Chapter 247: Down

It is late. I mean, it’s 1:21am. That’s not really all THAT late for the weekend but I am pretty tired. I don’t think this blog is going to go on for too long. There’s not all that much to say about today, anyway. I woke up at 10am and did my morning skincare routine and ate a random piece of chicken I found in the refrigerator. I wasn’t sure where this chicken came from but it was tasty. I sat down in the living room and watched last week’s episode of “Pretty Little Liars,” the new show from ABC Family, which is actually getting considerably better as it goes on. Initially, I wasn’t all that impressed with it. It had a really pretty but generic-looking cast and all of the plotlines they introduced early on could be described the same way. It kind of floundered for the next two or three episodes, basically only furthering the plot in extremely minor ways and repeatedly reiterating the fact that the initial plotlines that were introduced were still intact. It was beginning to get a little tedious but the past two weeks’ episodes have been immensely better than the first few. When I finished with that, there were re-runs of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” on, so I kind of let myself get sucked into that, in spite of the fact that I have already seen every episode of the entire series several times before. Seriously, each week the show would air I would watch the episodes again at least three times before the next episode aired. It was a little sick. I can still sit and watch them like they are new, though. I love those drag queens. Logo is currently running a lot of promos for a new show, premiering on my birthday, called “RuPaul’s Drag U,” which features various drag queen contestants from “RuPaul’s Drag Race” giving women makeovers. I am pretty excited for that to start and have actually made plans to get together with my sister and her girlfriend that night, as well as my Mom, and all watch it that night. I mean, we are having my birthday party two days beforehand, so I figured that would be a nice, relaxed, laid back way to spend the evening of my actual birthday. I figure we’ll order some pizza or something easy like that and all just have a fun, relaxing evening.

Somewhere in the midst of the RuPaul marathon I remembered the fact that I had fallen asleep without posting my blog last night. I had written the whole thing, for the most part, but went to sleep without posting it. So, I came back to the computer and finished that off and quickly went back to RuPaul. Sometime around 2pm I received a call from my Mom, who was on her last break at work. She didn’t sound well, honestly. She said she was just tired but I felt like there may have been something bothering her. Her statement of just being tired, though, was kind of supported by the fact that she said that she wasn’t sure if she wanted to go out as soon as she got off. As I mentioned in last night’s blog, I was looking forward to a day of splurging on and pampering myself. Her tiredness kind of put a damper on that. It wasn’t a big deal, though, and I figured she may wind up feeling better once she left work – that has a tendency to happen to a lot of people who work there. I find that I often will feel awful while I am there but as soon as I walk out the door I start feeling considerably better. I’m not sure what it is exactly but I feel like there is something about that building that just kind of brings you down and that general negative feeling, as is often the case with negative feelings, manifest itself in your physical being. I assume it has something to do with the lighting and all the drab colors. Either way, I was kind of keeping my fingers crossed that this would be the case for my Mom this afternoon. I continued watching RuPaul until about 3:30pm, then I went to take a shower, shave and get myself dressed and made up for the day. I wore a purple v-neck today and did a purple smoky eye along with it. My entire outfit was inspired by an episode of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” when Ru wore a gown made of purple feathers and did a purple smoky eye with it. I didn’t have anything made of purple feathers, so I figured my purple heather Old Navy v-neck t-shirt would work. My Mom got home just as I was finishing up the look and she said that she needed to call her boyfriend, so she went into her bedroom to do that.

In the time that they were on the phone, I noticed that I had a missed call and a voicemail on my phone. It was from an 818 area code, which I automatically recognized as Los Angeles. I knew exactly who it was, too, even though it wasn’t a programmed number in my phone. My Mom had mentioned previously that my favorite uncle, my Uncle Glenn, had called her and was asking for my number so I had kind of been expecting his call. I wasn’t entirely sure what he needed to talk to me about but, like I mentioned, he is my favorite uncle and I would be glad to hear from him whatever it was in reference to. This, by the way, is the same uncle who I hadn’t talked to in a while – since I asked him if I could stay with him when I was planning on moving to LA earlier in the year. I never really got an answer from him but I kind of heard through the grapevine that he wasn’t really in a position to have a houseguest or whatever. I wondered if he may not have been calling in reference to that in some way. This was not the case, though. He was actually calling to ask me about my clothing sizes because he wanted to send some clothes from my Uncle Bruce, who recently passed. I was very touched by the fact that he thought of me for this and told him I would be glad to take anything he wanted to send. I don’t really think that my Uncle Bruce and I had a similar style by any means but it would be nice to have anything from him, for sentimental reasons. I tried to ask my Uncle Glenn how he was doing since Bruce passed but he kind of shooed me off the phone because he had to go somewhere. In the time since my Uncle Bruce died, I have kind of been concerned the most for my Uncle Glenn because the two of them were extremely close and I would imagine that he is taking the whole thing pretty hard. He sounded like he was in decent spirits throughout most of the call but the fact that he didn’t really want to talk about how he’s been doing is a bit of a red flag that the answer to that question is “not very well.” It’s understandable, though. I can’t imagine what I would be like if anything happened to my brother or sister. It was really nice to get a chance to talk to my Uncle for a while, though, and I was very glad to have heard from him. Once I finished talking to my Uncle, it wasn’t long before my Mom was done with her boyfriend and she asked me if I was ready to go. Of course, I was.

