like Norman Rockwell. He’ll be surprised. This particular pictures is VERY bad because it’s a cell phone pic taken in a hurry, because I had almost forgotten. Hehe.

February 9: Birthday card for my mother-in-law. The inside says, “Huh. You don’t LOOK older!”

February 10: Postcrossing again! Postcard ID: US-1534653. Another lovely autumnal picture. I really ought to learn how to just scan these in, they would turn out much clearer.

February 11: And another. Postcard ID: US-1535921.

*sneeze *

*dusts blog off *

Shopping Hints for the Holidays (i.e., how NOT to annoy your salesclerk)

1. Stop using my fragrance testers as deodorant. If you need to smell better that badly, they won’t help.
2. Do not pretend you can’t speak English until a price rings up “wrong,” and then tell me in perfectly comprehensible language that it should be free.
3. Is that your kid over there? The one banging the glass doors on the jewelry armoire? You are responsible for payment. Just so you know. “He’s too young to understand” won’t hold water.
4. Don’t ignore my “good morning” as if you didn’t hear me (while looking right at me), then demand to see something ten seconds later.
5. Smile, and think about it. It’ll make you feel better.
6. DO NOT let your kids have cologne wars while you haggle with me over a price. It will make me much, much less likely to help you out, as I’ll have a sore throat for 2 days afterwards.
7. Don’t steal. And if you do, take your old crap with you. Do you have any idea how gross it is to find someone else’s used underwear in the dressing room, beside the new tags from the ones you decided to wear out of the store?
8. Be happy you have family to buy gifts for.
9. Get used to waiting. You are not the Queen, and even if you were, I would make you wait in line. There is only one of me (sometimes two). No, I will not cut off my jewelry customer to check out the clothes you brought over from the womens’ section so you could avoid the line there. It’s the holiday season, and you and everyone else waited until now to do your gift shopping.  Suck it up. Bring a book. Listen to our oh-so-lovely Christmas music, courtesy Taylor Swift and Celine Dion.
10. Be grateful you have the money to buy the gifts.
11. Say thank you, but only if you mean it. I’ve done this enough I can spot a snarky thank-you ten miles away. Yeah, I can suck it up too, but still.
12. Don’t accuse me of lying about the number of Kitchen-Aid mixers we have in stock. I’m sorry we’re out and you didn’t get the doorbuster, but life will go on. So will the line. Excuse me, please.
13. Don’t hand your four-year-old daughter the earrings I just pulled out of the case for you. And especially don’t let her make a mad dash across the store with them. I will call security to scare some morality into her, since you apparently won’t.
14. Remember that the holiday season isn’t all about the gifts…it’s about loving your friends and family, celebrating life and hope and good will to all – and that includes your friendly salesclerk!

Community Service Only Counts if It’s Religiously Oriented?

(Warning: the following post is rated R for language.)

I know FB is where all the ignoramuses of the world go to hang out, but really? An acquaintance of mine asked in her status for opinions as to what counted as community service, and the examples given were all religious, as in being a Sunday school teacher or director or volunteering for a church function.

What. The. Fuck.

Excuse me? What if the person in question isn’t religious at all? Or what is they’re Muslim and would like to volunteer at a mosque? I would bet a paycheck on the person who gave the religious examples balking at that idea. “But we were founded as a Christian nation!” You can go to hell. That point could be argued for hours and no one would succeed in convincing the other person that their view was wrong (and this post is not meant to open that discussion, so take your flaming elsewhere). The bottom line for community service should be, does it benefit humanity in general? I don’t care if it wins you points with your deity of choice or not.

Anyway, I know that most communities do have other options for community service, I am just rather outraged that the idea that service has to be religious still exists. How about animal shelters? Or literacy centers? Or soup kitchens (some of which are non-faith-oriented)? And on, and on. There are so many more ways to contribute and give back to your community that don’t involve shoving your religion down anyone’s throat.

Lots of straws breaking this camel’s back today…back to your usual, mild-mannered, generally child-safe posting at a later date.

Spoiled Puppy, You Are

I’ve mentioned here recently that my dog has been sick. He’s had some sort of stomach/intestinal problem that the vet wanted to bring him in and run tests on, but honestly…don’t have the money right now. So we did antibiotics, and I’m trying something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, just didn’t have the motivation for – a raw canine diet, mostly as described in Natural Remedies for Dogs and Cats, by CJ Puotinen and using some of the ideas from Whole Dog Journal. Timmy is 10 and a half years old, a very good lifespan for a golden retriever (especially one of his size – he’s slightly underweight at 85 pounds), but I’d really like to have him around a lot longer.

Anyway, for the past few weeks he’s had nothing but fresh meat and some fruits and veggies. Yesterday morning I was out of everything (grocery run…uuuuggh), so I gave him what used to be his usual scoop of dry dog food. I put it down in the dish and he looked at it, then back up at me with the most shocked expression a dog can muster. And barked. Very loudly. Very indignantly. I laughed. I apologized. But I didn’t have anything else to give him, so he eventually allowed the affront and ate it.

