Chapter 178: Lazy Afternoon

Let me preface this blog by saying that I am going to try to keep it short this evening for a couple of different reasons. First of all, it is 10:50pm and I am just starting now. I need to get to bed soon. The reason starting was pushed back so far is because I spent a large portion of today downloading a 1.39GB fan-made Barbra Streisand compilation, called “Evergreen: A Retrospective,” and I spent a really long time after it finished downloading futzing around with the track titles and artwork and such in iTunes, because I am kind of anal about the way things appear in iTunes. I’ll discuss that a bit later, (not my obsessive iTunes organization but the Barbra Streisand compilation.) The other reason for keeping tonight’s blog short is because I really don’t have a whole lot of substance to say about today. I didn’t actually do much of substance today, honestly. After all, it is Sunday. Sundays, in my opinion, have always been great days for inactivity and I definitely put that theory to the test today. I really didn’t do much at all today. I woke up at 10am and talked to my Mom from the bed for a minute, then the next thing I knew it was 11am. In order to avoid waking up at 1:30pm again, I made sure to actually get out of bed this time. I washed my face and brushed my teeth and such. When I finished all that and came out of the bathroom I noticed that my Mom and her boyfriend were gone. I woke up really hungry this morning, so I went to scavenge for food in the refrigerator and found a bowl of leftover spaghetti. I made that my breakfast and sat down at the couch and watched the “RuPaul’s Drag Race” reunion for the second time. It’s just kind of tradition for me – I’ve watched every episode of that show multiple times after the original airing. It’s kind of an obsession, honestly, and I am very sad that the season has ended. Still, I am excited for RuPaul’s new show, “Drag U,” which will feature many of my favorite queens from both seasons of the show.

After that ended, I decided that it was time to practice piano. I had initially decided that this weekend would be devoted almost completely to piano practice but after being out pretty much all day yesterday I didn’t wind up practicing at all yesterday. So, I figured I needed to put in double time today. It went pretty well, too. The one piece that I have been working on for nearly a month now, “Vacation,” is shaping up pretty well. I am practicing that one fully at this point, with both hands, and slowly starting to play it at the pace intended. The piece that I have only been working on for the past couple weeks, “Bullet Train,” is not going as well but it is also slowly coming together. I am only now experimenting with playing it with both hands. As I told Viktor, the trouble I am really having with this one is the fact that I just have trouble hearing the actual tune of this one. I think the reason for this is because “Vacation” actually has lyrics and “Bullet Train” doesn’t. Viktor seems to think the problem is the fact that “Bullet Train” makes a lot of use of sharps and flats where “Vacation” has very few of them. Either way, this one just isn’t clicking in my head very well. I figure I will come to a point where it works for me but I am definitely not at that point yet. Speaking of Viktor, I tried to call him today and it went straight to voicemail. I left a message saying that I needed to try to reschedule my lesson this week and asking that he call me back but I never heard back from him. I was hoping to change my lesson to tomorrow but I guess that isn’t going to happen at this point. My sister told me that Tuesday or Thursday would work just as well, so hopefully I will hear from him tomorrow and will be able to get it changed to one of those days. Sadly, this week I really couldn’t afford to take a cab there even if I wanted to.

