So I went to Poland

I've always loved travel and exploring since I was a kid.  I like to learn new things and meet new people.  I have had a number of incredibly diverse friends from very different backgrounds throughout my life because I love to learn about people, their cultures, and especially their food.  I appreciate the differences of my fellow humans and positive aspects of their personalities.  You can learn something important from everyone you meet.

It's sort of unsurprising that I ended up in Poland.  I have several Polish friends.  I have shared major holidays with their very Polish families... and I consider the bucket list I made when my doctors feared I had a brain tumor to still be valid even though it's clear that I'm no longer on the verge of death or permanent paralysis.

I never thought I would go to Poland for an actual, honest to God Polish wedding though.  Life is strange that way sometimes.  You see, my S/O has been best friends with a college friend of mine since high school (small world, right?) and the bride wished to be married in her home country.  So... I ended up being invited....to Poland.

At first, it was a difficult decision for me to make.  It's a huge endeavor to travel that far oversees even if you're in perfect health, which I am not.  With my neurological condition (possible MS), Reynaud's phenomenon, bronchitis, and the language barriers I was going to face, the trip was a huge risk.  I know just enough Polish to say, "Thanks grandma" but not "Help! I'm having severe muscle spasms; my medicine is in my purse!"  Ultimately, I ended up going to support the folks I care about.

I didn't expect to meet so many wonderful people or have so many great experiences.  The wedding was beautiful.  The bride's family and friends were so VERY generous.  I almost feel guilty for coming.  They helped us a great deal and the trip wouldn't have gone as smoothly as it did without their generosity and helpfulness.

Poland is much more developed and modern than most people give it credit for.  The people there are friendly and are just as curious about you as you are about them.  They seem surprised when they find foreign tourists are there for more than shopping and clubbing.  My trip to Poland was great, for the most part.  There were some scary parts: I had two pretty bad neurological attacks while I was there, an incident in Nowa Huta (Brown folks, avoid that area if you don't have a guide AND a large group.  It's actually been in international news due to the residents reacting to foreigners and people they perceive as "rich" in the same way the Puritans reacted to witches.), and a frightening number of guys trying to pick me up whenever my boyfriend left me unattended.

However, there were also some pretty effing awesome parts!  Like the wedding reception where we all danced till we were dizzy, the amazing historical architecture in every city, the lovely natural scenery, their boss, bad-assed public transportation system, and the super incredible interactive museums... and the shopping.  I'm sorry.  Shopping in Poland was like going to an after Christmas sale with $1000 to freely spend.  No.  Seriously.  One dollar is worth about 4 zloty and you can buy a whole pint of beer with that.  Most of the other goods, save electronics, are priced similarly.

A Thank You to the Blue Cab Company for Helping Me Stay Fit and Save Money

I would like to congratulate the Blue Cab company of Oak Park for helping me to stay in shape AND save money.  I could not have found the strength of will to be committed to exercise and saving car fare without your remarkably crappy service, rude telephone operators, horrid, lying dispatchers, and awful drivers.  You give me motivation to buy a car and the threat of having to use your cabs keeps me driven to practice driving, even though other people's erratic behavior on the road terrifies me.

As a supporter of family owned businesses, I have used Blue Cab's service for nearly a year.  Within that time, I've been subjected to the most unreliable, unpleasant, and ultimately unprofessional service I've ever experienced from a cab service in my life.   I would like to heartily thank the Blue Cab company for living up to their two star rating on Yelp and giving me the opportunity to experience truly life changing events.

I would like to thank the drivers who texted or surfed the web on their phones whilst driving, tried to engage in inappropriate conversations with me about my personal life, or purposely overcharged and took unnecessary detours for a ten minute ride from the train station to my job.  You taught me the value of not tipping for service.

I would like to thank the telephone operators who gave me false wait times and then acted as though I was unreasonable for inquiring about updates to the cab's arrival times.  Your apathetic and sarcastic attitudes made me grateful for all the times I've had great customer service from other cab companies and for the strength of character that my parents instilled in me to always view the work that I do, not matter how bad things are, as a source of pride, rather than something unpleasant that makes me speak and behave in a manner that was off-putting to others. 

