atsstory

[atsstory]

I'm On Hold...

.... with Aegean Airlines trying to unravel the last of our aborted Greece/UK trip. easyJet actually did me a solid and canceled our Chania - Gatwick flight, no doubt because Greece does not appear it will be on the UK "green list" for travelers anytime soon. I was elated, as the email stated I could request refund online! So online I went, and take a guess! My only options were to change flight or request a voucher. Using my int'l calling plan, I called and was able to cancel. And even though easyJet doesn't book true multi-leg flights, they cancelled the Gatwick - Belfast flight too so I was able to get the whole thing refunded. Although I think I got screwed on the exchange rate somewhere in the interim.

So our Athens - Chania is the last flight I am trying to get cancelled. Though the Aegean website touts all the stuff you can do online, when I actually access my booking there is a message stating "Changes and additional baggage purchase cannot be performed online for this booking. For more information please contact our Reservations Department at [phone]." Of course! Luckily, they do have a number for US travelers.

My original booking was in (European) business class so it's supposed to be refundable. But, they "downgraded" us to a smaller plane without a business class option. I had an option (allegedly) to cancel online, but at the time we foolishly thought we were still taking the trip. We were to visit the ticket counter upon arrival in Greece to get a refund for the difference in biz vs economy fare. Cleverly, I accessed that original email and tried cancelling the trip. Predictably, I received an email a few days later saying they could not refund me as the flight had not been cancelled. No shit! Ugh. So they'd better refund me, as again, my original PAID booking that you aholes charged me for was in (European) business class!

All right, that's now 10:36 minutes on hold for those of you out there keeping score! I have to give easyJet props on their hold times...my first call to be told I couldn't yet receive a refund lasted 9 minutes. The second where I got the refund was only 19 minutes. I'm on track to just be on hold that long with Aegean right now. Perhaps I can figure out how to cancel that $15 per month int'l calling plan whilst on hold....

WHAT. THE. FUCK!!!! THE GODDAMN CALL JUST DISCONNECTED AFTER 20 MINUTES ON HOLD. GOOOODDDAMNIT!!! I am almost ready to just eat the price of the tickets at this point. Somebody kill me now....

[atsstory]

I'm NOT Going To Greece :( (PS EasyJet SUCKS!!!)

Welp thanks to Bozo Boris Johnson (and, to be fair, the coronavirus) I am not going to Greece. Our plan had been to meet Benji & Dallis in Northern Ireland, then on to London from which we would fly home (on a Virgin Atlantic A350!!!). But, it is not appearing the UK will be allowing US travelers anytime soon, so Benji & Dallis bumped their trip forward by two weeks. With all our moving parts, that added thousands of dollars to our trip (600 euros to the price of the hotel in Greece alone). I'm heartbroken - the NI meetup was pretty much a once in a lifetime confluence of events and now it'll probably never happen.

So, I'm now in the process of now trying to unravel it all. The biggest thorn has been the goddamn EasyJet flight from Chania to Belfast. We have a layover at London Gatwick, and it turns out EasyJet does not do true thru flights, so we actually have two reservations and would have had to get our bags, recheck them to Belfast, and go back through security at Gatwick. So that was enough of a pain until I discovered EJ has NO number for US callers! So in order to call & find out my options I would have to pay international calling fees (around $3 per minute!!!).

We had a good experience flying EasyJet from Edinburgh to Paris Orly in 2019 but now I have to say if you're in the US I would avoid them. I tried filling out their online form and explained I was unable to call due to the expense (especially as they quote long on-hold times). What did I get in response? A fucking form e-mail that stated if none of my questions were answered to....call their customer service. So obviously no one bothers to actually read these. Some bot checks them for keywords an generates an auto-response. GRRRRR!

So yesterday, I ponied up $15 per month (which I can hopefully cancel) for an international calling plan from AT&T and called them. The answer? Right now I can change my flight, and that's it. No refunds, no vouchers, nothing. Meanwhile every airline on the planet (it seems, and it seems like I've booked flights on the majority of them the last 6 months) is being super flexible due to COVID. But not EasyJet. Despite the "Protection Promise" they tout on their website, they will not actually do shit for you if your destination is still on lockdown and requiring a quarantine. So I may be out around $800 which is sickening. Meanwhile it took about 30 seconds on British Airways' website to find, request, and receive a voucher for our flight from Belfast to London City that is good until 2023!!