Can you blame me for spoiling that face?

Could you resist?

New LotRO Systems (or, Grow UP, People!)

Indulge me in (yet another) rant. If you aren’t the least bit interested in gaming or LotR, you can probably skip this post.

So Turbine, the developer of the LotRO MMO, launched a new free-to-play (F2P) version of the game on Wednesday. Actually, it was available late Tuesday evening to anyone who had previously played the game either as a subscriber or Beta tester. Everyone else will be able to play starting Friday.There were scads of threads in the LotRO forums about what to expect with the huge overhaul, as well as detailed FAQs and comparison charts on the LotRO website. Also, PLEASE note – unless you were still playing the game as a subscriber, you are now playing FREE. Yes, there are things you have to buy in the store using Turbine points, blah blah. Well, duh. Turbine is a for-profit company. They can’t just hire all these developers and engineers and then release ALL the game content for free. This isn’t a charity cause.

That said, I am astonished and horrified at the number of whiners and douchebags that have come out of the woodwork, griping and bitching about how the servers weren’t up yet (on…Tuesday? when the official Head Start wasn’t supposed to be released until Wednesday?), they can’t get a download, their Turbine Points balances weren’t right – which was also explained via forums and website, subscribers would get their points ON THEIR PAYMENT DATE. Geez. I’m a NEW subscriber, and I was prepared for this. Some of these folks have been playing for months. Then the number of people complaining about what they have to pay for, bashing Turbine on Turbine’s facebook page, etc.

Yes, there have been some hiccups and issues that I hope will be resolved in future updates to the game (like “dynamic layers” i.e., public instancing – laaaaame, especially for RPers), overall I have had no real problems. I’ve played for hours since the update. No, I don’t like the new character creation page. It looks cheesy and cheap. But you know what? You only look at it for about 10 seconds when you log in, or however long it takes you to create a character for the first time. They also completely tore apart the community site, including forums and blogs, and without any warning – which, while I’m not much a part of, seems really bad for business and community, especially if the problems with the my.lotro blogs is as big as the forums say…but I digress.

Chill out, people. Of course there are going to be bugs. It was a ginormous update. Turbine is, as said before, a for-profit company. It is in their best interest to keep their customer base happy. They’re not going to let worms take over the game. They’re going to fix the bugs (already working on it). Posting nasty messages on FB (or repeated demands to “Fix my account!” or “Answr me plz”) is not going to help a damn thing.Turbine wants to keep its customers. LotRO may not be the biggest MMO out there, by far, but it has a decent and addicted base.

Honestly, folks? Grow up. Yes, it’s free to start. Don’t expect the ENTIRE game to be free. Read the notices posted on the public website before you start hounded the customer service people. If you’re going to post on the FB page, at least read a few posts below yours to see if your question was already answered. Don’t be an ass, and maybe you won’t be treated like one. The people behind this game are real people – of course, people no one notices until something goes wrong, then the cry goes up to burn them at the stake.

I honestly think though, that the lameassery I’m seeing is from a small percentage of LotRO players. Just very vocal, annoying ones. Why? Because the servers are full of people running around having a good time. We’re still enjoying the LotRO world. The changes are just that, changes. Change takes some getting used to. They’re not going to make everyone happy, but I hope the fun and community offered will be worth getting used to them.

My personal recommendation? If you’re going to sign up to play with a new, free account – wait until at least Friday night or maybe even Monday. There was a huge flood of players on Tuesday night and Wednesday, and I can’t help but think it will be even worse tomorrow. Look me up on Landroval as Karidis, or Windfola as Firesteliel. Oh yeah – major kudos to you if you read to the end of this post. You must really love me.

Nemesis

My kitchen is my nemesis. Right now, at least.

I don’t much like cooking on a good day, and recently I’ve had such a long succession of bad days (in that realm) that the Dominoes pizza delivery guy doesn’t even have to look for our apartment. Everything I try flops. In epic proportions. I’m even messing up the simple stuff, like hamburgers and chocolate chip cookies. I mean, really. What gives?

A new recipe for burgers, Cheddar Bacon Burgers from Allrecipes saved dinner the other night. Though they were still a little heavy on garlic…or maybe we were garlic-shy after the last burgers.I did leave out the horseradish and use an egg instead though, that could also have effected the flavor. But they were delicious. First winner I’ve had in awhile. >_>

In other news, I haven’t heard from the bank I interviewed with, so I’m going to assume I didn’t get that job. I’m not really surprised, but a little disappointed. I think I learned a lot from that interview process though, so that eases the sting a little. I’ve been applying other places, doing some writing, watching my plants grow…and having fun.