Change Is Good

so, at the advice of my favorite blogger, annah of when red means go, i’m implementing some new additions.  i’m thinking a few “themed” days… give-aways of some sort… and i’m very much looking forward to guest blogging on my other favie blog, sex and the southern belle!!!  the topic?  my ever-looming sexuality.  gays are the new black.  frankly, though, i’m a little sick of us.

in regard to my blog, any suggestions are welcomed.  i like for people to like me so let me know what you want to see here.  you may continue to “inbox” me… or you can leave comments.   unlike annah, i’m not looking to be famous.  so offers of “marketing” are not at the top of my list of things i’m hoping for.

in other, totally unrelated news, this celibacy thing is gettting older by the minute… i’m thinking it’s totally over-rated.  then again, i have had some wonderful opportunity to just be me.  there is something fantastic about feeling free in your own space.  putting on those atrocious, holey grandma drawers and thinking nothing of it. 

eating pepper jack cheese and cookies for dinner, considering no one.  spilling dog food all over the floor and letting it sit there until after work, throwing your usual OCD caution to the wind.  i’m beginning to wonder, though, if there’s a such thing as a relationship in which one can continue to be her quirky self…  i’m thinking yeah.  because i’ve had one.  i still did my silly dances while cooking.  still walked around with my clay mask and do-rag on.  still greedily ate bacon without fear of judgement.  yep, it’s possible.  but certainly not common.  and is the search worth it?  not so far…

All of Me

i’ve been recently pondering the concept of being “phased out.”  this term can be considered in a wide range of ways.  but specifically, i’m most concerned with how it relates to career and professional growth.  my bff and i were discussing the weave shop trend.  there are, in atlanta, a large number of quick, impersonal, in-and-out weave factories where a woman with a proclivity for follicular additions can have a full sew-in in about an hour for about $50…. something unheard of in a traditional hair salon setting.  my bff went to another friend, professional hairstylist in a traditional, “high-end” salon, for the cutting/ layering of said weave and they discussed the phasing out of hairstylists. 

before then, i’d seen the stick-on eyeshadow doo-hickies, a nauseating number of diy makeup tutorials and enough MAC-gone-wrong disasters to realize that the professional makeup artist is on her way out as well.

i actually would have thought that the more “creative” fields were less prone to be affected by today’s technological advances.  i was used to the idea that customer service for pizza hut, for example, may be handled by random folks in a warehouse overseas who also handle credit cards and magazine subscriptions.  i was aware that the unfortunate folks in the auto-making industry are being replaced by machines and overseas warehouse workers that don’t require expensive health insurance and time-consuming personal interaction. 

however, i was not prepared for this: http://gayboomers.net/2010/07/cell-phone-app-offers-eye-prescriptions/
that’s right… the high paid professionals who write my contact lense and eye glasses prescriptions are being phased out by a cell phone app!!!  it really is true… there’s an app for everything.  now, if i could just find an app for replacing sex!  i suppose there is.  it’s called a vibrator.  but, i digress.

being the results-driven person that i am, i’ve begun asking myself, “self, what is a person to do when they find themselves phased out?”  i am realizing the importance of integrating all of the parts of me.  i have many talents and several interests.  who says that one can only be a teacher?  that same educator can choose to blog, design pageant dresses, cornrow hair on the beach or whatever her heart desires.

i often say that i’m “retired” from makeup… taking only select clients for select events.  what i now realize is that i just wasn’t as focused on that aspect of my career.  but i don’t have to let it go altogether.  i’ve had a tendency to take an all or nothing approach to life.  now, i’m thinking that may not be the best way to becoming a dynamic, well-rounded person.  so currently, i’m in the process of remember all the things i’ve wanted to be, do, have, experience… & making them a reality.  if there’s a rule that says i can’t be a philanthropist, blogger, makeup artist AND business owner, then i’m breaking it!

Letting Go for Good

okay, i’m sitting here in tears.  not tears of sadness, but more of a release… a letting go.

*completely relevant sidenote: anyone interested in reaching a higher level of spiritual understanding most certainly read nakia henry’s blog.  i am totally in awe at the timeliness of what i’ve read and learned today.*

i already feel much better.  because i choose to.  and i remember that the world, God, is so much bigger than this little stuff.  i am loved.