Our plan had been to fly from Tulsa to JFK on July 3 and stay overnight at the groovy TWA Hotel in the old TWA terminal and fly to Athens the next day. We are still going to NYC and staying at the TWA Hotel, but because we are ultra AvGeeks, we are hopping up bright and early the next morning and taking American Airlines Flight 1 to LAX. That's right....we're flying halfway across the country one day, then all the way back across the country the next. The plane is American's A321-T that is a unique plane type that they only fly on a couple of transcontinental routes (that's what the T in A321-T stands for). It has 3 classes of service, First, Business, Main which is very rare for a plane on a domestic route. We are in "Business" which has lie flat seats (the plane leaves at 8am and it's a 6 hour flight - I may need a nap). You can check out the layout of this unique plane on SeatGuru if you're into that sort of thing: https://seatguru.com/airlines/American_Airlines/American_Airlines_Airbus_A321_new.php?flightno=1&date=

We are also scheduled on an A330 from Atlanta to JFK on Delta, which is shocking! This is a twin aisle wide-body jet that you rarely will find on domestic routes. This is the same plane on which we were supposed to fly from JFK to Athens. The bad news is we leave Tulsa at 6am. The TWA hotel pool (an infinity pool which overlooks the runways at JFK!!!) requires paid reservations and you can only get a reservation on the day of your arrival so we need to get into JFK early. So basically it's like Caddy Day at the pool, but I imagine they had to do this to keep the pool from being overrun. I am actually just fine with these restrictive rules if they cut down on the amount of tools hanging about at the pool. Our room also overlooks the runways, so it should be AvGeek heaven.

So, we will be knocking off several AvGeek bucket list items: TWA Hotel, AA Flight 1, A321-T, and A350 planes that we have never flown on, and that you will not often find on domestic routes. So I'm feeling a little less sick about the other trip being cancelled (although not about the prospect of losing all that money to EasyJet). Although if BoJo soon announces the UK will open to US travelers from July 1, meaning our entire trips would have still been possible I will feel sick all over again.

And, we still have our Minneapolis Chicago trip coming up in September. And Wrigley just announced they are going back to 100% capacity! Mind you, it's not that I *like* crowds of peasants, but tickets at Wrigley are expensive enough without limited capacity. It'll be nice to get back into the Friendly Confines.

In other news, Ginny & Lisa (and maybe the El Patrons) and I are headed to Boise later in September to see oSu take on the Broncos on the blue turf!!! We are flying Southwest there and Delta back, with a layover in SLC which means I can finally check out the huge, swank new Sky Club there! Lisa and Felipe will have prime plane spotting on the outdoor skydeck. I love a good airport lounge! It's good to be (hopefully) travelling again....even if it's just in the lower 48!

[atsstory]

You've Got To Be Kidding Me....

I posted a few weeks ago about finally biting the bullet and trying Supergoop! Glowscreen and not being crazy about it. I can now update my review: hate is a strong word, but I really really really don't like it. So I went to order more of my Elta MD that I loooove....and what pops up at checkout? Why, a free gift of Supergoop Glowscreen! Gah!!! I waited and waited to try this product because I was hoping to get a trial size, preferably free, instead of shelling out for the fullsize product. So now I'll have two bottles of this product that I really am not crazy about. The biggest thing I do not like about the Glowscreen is that it is quite sticky. It doesn't seem to really ever dry - if I don't pull my hair back it sticks to my forehead and cheeks. Yesterday, a full 9 hours after application, I had my convertible top down and my hair whipped around and stuck firmly to my forehead!!! Maybe it just doesn't work well with the other products I use, but it just doesn't apply or wear well. I'm currently rubbing pills of product off my face at my desk. Boo!

