Job hunting sucks.

So you know those goals we set for ourselves?  Mine was "I'll have a job and move out by 18".

Boy did that one fail.  

So then, my next one was "I'll have a job and be moved out by 20"

That one is pretty much a fail.  I'm going to turn 20 next month, and no job.

I started job searching before I turned 18, and almost two years later I haven't gotten a single call back.

I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong, or if I just have awful luck.

Primarily I've been putting applications in online, because whenever I go places and ask for applications, they always say they do online applications.

Maybe that's just a polite rejection..?

I'd love to get into bartending.  My aunt was a bartender at my age, she said it was a great experience and decent money for the hours.

I was thinking about taking a bartending class, but the only places that had classes were like an hour away from me, and while I do have a license, I do not have insurance or a car.  So I'd have to figure out the bus system, and it'd take like two and a half hours to get there, then however long the class is, there were a few that were a couple hours, a few that were basically all day, and then I'd have to get home.  If I took the all day classes, would the buses even be running still?

So, I didn't actually do that, as you can see, there were some issues.

I ended up buying an online course thing, learn at your own pace kind of thing.  

The problem with that is that I have to practice on my own, and I'm very bad at that.

The next job I'd like, if I can't get bartending, is waitressing or being a barback.  Tips, and the possibility of being able to move up to bartending at some point is very appealing to me.

But at this point, two years of job searching, I'm very discouraged.  I'm literally putting in applications everywhere nearby.

It has to be nearby, because I don't have a car. 

I actually sort of had a possible bartending job lined up...I became friends with a guy on an online dating site who was opening his own bar.

It was in the same vicinity as the bartending schools, though.  Like, an hour away by car.  I kind of feel bad that I let that opportunity slip by.

Sigh.  Well, there's not really any point in dwelling.  

He's holding interviews tomorrow, and I haven't practiced enough bartending to be comfortable trying.  

Not that I could get there, anyway.  

That ship has sailed.

I think I'll start working harder on the lessons I got from the online bartending course.  

It has two quizzes and a test that you can take once you're comfortable, and then they supposedly help you get a job bartending.

As far as I know it's just that they find local bartending opportunities and tell you about them.  Not a guaranteed job or anything.

Anyway, enough rambling.

I'll write more later.

SheWhoMustWearHats

Hair experiments

So, I donated my hair at the beginning of the year, and have since been trying to grow it back as fast as possible.

My hair used to be down below my butt, and it's now just barely touching my shoulders.

I love having long hair, I really do.  

My sister thinks it's a hassle.  

It makes showers take longer, it gets everywhere when you sleep, just generally troublesome.  

I don't mind.  

I get to take longer showers, what could be bad about that?  

I braid it at night, so it doesn't get in the way, and I get nice waves when I take the braid out in the morning.

My mom and my sister donate basically as often as they can.  

As soon as their hair is long enough to donate, they do.

Normally, I don't.  

But they had been pressuring me to do it for a really, really long time, and it was starting to get to me.

Big mistake.  

I have come to the decision that I am not cutting my hair like that ever again.  

Trims are fine, but I love my long hair, and right now, I don't have it.

So because of this, I've been looking for all sorts of different ways to grow it out again.

I take biotin every night because it's supposed to promote healthy hair, nails, and skin.

I use coconut oil to deep moisturizer my hair about once a week.

I learned that the chemicals in shampoo strip the natural oils that help have healthy growth, so I'm trying to find alternatives to shampoo.

For a little while I tried baking soda.  

You're supposed to do baking soda to wash, and apple cider vinegar to condition.  

The acidity and stuff balances out if you do both, but I read that apple cider vinegar can fade dyed hair, and I use henna, so I didn't want to do that.

I learned shortly after that baking soda can also fade dyed color, so I quit doing that and moved on to trying castile soap.

Now, I like castile soap.  My family uses it whenever we go camping down the Grand Canyon, so we have it on hand.

It's not the best for washing hair, though.  We have concentrated castile soap, so in order to use it, I have to thin it out with water, and it just never feels like my hair likes it.  My hair is always kind of strange feeling after.  Not quite dry, not quite oily, just..strange.

So what I'm going to try next is something I read on a random person's blog.  They do a lot of this kind of natural beauty stuff.

