This a really random and probably short blog post, but I wanted to share it "unofficially", as in it's not posted to Facebook or Twitter or whatever. I wanted to blog about it because it felt like a defining moment for me. Just not one that I wanted to announce to all of Facebook...
An old friend recently pointed out to me that I've changed a lot in the few months since I've moved. Obvious right? But here's what got me: they said something along the lines of "you've grown into your personality...". When I asked them what they meant they replied with, "you're not the same quiet girl, you've grown into your personality. I don't get the feeling you'd take anybody's shit anymore. You might have taken it lying down a couple months ago, but I get the impression that now, you'd confront anything that you didn't think was right, that's a good thing...".
You've grown into yourself. It's an interesting idea isn't it?...Anyways, to that person, you know who you are, thank you. Seriously.
Thank you.
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Sunday, November 9, 2014
Day By Day
Well, it seems like ages since I last blogged anything at all. I feel as though an update is necessary...so let's see what I can tempt you with. My attempts at dealing with the weather? Random adventures throughout London? Cool makeup stuff? At little of everything you say? You got it. Let's start with the way Mother Nature behaves around these parts...
First, let me start by saying that I am a Californian. I currently live in London, England. That should tell you all you need to know, but where's the fun in that? I know that the weather isn't generally something to blog about, it's more that topic you desperately cling to while flailing about on a bad date. However, let me at least attempt to make it an enjoyable topic. You see, I come from a place where the last big snow storm was in like 1938 or something crazy like that, and by "big snow storm" I mean a couple inches of sleet. I don't think I've ever experienced weather below, oh I don't know, 30 degrees? And that's in early mornings in January. It's barely November here, and the temperature has already opened a can of Whoop Ass on me. It's about 11 pm and already a mere 46 degrees. Why, oh why didn't I choose I warmer country...Anyways, it's not purely the temperature, oh no. Supposedly, it actually SNOWS here too. Like proper snow. I'm barely scraping by with adjusting to the rain and wind and general frigidity of this place as it is, but there might be snow too?! Someone help me. I live in the Arctic. Oh and let's not even begin to talk about the struggles of using an umbrella...seriously, do you know how many people I've clocked with my umbrella in an effort to utilize it properly? A lot, that's how many. It's an endless stream of, "Oh excuse me!", "Let me just untangle our umbrellas...", and "Oh God, I'm just...I'm so sorry." And what the bloody heck are you supposed to do with a sopping wet umbrella on the tube? Seriously, please somebody tell me the British etiquette for this scenario because so far I've stabbed myself and sprayed people with rainwater. Also, has anybody else experienced that moment of walking behind a cluster of umbrella users and you suddenly find yourself judging these people by their umbrellas? Then consequently wondering if the people behind you are doing the same thing and if so, I don't think I like what my paisley umbrella says about me. Then there's always that one guy who's walking around in shorts and a tee shirt completely oblivious to the cold, never mind that it's pouring rain, he's happy as a clam. Final note on the weather here, somebody tell Primark that paper bags just don't hold up in the rain. They just don't.
Now, let's see what sort of adventures have been had...Well, for starters I went to Hyde Park today, which was lovely. However, what my artsy Instagram photos won't tell you is that somewhere between entering and leaving the park I did in fact sit in bird poop. Classic Melissa Adventure. But let's move on from that. So a couple weeks back myself and some girls from my class did a bit of work experience at a Halloween party in North London, which was amazing and tons of fun. We got to do all kinds of cool makeup and get a feel for the general persona of being a make up artist. Anyways, during the process of talking to clients while transforming them into cats, or brides of Frankenstein, or zombies, I made the unfortunate discovery that some commonly used words in America mean something altogether different here. Like, for example, when I asked the guy who I had just given a sliced arm to please "check his gash out, and see what he thought...". All you British people are having a good chuckle at me aren't you? Bastards...You see, what poor me didn't know was that "gash" is apparently British slang for a woman's erm, downstairs area. So, as you can imagine, everyone else in the room got a good laugh while I stood there trying to figure out what I had said that was so gosh darn funny. Of course it didn't help that the guy was super cute too...just my luck. Another client, spent a solid three minutes trying to guess which state I was from until I said the words "thank you" and he suddenly shouted "California!!". Apparently all Californian girls say "thank you" the same way (which is just not true) and we all sound like Katy Perry when we do. I thought this was a gross misjudgment and told him I wasn't going to thank him for anything anymore. There have also been the smaller but equally enjoyable and fun adventures, like on Halloween, taking a friend out for her first beer and watching her starting to talk nonsense barely halfway through a pint. That was also the night that I ordered a beer with a 7.8% alcohol content and didn't realize what a bad idea that was until I was laughing for no reason whatsoever a little over halfway through my pint. Ah well, live and learn right? There was the time I got a bus at random and ended up on the opposite side of London and frankly had no idea how to get back, the time that my roommate and I sat next to each other competitively playing Diner Dash on our respective laptops because yes we are that cool. There was the time when I discovered that Swedish apple juice is a thousand and a half times better than American, or any other kind for that matter. There was the time I saw the guy from One Direction, and the guy who plays Carson from Downton Abbey as well. There was the time I overindulged on chips from Nando's, which is actually every time I go to Nando's. There was the time I tried mac and cheese from a can (I don't recommend it). There was the time I spent a solid hour getting makeup peeled off my face, arm, and chest and the time I freaked out while being driven around in a car on the wrong side of the road. I could go on, but I think you get the point, there have been many, many beautiful adventures here.
