Chapter 132: Rain On Me

Today was a day just like any other. It had its ups and it had its downs, but it was mainly just kind of boring. I woke up at 7:50am to my Mom still not feeling 100% but feeling much better than she did yesterday. She was up making coffee when I woke up and I took that as a good sign, considering yesterday she didn’t even do that. She barely got out of bed yesterday, except to take me to work and pick me up for my lunch break, which was a nice change from usual. Like I said, she was feeling much better than yesterday but still wasn’t feeling great. She still wasn’t feeling up to working out, so we skipped again this morning. It’s really a shame because I am very dedicated to this whole workout process but it just seems like life keeps getting in the way. I know, though, that every time I get thrown off the wagon it is nothing more than the Universe giving me an opportunity to prove my dedication by picking myself up and getting back on. So, that is my plan for tomorrow. As the day went on, my Mom slowly got to feeling better and better and is pretty well back to normal now and has already discussed working out tomorrow. We briefly discussed the idea of just not doing it again until next week, feeling that this week is pretty much already shot, but we both agreed that only working out two days this week is considerably better than not working out at all this week. I am excited for this, mainly because I have been kind of anxious to try working out to the new Goldfrapp record, which I have been listening to like mad for the past few days. I don’t know, though, I am also thinking of how great it could be to work out to Cheryl Cole’s album, “3 Words,” one of my favorite albums of 2009. It’s all upbeat but not really fast or anything, so I don’t know how that would work out for working out. Perhaps Goldfrapp is the better choice. We’ll see tomorrow morning, I suppose.

I woke up this morning really in the mood to wear my lavender colored Old Navy v-neck tee and maybe some black dress pants or something – then I remember what today is. Fucking St. Patrick’s Day. I have never been a huge fan of St. Patrick’s Day, to be honest, and I really dislike any holiday that restricts your fashion options. I mean, I like the color green and have enough of it, both in terms of clothes and makeup, to work with but I was really in the mood to try out this makeup look I saw on Adam Lambert on his recent trip to Tokyo – it was gold on the lids, with red coming up from the inner corner to the browline, then black blended from the browline out to the side of the eyes, in a cat’s eye sort of look. My descriptive words aren’t quite getting the job done, but you can check out a picture of it here. Of course, I wouldn’t be doing all the random jewels surrounding it because I am just wearing it to work, and I don’t have a bunch of crazy jewels to put around my eyes. I definitely feel like I need to get more really solid glitter shadows. They look awesome and really give your eyes a major pop. I have a lot of glittery shadows, but they are regular shadows with glitter in them and don’t quite have that same effect. Anyway, I was going to try to emulate that look with silver on the lids, purple going up the inner corner and black with silver glitter going out the sides. I think I may wind up trying that look tomorrow, actually… but unfortunately, I was a little too anxious to try it today. So, I did. I did it with green, bronze and brown. When I first tried it I was pretty happy with it, but as the day wore on I came to realize how much of a hot mess it actually looked. Don’t get me wrong – it wasn’t terrible. It really wasn’t that bad. It’s just that green and brown just aren’t really colors that work for that sort of look. Still, I was pretty proud of my blending skills because the look came together really well aside from the unfortunate color choices. Oh well, lesson learned. I was also thinking this morning, though, that I need to buy a really good brush set and some brush cleanser. I think I like working with brushes much better than those little applicator things, and I have been dealing with the few brushes that I do have a lot lately but they aren’t the best in the world. So, perhaps sometime over this weekend I will take a little trip to Ulta to look for a good, not-too-expensive brush set and some really good glitter shadows. I love taking trips to Ulta!

Work was pretty bland today. I spent the first part of the morning tracing the one piece of blank sheet music paper my hot piano instructor gave me last week and drawing all of the notes that he taught me last week again, to refresh my mind of them all before tonight’s lesson. I also drew another version of the treble clef tiara/headpiece I designed yesterday, because I really like the idea of it. I also wrote another new song today that I was much more proud of than the one I wrote yesterday. I feel like, in a lot of ways, my songwriting muscle has lied stagnant for too long and needs to be worked out some more. Today’s workout of that muscle went really well, though. It was a pretty intense workout for it, honestly, and it kind of took a lot out of me. Fortunately, that is the type of workout that never feels like a chore, no matter how intense it may get. I may actually share that song at some point, but I don’t have it on me at the moment and don’t remember it all off the top of my head. I really loved it, though. As a songwriter, I have found and heard many other songwriters discuss, how there are some songs that just flow from you and you don’t really have any control over the process at all. This was that kind of song – it just kind of happened. It did, however, take a lot out of me in the sense that it made me think a lot about the things that I may have been feeling and thinking, but were remaining hidden in my subconscious. Those are the best kinds of songs to write, I think. The songs that really make you face parts of yourself that you didn’t necessarily want to face are always a genuine experience to write and, as a songwriter, you can’t really ask for much more when it comes to writing.

