Meant for Friday (Explanation Below)

I'm late / I'm late / For a very important date. / No time to say "Hello, Goodbye". / I'm late / I'm late.

-White Rabbit from the animated movie "Alice In Wonderland" (1951)

See? Told y'all this post was going to be late.

Why is it late? Well, let me tell you: I had plans today.

But first, let's deal with the update stuff. Why? Cuz it's short.

• Enyo is at part twenty-three

It was really busy Thursday. I couldn't get any more work done.

Moving on to today.

Today was the last day my friend Alithea S was in town, and I was very grateful that I could finagle a way to see her. Work let me take the day off when I had offered to work a few hours earlier if they could let me out in time to make the "Alithea is home, have dinner with me" dinner. If I came in earlier, they wouldn't have a spot for me, and working half my shift before leaving for the dinner would be silly, so they just gave me the day off. The shift itself was a short one, and they ended up getting another woman who was already working a short shift that day stay an extra couple of hours. The night before, the same woman was closing with me, and at the time when my department manager (who knew I wanted to go to the dinner) heard that my issue had been resolved, it was slow, so they suggested that the other chic go home early. And I told her to go ahead since she was helping out the following day, she could totally leave early.

And so she did.

And in seeing as the dinner wasn't until later that evening, I took the liberty of NOT setting my alarm and sleeping until I woke up. And GAWD did that feel good!

When I finally woke up and had a clear head, I tended to some things before my shower: I balanced my checkbook, paid some bills, fixed my phone, did my daily hello to the world, made of list of things I needed/places to go, cleaned the litter box, and texted with some friends regarding my phone being fixed as well as having the day off as well as carpooling to the dinner with Jessie F.

Little pink bottles for you & me...

First stop was to the store to pick up some hair stuff my SIL Ana Marie uses on my niece Bella's hair. I saw her using it on Bella over the holidays, and I immediately recognized the bottle. She loves the stuff, and since my niece and I (as well as Ana Marie and my brother Lynn H) have the same hair, I thought I'd check it out for myself.

We shall see tomorrow.

I had seen the brand before and was curious about picking up some of the shampoo and conditioner but wasn't sure I wanted to spend more than I usually do on a new product that I wasn't sure would work on my hair. But I had gone to Grocery Outlet to pick up my bottle of Leave-In Seal & Shine for not that much so let's see what this stuff can do.

Anyone else see dildos & butt plugs? No? Just me then?
Dammit!

Usually when it comes to me - (ESPECIALLY MY HAIR) - it's a long process of trial and error and rarely do I find anything that works that I don't have to pay an arm and a leg for. Most of the time the stuff that I do find gets discontinued. (I'm looking at YOU Salon Selectives.) If it's not disconnected, it's either a decent price but a small bottle or something hella pricey that I will rarely get my hands on.

Oh the joys of finicky hair. (sarcasm)

Since I found a few of the other items on my list, I headed to the O'Reilly Auto Parts to get my steering wheel cover. The one I have now has balded pretty badly and looks just awful. I bought a new one which thankfully didn't cost as much I thought and headed back to my car when I saw a nail place in the same shopping plaza.

Now anyone that knows me know that I'm a tomboy. When getting ready to go somewhere, most of my "prep time" is my hair since I can't stand it when it's frizzy or big so I have to properly shelack the frak out of it else it looks really wrong. (I can look like a dandelion on crack or something.) The only real girly things that I do are dye my hair, get my eyebrows waxed from time to time (since I suck at plucking and I get a little OCD about how my 'brows look), and get manicures and pedicures.

Lately my nails have grown to a long-ish length so I thought I would treat myself to a manicure. (It's also awesome since my cuticles are horrendous, I don't know how to file, my nails are weaker than I'd like and grow funky, and you get a hand/arm massage afterward.)

So I go into the place, I'm the only customer at that moment. One lady comes to take care of me. I want my nails filed shorter (if when trying to snap my fingers I stab my fingertips, they're too long). She files, buffs, cuticle oils, clips my cuticles (gently and without drawing blood... A+)...

... and then it's time for the massage.

