Confessions of a Closet-Addict

As has been established previously, I like music. I can't live without the means of listening to it, whether it be by playing an instrument, listening to a CD, spacing to my friends jamming, or (if I'm desperate, or alone :) singing.

Music is a very powerful thing. What you listen to subtly influences your thinking, behavior, world view, the way you view relationships, whether you're apathetic or empathetic towards certain things. There is something in music that literally permeates your soul. So I ask you, what is it that you are really listening to? Stop for a minute. What song are you chilling to? What are the lyrics saying? One of my favorite things to do is to go through songs and dissect lyrics, see what the message is that they're trying to convey, what the writers may have been thinking or feeling when they wrote the song.

Well, on to the confession part.
I like a lot of music, and a lot of artists. My musical taste is quite the variety. But...
Over the years my liking of some artists have come and gone, and there are only about two, maybe three, that I keep up with now.

1. Relient K
2. Switchfoot

With both of these artists I have followed each of them since they first began their musical careers. I own all of their albums, know the words to all their songs, and have always wanted to meet them in person. My fan-hood is nothing compared to one of my friends who will remain nameless - unless you wanna name him - who constantly expresses his love for Jon Foreman, while I keep that love inside and silent...because, let's face it, it's less creepy that way. So I was exceedingly happy when I got Forget and Not Slow Down - Relient K for my birthday back in October, and Hello Hurricane - Switchfoot for Christmas. As far as seriousness is concerned, Switchfoot is your better bet, while RK is more of on upbeat, catchy, toe-tapping kinda group. Nevertheless, I love them both.

But since Hello Hurricane is my newestly(yes, newestly - I do indeed make up words and use them in public, someday I shall do a post on all the words that Shakespeare made up that are used in the English language today, but I digress) acquired album I thought I would share one of my 12 new favorite switchfoot songs. The lyrics alone are pretty amazing, but when the music is added, something in your skin shivers.

Sing It Out

I'm on the run, I'm on the ropes this time

where is my song?

I've lost the song of my soul tonight

sing it out, sing it out, take what is left of me and make it a melody, sing it out, sing out loud, I can't find the words to sing , you be my remedy. My song, My song, I'll sing with what's left of me

where is the sun? feel like a ghost this time

where have you gone? I need your breath in my lungs tonight

sing it out, I'm holding on, I'm holding on to you

My world is wrong, my world is a lie that's come true

and I fall in love with the ones that run me through

when all along all I need is you

sing it out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlqQUtOcJVo&feature=PlayList&p=15FA8F921E879C8D&index=19

santa clause is thumbin to town.

"Santa is actually an evil man who lives in the south pole, contrary to public opinion, who has enslaved the elves. He flies a sleigh, driven by haggard, rabid, deranged man eating deer, which he sets on fire with invisible flaming stuff. Thats the santa I get presents from."
A quote that I stole from my friend, Hedge, who got it from who knows where. But it made me chuckle.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night.

A Welcomed Weekend

Friday arrived and I was having trouble wrapping my mind around the fact that my 'weekend' didn't start until about 3:30 the next day. (The schedule for my school is 8:30-3:00 Tuesday-Friday, 8:00-2:30 Saturdays.) The end of the day came around and I did my sanitation duties, clocked out, then carried all my stuff to the car.

dingity-ding-ding-ding goes my alarm at 6:30 Saturday am. I lay there lazily for just a few minutes before I rolled out of bed, grabbed a towel, and headed for the shower. I emerge from the bathroom about ten minutes later to a very still and dark house. I'm not used to being the first one up - nor am I used to getting up at 6:30 on Saturday mornings - but the quiet stillness is surreal, gentle, calming.

I get dressed in under 30 seconds -making me appreciate uniforms very much - and dab mascara on my sleepy eyelashes. Downstairs is dark and quiet also as I grab a couple pieces of leftover pizza from the fridge and put it in a lunchbox. Today I would be driving myself to school and I was trying to go over the route in my head. It wasn't a particularly hard trip, but crossing Hartford traffic is one of my worst fears. But I'd been assured that on a Saturday, especially this early in the morning, there wouldn't be many cars on the road. I was also trying to remember exit and route numbers, I'm normally half asleep while being driven to school and I didn't feel like taking a detour through Hartford by myself today....or any day really but especially today.
I headed out a little earlier than normal, giving myself some thinking time, and was at school before I knew it(yay for no traffic!).
Now there had been much talk about an impending blizzard and we were all wondering if they would be letting us out early. The snow was not supposed to start until 2:00 and I was happy to find myself mistaken on the Saturday dismissal time.

