I figured out how to post pictures in here finally. I'm a little slow I guess. Thanks to Bek for the pic...

Dear PMTS,
I hate your school because I'm a sore loser and I can't win your stupid contests--contests that I believe will give me the opportunity to network in the industry and get me a killer job. I now have to choose between Super Cuts, Fantastic Sams, or Dollar Cuts.
Yours Truly,
Tracy

Today I wore a hat in shame. I wanted to be at school for the hours but I didn't want anyone to know I was there. So I hid under my little pink hat and stayed in a room where no one I talk to ever goes, for the better part of the morning. Pretty soon I got a text from someone wondering where I was. I was twenty feet away.
Pretty soon I realized that there were several other students feeling the same way as I am--that we were competing in a totally different contest based on who won.
I also realized today that I have been putting all of my energy into my hair life to the point that it is my relationship. Yes, I am dating my future career. So when I lost this contest, it was rejecting me, dumping me, breaking up with me. After doing three haircuts, two eyebrow waxes, and a hair color this afternoon, the devastating feelings eventually went away. If only I could get over getting dumped by a dude this fast and this easily.

I totally lost. I just cried in my room, sobbing cries, for an hour. How pathetic and sad am I? When it comes down to it, I feel like I was competing in a completely different contest based on who won. They picked three models that were totally wacked out all crazy with colorful hair. Last I checked, that isn't what people want when they want a make over. If they wanted us to do something creative and artistic, why couldn't they have just told us that? I'm also wondering why those that did do that, got one memo and me and the other make over people got another. I'm so pissed that I really want to quit school.

Today was totally nuts but the contest is over and we find out on Monday who won. I'm going to be in knots all weekend now. I'm actually not going to find out until Tuesday because I don't have school on Monday and I don't want to call the school or go all the way down there and find out that I lost. I don't think I could take the rejection like that. I would rather find out in a more subtle way where no one around knows when or how I'm finding out. I must say that my make over was incredible. She looked like a completely different person but in a good way. Everyone that saw the before picture was totally astounded at how good she looked. So I guess if I lose, I still won the satisfaction of making someone look more beautiful and to me that is a fantastic reward.

Ok so there is this contest at school to go to a hair convention in vegas at the end of july. They are picking three students to go. In order to win you have to do the best make over on a person. Initially I was told that we would have to cut, color, do makeup, and wardrobe in four hours. No problem. Now let's talk about how everything has gone wrong and then fixed itself at the last possible second.
My model cancelled on me. I have been scrambling to find someone that would allow me to do whatever I wanted on them. It's been really tough and very stressful but finally, today, two days before the contest, I have a model! You can't imagine the relief! I've been freaking out for 3 days, losing sleep even.
So I guess it would make sense that I almost broke down in to tears today when they told me that all Saturday students participating, would have to find a sub for them to cover the clients they would normally have to take on a Saturday. "We can't turn away paying clients for this contest." It's nearly impossible to find someone to sub for you on a Saturday...especially when you only have two days notice. Why didn't they tell us this earlier???? I told the front desk person that I was about to say the F word. I miraculously found a sub.
So they decided that we could do the color ahead of time if we wanted but there were no specifications on it. I found out today that the color had to be done ahead of time. I couldn't just do it earlier in the day, I had to do it at least one day ahead of time. Once again, it was a miracle that my model had a small window of time open in the day at the exact same time that I do tomorrow so we can color her hair then.
I am seriously on guard, wondering what horrible thing is going to happen next. I'm really worried that they are going to come up with something else that will prevent me from going forward on this.
I can't help but wonder if maybe I am not meant to be in this contest? Everything is going so wrong? Or maybe I need to look at the glass as half full and everything is going right and I need to relax now!

So the mentor graduated and moved back to Vegas. While passing through there, I stopped to have lunch with a friend that knows him. She decided it would be funny to text him and tell him that I was in town and wanted to make out with him. It actually was kind of funny but awkward at the same time. The other day he was doing her hair and he told her to text me and tell me hi. So it continues from afar. One day I'll move there and we'll have a torrid love affair.
I can't remember if I clarified this already so I'll do it again... There are two crushes that I have written about in this blog: The mentor is a student, one of several mentors I had when first starting school. MJF or Michael J Fox is a teacher that works at a nearby salon and teaches classes at our school once a month. So don't be confused--there are two and I go back and forth on having a crush on each of them.
School has been pretty slow lately: there haven't been very many guests in and a lot of the students are on leave for the summer. So I don't have very many stories because most days I sit at a station and roll perm rods on my doll head. I will say this, however: I hate it when new students come out on to the floor. They really don't know what they are doing and it's really obvious. I had to wait 40 minutes the other day to use the wax because this girl was doing an eyebrow and lip wax on someone. She kept stopping to look up at me and laugh like- I'm sorry I'm so nervous and retarded. I wanted to say just put on the wax and wrip out her hair already! Yes it's going to hurt her but she knows that! She put herself in this torturous position so just get it over with! But I didn't.

I did my first perm on a live human today and my fingernails wreak of perm solution still. She was an older woman--she had to be at least 85 and she tipped me $2. It took about three hours to do but it was fantastically curly in the end. She had me put on her 'fanciful rinse' in the end. Fanciful rinses are temporary hair colors for old ladies. They only stay in until you wash it again. These are the explanation for the old ladies with blue, silver, purple, or pink hair: colors that are very close to natural colors initially but look very fake and unattractive to the younger eye. They love it. They carry bottles of it around in their purses. It's funny how old ladies like permed, shampoo set, curled, unnaturally dyed hair. They have their own hair trend just like every other generation does. I can't help but wonder what they think when they look at younger women's board straight hair. I also wonder if they like 80's punk rock hair. What would they do if they had control of all of our hair? Would we be just a sea of greyish bluish pinkish teased out football helmets?