Now let me say first off that my lower back has been killing me for the past few days. Probably my sitting all day at a computer doesn't help matters, but nevertheless... pain. I'm sitting what is like a comfy version of a old school desk (chair with a swivel desk in front). She takes some oil and rubs it on my hand and forearm and the proceeds to work on my hand. (The massage is my favorite part of the manicure because since most of my jobs are clerical-ish - also since I write a lot - the massage feels good and reminds me that the natural state of my hands is not animalistically clawed over a keyboard.) The attention she pays to my hands is lengthy but feels nice since I didn't realize my hands were that stiff. Then she moves to my forearm. HELLO KNOTS! I just sit there and zone out on the good vibes. Then her hand goes up the sleeve of my t-shirt and she massages my upper arm. I don't really think anything of it until she does something unexpected.

She stands up and moves to my shoulder and starts massaging, finding a HUGE knot behind my shoulder. After she's done working the shoulder, she massages the back of my neck.

By this point, I was so relaxed, I almost pass the frak out.

She repeats the procedure on the left side - hand, forearm, upper arm, shoulder, neck - and my legs tingled and I completely forgot I had a lower back.

pic courtesy of Nailderella (I take no credit)
http://nailderellanails.blogspot.com/

So it was time for the polish, and I chose a red sparkly number (I like odd and dark colors like black, grey, dark red, etc) by OPI called Stay the Night. The other ladies there saw the color I had chosen and told the lady helping me to put a black coat on first and then my color.

The black looked cool on its own but then she put the sparkly one, and I thought it looked really neat... especially in the sunlight.

When I surfed the net trying to find a picture to post of the lovely color, I found out that it's part of a Mariah Carey line of polish called Liquid Sand. Everyone's got a fragrance or something these days.

Sheesh.

I wonder if I had my own fragrance, what it would be called and what it would smell like. I'd probably call it Fro, and it would smell of lumpia or pork adobo.

tiny sparkly Asian hands

Okay. Since I didn't take a pic of my nails earlier, here's the best I could come up with in the bad lighting of my bedroom. ========>

Moving on...

After leaving a building after an errand, I jetted home (since I was near there anyway) to change into something warmer due to the fact that the temperature drastically changed from when I entered the last business I was in to when I left it.

When I was warmer, I left to snag Jessie F who then ran a final errand with me at a stationary shop before heading to the new house (which I had gone to twice from the direction of work) after getting gas. We got a little lost since I was at a completely opposite area than work but I recognized streets and landmarks and TA-DA! we made it!

We had beer, salad, tamales, enchiladas, pasole, ice cream, cake... mixed with a heaping dose of family, friends and conversation and laughter.

Ahhh, good times.

I SO need a teleporter... or a TARDIS... so I can travel to Colorado to see Alithea. Dammit it all to HELL!!!

Random Doctor Who question... could he regenerate into a woman and have a male companion? Would the TARDIS then be pink? It is a woman after all. (I saw that Neil Gaiman episode.)

Tastes like hearts of oak

Then we all left so Alithea S could sleep (taking with us some tamales and rice). I took Jessie F home, and she invited me up for a night cap. She shared some of her Bacardi Oakheart that she loves a lot, and when she looked in the fridge, she said, "We don't have any mixers aside from Fruit Punch Crystal Light." I told her to bring it on over. I played bartender, we bullshitted, I made her listen to the beginning of the Nerdist podcast with Adam Savage - Live at LARGO! We chatted some more, I made with the funny, and we were all tired so I started getting ready to head home.

Now... Jessie F had gotten me a Christmas present but kept forgetting to bring it when she was going to see me. Even on her two-part birthday (lunch in the afternoon and the drinks in the evening at a British pub), she would look at me and say, "DAMMIT! I forgot it again!"

So tonight when I picked her up for the dinner, she'd remembered again that she forgot saying she left it at the apartment. While up for the night cap, I thought Do I remind her? I thought about sending her a text after I got to my car saying, "Present?" But no... instead I told her that I could have continued to perpetuate the "Dammit!" scenario, but brought up the present reminder, and she jumped up with that "OH!" energy, dug in a bag or something behind her, and finally gave me my Christmas present.

I think I might post an AudioBoo or all the lovely things he says. ^_^

Okay. It's late. I'm fading. I shall sign off on this puppy and (hopefully) get back to my nice dream with Christian Kane last night. *fingers crossed*

Later my lovelies.

Have Goodness!
Rae