Spell-bound.Net

I’ve been feeling the need to “give back” lately. I’ve not had the easiest of lives, thus far. At one point when I was about 12, my family was homeless and living in a car in one of the city’s worst neighborhoods. We lived in public assisted housing before that and were on Welfare at one point.

So now, I have a very nice apartment, good job, nice car, health insurance, a full pantry, and I got to go to college not once, but twice. I have come a very long way and I am thankful for all I have.

Recently, I heard of a situation in my work place and decided that this was a good place to jump off into giving back. One of our interns is from Africa. All of his family (mom, dad, brothers, and sisters) were in a refugee camp in Ghana. The government in Ghana declared that all refugees must return to their home countries, and gave them two weeks to leave. They were only allowed to take a one kilo bag of possessions with him. It was awful.

The intern was attempting to not only work here full-time and go to school, but find a second job so he could send his family money to make the trip to their home country and re-establish themselves once they were there.

I decided to take up a collection at work. People could donate if they wanted. No one would know who donated except for me.

I was worried in the beginning because he wasn’t a “real” employee and the family’s struggle was far removed from our everyday life, that no one would participate. Thankfully for the intern and his family, I was proven wrong. We raised over $1,000 for his family. The intern was so moved he almost cried when we presented him with the card and the money.

It felt so good to help someone in need. I need a way to help on a more regular basis. But for now, I think this was an excellent start.

I meant to blog this over the weekend, but there was just no time. Saturday morning was my big waxing/massage appointment. I asked that they do the waxing before the massage, because the other way around would kind of defeat the relaxation process.

I arrived at the salon promptly at 10:00. The place was really posh, but without anyone being snooty or pretentious. Major points for them. The place smelled like heaven. Normally, a lot of different scents give me a headache, but these were all soft scents without the icky heaviness of perfume.

My “sculpting artist” was ready for me as soon as I arrived. She was totally sweet. She was the tiniest little thing. Maybe 5′0 tall. I told her I had never had anything waxed before, and that I was sorta nervous. She was really nice and said not to worry, that she would take care of everything. I got to lie on this really soft, cushiony table while she planned her attack on the wild jungle that were my eyebrows. I was so nervous when she put that first little strip on and I knew she was getting ready to yank it off. I was ready for mind-splitting pain, but it just stung a little. It was totally no big deal. Having my ears pierced hurt worse than the waxing.

When she was all finished with me, she went to see if my masseuse was ready for me, and she was. The masseuse was really sweet. Also tiny, but not in a short way. She was about 5′8 and weighed maybe 90 pounds. I felt like throwing up a little when I saw her. I told her I was really self-conscious and that I had never had a massage before. She was really reassuring, too. She left the room so I could undress. I had decided I would wear my bathing suit because naked was not an option. No way was I doing naked.

I was lying on my stomach when she came back in. She dimmed the lights all the way down to nearly off. There was a candle burning and some soft, new-agey music playing. She started with my feet and I was in heaven. HEAVEN. She used this stuff on me that smelled like a meadow. And when she started rubbing my back…oh. my. goddess. I wouldn’t have cared if I was butt-ass naked and on parade at that moment. She worked all the tension from my shoulders and neck. It was absolutely amazing.

I will definitely be treating myself to a massagy treat once a month.

Last week was my work anniversary. Big deal, right? Usually, work anniversaries around here go unnoticed (except for the notation on the company calendar). I was totally stunned when on my desk appeared a vase full of the most beautiful green sunflowers (sooooooo pretty) and a tiny gold box. Inside the box was a gift card to a shi-shi day spa for an hour long massage. Can you believe it?? I was totally stunned.

I have wanted to have a massage for years. Years. But I never go because I am so self-conscious about my weight and taking off the clothes and people rubbing my fat places. *Shudders*

But, this Saturday at 10:00AM, I will be using that gift card and having my massage. I am also going to treat myself to an eye brow waxing. Now, if I can just keep myself from chickening out about the massage…

When I was in high school, I had two really close friends. We’ll call one Sally and the other Willa. Sally and I lived about 3 blocks from each other, so we would walk home from school together, do homework, then talk on the phone for hours. It was all very typical girly friend stuff. Sally and I had similar home lives, we were less popular because we were both overweight, we had a lot in common.

Then Sally went on a diet after one of the boys in our class told her she’d be “hot” if she lost 50 pounds. I attempted to diet with her, but I was struggling with an undiagnosed eating disorder. I would swing wildly between bingeing and starving myself. I was like a yo-yo. Sally was quite successful in her weight loss efforts. She was a homely girl, I always thought, but her body was new and improved and the boys loved her.

She managed to snag one of the most lusted after boys in our church youth group. Soon they were going steady and I was minus one friend. Not because the boyfriend was occupying all her time, but because she decided to ditch me because of my weight. The skinny girls welcomed her into their inner sanctum with much fanfare. But to be one of them, she had to ditch her fat friend. As if that weren’t enough, she proceeded to make the remaining high school years a living hell for me. She tormented me at every turn, until finally we couldn’t stand to be in the same room together.

I truly adored her at one point, but whatever affection I felt for Sally quickly disintegrated into a hatred I reserved for baby killers and those who didn’t luuuuuuuuuuuuv Jesus (this was during my holy roller phase). When presented with an opportunity to destroy Sally, I took it. All those Biblical lessons flew right out of my teenage head, and I took aim and fired a metaphorical bullet that would destroy her.

Read the rest of this entry »

I don’t know what I did, but I pulled a muscle or something that is connected to my left butt cheek. This is making sitting quite difficult, hence the crickets in these here parts. It started over the weekend and is still here. I keep trying to think of what ass-straining activity I could have done (definitely nothing fun, *wink wink*) and nothing comes to mind. I didn’t lift anything weirdly, no odd stretches…nada. Yet still, the pain persists.

Why is it always me that gets the weird ailments? Like a sinus infection that turns into pneumonia in half a day? Or like the time I needed stitches for what started out as a teeny, tiny burn on my arm? Now, I have apparently sprained my ass and I don’t even know what I did. And it’s bruised. It’s not like I don’t keep track of my ass. I usually know where it is. Usually.

I had a weird holiday weekend. My sister had to work Saturday and Sunday, so I was home for most of it. I played like 900 hours of Sims. I am playing the legacy challenge, which is hard and addictive at the same time. The gist, for those who care, you are attempting to produce a ten generation Sim family. The tenth generation heir must be able to view their family tree and trace them self all the way back to the sim you created as the founder.

Certain actions earn you points, and certain actions don’t, like using game cheats (a big no no). I am on my third generation and I have been playing the challenge since April. Mid-April! And for whatever reason, my family is pre-disposed to twins. Each heir so far has had at least one set of twins.

Other than that, I finished the book I was reading and generally just lounged, but I woke up feeling so incredibly strange this morning. I almost called in sick because I felt so weird. I don’t know what it was, but it was icky.

So, how was your holiday weekend?

He won! He won! David Cook won American Idol!!!!

Now I want his debut CD. Gimme, gimme!