So it's back to Elta MD...which is also a mineral as opposed to chemical like the Supergoop. That's a plus for me. To date, I have not found a lighter, easier to apply daily SPF product for my face. I did try the Supergoop Glowscreen for body - it seems to go on better than the facial product, but it is not tinted. At. All. So you will get some sparkle/shimmer but if your legs are super white it will not help with that at all. So I will definitely only be using this after a healthy application of self-tanner! And I would be very interested in a tinted version of the Glowscreen body. Ball's in your court, Supergoop!

[atsstory]

Like a Butterfly from a Cocoon....

Felipe & I and friends are attending Bedlam Baseball this evening downtown at Oneok Field. It will be the first thing we've "done" really since the pandemic began. I have a feeling it's going to be a bit jarring; however, I have not had big concerns about outdoor gatherings from the get go. My biggest challenge will be to control my rage when I inevitably encounter multiple maskless bitches in the bathroom. I'm already pretty cranky when around a ton of goons anyway.

So, I'm not sure who all of my friends* I'll be seeing for the first time in forever, but this was supposed to be a real coming out party for me Being off social media aside from this blog that no one reads, people aren't really sure what I'm up to. I was going to swan into the stadium like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon...(self) tanned, lost a few pounds, hair looking long (er) and fabulous...I made an appointment at Drybar, bought a cute French Connection orange sundress, and some new silver sandals. Perhaps a bit fancy for a baseball game, but as far as I was concerned this was my debutante motherfucking ball!

Fast forward: per the forecast, I woke up to cold, pouring rain. I had planned to take 1/2 day off to meet our builder at 1pm and then head to DryBar at 2. Around 7am, a Labrador crawled into bed with me and I decided to take the whole day off (minus meetings from 10-noon). As the rain continued to pour, I cancelled my hair appointment, which I now bitterly regret as I try to style it and remember it was recently butchered - cut too short and longer on one side than the other.

I obviously won't be wearing a sundress. A parka will be more apropos. And...my nose and cheeks are replete with what is either a mild case of rosacea or a moderate case of acne. And my forehead is broken out with what is definitely an ugly cluster of pimples. I've attempted to do my best with makeup, but I'll be skulking into the game much more on the caterpillar end of the spectrum. Truly....man plans, God laughs......

#GoPokes

*speaking of friends...all you fuckers better be vaccinated! hear me now and believe me later!

[atsstory]

Here Comes The Sun

Well! Felipe and I will be dining on Dalessandro’s patio this evening for our 18th (!!!) anniversary. And it seems that it will be a nice evening with no 25mph wind gusts as happened the last time we tried dining on a patio. I am in no way ready to dine inside a restaurant with the high number of cases and variants still out there. Especially as Tulsa’s mask mandate expires tomorrow so I imagine the indoors will be even more of a free-for-all than it already is. Nooooo thanks.

So, whilst the CDC has determined that you are pretty safe from the COVID outdoors, do not forget that the dreaded UVA/UVB rays are still out there waiting to ruin your skin! Now is about the time that I start using Skinceuticals C E Ferulic antioxidant serum under my sunscreen. It is pricey, but it allegedly can remain effective for up to 72 hours so I don’t use it every day unless I’m going to be out in the sun for a long period of time. A bottle therefore lasts until late fall/early winter and I buy again in late spring.

At the moment, I am auditioning the latest suitor attempting to topple my devotion to Elta MD tinted moisturizer SPF 40. The candidate is Supergoop! Glow Screen SPF 40. I've been wanting to try this for awhile and was hoping to get a sample or trial size. No such luck, so I finally got the full size. This product has more of a shimmer than a tint. I prefer (still) the Elta MD. It's much lighter and easier to apply. I would continue buying a smaller size of the Supergoop! to use for when I'm wearing makeup and going someplace where I might want a bit of shimmer. That place is not to work.

I also got the Glow Screen version for body, but I have not tried it yet. Will report back when I do. Overall, I really like the Supergoop! products. The Refresh Defense mist is fantastic if you're needing to reapply your sunscreen whilst wearing makeup. I'm also using the Bright Eyed mineral sunscreen SPF 40. With both these products, I've found you need to make sure all previous skincare steps have completely dried/absorbed or both the Glow Screen and the eye cream are hard to apply and blend. I think I prefer the old SG eye cream that didn't have any sort of tint - it doesn't seem to make me particularly bright eyed. I do like that it's mineral - it's definitely less irritating to my eyes.

