Orange faces are only cool if you're an oompa loompa.

So, today was a big day. I had an interview at a library for a full-time position. I have been really eager to get out of Walgreens, and when my dad told me about the posting for a full-time position at the Mount Prospect Library, I totally jumped on it. Got my resume together, wrote a cover letter, all that stuff. It was nervewracking (aren't things like that always stressful), but I did it and i was proud of myself. Then Monday I received a phone call to schedule an interview. Yay! Of course, I was nervous because, technically I don't think I've ever gone on an official "interview" before. But I figured I had a few days to prepare, and all would be well. So, I re-did my references, got some advice from my dad and a friend, had questions prepared to ask my interviewers, and all seemed well. I even tried on the interview suit my aunt got me for graduation, and it fit again! (Long story short, back when I had a pre-interview for a school district, I tried on the suit and discovered that I had apparently gained enough weight over the preceding months that the pants no longer fit. That was fun). All seemed to be going fairly well.

So, I get up this morning, knowing I have time to kill before my interview. I obviously had to do something to keep myself busy, so I played around on a few websites, entered my tentative guest list on theknot.com...you know, just stuff to keep my occupied. I ate lunch and watched American Idol, then decided to go take a shower so I could blow dry my hair and make it look decent. Killed a little more time, then it was time for my makeup. This is where the trouble came. The foundation I use is Almay's smart tint or whatever. It's the kind that comes out white pretty much, and then blends to your skin tone. I actually really like it. But today when I'm putting the foundation on my finger and preparing to apply it, I realize that part of it looks much darker than it should. Light, flesh-toned flecks are normal, but this was a darker, almost black-looking streak in the middle of my white. I thought that could be problematic, but then figured maybe I was just imagining things. I wasn't.

I started to blend the foundation into my skin. Part of it was fine. Then I got to the part with the dark streak. As I went to blend it in, my skin began to turn orange. Yes....orange. So naturally, I start freaking out. I have less than 30 minutes before i have to leave for an interview for a job that I really want. And my face is turning orange. I don't have time to start over...I need to make sure I get there on time! So, I start super-blending, and trying to find the lighter, more normal shade to even it out. This doesn't really work. I start digging through a bag of old cosmetics, knowing that at one point I owned a light powder foundation of some sort. I figured I could use this to chill out the orange color. Unfortunately, the powder is NOWHERE to be found, and in the process I stick my whole hand into a broken compact of cream eye shadow. So now, not only are my fingertips and face orange, but I've got various shades of brown or pink cream shadow on my other hand. Things are going extremely well at this point. I finally clean off my hands and figure I need to just salvage this situation as much as possible. I finish my eye makeup and blush, hoping that the pink will make the orange less noticable. I mean, really, my face looked like a self-tan gone terribly wrong. The only saving grace was that the suit I wore covered most of my body, so my extremely pale skin was mostly covered. Granted, the dividing line between my makeup and my neck was painfully obvious. This entire time, as I finished getting dressed and ready to go, I'm just praying that they can't deny you a job just because you have an orange face. I mean, that's discriminatory right?

Somehow, I survived the interview. I don't know how well I did, but don't think I completely bombed it either. And luckily, the topic of my orange face didn't come up. If they noticed it, they probably thought I was just trying to be one of those cool, self-tanning young girls. I guess it wouldn't be a day in my life if I didn't cause something outrageous to happen :)

"Without music life would be a mistake"

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love music. I've had my obsessions but I really just love good music in general. A couple of weeks ago my fiancee and I were discussing the merits (or lack thereof) of the new Fallout Boy CD. I was a fan, and Patrick and had been listening to it almost non-stop for awhile before Patrick finally got his hands on it. He came in one day and was talking about how the CD was alright, but it was too "emo" for him. We got into a small argument about the CD and the validity of the term "emo." It is a term that I refuse to acknowledge in the music world, and here's why:

Music, by nature, is EMOTIONAL. All music is founded on some emotion or other. So why is there a category called "emo" for music? "Emo" is just shorthand for emotional, right? And isn't that something that all music should be? Sure, some music might have more heart or feeling behind it, but all of the music I ever heard is emotion-driven. Songs about sex, cars, whatever--all music is written with the intention to make the listener FEEL something, right? Maybe the emotion the musician wants to elicit is humor, maybe it's anger, but those are still emotions. So why should there be a special category for "emo" music? I don't think it's right. I've really just never understood what the music in that category even really is. To the best of my knowledge it mostly describes more whiny, angsty songwriting. But just because someone is more whiny or angst-ridden doesn't mean that they're showing more emotion than someone who approaches songwriting in a different way.

I think one of the things that got me when Patrick and I were having our "discussion" was that he was talking about how emo Fallout Boy is, but at the same time wouldn't necessarily consider Snow Patrol emo. But, to me, Snow Patrol's lyrics are just as meaninful, if not more so, than Fall Out Boy's. Both bands are baring their souls through their music, and going on to share them with the world, allowing millions of listeners to relate to those things. And isn't that the power of music, after all? To hear a song--any song--and go "wow, I've felt that before." There is no better feeling in the world than hearing just the right song at just the right time. It's like the music speaks to you, answering a question, or just letting you know that you're not alone in this world. At least one other person has felt or thought exactly the way you do.

I know most of this is just a long ramble, but I needed to vent about my hatred of the term "emo" to describe a category of music. Who came up with that term anyway? I think I need to have a long talk with them....