Last but definitely not least. MAKEUP. Last time I blogged I was still knee deep in hair styling, In the time since then I have done two weeks of casualty and character makeup and one week of body painting and airbrushing. Casualty and character has been by far my favorite module, I mean I spent two weeks making people look like everything from gunshot victims, to different genders, to drug addicts. It was morbid and gruesome and amazing. Which makes me sound like a total nutcase but I think I can live with that. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this part of the course, I'm not usually one for blood and gore but during those two weeks I actually had a hashtag for just that. I loved making burns, slash marks, track marks, bruises, and gunshot wounds and the more blood the better, it was a whole new side to myself! Character was really amazing too, we got to age each other and do gender changes as well. All in all it was a bloody good couple of weeks ( *wink wink* see what I did there? Puns...right). So body painting, was an interesting time. We mostly did airbrushing, which is much harder than I was expecting, or maybe I was just phenomenally bad at it. At any rate, it was not my favorite thing to do, or have done, as the blowing sensation is a bit unpleasant, especially for a person who wears contact lenses. However, it was interesting to learn how to use the airbrush and to get a different perspective on makeup application. The actual body painting that we did was just painting clothes on each other, which again is not really my cup of tea. If I'm going to paint I prefer it to be with watercolors so I can smear it all together into a "sunset" or something if it looks bad. However, painting clothes on is a challenge, the shading had to be right and and the 3D perspective had to be there to make it look realistic and there was contrasting and highlighting and I'm just not very good at that. Particularly when it's in non-nude colors. Anyways, it's been a varied and fun few weeks, and tomorrow we start on hair again, but this time it's hair cutting and barbering...dun, dun, DUN. Not that I'm nervous, not at all. I'll keep you posted on how it goes, unless it goes terribly awry, in which case I won't post anything.
Goodnight for now, it's been, as usual, an absolute pleasure.
You stay classy world
First, let me start by saying that I am a Californian. I currently live in London, England. That should tell you all you need to know, but where's the fun in that? I know that the weather isn't generally something to blog about, it's more that topic you desperately cling to while flailing about on a bad date. However, let me at least attempt to make it an enjoyable topic. You see, I come from a place where the last big snow storm was in like 1938 or something crazy like that, and by "big snow storm" I mean a couple inches of sleet. I don't think I've ever experienced weather below, oh I don't know, 30 degrees? And that's in early mornings in January. It's barely November here, and the temperature has already opened a can of Whoop Ass on me. It's about 11 pm and already a mere 46 degrees. Why, oh why didn't I choose I warmer country...Anyways, it's not purely the temperature, oh no. Supposedly, it actually SNOWS here too. Like proper snow. I'm barely scraping by with adjusting to the rain and wind and general frigidity of this place as it is, but there might be snow too?! Someone help me. I live in the Arctic. Oh and let's not even begin to talk about the struggles of using an umbrella...seriously, do you know how many people I've clocked with my umbrella in an effort to utilize it properly? A lot, that's how many. It's an endless stream of, "Oh excuse me!", "Let me just untangle our umbrellas...", and "Oh God, I'm just...I'm so sorry." And what the bloody heck are you supposed to do with a sopping wet umbrella on the tube? Seriously, please somebody tell me the British etiquette for this scenario because so far I've stabbed myself and sprayed people with rainwater. Also, has anybody else experienced that moment of walking behind a cluster of umbrella users and you suddenly find yourself judging these people by their umbrellas? Then consequently wondering if the people behind you are doing the same thing and if so, I don't think I like what my paisley umbrella says about me. Then there's always that one guy who's walking around in shorts and a tee shirt completely oblivious to the cold, never mind that it's pouring rain, he's happy as a clam. Final note on the weather here, somebody tell Primark that paper bags just don't hold up in the rain. They just don't.