I'll try to remember to put the link.

http://www.healthyvegasvegan.com/2014/02/01/simple-diy-herbal-hair-cleanser-conditioner/

Anyway, what she says she does is mix equal parts yucca root powder, fenugreek powder, and amla berry powder, with hot water, and just lather that on.  I think I'm going to add a few drops of rosemary oil to the mixture, cause it's supposed to promote hair growth.  

Maybe a little bit of coconut oil, too, depending on how it turns out the first couple times.

I'm trying to find some local herb shops to find those, but if I can't, I'm going to order them online.  I'll let you know how it goes.

I also read about the inversion method.  

http://hairdiary.wordpress.com/2013/08/31/the-inversion-method-for-hair-grow-an-inch-of-hair-in-7-days/

You massage your scalp, with or without oil, to get better circulation, then put yourself upside down for 4 minutes, and you do this for one week straight, once a month.  Supposedly if you do it any more than that, your body will become accustomed to it, and it will no longer have any effect.

Apparently you can get up to an inch of growth in that week of doing the inversion method, and you can do it once a month.

That's 12 possible inches of growth, if you do it religiously.  An entire foot of hair.  I'm hopeful.  

I put it in my calendar so I'll remember to do it every month.

I'm also looking into some different methods of curling or straightening hair without heat.  

I'll do a separate post about that.

Been lovely chatting with you~

SheWhoMustWearHats

Pillows are glorious!

So, after the run today we stopped by costco, cause it was on the way home and we needed some things.

Got a few awesome things like sparkling cider, my favorite fancy beverage, coconut water (which I use in smoothies.  I'm an avid smoothiest.), and most importantly, I got a new pillow!!!

Now, for that to make any sense, I need to explain a few things.

I call the way I make my and sleep in my bed, nesting.  I call it that because I have tons of pillows and blankets.

My bed frame is the upper part of a bunk bed, so it has bars around the edges.  This makes it very good for piling pillows around the edges to give the bed a nice nesty shape.  

The reason I nest is because when I was very young, like, 5-6 years old, I witnessed part of a zombie movie, and was thus traumatized forever.

My young, traumatized mind came to the rock solid conclusion that the only way to be safe from zombies at night was to always be covered by something.  Blanket, sheet, pillows, whatever.  I'm not entirely sure why I thought that, but I did.

So I developed the habit of always sleeping with something over me.  

Always.  

And I still do it.  

I feel very, very uncomfortable if I sleep any other way.

Got a little off topic there, forgive my rambling.  

So, my nest is made up of three fuzzy blankets, two big comforters, a sheet, and eight pillows.

Lots.  Some might call it excessive.  They would be crazy.  It's an awesome nest.

Anywho, all of the pillows are hand-me-down's from my parents.  

Whenever their pillows got flat or unfluffy, they'd go to throw them away, and I would very valiantly rescue them.

With permission, of course.  I wouldn't take them from the trash or anything.

So I had a lot of pillows, but I didn't have any good pillows.

Back to the original topic, my new pillow!!!

Yay!

It's so gloriously comfortable.

I'm going to sleep so well tonight.  Hopefully. 

Anywho, done for now.  I'm at my grandparent's, so I should go be social.

Hah.  I think I'll just give in to my exhaustion instead, and try to take a nap on the couch.

Ciao,

SheWhoMustWearHats

Guys, I'm a silver metalist!!

So, today I did a 5k race with my family, it was the last of the Arizona road racers summer series, and I got 2nd place for my age group, silver metal.  

Now, that sounds pretty impressive, right?

Not really.  I was second out of three girls in my age group.  My sister was third place.  

Not so impressive anymore, right?

Yeah, my time was like, 37:59, I think.  Not the best I've ever done, but not the worst either.

That's the first time I've ever won any sort of metal.  Kinda nice, despite the fact that it's not really much of an accomplishment.

Anywho, changing subjects.  I've actually got a few things going on now that I think it'd be fun to blog about, so I'm going to try (read: try.) to write more.  I'd also like to make a few videos, but I kinda suck at doing the editing, so I may just laze out of doing that.

No spoilers.  Heheh,

Mer.  Well.  It's been nice, but I'm going to go find a nice cozy corner to curl in and die.  I hate running.

Bye~

SheWhoMustWearHats