Let's All Meet Up in the Year 2000

• Caprica:  A+!  Still dubious about how the concept will spin out into a series, but enjoyed the premiere episode that's been released on DVD very much.
• Gardening!  I bought mostly purple plants, even their leaves.
  
• Mother's Day:  much being busy!  Fun though.
• Wrentham Outlets: somewhat disappointing in terms of the bargains to be found, but I did really well at my new favorite store, White House Black Market, where all the clothes are black and/or white.  Finally I have found clothes made for grown ups that totally suit my style, and I know I will like the color ;-)  Did well at the Jockey outlet too, though I expected that.  The Hot Topic outlet was ridiculous, clearly it was the junk bin and that's saying something when talking about Hot Topic merchandise.  In light of South Park we were amused by the wall of Twilight stuff.
• Found truly waterproof foundation that works well for my skin, Make Up Forever's Face and Body Foundation.  Reviews online complain about it being lumpy and hard to remove, but I think those reviewers do not read their product packaging, which clearly says to shake well before use and that water-based makeup removers will not suffice to remove it.
  
• Watched "Wounded Knee" on American Experience and recognized someone I knew in Chicago who had always said he had been at the occupation of Wounded Knee in 1973 but I was never sure whether to believe him or not.  It was definitely him, though, and as he's dead now (bar fight) I feel very badly for having doubted him.  I'll do something appropriate in his memory the next time I have the opportunity to do so.  It's an excellent documentary.  I felt like I knew a lot about that time period and the politics involved, but I was surprised by some things, and hadn't made the connections between other things before.  I think it's something every US citizen should watch, to understand these things about their country.
• Off to see Star Trek at the Imax now!  Whee!

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I got my Nikki J portrait yesterday--she'd left off my tattoos and was kind enough to add them in after I pointed that out :-)  For those of you who are not belly dancers who live on the internet, Nikki J does cartoony portraiture of dancers, like the people you see at cons and faires, but hers are all done by computer.  *All* the cool kids are getting their portrait done *insert slight eye-rolling here* and I decided to treat myself for my birthday this year.  ( this is what she came up with for me: )
 

I am being totally vain and have commissioned a NikkiJ portrait :-)  I'm excited, she's going to try to wrap together my gothic and Egyptian sides.  In a conversation yesterday after a couple of beers I proudly proclaimed "I am both Sekhmet and Bast, and I'm fine with that!"  But you know, really it's true ;-)

Spent a few hours at the hair salon last night getting my hair done--the last (and first) time I was there, one of the senior stylists (possibly an owner) said that my long red hair reminded her of a mermaid.  Last night she saw me and said "How's our little mermaid?"  So apparently a) I look like a Disney character and b) I have a new nickname.  I don't mind :-)

Hair came out a bit darker than we would have liked; it's still a lovely color, just not my usual flaming orange, more of a copper.  Next time we'll get it right.  I'm really happy to have the ends trimmed though, I hadn't realized how raggedy it had gotten.  Saw Mishak and belly dancer friend Polina at the salon, yay for extended social groups!  Also I walked to the salon from Copley, and while my foot was not crazy about the cobblestone and brick sidewalks, it held up ok. 

Tomorrow is the big event for Paisley--I think everything is pretty much under control at this point.  I am picking up some table cloths tonight and forgot to see how many I might already have at home (in addition to ones being loaned), but I suppose I can always return any extras.  The last time I was at Playtime I saw they have lightweight dry erase boards, basically heavy cardboard with a dry erase coating, so I think I will pick up a couple of those for signage.  They'll come in handy for other events as well.

Watched Top Chef--looks like an interesting bunch, though nearly all of them need better haircuts.  I think the person who got booted was booted not just because of the food but also because that person looked profoundly uncomfortable with the knowledge that two contestants were a lesbian couple.  Take that, intolerant person!

Got my hair cut last night--you wouldn't think that with simple long straight hair a cut could make a big difference, but it does.  I hadn't realized how shapeless it had gotten.  Jason is still cutting hair, just not at a salon, so again if anybody is looking for him I'm happy to pass along his phone number.  He thinks I should keep seeing Wendy for my color.  We agreed that nobody wants to give the salon owners money at this point, but as he pointed out, the stylists there are his friends and he doesn't want what happened to hurt their bottom lines.  Plus, she did do a really good job, so I was easily swayed to that line of reasoning.

