Chapter 217: I Believe In You

I woke up late this morning, at 6:30am as opposed to 6am when my alarm went off. You already know this, though, if you read last night’s blog. You see, last night I was in the middle of writing this blog when I found myself starting to fall asleep while sitting in the chair in front of my desk. I’m not sure why or how it happened but I was just extremely exhausted as I was writing last night’s blog but I did still have things that I needed to discuss in said blog, so I decided it would be in both my interest, as well as the best interest of the blog, to go ahead to bed and finish writing the blog in the morning. So, when I woke up late this morning I was kind of immediately panicked. I wasn’t genuinely panicked. I was more irritated than anything else. I hate waking up later than planned. It really, in the grand scheme of my day, didn’t make a bit of difference. I had already planned on not working out this morning, so I knew I would have a good deal of time with which to get the blog done. I got up and did my normal routine, and made myself a cup of coffee and some oatmeal for breakfast, then sat down to finish last night’s blog. It took a little longer to finish than I had anticipated and I didn’t get into the bathroom to get dressed and do my makeup until after 7:30am. Normally I try to get in there earlier than that – 7:15am-7:20am, in general – so I decided to do a simpler, quicker look and one that I had done several times before to make sure I could get it done in time. So, I went with my all black, Taylor Momsen inspired look, except I used a black shadow with silver glitter to match my black Calvin Klein with a silver/gray colored logo on it. It came out pretty cute, if I do say so myself, and I felt pretty good about my look when I left the house this morning. I also didn’t use any foundation or powder. I simply threw on some of the Amazing Cosmetics concealer April had given me before, which I hadn’t been using in order to preserve it for special occasions. Today was not any kind of special occasion but it is the concealer that blends best with my skin, so I figured it would be the best choice to use without foundation. I definitely intend to buy some of the Maybelline Mineral Power Powder Foundation I had mentioned before because I really feel like a powder foundation would work best for me during these summer months. Of course, I am doing this in spite of the warnings from Dr. Oz, whose show I happened to catch the other day when he was talking about the world’s most dangerous beauty products. One of the main products he talked about was Mineral Powders because you wind up inhaling a lot of the particles in the powder. He compared the minerals in these powders to the stuff inhaled by mine workers and such. I don’t entirely trust Dr. Oz, though. I feel like he is in the business of fear – he creates fear in the people who follow his work, which then prompts them to only follow his work more trying to find the answers to the fears that he created in them in the first place. I don’t know… the whole operation just seems kind of fucked up. He did state, though, that there is no evidence of these mineral powders being any danger to anybody’s health but he speculated and that is enough to freak out impressionable middle-aged and elderly women. It has been my experience that these two groups have a tendency to spook easily. I’m going to give it a try, either way. I figure it can’t hurt, no matter what Dr. Oz says, and based on my research it could wind up being exactly what I am looking for. I also received a message from April earlier today recommending that I check out some of the concealers from MAC because they are considerably less expensive but are similar to the Amazing Cosmetics stuff. So, that is definitely something I intend to look into moving forward, as well.

Of course, it has already been determined that the only cosmetic item I am buying with this paycheck will be the Maybelline Mineral Powder Foundation, which is $6-8. Aside from that, I really can’t afford any other splurging on cosmetics. The money I have left after paying my rent and such is mostly already claimed. I have to pay the rest of my piano lessons for the month, because I only payed for the first two weeks of the month so far. That will be $88, including $10 in late payment charges, which I am happy to pay because it was extremely convenient for me to be able to wait to pay the rest of the month. Then, my Mom and I are planning on joining the gym this weekend, which will only cost me somewhere in the $30 range. I think this will be a major improvement for my workout routine. Then there is one other thing I intend to spend money on. It is a DVD called “White Diamond: An Intimate Portrait Of Kylie Minogue.” It is a 2-disc set including the documentary film, “White Diamond,” which follows Kylie on her Showgirl tour through it’s cancellation after her diagnosis with cancer all the way up to her triumphant return with the Showgirl Homecoming Tour. I had heard about this film a few years ago but was never quite sure what came of it. It was never screened in any official capacity here in the US, but aired on television in the UK and other countries. Now that I know that it is available on DVD I simply have to own it for myself. The other really exciting thing about this is the second DVD in the set, which is a full concert from the Showgirl Homecoming tour. I own all of the other Kylie tours that have been released on DVD prior to this one so I must have this one, as well. The thing is, I have managed to catch Kylie Fever again in a very big way. I always love Kylie Minogue and always listen to her frequently but with the release of her AMAZING new single, “All The Lovers,” and the impending release of her 11th studio album, “Aphrodite,” I am becoming even more obsessed than I already was. She is just one of the greatest artists of my generation and I adore everything she does. I am particularly into her live shows because she just always manages to do the most amazing things with her music and really takes it all to a higher plane with her live performances. So, I am really excited to see a full show of what she did with her Showgirl Homecoming Tour. There is also another, more recent, DVD concert of her X2008 tour that I may buy, as well. I’ll have to see how my finances are after I get paid this weekend, though, before I decide on that. Either way, I definitely plan on breaking out the Kylie DVDs I already have this weekend and having a little Kylie concert marathon.

