One third over!

First of all, I missed the second to last week of the quarter. I was in Santa Cruz at dance camp :). It was so relaxing, so hot and so much fun. Nothing like four days of only having to get up to go to dance and kick it with fabulous people I never get to see, to knit my frazzled nerves and reset my patience. Which, as anyone who talked to me before I left knows, was sorely in need of resetting. So, unfortunately, I missed Ms. V's entire section on designer curls (Jheri Curls for those of us who remember their heydey.) Its ok though because really all a designer curl is is a relaxer, thio, no lye, followed by a weaker solution thio perm to restructure the newly straightened hair into a slower speed curl pattern. All that processesing tends to make the curls a touch frizzy, hence the popularity of the wet look. That drippy shiny curl, immortalized in my mind by Eddie Murphy's love intrest's ex boyfriend in coming to America. You know, how he gets up and leaves that gross wet spot wherever he was sitting? No one really gets them these days so Im sure Ill have time to catch up before Im thrown into the desiger curl ring. We dont usually have class on monday, in fact im usually at work. I came to work at 8 got all settled in and the other receptionist showed up. I still had time to get coffee though, so the day was salvageable. On monday we permed our wigheads. GOod lord that perm solution smells indescribably bad. It has got to be toxic beynd belief. Gabe said he was getting sores in his mouth from breathing it in. Scary! Mine looked pretty good. I think my tension was a little off beacause the curls started a little off the scalp but I diffused them and put some glow and grow in so theyed be peicey instead of fluffy and it actually looked alright. On Tuesday we took our written exam. 100 questions. I got up to ask Ms kendra a clarifying question (some of the questions are so poorly written its all I can do to hazard a guess) and she was like "Youre already that far along?" I think over the years she has actually convinced herself that these tests are challenging. Get a grip!!!!! I swear Im not being a stuckup smarty pants, here, let me illustrate my point with an actual question taken from our perming exam.

46. What size curls do small curl rods produce?
a. large b. medium c. small d. none of the above

Do you get my drift? PEOPLE WERE BARELY PASSING!!! I am not trying to be harsh, I am genuinely concerned about the state of peoples performance and comfort with the concept of education and the practice thereof. I did not study, not at all, and I got two questions wrong out of 100. People I talk to on a daily basis, who drive cars, use phones and computers, go grocery shopping, use stoves and heated styling implements, pay bills, and are generally high functioning people are unable to perform well on the simplests of tests. The pressure was apparantly so overwhelming that Ms Denise had to lead us through a guided breathing excercise before the exam. ITs all well and good to chalk it up to testing anxiety but there are going to be times when you just have to prove what you know that shouldnt immediately result in you NOT KNOWING ANYTHING. I dont have any solution. I tried to help people study, I showed them how to do process of elimination when you dont quite know the answer. Help me Kaplan test prep, you're our only hope!
On Wed we took our practical exams. That was a lot harder and cooler. They went in this order with points awarded based on Sanitation, Preparation, Partings, and Execution of Service.

1. Sectioning for a full foil/partial foil(10 mins)
2. Sectioning for a 9 block perm wrap (10 Mins)
3. Wrap a full head in 9 bock perm form (60 Mins)
4.Color applications (10 Min ea)
Virgin going lighter Virgin going darker Retouch
5. Foil packet placement, medium weave 1/4 inch subsections (30 mins)

It took all day. We had to be absolutely quiet and work quickly. Every time I looked around everyone elses looked way better than mine, so I stopped looking around. I was sure I would have to retake something, my partings looked sloppy and I forgot to outline my virgin going darker section, but I did pretty well. My overall practical grade for the quarter was 3.4, thats pretty good. Mazeltov.
Thursday was student services day and retakes for anyone who needed to retake part of the practicals. I decided it would be the perfect day to get a perm. I should have known there wwas no such day. Ms Kendra had said she would do it a month ago and had never gotten around to it. Not a poodle perm mind you, naysayers, but a "10 for texture," All my hair sectioned out on 10 or so big rollers to add a volume and wave. Well Ms Kendra passed me off on LaShannna who failed her perm test, has nails like SWV and admittedly hates perming. I dont know exactly why, there were a few little things she could have done differently (use smaller rods, wrap more tightly, rinse the neutralizer before dropping the rods) but for whatever reason, the perm didnt take at all. My hair is exactly the same exept it smells like sour ass. Really it does, you're not supposed to wash it for 72 hours after, but FUCK THAT NOISE!! You think I was layin my head on my pillow like that, you can think again. It didnt take anyway, so I figured why wait to wash it? The smell is fading but its kind of stuck in my nose. A word to the wise and limp of tress: leave well enough alone, it might be flat but at least it doesn't reek.
Friday we cleaned the whole school, had grade advising, and ate a potluck lunch (pizza, fried chicken, banana pudding...I admit, I ate some banana pudding and it was good. Nilla wafer cuisine!)Then we listened to Ms Kendra read "Oh! The places you'll go," the Dr Seuss book which she has pledged to read to us every quarter since there is always something to be learned from it no matter what stage youre at. No comment necessary on that one. We got out at 3:30, Melashu and I packed all our stuff into her explorer and sped out of there. She dropped me off at my car, I went home, got in bed and didnt wake up until nine thirty. I worked a wedding at the Fairmont Olympic (which used to be the four seasons) on Sat. I was Glynne's assistant, the woman who did my makeup for my headshots. The other assistant was pretty useless so I busted ass. I did pretty much all the updos and hair and Glynne did all the makeup and the bride's hair. They all looked great, could have been a little smoother was her only comment but for my first time and having to do four bridesmaids three maids of honor both mothers and a grandma in five hours, I am pretty pleased with my performance. I am doing another one on Monday that has a 6 am call. WHY GOD WHY? Who gets their hair done at 6 am on their wedding day? I will be sleeping like a baby at that time if I ever tie the knot. Theyre jews of course and from the look of the excel spreadsheet delineating the days events in military time (!), they look pretty observant. Ought to be more fun than a barrel of monkeys. Anyway, I'm sure Ill do better every time I do it and Glynne and I worked well together. She is very direct and straightforward. My fave. Plus she pays me well, I like that part. Im going to spokane next week. Im going to try to interview some Spokane area stylists, get a jump on Easternwashington's up and coming trends... You know me, always keeping an ear to the streets!
Your trusty vocational mole, Vivi.