Now, let's see what sort of adventures have been had...Well, for starters I went to Hyde Park today, which was lovely. However, what my artsy Instagram photos won't tell you is that somewhere between entering and leaving the park I did in fact sit in bird poop. Classic Melissa Adventure. But let's move on from that. So a couple weeks back myself and some girls from my class did a bit of work experience at a Halloween party in North London, which was amazing and tons of fun. We got to do all kinds of cool makeup and get a feel for the general persona of being a make up artist. Anyways, during the process of talking to clients while transforming them into cats, or brides of Frankenstein, or zombies, I made the unfortunate discovery that some commonly used words in America mean something altogether different here. Like, for example, when I asked the guy who I had just given a sliced arm to please "check his gash out, and see what he thought...". All you British people are having a good chuckle at me aren't you? Bastards...You see, what poor me didn't know was that "gash" is apparently British slang for a woman's erm, downstairs area. So, as you can imagine, everyone else in the room got a good laugh while I stood there trying to figure out what I had said that was so gosh darn funny. Of course it didn't help that the guy was super cute too...just my luck. Another client, spent a solid three minutes trying to guess which state I was from until I said the words "thank you" and he suddenly shouted "California!!". Apparently all Californian girls say "thank you" the same way (which is just not true) and we all sound like Katy Perry when we do. I thought this was a gross misjudgment and told him I wasn't going to thank him for anything anymore. There have also been the smaller but equally enjoyable and fun adventures, like on Halloween, taking a friend out for her first beer and watching her starting to talk nonsense barely halfway through a pint. That was also the night that I ordered a beer with a 7.8% alcohol content and didn't realize what a bad idea that was until I was laughing for no reason whatsoever a little over halfway through my pint. Ah well, live and learn right? There was the time I got a bus at random and ended up on the opposite side of London and frankly had no idea how to get back, the time that my roommate and I sat next to each other competitively playing Diner Dash on our respective laptops because yes we are that cool. There was the time when I discovered that Swedish apple juice is a thousand and a half times better than American, or any other kind for that matter. There was the time I saw the guy from One Direction, and the guy who plays Carson from Downton Abbey as well. There was the time I overindulged on chips from Nando's, which is actually every time I go to Nando's. There was the time I tried mac and cheese from a can (I don't recommend it). There was the time I spent a solid hour getting makeup peeled off my face, arm, and chest and the time I freaked out while being driven around in a car on the wrong side of the road. I could go on, but I think you get the point, there have been many, many beautiful adventures here.
Last but definitely not least. MAKEUP. Last time I blogged I was still knee deep in hair styling, In the time since then I have done two weeks of casualty and character makeup and one week of body painting and airbrushing. Casualty and character has been by far my favorite module, I mean I spent two weeks making people look like everything from gunshot victims, to different genders, to drug addicts. It was morbid and gruesome and amazing. Which makes me sound like a total nutcase but I think I can live with that. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this part of the course, I'm not usually one for blood and gore but during those two weeks I actually had a hashtag for just that. I loved making burns, slash marks, track marks, bruises, and gunshot wounds and the more blood the better, it was a whole new side to myself! Character was really amazing too, we got to age each other and do gender changes as well. All in all it was a bloody good couple of weeks ( *wink wink* see what I did there? Puns...right). So body painting, was an interesting time. We mostly did airbrushing, which is much harder than I was expecting, or maybe I was just phenomenally bad at it. At any rate, it was not my favorite thing to do, or have done, as the blowing sensation is a bit unpleasant, especially for a person who wears contact lenses. However, it was interesting to learn how to use the airbrush and to get a different perspective on makeup application. The actual body painting that we did was just painting clothes on each other, which again is not really my cup of tea. If I'm going to paint I prefer it to be with watercolors so I can smear it all together into a "sunset" or something if it looks bad. However, painting clothes on is a challenge, the shading had to be right and and the 3D perspective had to be there to make it look realistic and there was contrasting and highlighting and I'm just not very good at that. Particularly when it's in non-nude colors. Anyways, it's been a varied and fun few weeks, and tomorrow we start on hair again, but this time it's hair cutting and barbering...dun, dun, DUN. Not that I'm nervous, not at all. I'll keep you posted on how it goes, unless it goes terribly awry, in which case I won't post anything.
Goodnight for now, it's been, as usual, an absolute pleasure.
You stay classy world
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