2:00 came around and there was no sign of snow. At 2:30 I clocked out, lugged my stuff to the trunk and headed home as fast as I could. My youth group had planned an event(the Progressive Dinner) for that day to start at 4:30 giving me about 10 minutes to get ready before I left home for the event, but on one of my breaks I received an email telling me that the time had been moved up to 2:30. Terrific.

I rushed home, and changed quickly, threw on a pair of heals and jumped in my dad's car. The weekend had finally begun!

Sunday was lazy, the 18'' of snow I was promised showed up in a 7'' form. Nacho Libre was on TV...and I curled my mother's hair.
Monday(today) has been kind of odd for me though. Everyone has gone back to school and work and are all gone, leaving me home with my mom and siblings doing their school while I don't do much. Having the second day of my weekend be the first day of every one's work/school week is not exciting, but I'll live with it. This week I'll only have three days of school, then a four day weekend, then three more days of education, then three more days of relaxation. So far, I'm a happy camper.

some of the people at conventions will try to tell you you need a pair of $7,000 shears. You don't need those...YET

Today the owner of the school and salon, Carmelo Gugliotti, (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-ContextMenu&rlz=1I7GGLL_en&ei=1icsS9rAOcnKlAew8q2TBw&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&ved=0CA0QBSgA&q=Carmelo+Gugliotti&spell=1) came in and taught us a class on shears.

He started out by holding up a pair and asking "What are these?" (imagine a very thick Italian accent with hints of Argentina ;) To which we all replied "Scissors/Shears...?"

"Shears." He said, then he proceeded to pick up another pair and ask the same question, to which we gave the same hesitant answer. When he did it a third time we were all like Is this a trick question? After that he pulled about 75 more shears out of his square metal case, then took out a large, square, leather folder and unfolded it twice revealing a velvet lined case with three squares of shears. "I have problem," he says, "One, I have so many shears and never seem to have the one I want when I need it, two, I cannot go into a store without coming out with a new pair of shears." I met my first Shear Addict.

It was interesting , listening to this older Italian man teaching us the different uses of so many different types of shears, I sat there taking notes and trying to soak up all his wisdom.

He explained to us a little about himself, starting off with the fact that he is the Global Director of Competitions....GLOBAL! yeah. Pretty amazing stuff. I feel so privileged that he is my teacher. For a little more information(just a little out of a whole ton) click the link. He's a very renowned man, I highly encourage you to look him up. http://www.gugliottis.com/about-stylists.php, I think you can also see his profile on www.studyhair.com .

Yesterday we learned how to set a perm(this particular one is set at a 45degree frontal, for the most volume.)

Today, one of the things we learned was how to do a Finger Curl. Somehow, despite being shoved in a tight and suffocating plastic bag, and stuffed in my bag for about an hour, this specific curl is still quite alive.

In The Beginning

The fateful day arrived this Tuesday(12/15/09) and was greeted with some nerves and much anticipation. Monday night I set an alarm on my phone to wake me up at 7:30 (since I've been waking up sometime between 8:15 and 10:00 for the past five months.) Strangely enough as I went to bed that night I felt fine. There were no butterflies in my stomach or tense nerves in any part of my body. Even my brain, which normally runs crazy analyzing and over analyzing and over anticipating was calm and relaxed. The only thing that had me really "worried" was that I didn't know which room to enter when I arrived.

I went to bed with a peace I've only experienced a couple of times, a peace and ease of mind that only comes from God. (Thanks God, I needed that, really)


[This is what it says on the back of our school shirts. Neat huh?]

I slept soundly, though my body was still full of expectancy, but was wide awake come 7:00 a.m. My alarm hasn't gone off yet... I thought groggily as I contemplated just laying in bed, but my nervous system was too pumped and ready to go, so I hopped out of bed and headed to the shower. Surprisingly I was in and out before my alarm (which was now set for 7:15 after I added a Snooze Allowance [ ;) ]) had gone off. Hmmm, I did that really quickly!
It's not that I take long showers, but I do like to just kinda stand in the warm water for a while. But when ones nerves are excited and they know they're in a time crunch miracles can happen :D

