Picking My Brain

Life has been pretty boring lately.   I’m still hunting down jobs with no luck.  I’m beginning to wonder if it’s something about me that employers don’t like.  I know the economy is bad, but there are jobs being posted online.  It’s so frustrating to not even get called in for any interviews.  I’m starting to get panicky.  My unemployment is going to run out, and then what?  I’m deathly afraid that I’m going to be stuck getting some retail job making nothing again.  I know how well that worked out with the Wawa store - it didn’t!  Things are not looking good.

I have decided however, to be of some use to society again.  I’ve decided to do some volunteer work.  The first gig that I’ve been accepted to is the Animal Coalition of Delaware County.  They do rescue and adoption work for every kind of animal you can think of.  I’ve been asked to help out with a special event this Saturday, though I might be going to Sue’s on Saturday so I might not make it.  During the week I hope to get on the schedule to work at the Pet Adoption Center at the PetSmart close to me. I’ll get to take care of the kitties while they wait for new homes.

The other gig I’m waiting to hear from is with a cool store in Media called Ten Thousand Villages. I’m not exactly sure what I’ll be doing there, but the store sells all sorts of imported items from around the world. Everything they sell is bought “Fair Trade,” meaning that the artisans are paid fair market price for their products instead of being taken advantage of by the big corporations.

So I figure rather than sitting home and worrying myself about being unemployed, I’ll go out and be useful.  Hopefully I’ll gain some contacts or something to be able to find myself a decent job!

Last Sunday night I had to make my first visit to the emergency room for myself in at least 10 years. It was nothing too major, I was washing dishes and managed to knock my super-sharp kitchen knife off the counter. Of course when it fell, it landed right on my foot and I ended up with a nice big gash on my right foot at the joint where my big toe and foot meet. It was bleeding profusely and we couldn’t get it to stop, so we hopped in the car and went down to the emergency room.

Five stitches and a tetanus shot later, I was hobbling home.  Things have been up and down since.  The first two days my foot ached a little and if I walked too much at one time, I would start bleeding a little.  The worst was Tuesday morning when I reacted to the tetanus shot.  I got light-headed and nauseous twice, and ended up in bed for a good part of the afternoon.

Things are better now, it’s just getting pretty annoying that this one little cut on my foot is keeping me from doing things as usual.  Walking still involves a little hobbling because my toe doesn’t bend very well.  Shoes put pressure right on the cut, so I’m stuck wearing flip-flops.  I normally wouldn’t complain, but you can’t go to the gym in flip-flops!  I’m supposed to get the stitches removed on June 4, I just have to make an appointment with the doctor.  So hopefully I’ll be more mobile then.  Until then, I’m even more bored than usual!

Ben loves to quote the line from that Baz Luhrmann song “Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)”:

“Do not read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.”

I never quite subscribed to this philosophy.  I realize that not only are the models wearing gobs of makeup, their pictures are then edited by photo-editing software.  I think I’m grounded enough in the real world that all the propaganda they spew falls on deaf ears.  I know there are those who aren’t as grounded and and who strive to look like the models, and for them that line may hold some truth.

I was pretty flabbergasted a few weekends ago though when I went to a bridal show with my friend Jenn.  As we walked around, some of the vendors there horrified me.  I’ve been to a few shows, so I know to expect the usual hair and makeup salons hoping you’ll book them for your day.  At first a I was a little surprised to see a both advertising tooth-whitening service, but wasn’t really bothered by it - especially since I’ve considered talking to my dentist about seeing how much it would cost to have my teeth whitened before my wedding.  But as we walked around further, I realized that there were actually plastic surgeons there!

I was absolutely horrified that women’s self-esteems are so low, they would resort to plastic surgery specifically for their wedding day!  I think plastic surgery for non-medical conditions is vain as it is, and I know the wedding industry has gone completely insane over the past few years.  But this just blew me out of the water!

After I got home, I went through the goody bag that most venues give you to collect brochures and such.  I found this huge magazine in there, “New Beauty.”  This monstrosity is 192 pages of full page glossy ads for ridiculously  expensive beauty products, and cosmetic surgeons.  There are a few “articles” thrown in, but mostly they’re touting specific brands of products for every imaginary flaw you could possibly dream up.

Page 193 then begins the “beauty docs” section.  That’s 132 pages of plastic surgeon ads, most are huge two-full pages!

Then there’s the “glossary, ” 11 pages where you can look up a specific type of surgery and find out what it is, what it does, the average cost, the length of the procedure, whether anesthesia is needed or not, recovery time, number of visits required, the risks and how long the results last.

And last but not least, you come across the index.  There you can look up any type of beauty condition or procedure and see what pages you can find “information” on it.

Thank God I got this crap for free!  It was filled with those stupid postcards with “Subscribe Now!” emblazoned across them.  And I did happen to see this same magazine on the magazine shelf of some store, so that means people somewhere actually pay for this.

Women always complain that we’ve been objectified and that we need “real” women in these magazines.  But after seeing this drivel, I can’t help but think that we’ve partly brought it on ourselves.  If people didn’t buy this stuff, people wouldn’t make it.  I’m still stunned, and I can’t wait to throw this waste of paper away!  This is definately one beauty magazine that will make you feel ugly!

I thought I would post some fun pictures from our jaunt into Philly this past weekend.  Sunday was Ben’s birthday, and since he’s such a scifi nut, we celebrated on Saturday by going to the Star Wars exhibit the Franklin Institute was hosting.

It was a lot of fun, there were some really great props and costumes there.  Hover over the pictures to see captions, click on the pictures to see them full-size.