Good thing most of my readership is female

On Saturday, one of the local malls (yes, there are many) had a visiting makeup artist in from New York, and they were doing all sorts of free gifts and makeovers and generally fun girly things, and so my mom and I both went for makeovers. Now generally, I am not one for makeup; I usually put a bit of something on my face so as not to scare people, but it is really fun to see what I would look like if I actually bothered, once in a while. And since this is rather a picture-worthy event, I'm going to break my own rule about posting self-photos on the Interwebz and put one up, to probably be taken down later. *edit: done!*

You can't quite tell in the picture (why does the camera focus on itself in the mirror? is it narcissistic?), but the eyeliner is actually blue, and I've got about 5 different colors of eyeshadow on. So it's something I wouldn't do every day, but I've been thinking that maybe I should put a little more effort into it... when I manage to scrape together a social life again, at least.

Also at the mall, I scored a dress and matching jacket, from Calvin Klein, originally $320, for $50. And an awesome pair of sparkly high heels which are definitely standing or sitting shoes, not so much for walking, but totally worth it. Suffice it to say I did my part this weekend to pump some capital back into the American economy.

You're welcome, America.

10 more things

That Facebook "25 Things About Me" craze recently made me go back and reconsider those 50 things I posted here about two three years ago. (sidebar: holy crap, it's been that long?!) Some of those aren't strictly true any more -- I'll leave it up to you to determine which ones I'm talking about -- but instead of editing them, I'm going to add a few more. And maybe I'll put these in my Facebook list, since the one that I posted there is admittedly pretty lame. So here goes:

Ten More Things About Me!
51. I love words: crosswords, reading, word puzzles, using words in daily conversation that most people don't use, ever. I'm not trying to sound pretentious; I just think it's fun to use semi-obscure words that'll get across exactly what I mean. This is probably the main reason why I don't want to live in Germany; though I suppose I'm pretty fluent in German, or at least could definitely get by, the nuance isn't there. My sentences in German come across (to me) as a simplified version of what I'm actually thinking. I miss being able to pick from a variety of slightly different word choices for a given situation, instead of going with the one German word I'm familiar with.
52. I'm a beer snob. The hierarchy goes: Belgian > German > other imports > microbrews > domestics. A particular microbrew may move up the list (case in point: Saranac Caramel Porter). Also, ale always trumps lager. Lager is vile.
53. I'd take beer over wine any day. Caveat: Said beer must be good (see above). Caveat #2: This does not apply to certain meals, like pasta.
54. I've been compared to Liz Lemon from "30 Rock", from the way she talks to the Tina Fey smirk. I think this is awesome.
55. I'm a blue cheese fiend. When I was little, I used to use celery sticks to fish out the blue cheese chunks from the dip that comes with wings -- and not eat the celery. I never get sick of blue cheese. Also, I still hate celery.
56. I like:
a. mushrooms: raw
b. broccoli: cooked
c. tomatoes: both
d. olives: neither
57. I think the concept of "boneless wings" is both fallacious and a huge scam. If they're boneless, they're clearly not wings now are they? Call them chicken fingers/tenders/nuggets/strips/whatever, but if you can eat the entire thing at once, that is NOT a chicken wing. The day Bocce's or Duff's starts advertising "boneless wings" is the day I shoot myself.
58. I'm a dog person. In my younger days, to the consternation of my parents, I was a cat person. I guess nurture wins out over nature.
59. The furthest east I've been is Athens, Greece. The furthest west I've been is Minneapolis, Minnesota.
60. Breakfast is vital to my ability to function in the mornings. It's got to be within a half-hour or so, or else heads will roll. You do not want to be around me if I've missed breakfast.