My father and I jumped in the car and raced off to the International Institute of Cosmetology(herein after known as International or IIC, or just school). We arrived about 15 minutes earlier than planned. I tried to open both the front and back door and found that they were locked. We waited a little longer until we saw some of the other not-as-new-as-I-am students go in.
It felt odd getting out of the car, in an unfamiliar and strange place, and having my dad drive away with an "I love you" and "goodbye." Now I was on my own.
I walked into a room with stations set up along the entirety of each wall. Each station had a large black gym-like bag, a black and metal case(like what they use in special agent movies), and seven boxes stacked on top of the counters. I was directed to the space the kits with my name on top and took a seat. We were encouraged to take part in the "welcome" continental breakfast - consisting of DD doughnuts and coffee.
We all sat at our stations, quietly sipping our December 2009


We all sat there quietly sipping our very hot coffee as one of the directors explained dress codes and how to clock in and out of school. (It's pretty cool, we each have our own code and there's a machine that reads the length and size of our hands to make sure that someone else isn't clocking us in and out)

As the day progressed we went over all our equipment and mannequins, eventually wetting down one of our SEVEN mannequin heads. (It was really creepy loading them all into the trunk, individually wrapped in clear plastic bags at the end of the day...) That afternoon we learned two ways of sectioning, and how to section each part of those sections.

That awkward first day ended silently as we all packed up our 50 lbs. of new stuff and headed home with stiff backs and aching feet.

Here are some of the goodies I brought home that day :D

These are my Le' Marca hair shears. These are very professional, and very sharp, scissors that I will be using on real people when I reach the mark of 200 hours of training and go from mannequins to humans.

aren't they pretty?

This is one of my two straight razors. Don't worry, I'll be trained properly and have enough mental health so when I get to use them I won't pull a Sweeney Todd...on most people.

This is Jesus (or John the Baptist) my male mannequin. Each mannequin has it's own little punny name on the back of their neck, but this guy has some weird ghetto name that starts with M...but for the life of me I can't remember what it is, but it doesn't matter cause he doesn't look like the name they gave him, so I changed it ;)

Plop went the mannequins, ready for inspection by my family. My dad wanted to sit them in our windows, next to the Christmas window candles, to freak out the neighbors. Oh dad.

all my junk.

My fancy smancy kit.

this is the little emo guy emblem of IIC.

This is yet another picture of me and Bella...as you may have noticed I am wearing a ball gown and she is wearing...a tutu. Yes, you also have seen this tutu before(if you were aspiring enough to go through those gazillion pics of dance stuff I posted a few weeks ago). This is not only my favorite tutu, no! This is also Bella's wedding dress! You are jealous, I know. I'm even jealous and I own the tutu ;)

I celebrate the day.

I'd like to share one of my favorite Christmas songs with you. It's not a traditional song at all, and it's done by a not so traditional band, but the lyrics are just really amazing. Just close your eyes and really listen, it's pretty cool.

I Celebrate The Day - Relient K - Let It Snow Baby...Let It Reindeer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AcTxNr_Xx8&feature=PlayList&p=6FA3B26BED9B2484&index=17

He was quite cheery until the Iocane took effect.

The Princess Bride ~

'A tale of true love and high adventure, pirates, princesses, giants, miracles, fencing, and a frightening assortment of wild beasts.'

Sure you all have seen the movie. You probably have quite a few scenes memorized too. But with nearly all great movies, there is behind it an even greater book, and that is the case here. Most people I discuss the movie with have never heard that it was based on a book, but it says so in the beginning credits, "based on the novel by S. Morgenstern." "Based" is not the word I would use in most movie/book instances. To me, based is a word used when a director follows the basic plot of a book but has taken creative license with the story, changing and adding things either because there's a time crunch or they don't think it's necessary.

Well I saw this particular movie many years before I read the book and when I finally read it I was very surprised that I was actually able to quote lines from it. They had followed the book so closely that I was surprised to find that the characters in the book were just as amazing and witty (if not more so) in the book as they were on screen. The author, William Goldman, who would have you believe that he's not really the author - just some guy who has painstakingly edited an ancient documentary on the rival countries Florin and Guilder - writes with such humor that at times I sat there guffawing - {Sophia "They laughed harder than it was funny." ;)}

I received this book for Christmas last year, reading it for the second time was even better than the first. One day soon after Sophia and I went shopping at Barnes and Noble where I convinced her that she also must own and read the book. So we set off in search of it, but try as we may we couldn't find it! We looked under action, fantasy, fiction, teen, classics, documentary, but it wasn't turning up anywhere! Finally we went up to the desk and asked a clerk if they could help us. The guy said "oh yeah! I just saw that book a few days ago...what's the author's name?" - "William Goldman."and off we went, the three of us, to search for Mr. Goldman...but we found nothing. The clerk was shaking his head now saying that he had just seen it, and where could it be. We went back to the desk where he asked the computer where it would be. The answer we got: Science-Fiction.....there was a moment of silence between the three of us as we exchanged confused glances. "Science-Fiction?" one of us said, "really?" And off the three of us went(again) to search for the book, this time in the science-fiction section.