So Elta MD still reigns supreme in the daily facial sunscreen wars. Because I am wearing a mask when not in my office at work, I've been using up all my random products from last summer's Sephora Sun Safety kit, the majority of which were not tinted. The SG Unseen Sunscreen was included - it has the consistency of a primer/pore minimizer (similar to Make Up Forever's primers). If you are a person who wears foundation every day, I think you would really like this product.

If you are new to my beauty universe, the products that I highly recommend and order over and over are the following:

Elta MD Daily Tinted Sunscreen SPF 40:

https://www.dermstore.com/product_UV+Daily+Tinted+BroadSpectrum+SPF+40_58357.htm

Aveda Exfoliant (I AM STILL PISSED THEY APPEAR TO HAVE DISCONTINUED THE 16.9 OZ SIZE):

https://www.aveda.com/product/17734/16417/skin-care/exfoliator/botanical-kinetics-exfoliant#/shade/5_fl_oz%2F150_ml

May Coop Raw Sauce (I also like the Raw Sheet sheet mask):

https://www.maycoopus.com/collections/best-seller/products/raw-sauce-150ml-hydrating-essence

Clinique Anti-Acne Spot Treatment:

https://www.clinique.com/product/1672/29793/skincare/acne/treatment-specialists/acne-solutionstm-clinical-clearing-gel?size=0.5_fl._oz._%2F_15_ml

As I Am Coconut Cowash:

https://asiamnaturally.com/collections/classic/products/coconut-cowash?variant=261852987410

Sunday Riley Good Genes:

https://sundayriley.com/products/good-genes-lactic-acid-treatment

Note: I am not an "influencer" and receive no compensation for anything I post here. I just do it out of the kindness of my heart. You're welcome!

[atsstory]

I’m FINALLY Going to Greece! Maybe!

Back when COVID cases appeared to be going down and the vaccine was rolling out, we booked a trip to Northern Ireland in early July to meet up with our couple BFFs Benji & Dallis. “The EU will be doing tons better than either the UK or the US at that point,” I confidently said to myself, as I booked us into Amsterdam prior to Belfast. I loved Amsterdam and wanted Felipe to see it. We would then fly from Amsterdam to Belfast, and then back to London for a few days before returning back to the lower 48 via the ATL. It was an ambitious and probably ill advised plan.

As we know, the EU is now a shit show, and while the vaccine rollout here is going well the case trajectory is not and despite BoJo the UK is doing swimmingly (although not open to US travelers yet). So we decided the EU was probably a non-starter. Any advice on what to do with a KLM voucher prior to Dec. 31 when you have no plans of returning to the EU or anywhere near Amsterdam in the near future?

Greece is (perhaps unwisely) opening up to American travelers! So I rebooked our TUL-AMS leg of the trip to TUL-ATH and then we are taking Aegean Air into Crete and staying in the super swank Domes Zeen Chania hotel. I was first hoping to somehow fly through AMS and just rebook our KLM flight from Amsterdam to Belfast. That turned out to be a non-starter, even flying from Athens. Plus, I didn’t feel comfortable flying through an EU country that might not be open to Americans at that point.

It turns out there are very few airlines that fly into either of Belfast’s two airports, and certainly not from Crete! So we are now taking a 4 hour flight from Chania airport in Crete (CHQ) to London on easyJet and then continuing on to Belfast, and not to the airport that is much nearer to our hotel that we would have flown into on KLM. AND, easyJet apparently does not do true connecting flights, so we have to get our freaking luggage at Gatwick and recheck and go back through security. Luckily, we have a 2.5 hour layover.

Anyway, I ended up spending waaaay more money than originally planned to make all these changes, and at this point none of it may even happen. It does not pay to be optimistic about the future in the time of COVID, or at least you should not put your money where your confidence is! And I now have that damn KLM voucher that’s probably not worth the (virtual) paper it’s printed on. But, at the end of it all perhaps I’ll finally get to visit Greece. Watch this space!