My privileged experience of trying to file complaints about your drivers and the subsequent run around you gave me taught me that I should always have a backup plan and take any opportunity to avoid climbing into your cabs because no one truly cares if I'm paying money to be treated like dog crap except for me.  This has broadened my worldview and solidified the idea that especially if I am paying for a service, I should only expect good treatment if the other party has a long history of treating others well.  I should always formulate my ideas and views of people and companies based on their track record and 'giving people a chance' is really me giving them a chance to screw up like they always do.

I would also love to thank the dispatcher/supervisor (Isn't that a conflict of interest?) who called me after I reported my cab was a no-show and proceeded to berate me, claiming that I was unreasonable and rude for using a different option instead of waiting for someone who lied about showing up.  I would also like to thank you for claiming I was "a damn liar" and how you "always give great customer service" and how you "absolutely did not hang up or yell" at me when I was trying to explain my situation to her after calling to report the no-show cab. 

I loved having you talk down to me, be rude to me, and having the privelage of hearing you and your coworkers abetting each other in the background.  It was a phenomenal experience to have you come to the conclusion that the best way to punish me for complaining, for expecting decent service, and expecting that a family owned business could be professional was to tell me, with no small amount of smugness in your voice that since I had a problem with the service, you'd just have the cabs stop picking me up.  I hope your friendship with your coworkers is as deep and boundless as your levels of pettiness and I sincerely hope it lasts longer than your company will with all the wonderful, polite, and prompt cab service competition that's suddenly moving into the Oak Park area. 

Thank you, ever so much Blue Cab.  Best wishes

Sincerely, the Snarktopus

Foot Therapy: Baby Foot Peel

People have been telling me about baby foot peels forever.  Initially, something about it made me feel like it was a frivolous and unnecessary purchase.  I could soak and scrape my feet for free at home.  Well, I learned quickly that a baby foot peel is an entirely different beast, preferable for people who don't want to spend two hours soaking and scraping their feet.

I used the  Kocostar brand sold on Memebox (Not Urban Outfitters.  It's a dollar cheaper on Memebox if you buy the two pack!) 

First of all, the only work you have to do is your regular foot care routine.  You wash your feet, slip on the baby foot peel socks and chill for 1.5 hours, then take them off, rinse, and go about your day.  These instructions are universal for all baby foot peels.  ALL OF THEM.

Courtesy of Ebay: Forgive the poor grammar.  Language barriers

For the first 3 days, your feet are normal.  There's not even the slightest sign that something's going to happen.  By the fourth day, though, your feet begin to peel.  Soon, all the dead skin, thick calluses and even snagging cuticles peel right off.  And by the seventh day, you have soft, smooth, callus free feet.  Usually.

Drawbacks: 

The things I had issues with were the unpredictable start day of the peeling and the wait time for it to finish.  The package says it should start within 4 days, but sometimes it starts earlier.  It causes problems when your feet just bust out with flaking skin on a day you decided to wear sandals.  Having your feet look like they're covered in nasty mummy skin for about a week can be quite shocking... and send an attentive S/O into a panic.  Like mine.  The poor dear thought my shoes were causing an allergic reaction. 
Also, though the package says it should be complete within a week, I've had a foot peel treatment continue for nearly 10 days.  However, I suppose it's important to note that if you have really thick calluses (like me) or thick foot skin (like me again), the product won't work the same for you and you won't get feet that are actually baby soft.  You may have to leave the treatment on your feet for an extra thirty minutes to get any effect at all.  You may even have to use the treatment 2 or 3 times before your skin is the desired smoothness.

Benefits:

I still love it.  It's much less effort to keep my feet smooth and my calluses don't build up as fast.  I don't risk cutting a callus off wrong and hurting myself.  I don't spend an hour each week scrubbing, scraping and buffing my feet to get them to feel smoother.  My shoes FIT better.  One application of the foot peel treatment every 6 weeks keeps my feet as smooth and supple as 6-12 hours of scraping over the same time period.  I cannot complain.  I would totally recommend this product to anyone who has thick calluses and cracked heels.  

Reinplatz Intensive Moisture Hand Pack

I was looking forward to trying this one, I must admit.  As a member of hospital personnel, I find myself in the unique position to have horribly dry, chapped, and cracked hands.  The air in the hospital is dry as desert sand, even when it's raining outside.  And all that wonderful, patient-protecting hand hygiene will suck the life out of your skin.  Add that to the fact that it's winter right now and you've got a recipe for bleeding fingers due to overdrying.

