And Now I've Got Clients- Week 8

So I have begun my eighth week of American Beauty Academy. Today is my 20th birthday, how very exciting! Stepping into true 'adulthood' because even if these great United States of America consider 18 and 19 year olds adults, they are still teenagers..."subhumans" if you were to ask my dad. but on to school---I am now an official Junior at school. Once you have reached 200 hours you are allowed to start working on the poor saps that step through our salon school doors just to recieve a cheap pedi or hair cut. My very first client I didn't actually get until later in the day at about 3:30. It was an elderly man who wasn't too talkative but with my endearing charm and quick wit [I speak so highly of myself don't I? haha] I scored a five dollar tip! Awesome! But I was terribly nervous! He didn't want to use the clippers and after my last fiasco trying to cut my boyfriend's hair, that was really all I knew how to do! So bravely I started to cut this man's hair, under the supervision of my intstructor of course, and it took just about everything in me to not show my complete anxiousness and hesitation through the entire procedure. Once I was done with the cut and we sent my first client on his way I recieved small applause from all my fellow students that were currently present! Sweet Victory! Who knew that one simple men's hair cut would give me the complete confidence to tackle any client that came my way! That was untill the next day when I was handed the ticket for an elderly woman's hair. I smiled up at our receptionist so sure I had gotten yet another simple hair cut. No sweat right? No. I was given.....A PERM!!! Now for those of you reading this who have given yourselves plenty of at home perms out of a box, IT ISN'T THE SAME! And of course my client didn't speak a word of english and with the little spanish I know myself I managed to understand that the poor lady was complaining to my Instructor and then later her daughter that she would much rather have some one more experienced and better. Wow. Shot to the heart! I grew on her though ;] One of my classmates who's luckily bilingual sat with us through the entire thing allowing conversation to happen between us. The old lady was cute. She looked up at the picture of Josh and I, that I have taped to my mirror, and asked if 'mi novio' is 'chino' haha It was cute.--- Some good news! We have a new batch of freshman that have started school! One of them is becoming a pretty close friend of mine which is making school a little less unbearable and we also have quite a few seniors graduating tomorrow so the atmosphere of the school is changing! And I like change...kinda. Well I like it when it changes to my advantage! But who doesn't really?------Conclusion: I need to learn spanish. [oh and for my "future mother-in-law's" sake I will be better about posting every week! sorry Tami!]

The Upside

I feel as if I haven't been fair to the school. You must understand, I really like the actual cosmetology part of it! I love messing with my doll's hair and cutting it and styling it into various runway worthy do's. It's quite exciting and when I simply immerse myself into the work at school I get excited knowing that this is what I'm going to be doing the rest of my life and I dream about some day having my own little salon in my house and all the flexibility I will have and all the possibilities that will come knocking at my door. It's awesome! Having this sense of purpose is awesome. Finally being able to say "this is what I'm doing with my life. this is my plan." is awesome. And even in the midst of all the crap I find those moments in my day where I just have to say "Thanks God. This is so rad."
So This week was pretty interesting. It might have been the worst week yet because I was just so stinkin' emotional. The fact that I feel like I have nothing in common with most of those girls was really starting to weigh me down. Not to mention I butted heads with a couple of my instructors this week. That was indeed exciting...not.
Have you ever had that feeling or been in that situation where you're watcing someone being treat absolutely unfairly but you don't know how to intercede gracefully or how to defend true justice! haha! Well that is pretty much what happened. I was watching one of my fellow students litterally being harrased by one of our instructors and all because she was writing a formal complaint against her. It was horrific! And the entire time I was fighting the old Kristin who would have just caused a scene and been obnoxious while defending a "friend" with the thought that it would be a very long ten months if I did anything rash. I'm not going to give any details but honestly I had this sense of absolute regret when my friend left the school on three day's suspension crying when I could have done more to defend and help her. I'm quite anxious to see how things will play out tomorrow when she comes back to school.
On a side note, I've really begun to let my poor attitude about the social aspect of school affect my performance. I've gotten lazier and haven't been very carfeul to cover my negative vibes. I am constantly asked "Are you ok Kristin?" by girls that I am shocked are even bothering to inquire about my well being. I guess I'm just asking for a little prayer. I want this experience to be a positive one. Really I do! I also want it to go by very fast and that will only happen if I immerse myself into my studies and into my work at school.
I am at about 110 hourse which means I have roughly 90 hours to go untill I start taking clients which will be a very scary endever indeed.

conclusion: I'm reminded of the Monty Python song "Always look on the bright side of life!" And though those silly Britts were just looking for a laugh there is great truth to that entire scenario I think. I need to be proud of my decisions no matter how ridiculous the female half of the human race may get.