[atsstory]

The Universe is Conspiring Against Me

I now have an short, bi-level (not on purpose) haircut. But I can at least take proper care of my skin, no? Well, maybe not. Aveda has become the latest company to betray me.

I like to make sure I never run out of the Aveda Exfoliant. It’s basically a toner with salicylic acid - I use it right after washing my face and it really seems to help with congestion. It’s one of the only skincare products I have used solidly for years and years. I buy the 16.9 oz bottle, usually two at a time, even though at $63 it’s *quite* pricey. (A bottle does last quite a long time) But nothing I’ve used that’s less expensive has sufficed. I try to stock up if there is a sale.

So what has happened? The product does not appear to be discontinued, which is wont to happen with a product I love. But, the 16.9 oz size is no longer available. Only a 5 oz size for $24!!! So that’s over $75 if you tried to buy the same amount of product. What the hell! That’s getting to be too pricey even for me, who will spend ridiculous amounts on skincare. I still have one spare 16.9 oz bottle left and after that there will be a difficult decision to make.

Take note, Aveda: I can take or leave every other product in your repertoire. If I stop buying the Exfoliant, I will have no reason to visit your store or website ever again. So bring back the 16.9 oz Exfoliant (and don’t raise the price!) or else!!! You’ve been warned.

[atsstory]

Well...I Got My Hair Cut...And It Was A Disaster

(Let me preface this by saying that much, much worse things could have happened to me over the past year. I can grow a bad haircut out. But damn I’m bummed.)

I arrived at Ulta this afternoon very excited to get this scraggly mop trimmed. And styled! And then it turns out my stylist Patricia is out on maternity leave and no one bothered to remove her from the online booking system. So I agreed to see someone else. The person seemed to be on the ball...they asked if I would Iike an inch taken off and I agree. They seemed to get that I have curly hair. I asked about blending the front pieces as best as possible as they don’t grow as fast as the rest of my hair and they are straight. But, as they started cutting they were talking to another client who was wanting to make an appointment for a straightening treatment. Then, at one point they were yelling back and forth with the receptionist trying to find an opening today for another client. So I don’t know if the person wasn’t paying attention or what.

Fast forward....at LEAST 4-5 inches are gone from my hair, maybe 6. It went from getting close to the top of my bra strap in the back to now above shoulder length. No two ways about it...I have a bob. It’s shorter than it’s been in YEARS. And I have been working SO hard over the past year to grow it out...deep conditioning it under the dryer, protein treatments, not even combing it out some days to combat breakage...and now this. Plus, the person cut the short pieces in the front of my hair even shorter, so they are above my chin. And they are really choppy so they blend less well than before, which I didn’t think was possible. Oh, and the right side is about 1/4 inch shorter than the left side. It’s AWFUL. It’s going to take years to grow back out to where it was. I am so depressed. Instead of a butterfly emerging from a cocoon when I finally see all my friends, it’s going to be more a Simple Jack from “Tropic Thunder” type situation. I keep going back to the mirror thinking SURELY it’s not as bad as I thought. And it is. Ugh. So much work down the drain. If I could just go back a few hours and walk out of that salon!

To top it off, they didn’t even style it. I said that I don’t heat style it on a regular basis if I’m not going somewhere. So they put a bunch of product in it and scrunched it. I am not a scruncher! So I left looking like I had short wet hair with a bad perm. I don’t know what in the hell I’m going to do with it. I specifically avoid wearing my hair in a bob as it makes me look like a 9 year old Dutch boy. And if I try to curl it, I either look like a large child or an inappropriately dressed grandmother. Although now that I’m not platinum anymore that might not be as much of an issue but it’s still not good.