I knew that I wouldn't have time or inclination to enjoy this hand mask at home.  So, one night, when I decided to work a double shift (You can totally, legally work 16 hours straight in a hospital), I decided to pass the twilight hours between 1 a.m. And 3 a.m. with an impromptu spa treatment.

I figured that since I usually don't have to do work requiring great finger dexterity during an overnight shift it would be fine to wear these intensive moisture gloves under my sterile rubber gloves.  I was right.  The gloves slipped beneath the rubber gloves perfectly and, actually, wearing them like that increased my skin-to-product contact ratio.  Noice.

Courtesy of ljblog73.blogspot.com

Instructions:

Wear hand care glove pack after washing hands (I wash my hands about...30 times per shift..).  Wear gloves for 20 minutes.  Remove gloves and massage in any remaining essence.  Don't wash hands for at least 3 minutes after removing the pack.

Active Ingredients: Shea Butter and Jojoba oil

Initial impression:

The Reinplatz packaging is plain, straightforward and leaves no room for guesswork.  Open the pack, put on the gloves.   Since I've used foot packs before, I knew what to expect.  However, this pack surprised me.  The lining of the vinyl gloves was kinda velvety.  Also, it didn't feel like there was enough of the product in the glove to coat my hands.  I slipped them on anyway and put some extra small medical gloves on top to hold them in place while I worked.

The scent upon opening the pack was kind of bland.  It smelled a lot like plain shea butter that you buy in the canister at the beauty supply, sort of oily and planty.  That's great!  I hate overpowering scents.

Results:

WELL.  First of all, I have to admit this: I didn't remove the gloves when I should have.  I removed them like....2 hours after I put them on.  It's not like I forgot about them.  We got an admission and he decided that it was his job to wake all the patients who were asleep.  That said, my experience with this product may not match yours.

At first the product felt dry on my hands, however after about 10 minutes, I noticed that my hands were sweating.  The velvet inside the glove was locking the sweat to my hands and the product in the gloves seemed to be expanding, making a creamy coating around my skinny, wrinkly fingers.  After about 20 minutes, the gloves just REALLY moist.  As time passed, they got more and more moist on the inside.

...2  hours later they were slipping on my hands so much that I snatched them off and flung them in the trash.  I massaged my hands as directed and flexed my fingers.  They felt moisturized, the skin was supple and had a subtle sheen to them.  My fingers didn't look or feel like sandpaper any more and the skin that was peeling rubbed off the next time I washed my hands.  My usually wrinkly fingers were less wrinkled and my cuticles weren't cracking any more.

What I didn't like about it was the effect the shea butter had.  One of the reasons I shy away from shea butter hand creams is because it leaves a weird, waxy coating on your hands.  In truth, this coating is good for your skin.  It protects it.  But... I just don't like the way it feels.

After I washed my hands, they still felt soft, supple and plump and overall, less dry than they had before.  The skin wasn't tight or wrinkly.  Even after two more washes, my hands weren't as dry and brittle feeling as they were before, so it's clear that this product imparts some long term moisture. 

Recommendations:

I would recommend this to anyone who has damaged skin on their hands from over-washing or age.  The shea butter and jojoba oils nourish and soften the skin better than thinner hand creams on the market.  You should give it a try if your hands have been suffering or, even if you just want to have a D.I.Y. manicure.

Skinaz: The Kissable Lip 24 Hr Lip Tattoo

It's not often that I have a bad experience with a product... but I had a bad experience with this one.

Courtesy of Instagram

I bought it from eBay, curious about its mystical properties, after hearing of from them from the darkest corners of the internet.  I applied it to my lips with little thought.  The results were horrible.  It was thick, sticky and messy.  I didn't think a peel off lip tint would be a turn off for me.  I've used plenty of peel off masks.

It was like spreading extra thick glue.  It formed a polymer coating over my pout and adhered strongly to my lips, but this experience was horrible and uncomfortable.  It's supposed to exfoliate while it stains your lips... But what I experienced was more like having my lips glued together and then the skin ripped off them.

Once I peeled it off, it left a nice, long lasting stain, but the unexpected aftertaste was bitter...and perfumey.  My lips felt tender, and looked a bit...patchy.  I wouldn't be surprised if it actually tore off some of my skin for real. 

