Original, eh? lol

It's amazing the things you can learn on YouTube. Seriously. A whole new world has been opened up for me. I had gotten all excited about the loose mineral eyeshadows I found on Etsy, so I went on YouTube to learn what they meant when they said you could use them wet to create a "foiled" look. I suspected it meant you could somehow make the eyeshadow look shiny, like foil (I was right).

While on that quest, I ran across a video of someone mixing their own mineral makeup, and I followed a link to a place where you can buy your own raw materials. That was so exciting to me... the ability to mix my own eyeshadows, create my own colors, control the ingredients that go into them. So I went a little crazy, but I put a limit on myself and moved a lot into my wish list. In the back of my mind I'm hoping I can get good at it, figure out how to balance rich color with adhesion but still have something that glides on smoothly, and maybe I can sell it. I also found soap and candle making supplies, which has always interested me, too (but I'm not ready to take that plunge).

Yipee!

Then I went back to YouTube and found videos on how to create your own mixing medium, which allows you to use eyeshadow as liner. I found videos on how to press your loose mineral eyeshadow so you can put them into compacts (and where to buy the compacts and pans)... how to make your own pans for the eyeshadow to go into if you don't want to buy them... all kinds of neat stuff.

Pretty much anything you want to know... someone out there knows it and it's probably on YouTube. What floors me are all the young girls who somehow have this knowledge! I was always fascinated by makeup, mom and dad would do their grocery shopping and I would spend the whole time in the makeup aisle. I didn't know much aside from what I read in magazines, but these little girls know how to do all kinds of things. I don't know where they learned it.

My mom didn't really wear makeup, so she didn't pass much on -- in fact, I'm kinda proud to say that I convinced her to let me do her makeup once and she actually liked it, so from that point on she started wearing it that way. I also learned from watching other women put their makeup on, and reading books. It's fascinating to me, because everyone does it differently. I've learned that the key is blending to avoid harsh lines, and I've learned about contouring. Makeup can do a lot for you.

So today I got a YouTube subscription update, scanned through what interested me and watched a couple of videos. I've posted about Kandee before, she had several new videos so I watched a couple, and then afterward they post 2-3 add'l videos as teasers, and they kind of cycle through, and I ran across this one of her sharing her life story. It's incredibly sad but also very uplifting. I find it amazing that she can remain so positive in the face of that much adversity. So here it is, it's kind of long, but doesn't seem that way as you watch it.

P.S.  I know how she felt when she says, 'and ten people watched my video!' I feel the same way when I see the numbers climb. I haven't reached 1,000 yet, but frankly I'm surprised that I have over 700 hits.

Jeff -- LOL, good one -- glad you didn't rein it in!

Life without an internet connection pretty much sucks... I never realize how reliant I am upon technology until I have to go without... I was trying to buy international currency for my upcoming trip to Scotland, but I didn't have the phone number... because that's on the internet. I wanted to call Comcast to find out why I didn't have an internet connection, but that phone number? Also on the internet. I found an old bill (because I'm nothing if not resourceful... and yes, I'm kidding about that being a resourceful thing to do), which had the number on it. I called, only to find out that there was indeed an outage in my area, and technicians had been dispatched... they were already aware of the issue thankyouverymuch. I need an outgoing message like that at work... something that gets to the point and tells people to leave me alone, but said in such a way as to imply that I'm being helpful by not taking their call...

So today I want to talk about 'the ick.'

'The ick' is a feeling that you get in your gut when someone is creepy - and you can't necessarily put into words why you feel this way - but you immediately want to run the other way (thanks to my cousin, Jamie, for letting me in on the terminology). Today I met someone who gave me 'the ick.' It had a lot to do with the way they presented themselves; this person bordered on grotesque. That said, sometimes even very good looking people also give me 'the ick,' it all depends on the situation. And there's more to life than being really, really, incredibly good looking (thank god, or I'd be screwed).

It's odd really, how a person could look so completely different if they only made minor changes in their appearance. Have you ever watched one of those geeks-get-the-girl reality shows? Neither have I. But for the sake of argument let's say you got really bored one night and decided to watch just one episode... Me too! Okay, so you understand where I'm coming from. Something as simple as a hairstyle can make a major improvement in the way someone looks, or clothes that fit (my albatross), or the right makeup. Hair though, that's pretty paramount. It's the difference between Kristen Stewart in The Cake Eaters or The Runaways, and Kristen Stewart at the MTV Movie Awards (yes I watched it... I'm a Twilight addict and they were premiering the new trailer - what's it to you?). And Joan Jett rocked that hair by the way... it's just not for everyone...

I'm going to share something pretty mind blowing with you. This is Kandee Johnson, one of the links on my new random stuff page. Sure, she's attractive without makeup (and I applaud her for going in front of the camera with no makeup on), but after she's done, she's an absolute bombshell. It's almost unfair that women get to play around with makeup, because guys (typically) don't, and that means guys are judged on their natural appearance (gasp!)... they have to actually be good looking... we can fudge it until you wake up next to us one morning and wonder who the hell that hag in your bed is... and what did she do with the hot chick?

Last but not least, since I had a raging hangover this weekend, I used the time to consolidate some of my pages in an effort to de-clutter the website a little. The Scotland page now includes the pics and video that used to be on a separate page, I updated the Ireland page, I deleted the sketches and put them with my research, I consolidated my sample chapters and poems, and I added the aforementioned random stuff page which is chock full of things that are really cool; I also added two more recipes. Like I said on my home page, I will try to continually update things to keep it interesting for those poor souls who stumble across my website while they're looking for something else. =) I also linked this to my blogspot account so all my bases are covered (lol, if you click the link it's just going to send you back here... but you know you want to, so go ahead...).

Answer to Greg's question, and a comment -- I know the urine collection procedure because I, as most people have at some point in their lives, have had to provide my doctor with a urine sample before. I know it verbatim because of (and now we come full circle) the internet... And thank you, I thought my website needed a darker format because my book is dark; I like this one, too.  =)