[atsstory]

I’m Getting a Haircut Saturday

...good lord i hope everyone is wearing a mask. i may end up with an inadvertent bi-level ‘do. my last haircut was 8/01...i felt trepidation about it, but my hair was getting sooooo scraggly. luckily everyone was wearing a mask, and because i go with my hair already washed i was able to get in and out very quickly. i even felt comfortable enough to grab a few products before i checked out, something i cannot imagine now.

i have been trying to take really great care of my hair, doing weekly masks using my bonnet hair dryer and twice monthly protein treatments. plus, obviously, i am no longer bleaching it & i have been heat styling it even less then normal. it’s been frustrating to not add regular trims to my hair rehab project. 

so we will see. i know already that i am not ready to re-join public life. i went to the donut shop near work this morning, and as i was paying a maskhole (unmasked idiot) sauntered in. as i left, i loudly called him an asshole. do these idiots currently actually pose any threat to me personally? very likely not, but it still enrages me to see such casual disregard for people like the employees and other customers in the donut shop. so i channel Darth Vader  Emperor Palpatine and let the hate flow through me. if only i could force-choke people!!!!

if i do not fly into a rage and get kicked out of Ulta, i may make a future appointment to return to my “natural” platinum blonde. i have not decided. i definitely do not like this dark reddish color i am sporting now. i did not like it when i started coloring my hair at age 15, and it does not look any better on me at age 50. i confess, however, that i do not miss the hassle and expense (and damage) of getting it colored all the time. so maybe i’ll go with highlights? although i fear that’s just going to emphasize that what i really want is to go back to my pam anderson in a bottle-blonde. 

in closing, here are a few good hair masks to check out:

Briogeo, Don’t Despair, Repair! Mask

Living Proof Restore Treatment Mask

Christophe Robin Regenerating Mask with Prickly Pear Seed Oil

[atsstory]

THE LORD HAS SPOKEN.

[atsstory]

sigh....

[atsstory]

Why Are People So Awful?

seriously...i knew they were terrible, but the pandemic has brought their sheer, craven selfishness and stupidity into stark relief. felipe and i, now that we’ve gotten both shots, visited the grocery store recently. mind you, the CDC still recommends mask wearing and social distancing and our town still has a mask mandate through the end of the month.

 at least 1/4 maybe more of the shoppers at the 21st and yale reasors were not wearing masks. it was all i could do to control my rage. why are people so selfish and stupid? it’s not that hard to put a piece of cloth over your face to protect the health of others. and, if everyone would have just kept up precautions (to the extent they were taking them to begin with) until the end of this month or maybe next, i think we’d really be seeing the end of this thing and certainly less people would die than will now. that’s what’s been especially frustrating. 65,000 cases a day is NOT the end of the pandemic.

i mean, if i were in a bar i would expect this sort of thing - if you’re visiting bars during a global pandemic which has killed 550,000 of our citizens and counting, you’re an asshole. you’re willfully and directly contributing to the endlessness of this goddamn pandemic and i hate you. i mean, sorry...i'm not the one who decided how infectious viruses are going to spread.

but it’s harder to avoid the grocery store. i just wanted to pick out my own goddamn produce, but thanks to these mouth breathers, it’s back to delivery or curbside pickup. it sickens me that these people also don’t give two shits about the safety of the heroic employees who’ve been keeping our grocery stores and other shops open all this time.

also...i get how difficult running a grocery store is right now, BUT IF YOU AREN’T GOING TO ENFORCE THE MAYOR’S MASK MANDATE, THEN YOU NEED A CLEAR SIGN OUTSIDE YOUR STORE SO THAT THOSE OF US WHO do GIVE A SHIT ABOUT OUR FELLOW HUMANS CAN CHOOSE TO AVOID YOUR STORE. if you don’t want your employees ensuring that themselves and all customers are safe by requiring masks, that is totally your call. but make sure we know that we’ll be encountering unmasked people in your establishment so that we can make an informed decision before encountering ya’ll qaeda in the pasta aisle. 

in short, avoiding people over this past year has been one of the easiest things i’ve ever done. with a few exceptions they are uniformly terrible, awful, stupid, and selfish. i haven’t dined inside a restaurant, left the city limits, colored my hair, or done anything that might endanger my fellow citizens, and it’s been beyond frustrating to watch everyone else think they are soooooooo special and they just *can’t possibly* put off whatever unnecessary activity that - again - is directly contributing to endlessness of this goddamn pandemic. 

i am not a perfect person. there are a lot of things i’ve done that i regret mightily and that i would do differently if i could live my life over again. but i will never understand how everyone has just been able to ignore the horrific death count, the exhausted healthcare workers begging us over and over to just stay home, and the people still sick from this disease after contracting it months and months ago and just flit on about their regular lives and activities. i don’t know what my “new normal” is going to look like if this plague ever ends. but i suspect it’s going to be populated with a lot fewer people than before. 