It sucks but my financial status this paycheck is ridiculously low. I probably shouldn’t have spent $40 on Urban Decay but I didn’t have the foresight to think of that beforehand. Actually, if you’d read the blog on Thursday night you’d know that I am lying – I did have the foresight to know I couldn’t afford it. In fact, I talked about it pretty extensively – I had wanted to order two of the 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencil sets for $20 each but said that I would only order one because I couldn’t really afford both. So, I did follow through on what I said and only ordered one of those sets. Of course, instead of the second $20 Eye Pencil set, I ordered the $14 Face Case, which includes three gorgeous eye shadows, a blush and three shades of lip gloss. I was kind of back and forth on whether or not I wanted to order that because the only of those products I really use at this point is the eye shadow but I have been toying around with the idea of doing lip colors, as well, and figured this could be a good way to try that out without being too expensive and also giving me three shadows that I really want. Still, I probably should have left it at just the one Eye Pencil set and been done with it. I was explaining to Whitney recently that I KNOW the things that I should and shouldn’t be doing but when it comes to shopping all of that logic goes out the window and I just feel this compulsion to purchase. It is really not a good thing but I know that I can get it under control. The time before my next paycheck will be a little bit of a struggle but it shouldn’t be too much of an issue. I just have to avoid doing any frivolous spending. I shouldn’t have any major problem with that. The only issue is that my bank account, after I go get cash out tomorrow morning for my piano lessons and to pay my Mom’s boyfriend back for grabbing a carton of cigarettes for me while they were out, I will have something like $66 left in the bank. That’s not like being broke but it is a smaller amount than I am comfortable with considering there will still be eleven days before my next paycheck. I do happen to be very good at acting like I don’t have any money when I really just don’t have as much as I want in order to avoid spending, though, so I should be fine. Money is an issue right now, though, unfortunately. With my Mom’s account taking away overtime, she will be bringing in considerably less than she did before. I’m making it a point not to get too worried about it, though, because last time that they took away overtime on her account it was back within two weeks. I am really keeping my fingers crossed that it will wind up the same this time. I think it will. Either that, or she will find another job. As I have always said, the Universe is working in my favor, and it will not let us have THAT much of a long-term struggle. It will be fine. If I wind up having to pay out even more than I am now, so be it.

Aside from practicing piano, which I did quite a bit of today, I spent today watching the movies I downloaded on Friday. I only got about 30-40 minutes into “Nine” before the file randomly shut itself down. I tried to reopen it and skip back to where I was and it did the same thing. Apparently, that movie just wasn’t meant to be watched on my computer screen. I will have to check it out when it comes to DVD, which is sometime this month, because the 30-40 minutes that I saw were really good. Better than I expected, actually. The songs, as mentioned in last night’s blog, aren’t your typical show tunes and some of the accents while singing were a little over the top but the movie definitely got off to a really good start and I am now kind of anxious to see where it goes from there. I also watched “The Big Gay Musical,” which was hilarious and fun, while still having it’s share of heartwarming and inspiring moments. It is the story of two guys who play the leads in this Off-Broadway show called “Adam & Steve: Just The Way God Made Them.” The included musical numbers from this show are over the top and ridiculous and have God played by this actor who I only know as “the guy who sang ‘Como Te Gusta Mi Pinga’ in Trick.” It is hilarious. I had assumed, as I mentioned last night, that the play in the movie was based on the Elton John produced non-musical on Broadway right now, “Next Fall,” but clearly that was not the case. It was a really adorable story in this film, though, with lots of really cute, young actors, (including my favorite porn star, Brent Corrigan,) and a lot of really amazing, fun musical numbers both in and out of the context of the show they are in, including a catchy, fun, offbeat number called “I Want To Be A Slut.” It was a really fun movie. I absolutely loved it.

Then I watched a movie that requires it’s own separate paragraph – “A Single Man,” the directorial debut of one of my absolute favorite designers, Tom Ford. This film stars Colin Firth as a somewhat older gay man who has recently lost his partner of 16 years and has decided that the day in which the film takes place is the day that he is going to kill himself. There aren’t a lot of supporting characters in this film but the ones that are there did amazing jobs with their roles. Julianne Moore plays the best friend/one-time lover of Colin Firth’s character. This woman is very clearly in love with him and sees his partner’s passing as a way for them to come together again. She and Colin have an amazing chemistry on-screen and really come across as two people who have been best friends for decades. Also, Matthew Goode gave an amazing performance, in flashbacks, as the deceased lover of Colin’s character. I have always had a thing for Matthew Goode anyway, and this film only heightened that. His character and the memories Colin Firth’s character has of him are just such magical moments. One other brief supporting character is a gay hustler, played by frequent Tom Ford model Jon Kortajarena. For being his only credit as an actor, I was really impressed with his performance in this film. He was only in one scene but it was probably my favorite scene in the film. He and Colin Firth’s character just seemed to make such a genuine connection in the brief moment that they shared. That is probably my favorite thing about this film, every connection that is portrayed onscreen seems so real and completely genuine. It really kind of feels like you are simply watching a day in somebody’s life in a lot of ways, as opposed to watching a film. My favorite part of this film, though, was definitely Kenny Potter, played by the stunningly beautiful Nicholas Hoult. His character is a student of Colin’s character, (who I forgot to mention is a college professor,) who is drawn to him and keeps showing up in places where he is. The two of them do an amazing job building the rapport and the sense of impulsiveness that comes with being around somebody new and intriguing. I am not going to spoil the ending of this movie because I really recommend that everybody see it for themselves – it is one of the most beautiful films that I have ever seen, both visually and in theme. Visually, it is breathtaking. The use of visual effects, particularly the colors, really adds an intense emotional element to the story. I just love the overall theme of the film – it is basically the story of a man who has decided to end his life and how he kind of rediscovers the beauty and magic of life on that very same day. The ending was a bit of a surprise, though, and it certainly isn’t the ending you would expect, but it worked and was really beautiful. This film really inspired me immensely – it really brought to mind all of the little things about life that we take for granted and reminded that life is a beautiful, precious gift. I cannot say enough good things about this film. I truly recommend that everybody take the time to see this film. I believe it is being released in June on DVD. It is well worth a purchase, I promise you. It is one of the best movies I have seen, I do believe.