Before going anywhere else, we were both feeling pretty hungry and decided to go get dinner. We went to the Panera Bread on University and had a delicious meal of soup and sandwiches. It was kind of refreshing to eat something different than the usual places we eat from when we eat out. It was delicious and we both kind of patted ourselves on the backs for making a somewhat healthier choice for dinner. After that, we headed over to Ulta. As I mentioned in last night’s blog, I had pretty well decided that I was going to buy myself the Urban Decay Eye Shadow Ammo Box. It was $39 dollars, which is a tad expensive for my taste, but included 10 Urban Decay eye shadows and a full-sized bottle of Urban Decay Primer Potion in their newest formula, which would cost $18 on it’s own. Once we got to Ulta and I started looking around, though, I started feeling less sure about it. After all, it was $40 for that one item. That $40 could have been spent on several items at lower prices instead. So, I decided to look around a little bit and see what else I could find. I already knew beforehand that I needed to buy some more brush cleanser because I had just run out two days ago. That was $12. I don’t know what exactly the issue was but while browsing Ulta I found myself starting to feel kind of down. I kept looking for different types of products, like bronzers or blushers, and not being able to find anything that I wanted, or I would find things that I was interested in but didn’t want to spend the money on. I still hadn’t taken my rent money out of the bank yet and was a little paranoid about overspending. I really don’t know what my issue was but it was really getting to me and I was feeling almost depressed in this store. Eventually, I did find a bronzer, Revlon Beyond Natural Blush/Bronzer in Peach, which has now been crossed off of my birthday wish list posted on Facebook. I also picked up a NYX Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil in Hot Pink, which I have been meaning to do for ages. I bought one a very long time ago in the shade Strawberry Milk because I thought a softer shade of pink would work better as a base under a wider variety of pink shadows but it turns out that this shade was so light that it wasn’t even really visible on my skin. The big item on this Ulta trip, though, was the Ulta brand “92-Piece Blockbuster Kit.” This thing cost less than half what the Urban Decay palette would and includes 64 shadows, 22 lip colors, 4 blushers, a translucent powder and a lip gloss. This set seemed like a much better idea for a number of reasons. First of all, I already have a few of the shadows that are included in the Urban Decay box and I have found Urban Decay shadows to be kind of hit or miss. I just always get sucked in by Urban Decay’s packaging and such, because all of their stuff is really cool looking and have great names. Second, I have been very curious about trying out Ulta brand cosmetics for a long time because I have used a few select products from them and found them just as good as many of the higher end brands but I hadn’t used any of their eye shadows or blushes, so I have wanted to see if they would be as good as the other things I have tried. I haven’t actually used any of them yet but I have swatched them all and such and they seem VERY promising. I am really excited to give these things a try. I am fairly certain that these will all be put to use in whatever look I wind up doing tomorrow.