On the topic of financial matters, I got a text from my Mom on my first break this morning telling me that she received an email about a job that she had applied for online a while ago that sounds pretty perfect. She contacted them back and has a phone interview scheduled for tomorrow morning before work. There is also a higher position on her account at the place which shall not be named for security purposes that she has submitted a resume for. I don’t doubt that she could get the position at our current job but I really think it would be a million times better for her if she could get the other job she is interviewing for tomorrow. It is just so perfect in so many ways. It would pay her considerably more than a promotion at her current job would, has much better benefits and I think is something that she would be considerably happier with than what she is doing now. Mainly, though, it is considerably more money. I am praying with everything I have that this interview goes well. It wouldn’t solve every financial problem that we have at this point but it would be a MAJOR improvement. It would definitely alleviate a lot of the stress that we are going through right now in terms of money. We’d likely be able to pay all of our bills on time and such, which would be a great improvement on where we are currently. Like I said, I am praying and hoping and sending out all of the positive thoughts I possibly could into the universe that this works out for her. I really think it would be perfect. We’ll see, though. Like I said, I really think it would be a great thing for her and, in turn, a great thing for both of us. It would make a world of difference and I really hope that it can work out somehow. I think it will.

Work was bland today. I didn’t really do a whole lot. I wrote my two new songs today and was really happy with both of them. They were both extremely dance/pop and were both kind of “love” songs. Actually, neither of them were really love songs. They were both more “flirty” type songs, like something from Kylie Minogue’s album, “Fever.” The first one was called “Brand New,” and it kind of came about when I got Mariah Carey’s song “Touch My Body” stuck in my head. There is a line in the chorus of that song that says, “I just want to make you feel like you never did.” I always really loved that line in the song because it is basically like saying, “I want to make you feel something you’ve never felt before,” or like my song says, “I want to make you feel something brand new.” It basically took that one random line from “Touch My Body,” and blew it up into an entire song of it’s own. The other song was called, “So Happy,” and was basically about the concept of being around somebody who makes you feel better about the world; who makes everything seem “so happy.” That one is a little cutesy but I still really love the way it came out. Aside from the songwriting, I spent most of the day reading “One Fifth Avenue,” which I will most likely finish tomorrow. I have another book to start reading called “Don’t Stop Believing,” which is the story of a man who developed a deep passion for karaoke and decided to travel the world to discover the history and various forms of karaoke out there. My sister lent me this book because it was kind of a thing for us back in California to do karaoke a little more frequently than anybody should, probably. I mean, we were doing it in different places multiples nights each week for a long time. So, this book seemed like something appropriate to share. I am kind of excited to read it. After that, I really want to pick up “The Carrie Diaries,” from Candace Bushnell, as well as the original “Sex & The City” novel. After reading “One Fifth Avenue,” I am really into her style of writing. She really creates these brilliant, complex characters that really seem to come to life the further you read the stories. I like it a lot.

After work, I did 30 minutes or so of piano practice and I feel like I have really gotten much more comfortable with the left hand side of the new piece I am working on. I managed to play the entire first page of the piece on the left hand multiple times without any really severe issues. Tomorrow I will focus on only the right hand, then for the rest of the week I will work on both individually and maybe, depending on how well it all goes, I will try to play both sides together. I may save that for next week’s lesson but, again, that depends on how well my practice goes this week. For now, though, it is time for bed. It is 12:44am and I am hoping to actually wake up with my alarm tomorrow morning, so I need to get to bed as soon as possible. Plus, I am beginning to feel really tired again, so I’d better finish this off before I fall asleep again. Goodnight.