[atsstory]

If You Qualify for the Vaccine....

Just get it! Do not overthink whether you “qualify.” End of story. 

[atsstory]

15 Months & Counting....

So this has gotta go. It’s now been almost a year since I was supposed to get these roots done. I had a work trip scheduled in April 2020. One by one my hair, pedicure, and facial appointments I had scheduled in March were cancelled. These roots had already been growing over 3 months at that time. It’s grown enough that I am now certain that I made the right decision at age 15 to go platinum. This red(dish) doesn’t pop. Felipe likes his ladies to pop.

[atsstory]

You Gotta Keep ‘Em Vaccinated

well, minions...i just completed the most dangerous activity of the pandemic. that’s right, i got vaccinated at a superspreader site! yesterday, i arrived at the Expo building here in the TUL, only to find there were at least 100 other people waiting in line for their shot. really???? i have spent the last year avoiding going into any building that i didn’t absolutely have to, and i show up for my vaccine and suddenly have to be around more people at once than i’ve been around the last year combined? the Expo is a large building, there was one door open, it seems well ventilated, and everyone was wearing masks but still...masks aren’t 100% effective even if worn properly and that’s a LOT of people to cram into the same space during an airborne pandemic. so wish me luck!

the shot itself was a bit of a sting. i went home to take out the labrador, lucy, afterward. we normally do two miles half walk/half run and i was dragging. we only ended up doing about 1.75 and i didn’t really feel like running at all. my arm got progressively more sore as the evening went on. it’s sore this morning, but i feel fine. i normally use a bathroom in another building and do a couple of flights of stairs before returning to my office, and i’ve felt fine. so again, hopefully i didn’t avoid nearly all activities for the past year only to get the corona while finally getting my goddamn shot!

next “jab” as our friends in the U.K. disturbingly like to call it is in 3 weeks. many people have fallen a bit ill after this one, so assuming i don’t get the corona in the interim, i’ve got that to look forward to. full immunity supposedly follows about 2 weeks after the 2nd shot. i am not really sure how much of my behaviour i will change at that point, since you can still catch and spread the virus even after vaccination (studies are pending on these points). also, observing the general selfish and idiotic behaviour of people in this country over the course of this pandemic has caused me to realize i have been a closet introvert all this time. thus, deletion of all my social media and the move to a blog no one will read. on that note, i will bid a fond adieu to all the people not reading this.  

[atsstory]

If You Don’t Like Pina Coladas.....

Head up: I recently received a tube of Coola gradual self-tanner in a sample bag that I bought. It tans! It tones! It tightens! It has a natural pina colada scent! Wait, what???? No! Why is it that companies think the main thing we miss about tanning was smelling like cheap Coppertone suntan lotion!? I do not want to go into work smelling like a pina colada, thanks very much! 

Luckily, the scent was fairly light. Not nearly as bad as the now discontinued Too Faced Tanning Bed in a Tube...that product had a fantastic shimmery bronze tint, but it REEKED of cheap pina colada mix. I get that even the best tanners have a bit of a funky smell as they develop, but please do not try to mask it with 70s Coppertone. Anyway, this self-tanner was OK but it’s very gradual. I had to apply twice to really see any color at all. Loreal sublime glow remains the gold standard for gradual self-tanners in this reviewer’s modest opinion. You will not have to worry about walking into work reeking of a blended beverage. 

[atsstory]

Welcome!

Greetings minions. As I’m sans social media, and I know you are all starved for mundane updates about my life, rest assured I have heard your cries and decided to remedy the situation, early aughts style, by writing a blog! You are most welcome.