Anyway, after leaving Ulta, I couldn’t shake that blasé, depressed feeling I had gotten. It didn’t help that my Mom hates going to Ulta. She says it reminds her of going to the South Gate Mall, which is the super bourgeois mall here in town where everybody is all snooty and annoying because they have more money than God. Don’t get me wrong, I am not one of those people who give a shit whether or not somebody has more money than God, and I feel good for them and hope to be one of them someday. It’s when they are assholes about it that it becomes an issue. The people at the South Gate Mall, more often than not, are assholes about it. We have a tendency to avoid that place like the plague, even though the only MAC store in town is there. I never really got that vibe off of Ulta, though, so that kind of sucks. Anyway, my Mom wasn’t in the best of moods and kept trying to usher me out of Ulta every chance she got, so after we left neither of us seemed to be in the best of moods. We still needed to go to Wal-Mart, though, and to a Walgreen’s location so I could get money out of the bank. So, we headed up Cattlemen to the Wal-Mart on Bee Ridge, even though we were really close to the one on University. Somewhere along this way, I decided that I wanted to buy a DVD at Wal-Mart for us to watch this evening. We stopped at Walgreen’s and I got my rent money out of the bank and found that my balance was still over $100, even after spending $42 at Ulta. I knew I had extra but I figured my balance would be lower than that. Still, I do have a couple weeks until I get paid again and figured I shouldn’t spend too much more. Yet, for one reason or another, I still had money burning a hole in my pocket. So, at Wal-Mart, I picked up only a couple items that were really good deals. First of all, in spite of the fact that I have been reading the “Gossip Girl” series, as well as books that two of my co-workers told me I should read, I have been feeling the need to pick up a new book – something different and particular to my interests. Well, while at Wal-Mart, I spotted a little bargain bin of books that were all hardcovers for only $6. I wasn’t seeing much in this bin that I really had much interest in until suddenly something popped out at me – “Audition” by Barbara Walters. As you should all know at this point, I watch “The View” every day and am a pretty big fan of Barbara’s, as well as all of the other co-hosts… except for Sherri Shepherd. She is an idiot. Even Elizabeth Hasselbeck I can deal with most days but Sherri always comes across as completely ridiculous and imbecilic. Anyway, I am looking forward to reading that. I also picked up a DVD, for only $13, that my Mom and I watched once we got home, “The Box.”

I had seen “The Box” months ago, before it was out on DVD, and absolutely loved it. I was very anxious to see it again but once the DVD was released had never gotten around to actually going out and purchasing it so, finding it on sale today, it was a no-brainer. “The Box” is the third feature film from Richard Kelly, director of “Donnie Darko” and “Southland Tales.” I am a big fan of Richard Kelly’s and loved both of his previous films, albeit in very different ways. Still, after seeing this one the first time I immediately liked it better than the other two. “The Box” is the story of a young couple in 1970s Virginia, played by Cameron Diaz and James Marsden, who receive a package at their front door one morning from an unknown sender. Inside is a small wooden box with a glass dome on the top of it, enclosing a big red button inside. There is also a note saying that a man will be visiting them at 5pm that evening. When the man arrives, he makes them a strange offer – if they press the button inside the glass dome on top of the box, he will give them one million dollars. The catch is that somebody somewhere in the world, who they do not know, will die. They only have 24 hours to decide and are forbidden to discuss it with anybody but each other. I don’t want to give too much away but it is a fascinating story dealing with NASA in the 70s and the National Security Agency and all types of conspiracy, as well as a lot of more spiritual matters, dealing with our ideals of right and wrong and taking responsibility for our actions, etc. Like I said, I don’t want to give too much away and, really, if I tell you any more of the plot I will be giving too much away, but I HIGHLY recommend seeing this movie. It is suspenseful and insane at times but it is also a journey with a beautiful destination. It really touched me in a way I can’t even explain. It is definitely worth picking up if you have a chance.

Anyway, it is after 3am now and I really should get to bed. So much for it being a short blog tonight. Before I do end this, though, I wanted to make mention of the fact that this is the end of my unofficial, not previously mentioned Liz Phair week here on the blog. You see, much like I did with Barbra Streisand a while back, every blog post for the past week has been named after a Liz Phair song. I can’t say that I have only listened to Liz Phair this past week, like I did with Barbra, but I have listened to more of her music than anything else. I am thinking of doing more themed weeks, as far as the blog titles and my own general music listening goes. It is really something that is only fun for me but I don’t really see anything wrong with doing things that are only fun for me. So, someday soon you may be seeing a week of blogs named after Madonna or Kylie Minogue songs. We’ll see. Tomorrow should be a good, relaxing day. We got the movie “Nine” in the mail from Netflix, so I will probably end up watching that tomorrow which I am pretty excited about. Also, I am thinking about dying my hair tomorrow so that should be fun, as well. My Mom and I were talking about taking a trip out to Venice to get dinner from Panda Express tomorrow, which we have a strange obsession with, so it should be a pretty relaxing, fun summer day. We’ll see, though. For now, though, I am exhausted! I need to go to sleep. Goodnight.