The workday came and went fairly quickly and everything ran smoothly, and when I got out at 6pm my sister was waiting there to take me to my lesson. I told her today that I would give her some cash on Friday when we get paid for gas, and she was like, “You should,” in one of those half-serious, half-joking tones. It only seems right to give her gas money considering she is going considerably out of her way, to Bradenton even, to take me to these lessons. It is really more than she has to do and I really do appreciate it, and the best way to show your appreciation is monetarily! I am only joking, of course, but there is definitely some merit to that concept. When I arrived at the Allegro Academy this evening, I had to wait a few minutes for Viktor to finish with the student he has before me, an adorable little African-American girl. He came out with her again and made sure that the girl at the front desk watched her before taking me into his studio for the lesson. The thing that I love most about these lessons so far is that Viktor and I vibe very well together and we have spent the entirety of both of these lessons so far laughing while still learning things. Last week’s lesson was all about learning the notes on the Treble or G Clef, which was pretty simple. This week, on the other hand, was focused on learning the Bass or the F Clef, which is kind of more complicated, because it goes in the opposite direction – where the G Clef begins under the bottom row of the sheet music, the F Clef begins about 4 rows up and works it’s way down. This part is less natural, as well, because it is all dealing with the left hand instead of the right hand, which is more difficult to work with on the piano itself. I don’t think I’ll have any problem learning it, though. I also learned about sharps and flats today, as well, which was pretty interesting. I already kind of knew the basic concept of the sharps and flats, but learning more of the technical side of them and how to apply it was really enlightening. It was a really fun lesson and I enjoyed it a lot. It really does seem like Viktor enjoys our lessons a lot, as well, if for no other reason than that he can be more “adult” than in his normal lessons. Of course, when I say adult I mean swear words and sexual innuendos, both of which were pretty prevalent in today’s lesson. They are very unusual lessons that I am taking here and they are nothing at all like I had expected. They are a lot of fun, though, and I am really happy with them the way that they are. I enjoy them a lot. Another bit of evidence that he enjoys the lessons with me, as well, is the fact that today’s lesson wound up running about 15 minutes longer than it was supposed to and I didn’t even have to pay extra.

The extra 15 minutes was helpful, as well, because it took away from the time that I had to wait afterwards. I left the Allegro Academy at around 7:20pm and initially intended to walk down to the 7-11 on the next block to get a coffee or something, but it seemed really crowded and I was feeling insecure about what a hot mess my makeup was today, so I didn’t go there. Instead, I sat down on a bus bench and played Solitaire on my iPod to pass the time – it did a pretty good job of it, too. In general, like last week, I would have totally spent that entire time dicking around on the internet on my phone, but my phone has been having this problem lately where it doesn’t hold it’s charge very well and winds up with only 2 bars remaining by the end of the workday. This was the case today, as well, but it was worse than usual. By the time I took my first break, at 11:30am, it was already down to only 3 bars and by the time I left work it was down to only 1, so I knew there was no playing with that this evening. I text messaged my Mom and told her to call me when she left work. Last week, she did that and we just talked on the phone while she drove to get me. I left my phone alone for the rest of the time I was waiting to make sure it held it’s charge. This morning it was drizzling and rainy outside, but weather.com said it was going to be 75 degrees today, so I decided not to take a jacket with me today because I figured the rain would clear up and it would be warm. My Mom questioned this, but I said it would be fine. I was right, too, and the temperature outside was kind of perfect all day. One thing I didn’t take into consideration, though, was the fact that I would be spending something like an hour outside when the sun was going down. It was cold out, but it wasn’t anything unmanageable… at least, not at first. By the time 8pm rolled around and it was actually getting dark outside I was freezing on my little open-air bus bench. My Mom called as I was sitting there and my phone managed to stay alive long enough for us to talk while she drove. As we were talking, and I was still sitting on the bus bench, I suddenly felt something hit me from above. What could it be? Raindrops, of course. I immediately jumped up off of the bench and started looking for somewhere to take cover, but there really wasn’t a single place to do that. So, I just stood there in the rain. It wasn’t a heavy rain at all, but it was already cold out and getting wet wasn’t helping the matter at all. When my Mom finally got there, I was pretty frozen. It didn’t take long to warm up, though, once I got in the car. I felt like a mess, though. Not only did my makeup look a mess at this point, but so did the rest of me, and what’s worse is that my feelings now matched my look. We got dinner from Gyros & Seafood and headed home to watch “American Idol.” It was really kind of a boring end to a boring day, to be honest. It was at least relaxing at that point. Now, however, it is 12:45am and I have to be up in less than 7 hours. It is time for bed. Here’s hoping I don’t get rained on tomorrow. Good night.