Today's BPAL is Plunder:  "The scent of a pirate's gumboat, overflowing with stolen wares: tea leaf, cassia, cinnamon bark, clove, allspice, sandalwood, tobacco, peppercorn, and nutmeg."  It does indeed smell like all those things and is relatively mild.  The sandalwood creates a smooth base for all the other scents to develop from.  I like it.  This is one of the ones that smells more like a perfume than a mix of oils, very nicely balanced.  Though when I first put it on this morning, my immediate thought was "scented black and purple markers!"  Luckily as soon as the oil had dried it no longer provoked that association.

Gosh do I have a lot to do in the next 56 hours or so.  The one thing that is challenging me is when to do my henna voodoo veves.  Can't do it right when I get home, because I need to sew and do some yoga.  My body is screaming for some real stretching.  But if I do it late, I will have to stay up even later for it to dry enough to wrap, and then sleep with it wrapped up and run the risk of the design getting spotty.  I don't think I can do it Saturday am before the ball because I want to do yoga then as well, plus things will be generally hectic enough.  And I'm worried that if I do it Sunday morning/early afternoon, it won't be dark enough by evening when I do my show.  I think I just have to do it tonight.  Maybe we can finish Torchwood while I wait for it to dry, I think we've just got three episodes left of season one.

I think the word has been spread pretty well at this point, but in case any interested parties haven't heard yet, Jason is indeed staying at Liquid.  Nothing bad happened to change his plans, it was mostly just him and his boyfriend rethinking the finances and social scenes involved.  So yay!

I am freshly orange again, as you might guess from my mention of Liquid.  One of the other stylists said of my hair that it was one of the best coloring jobs in all of Boston, which made me and Jason beam with joy.  I had a very relaxing Saturday afternoon at the salon, then went home to do more sewing work on a costume bra.  Bras are more complicated than you would think and eventually I decided to preserve my sanity and scrounge another outfit for Shimmy in the Shadows from stuff I already own.  I think the problem that I was having was that the bra cups I was using are just standard everyday cups, not push up, and I couldn't engineer them into push up.  I have a couple of pairs so I may do some experimenting some day with cutting the cups down and hoisting 'em up.  But for now, I'm happy with what I've worked out, kind of goth folkloric fantasy gypsy.  Doesn't sound much like me, I know, but it's what works for the song.

Saw Daywatch on Saturday night and enjoyed it very much.  I'd forgotten from Nightwatch how clever they were with the subtitles, really working them into what was happening on screen.  Anyway, creative movie, I'd give it four stars as a genre film and three stars in the larger world of film as a whole.  Better than the first one, more tightly plotted.  More Gloom would have been good.

Sunday I slept most of the day away, danced, did yoga and got ready for the Middle East.  I was afraid I'd wiped myself out with too much yoga but I think in actuality I set myself up just right.  Muscles did the things I wanted them to.  I had a great time with my set, and although the Middle East was pretty empty, there was a table of enthusiastic Arab guys out for a night on the town, money showers and dancing and clapping, so the place didn't really feel empty.  I was happy with my khaleegi drum solo as a work in progress--it needs more practice but I like where it's going.  The DJ, who is originally from Yemen, was thrilled :-)  Like everybody else that night, I was asked to dance at a party on Block Island in July, but the money would have to be much better to make all that travel worth it.  It was a good wage, but not when you take six hours of travel time into account.  Plus, the guy's method of finding dancers by standing on a street corner outside the Middle East struck me as a little sketchy, even though he seemed like a decent guy and took pains to introduce himself to M.  The moment did impress on me though, if nothing else came of it, that I've really got to get myself some business cards.

Now I am much less glamorously at work after about five hours of sleep last night.  So far I am staying awake with the aid of Arabic pop and caffeine.  Neck is slightly stiff from khaleegi hair tossing but not too bad.  Good prep for August's zar...