We found it and Sophia bought it and she loved it.

So when you are done with the book you are reading now, assuming that you are a bookworm like myself, rush off to B&N and run to the Sci-Fi section. Buy The Princess Bride and laugh. NO, it is not a girly girl book, there are pirates, and monsters, Rodents of Unusual Sizes, albinos, men with six fingers, flesh eating sharks, fencing, kidnapping, revenge, angry Spaniards, rhyming giants, scheming Sicilians, and masks! As well as a man trying to start a war by murdering his own wife. But there is humor, and some touching moments...it's not all action. The plot thickens, back stories are told, and the prince is not so charming as the pirates. Try it. I think you'll like it. If not, you can check it off your 'books I've read' list and let it live on your shelf, never to be touched again.

Knit wittery

I have problems. I like to knit. I like new yarn. I like new projects....and I kinda like instant gratification with my projects. I recently started a new project. One of my friends is having a baby, their baby shower is this month. I went online and looked up where they were registered and what they wanted. While my mom and I were looking at the lists I saw that they wanted Baby Mittens and a Baby Hat...."I COULD KNIT THOSE!" I exclaimed with glee, and that night we went yarn shopping.

I love yarn shopping, just standing in the aisles looking and stroking the yarn.

My mom was like "You like all this yarn but what would you do with it?" *I stroke more yarn* "I don't know, I rarely have plans for it. You just kinda have to hold it, and stroke it, and listen to it. The yarn speaks to you. " I say with a silly smile. She just laughs at me. So we left the store with a single skein of Bernat Softee Baby 100% acrylic, light yarn, in Mint. I think I wanna go buy more cause it was SUPER soft!(This is where some of my problems lie...I just like the yarn too much) If I were really ambitious(and could make myself finish the second sock I'm working on) I'd buy more and make socks out of them!

There was also a little bear cartoon on the paper around the yarn, and next to it said 'Ellie the bear.' The only significance this has is that these people are going to name their baby Eleanor and call her Ellie :)

Insanity runs in my family, it practically GALLOPS!

I have an interesting family, to say the least. I have a ball whenever I'm around them. Last month my family and I took a trip to PA to visit some of our relatives. While we were there we stayed in a little apartment (that reminded me of British PBS shows) which was behind kind of an old folks home where my Great Aunt *Sis lives. (Her real name is Florence, something I didn't find out until we visited last month.) The woman is somewhere in her 90s but her mind is sharp as a tack! We would go in to visit for a few minutes only to come out an hour or so later smiling and laughing at all the stories she would tell us. On our last day there we asked her a question. Most of my grandmother's siblings have rather unusual names, and I'm not talking about the names they were given in the 1920's, but the nicknames they gave themselves, like, Fuzzy, Wavy, Bump, John, Sis....etc. I have a Great Aunt John - Aunt Sis' younger sister - and non of us knew why we called her 'John'. Half the time when Sis talked about her she used her given name - Verda - and I had no clue who she was talking about cause until then I didn't know her name was Verda! Well, on our last day we asked the question: "Why do we call her John?" the story that was our answer was pretty funny.

But the story is: Late one night the family was going to bed when they realized the Verda was no where to be found. Everybody is searching for her and kinda freaking out, (Aunt Sis probably was around 16 at this time) when in walked Verda. "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!" was the much echoed frantic question. My great grandfather asked her a little more gently, I bet he was amused at the little runaway.
"I was out by the hay stack." was Verda's answer.
"And what were you doing out by the haystack?" My great grandfather asked.
"Talking to the Man in the Moon."
"And what did the man in the moon have to say?"
"He said, my name is John."

And that was that. From then on she was known as John...because the man in the moon told her so.

First Snow

Saturday night I had gone to bed watching heavy white flakes float down from the sky. There was a slight dread in me because normally I hate all things cold and winter-like. Why then do you live in New England? you may ask, to which my reply would be, My father was born here and has an apparent fear of moving...or else he really likes the cold, but if that's the case he could have fooled me.

But Sunday morning came. The sun rose behind our pine trees and came in through my window. I raised my head and was awestruck at what I saw. My backyard was white and perfect, about an inch of snow was on our sycamore tree, and the fur trees looked like they'd been dusted with powder sugar. The sky was a bright, clear ultramarine.