Their Own Thing

"Everyone has their own thing." this is what Chema, the heavily tattooed, gorgeous, mother of three, tells me. "Like Mallorie, well she's special." she said with a witty smile. She was right though. She is right. It was like high school all over again except without any boys to make things even more complicated and on top of that i'm dealing with adult women who should know better. I've been having to learn everyone's personality and the reason it sucks the most is that I don't really want to care about any type of 'relationship' with these chicks, but I want these next many months to go by as smoothly as possible.
Now when I first started at school, there were deffinately a couple personalities that I had difficulty adjusting to but for the most part I assumed all the girls got along swimmingly and they were all decent friends. This view of mine changed this last Tuesday morning right before theory was about to start. Rosie, a rather loud but pretty humorous woman came in like a whirlwind as usual and asked "Is it ok if I sit with you guys cuz I don't wanna sit next to my worse enemy." Everyone immidiately invited her to just sit with us but I looked at Mallorie inquisitively and she just plainly said "Claudia." now there is apparently some history there that honestly, I could care less about and its not really worth jotting down in this blog but seriously...these are two grown women with children, like teenage children, and they are the ones with the drama...anyway, The back story is irrelevant but the point is, drama is not escapable. (if thats even a word)

I like to think I am a pretty easy-going girl. I like to think I can take a lot of flack just as long as you respect me, especially if you don't know me. Guess what, these girls not only don't know me but they seem to go out of their way to stereotype me and set of this idea in their head about the type of person I am. I have never been stereotyped so much in my life because of my race. Hey guess what, I'M WHITE! Who Cares!!??? My step-grandpa who is more of a grandfather to me than my biological pops is browner than any Mexican i've seen! But I can't seem to escape it. Could you imagine if I ran around and just started telling acquintances I hardly knew that they don't like something because they're brown, they don't listen to that music because they're black, they say that because they're yellow?! Oh My Gosh I can see the drama now!

One day the girls were just going to town on me. Granted, I am fully aware it was "all in good fun" but everything I said I would get Yvonne, Rosie, and Robin saying things like "Are you saying that because I'm brown?" or "It's cuz you're white." or "Ooooooooohhhh!! What do you mean you people?!" Seriously SHUT UP!

Here was my mistake regarding this situation, however. I made the mistake of simply mentioning, once, in a completely "its not a big deal" sort of way to Mallorie, Dani and a few of their friends that it got on my nerves a tid-bit and the VERY next day, I walk up to school and Yvonne, not even skipping a beat, asked very loudly and in the most condescending voice "Did you get mad I called you racist?" I about died.

my lesson learned: keep to yourself. smile often. don't get close to anyone. and constantly remind myself I am in no way there to make friends.

beauty is pain,

-kristin

Week 1- "This is how it really is."

I knew that going to an Imperial Valley cosmetology school wasn't going to be the most glamorous thing to begin with but I was running out of options. I couldn't really just crash for 1600 hours worth of months at a San Diego family member's house and I definitely did not have the money to support myself to live in SD while attending a more "high-end" cosmo school. I tried Yuma, but about two minutes into my meeting with the director she talked me out of leaving the grand state of California for school.

So here I was, a beauty school wannabe with few options left...well only one option; American Beauty Academy in Brawley, California.

I was actually very excited to start school. I went to bed the Monday night before at a very early hour and woke up very early the following morning in anxious anticipation for what the next ten months of my life would entail!

I entered the office building that Tuesday morning (July 21st, 2009 to be exact) and sat next to the other two newbie girls sporting the glorious ABA uniform: scrubs. ugly, so unfashionable scrubs. white pants that were far to big, and a Kelly green top, which I later had Josh, my boyfriend, embroider for me my name and the name of the school because like everything I would soon find out with this school, they were laggin' it.

We soon learned that our kits, all our items and tools for our schooling, were not in. awesome.

We then went into the actual school and were greeted by our classmates. There is this girl, Yvonne, and at first she said "I'm just gonna tell you how it really is here..." and as she explained how 'unprofessional' (which she wasn't wrong...this time) the school was she was really starting to sound like a pro herself when she made the comment "We're all seated in order as to how long we've been here." she was sitting right next to us, so I quickly asked "wait, how long have you been here?!" she replied as if nothing was wrong, "only a week." HA! I soon learned Yvonne knows everything about everything just ask her. from the comments about once being a cutter to comments about riding horses...I have had to bite my tongue constantly while reminding myself "you're not here to make friends" or "its only ten months, just get through it"

Besides the feeling that you have to beg the 'instructors' to actually teach you and the interesting personalities you have to learn to deal with, good and bad, there are some upsides:

The school is fairly cheap and you do eventually get all the basics down to be able to pass state board exam for your cosmetology licence. And I have actually made some pretty cool friends, granted all of those cool friends are far into their hours and will probably be graduating one by one within the next couple of months.

conclusion:

Its typical Imperial Valley and it will take everything in me to not ditch class but I just have to persevere. School makes me physically and definitely mentally drained everyday, and I have learned a lot about my low tolerance for fake people...but that an entirely different blog I'm sure. All in all I'm actually anxious to see what this chapter in my life will bring me.

So until next week

-Kristin