Celebrity: NYC, Spring Break and Coming Back

After the end of the quarter, I had two days to recoup, socialize and pack before going to NY. I also had about ten people who "needed" to get their hair cut or colored or twisted or whatever before I left. I tried to get everyone in but I can see that I will be needing to take a long, hard and potentially very unflattering look at my organizational system soon, i wont be able to maintain any kind of client base with the devil-may-care approach I have had with my time up to this point. Its the 9th of April, I havent done my taxes and cant find one of my W2s. I have misplaced both my tuition check and my registration form, and I have to have paid by the 10th day of the quarter (this coming tuesday)or ill be unenrolled. See what I mean by unflattering? I think Im actually going to get with a consultant and have some outside intervention in implementing a successful organization system for me. I just dont have the neurological pathways to develop efficiency on my own. I took a class at pacific salon systems on that Wednesday morning before I left. It was free and we could count the hours for makeup hours. It was only mildly educational, but provided some ample comic opportunity. I went with Abena and Sha'lana. The rest of the class was made up of students from some beauty school in wenatchee. Its a sad thing to try to participate in fashion and style and be in somewhere like wenatchee, seattle is bad enough but youre bascially screwd once you cross the mountains. They looked terrible. We watched a presentation in cutting from a Rep from the "sexy hair" line. this line was started by a white south african guy who is apparantly something of a guru figure. this young woman spoke of him with such reverece you would have thought she had an audience with ghandijee. So, because the guy is "african," (afrikaans is more like it but...i digress) theyve made up this gimmick using the Zulu word for "to do something with purpose," UBUNTU. To that end, anytime someone participated in the class they received a bracelet with a silver charm on it that said UBUNTU. Now, let me remind you that I am talking about a product line called Sexy Hair. Totally outrageous. So I got one of the stupid bracelets, even though I tried to give it back to her, she gave me such sincere what's tape? face that I just kept the damn thing to avoid further eye contact. The three of us had lunch at Baja Fresh and I gave my ubuntu bracelet to these two rentony looking white ladies on the way out. Abena killed me talkin' 'bout "you probably just changed those womens lives, you shouldnta did that. now its gonna become office slang, "You did a great job on the Johnson file sandra, I really admire your Ubuntuosity" and shit." THis led to all kinds of riotiousness, ubuntupupuity, ubuntuency, the list goes on. We were hysterical. Then I went and met with Dr Brooks, the president of SVI. He had told Ms V that we could only do 80 externship hours in 5th quarter(its supposed to be 10 percent which is 165) and that we couldnt make up extra hours in our externship salons rather we have to come to school. That struck me as completely unacceptable and stupid so I made an appt to talk to him about it. He acted like an 80s movie high school principal. I think I was a little uppity for his taste and he felt like he had to put me in my place. When I explained that we will still be paying for our hours but we wont be using any of the schools water, electricity, products or most importantly, space as the floor is already getting very crowded with a new class every three months. He said "a better way would have been not missing any hours in the forst place." I just let it wash over me and kept going. Point taken, I told him but be that as it may, our whole class has about a month to make up after we graduate and it would be better for us and the school if we could do it in a salon. He made some other smart remark and I finally said "I dont understand, I feel like Im proposing something that is in both of our best intrests and Im getting a really negative reaction" "well you seem to think this is a right, and its a priviledge, we dont HAVE to do any of this for you." I was really taken aback actually. I was. I guess Ive never been intimidating to an authority figure before. I think he felt crunchy after he said that, I didnt respond personally or argue with him about it I just kept repeating that it would be beneficial for us and for the school. So finally he says "so youre really talking about sixth quarter students here, so youre not scheduled to be on the floor anyway, that shouldnt be a big problem, I think we can make you a deal on that one." I thanked him and made hime feel like a big beneficiary and that he was really making a difference in my future and left, thinking about the detention monitor in the breakfast club. "if i have to come back in here im crackin' skulls!"New york was a blur. Fran threw up out the cab door en route from JFK to chinatown where we fell into Stephens bed and slept like rocks (after eating russ & daughters bagels and lox) until 4 when we checked into the hotel. the hotel is great, its right in times square, and really clean and reasonably priced. kinda one of those rooms where you run the risk of banging your shin on the dresser when youre walking around the bed but, its ny, who needs a lot of space?We stayed there for three nights, went to a couple really disappointing dance classes at the Mamounia Keita conference, saw a lot of old friends and dance partners, went to a soiree senegalaise which was wonderful. It felt like senegal, the drums were amazing, everyone was dancing, smiling. It was one of the best nights ive had. we were supposed to go to the tanebere that was the celebration at the end of the conference but since the Senegalese dance community there is so fragmented, the other drummers who hadnt been invited to play threw a seperate party and the guys we were with wanted to go to that. Thank god we did, we went to the tanebere out in Bklyn at about 3am when the soiree broke up and it was very different, not many senegalese, mostly african americans, very competetive atmosphere,everyone sitting in a circle watching the few who did have the nerve to brave the stank eye and get up to take solos. It was brightly lit and crowded. No one smiled. I was really glad we had gone to the party instead. Hairwise, I have never seen so many locks and twists and fros in my life. There are more black folks in NY who dont relax or press their hair than there are black people in seattle period. All through brooklyn and harlem there are hair shops that only do natural hair. its lovely. im sure i will have a tough row to hoe getting one of them to let me apprentice when I get out there but if at first I dont succeed...I did Mahdis hair which was fun. It was a cool style which I originally conceived of for her friend Neda but didnt have a chance to do. Good thing too cause I think its Mahdis new signature look. Its a corn-hawk. Cornrows down the sides and back with a mohawk in the middle. We did it to go out to this proportedly great dancehall night which actually SUCKED!!! It was worse than the baltic room and i gave the dj a small peice of my mind concerning my disappointment and his lack of alibi in playing the same tired ol 1994 tracks i hear all the time over here. He has no excuse. Dummy. I sat next to Conan O Brian on the plane on the way back. I didnt really know who he was, he looked familiar but I couldnt really say why. But he was friendly and we started chatting. He was reading a book that i really want to read about the hostage crisis. So we talked about that. Somehow it got around to the what do you do in your destination/departure city and when he said he was in television, in fact had a talk show that went on before Jay Leno, i figured it out. It was Frances, Me and Conan in 16 D E and F. He's cool, smart funny and laid back. I fell asleep and he woke me up pointing to his little personal screen and then back to himself and then back to the screen. He was on the little tv, interviewing pamela anderson. "now thats narcissism!" he said. I put on my little cheapy jet blue headphones and we watched him together. He looks a lot better in person. Not nearly as pale. Hes very very tall. Hilarious. I got the number for the NBC stylist so hopefully I can go watch him get done up for the show. That hair! It was alright to come home. I had Sat off, which was great, then went to the hair show on Sunday...To be continued (my carpal tunnels are acting up, crap!)