The air was still, cold, and quiet, the silence broken only by a vibrant red cardinal's song somewhere in the trees.

Just this once I didn't have animosity towards the bone-chilling, white condensation. I actually admired it - from inside my semi-warm bedroom under my pleasantly warm down comforter and fuzzy blanket - from here it wasn't so bad ;)

I guess I'll give snow more of a chance to grow on me this year, before I get my hairdressing license and go work on a cruise ship in the Mediterranean ;)

"Moses supposes his toeses are roses. But Moses supposes erroneously..."

Who needs a nose job when you've got one of these?Late Fall time(maybe) 2008 I think. We were doing Nose Night. Previously our YG had done, Cheese Night, Potato Night, Banana Madness Night, even a Dental Hygiene Night, but never had we ever ventured into the realms of "Facial Appendage" night... Well, we did, and we pulled it off. (You can't tell, but there are small silver rings in the noses we're wearing.)

freedom of movement

For the past ten years of my life I've taken dance classes. It's become something in my life that I am known for in my circle of friends. Here's a look at things that one might get over a long period of time from dancing. This is what I've received from the past five years of dance, and of course some things come with stories :)

My second pair of pointe shoes.

I soon found that this type of shoe would not accommodate my type of foot...there was a chance of snapping an ankle, tendons, or any number of bones in my foot. Needless to say...I found a different kind of shoe.

My second pair of shoes. Bloch - Aspirations.

(first pair)

No, I did wear these shoes with my feet at the current size. My feet were a bit more wee six years ago. My feet were changed by wearing these shoes. They don't look at all like the rest of my families, the effect I imagine is similar to when the Chinese would wrap their feet. Only difference being that is no longer legal or practiced.

This was my very first pair of pointe shoes, I bought them 6 years ago. Bloch - Aspirations. The epic shoe that starts it all. They give this shoe to every beginner, then when that dancer is ready for another pair they bring the shoes in and the shoe mistress takes a look to see what kind of damage was done and in how much time it was caused. Based on that 'interview' of sorts she goes on to pull many boxes of different kinds of shoes that may or may not be just what your feet need. A person with normal feet can spend a little longer than an hour searching for a right pair...I take a bit longer ;)

This was my first 'big girl' tutu. When my dance teacher moved studios we faithfully followed her. As I started my classes I found myself surrounded by older and taller girls, but was surprised to learn that most of them had just started dancing. This was the year I first started dancing En Pointe.

this was an, interesting, costume. We danced to "In Like a Lion (Always Winter)" by Relient K. I was happy to join this class with Bella and Lissy :) We had fun!

This was my first tap costume(2007), it was gold and sparkly. On occasion I still find gold glitter in my tap shoes!

To be fair, out of all the pointe shoes I've ever owned these ones looked the best :) (Capezio Glisee)

My one and only pair of Capezios. Capezio Glisees. The gave my feet painful burning sensations...so this was the one and only pair I bought.

As you'll see further on...I'm rough on shoes.

They were well loved :)

Bloch, Signature Rehearsal - Strong. When I bought these the woman who owns the store and does the shoe fittings told me that they rarely sell these, ever, because "no one ever has a foot like yours." I have very flexy, archy, beastily-strong feet. When I put pointe shoes on my foot pops out, even with elastic there to hold it in. As you'll see below...my feet can damage shoes...

.:warning:. shoe carnage ahead.

By the end of the 3.5 months that I had been wearing these (once a week for about 45 minutes) I had completely snapped the shank (that red part there) in half...just by wearing them...

This was the first time we had ever done ballet with props, it was rather tricky.

Ballet 2006, we danced to Masquerade from Phantom of the Opera - my MOST FAVORITE ballet number ever!

Tap 2008. We danced with canes...and pants. Not to worry, they're there...folded somewhere under the shirt thing.

2008 was the year I discovered Fuzi! An interesting brand of pointe shoe. You either love 'em or hate 'em. {Pointe shoes # 5 and 6}

2007 ballet. We danced to "A Time For Us" and were forced to improv when our music started skipping. Do you know how hard it is to improv ballet and make it look smooth and executed correctly? Extremely.

2009 tap costume, complete with newsies hat and suspenders ;)

(above) 'Haley'. The lyrical class did a dance to Haley by Need To Breath. This was probably my favorite costume :) and the best part was the 'arm-y thingys' ;)

This year we had props. :) those are always fun...

<-- This was last year's (2009) ballet costume. Our dance was done with a little bit of 'Spanish Flair'.

...I felt like a spanish bumble bee :D