Maybe I didn't do something right... but for now, I'm going to stick to my Etude House Dear Darling lip jelly tiny. 

You Should Be Watching: The Babadook

Ok.  So.  You know that I'm a HUGE horror movie fan.  I love urban legends, I love mythology, and I adore films that can deliver thrills and chills with an unsettling metaphor.  The Babadook offers all of those things in a spectacularly classic horror movie fashion.  This movie.  I cannot even begin to tell you how refreshing and creepy it was.

The premise: A widow and her son are terrorized by a mysterious, malevolent entity.

Courtesy of Joblow.com

It's so simple, it's almost deceptive.  I watched it once at night and in the day time so I could have an unbiased look at the storyline and critically evaluate this beast.  It was so nicely done, the metaphor/monster warranted a second look.  The Babadook offers a look into the lives of its characters that drive the creepiness, the insidious nature of the titular monster into your mind.

Courtesy of Google

The Characters:  There are two main characters, Amelia, the widow and her son Samuel, who acts very much like a child with either severe psychological trauma or as though he is autistic...with psychological trauma.  These two struggle through their lives, both isolated and estranged from their peers due to the death of Sam's father.  Amelia works as an aid at a senior daycare with dementia patients.  As a person who occasionally has to do this, I can say that this job is stressful, demanding, and can wear on your spirit.  She's often late, often exhausted, and seems bereft anything but the blithe smile on her face.

Samuel goes to a private school, where he barely has contact with his peers.  He is the weird kid who is brilliant, but the others all shy away from his inventiveness and explosive anger and tantrums.  Deep down, he's a sweet kid, but bullying and isolation drive him to recognize those around him as either people to be pleased or literal monsters to be slain.  He, like many little boys, wants to protect his mother, who he witnesses in a stay of constant emotional decay.  Meanwhile, he struggles to define himself and thrive.

Baaaabaaaa Dook Dook Dook....  Finally, in the midst of everything that both main characters have to deal with, the Babadook enters their lives, first, via a chilling children's story book and finally... in a quite literal fashion that threatens to destroy them both. 

Overall:
This movie explores horror in the truest fashion.  Not simply with monsters, but with a look at the human mind and heart.  It terrifies you with themes and stressors that we all encounter: the death of a loved one, a sick child, work stress, and the difficulty of putting up a brave front while feeling that every effort you have made is in vain.  The Babadook explores the terror of our own insecurities, frailties, and day to day struggles.  It gives it a face... and provides a word of caution.  There's little more horrifying than a peek into the deepest darkest parts of our own hearts and the possibility of the nightmare our lives can become if we don't peer into that darkness and recognize it for what it truly, truly is.

Pastel Goth: Creepy cute

I must have slept on this one, but I swear, I'm awake now.  Pastel goth is a thing. 

As a child of the 80's, I've always liked many elements of goth fashion.  As a girl raised on Disney princesses and Barbie dolls, I've always loved things that are pretty and feminine.  As an anime nerd, I've always liked the idea that the cutest, girliest character can be the heavy hitter, have unconventional interests, or specialize in being tough.  Never, have I seen these ideas married into a fashion or subcultural movement, though.

Well, that is until I heard about this pastel goth thing.  One of the primary things I've never quite liked about many branches of the goth subculture were how ...HARD everything appears.  I understand the philosophy behind it: recognizing, accepting, embracing, and beautifying the things that most fear because they are ultimately inevitable.... but I never could get with shaving half your head, bleaching your skin, and having so many facial modifications that your visage could be mistaken for a dragon or ogre.

Courtesy of Dailymail.uk

I get that many people who associate with the trend are also members of the church of body modification (it's a real denomination that takes the idea that your body is a temple of God and seeeks to decorate that temple with as many piercings, implants, and tattoos as possible), but there's a great deal about that sort of life that doesn't appeal to me.

Finding pastel goth, which marries creepy and cute, was like finding a pretty bead.  I can blend my love of cartoons and love of dark humor into fashion that amuses me.  Further, my current experiment with colors that aren't shades of black, white, tan, and gray OR jewel colors gives me more than enough opportunity to adopt this creepy cute style and try something like this! 

I found this on Google

I can try styles like Lovely Ify, Drew Disaster, and Offbeat Look's styles.

Courtesy of Google

Courtesy of Drew Disaster

As long as my clothes match.  Haha!