Between movies, I did experiment with a couple of new makeup looks that I have been considering. First, I tried this look that I have been considering doing ever since the Robyn album leaked last week, inspired by her song “Dancehall Queen.” “Dancehall Queen” is a completely brilliant song, combining reggae with elements of techno, electronic and dance music. It is one of the most unique songs I have come across in a long time. It is ridiculously brilliant. Like I said, as soon as I heard this song I kind of came up with a concept for a makeup look inspired by it. The look used the colors of the Jamaican flag, as well as lots of sparkle to really reflect both the reggae and the electronic elements of the song. It came out pretty well but after putting it on I kind of came up with a couple of other concepts for the same look. I also decided to try to emulate the look that Julianne Moore had in “A Single Man,” which was an amazing 60s, mod look that mainly consisted of very thick black eyeliner and a simple, sheer nude colored shadow. Basically, the look almost came across as if she were only wearing eyeliner. What made this look so interesting and unique, though, is the fact that she didn’t just do two lines of eyeliner, on the upper and lower lash lines, but added a third line of black liquid liner in the crease of the eye. Each of these lines winged out at the end and gave her a really offbeat but gorgeous look. Unfortunately, when I tried it on just one eye it came out pretty ridiculous looking. I will have to work at it a little further and see if I can improve it. The key to this look is being extremely precise with your lines, which has never been my strong suit. Still, I think if I work at it a little further, I could really make it work.

Okay, so I didn’t wind up keeping this blog short at all and it is now 12:18am. I need to get to sleep. Tomorrow is the start of a whole new week of work. I am not excited about that in the slightest. What I am pretty excited about, though, is the fact that tomorrow is also the start of a whole new week of my daily musical tasks. I wound up doing them every day of last week and I am pretty excited to see if I can pull that off again. I don’t think it should be a problem at all. I didn’t wind up posting any of the songs that I wrote last week on Facebook simply for lack of time and completely forgetting about it today. I still may do it tomorrow or something, though, because I do think it is a really good idea. We’ll see, though. Right now, all I need to do is go to sleep. I will be listening to my mega-Streisand load that I downloaded today. It is 150 songs, split up into 5 “discs” of 30 songs each. Each of the “discs” are for a decade in her career, so there is a 60s disc, a 70s disc, an 80s disc, a 90s disc and a 2000s disc. It is a LOT of music. As I have been writing this blog, I have been listening to the 70s disc, which includes probably the most songs that I actually know. The whole reasoning for this is because I have always been aware of Barbra and have enjoyed the stuff of hers that I know but have never been overly familiar with her work. I have recently been coming across a LOT of songs that she made famous being covered by others and have decided that I need to educate myself on her quite a bit more. I am loving what I am hearing on this 70s disc. One of my favorite tracks on here is the recent “Glee” track, “One Less Bell To Answer/A House Is Not A Home.” It is simply a gorgeous song, no matter who is singing it. Barbra really brings something special to it, though. The thing that I think I didn’t realize before is exactly how gorgeous her voice is. She really has a beautiful voice and works with it beautifully. I absolutely love it. So, not to get carried away talking about this, I need to end this and get to bed. Good night.