Challenge 41 – Facial

Be warned. This blog entry contains scenes of graphic violence.

It began with a humorous suggestion by a few friends: get a facial for one of your challenges.

The idea didn’t bother me, and I was curious about why it’s such a popular thing to do. I wondered why people couldn’t cut up their own cucumbers to put on their eyes and rub whatever moisturiser they were using in for themselves.

So I bought a couple of vouchers online and Maria and I went off to Waverly to get a facial. Oh darling, all the hip couples are doing it now!

Turns out the lady doing the facial has been in the industry since the 70’s and was the first person to open a beauty salon in Bondi. She had trained in London and when she first came to Australia there was no beauty industry and Australia was seen as very backward.

It appears this lady Melissa has had a lot of success in the field, and at her peak had 24 staff working in her Waverly salon and owned two others. She is now looking to sell up and retire, or at least cut back to working just a few days a week. It was interesting that the first thing she did when we walked in was to show us pictures in a very old book of a younger version of her doing makeup. Her authority strategy to show us her expertise was a very obvious one!

When I asked her why she was doing the deal, given that she had heaps of regular clients and was about to close up shop, she said she was virtually harassed into it by the online deal salespeople. She said she was getting multiple visits a day by different sales people. In the end she figured she might meet someone interested in the business.

She does however make no money on the deal. The social sites take 50% and they also keep all takings if someone doesn’t show. It’s a pretty brutal system, although obviously has appeal to people looking to get their name out there or find new clients. She said some of the sales people are on huge commissions, hence their pushing it so hard.

And so, to the facial itself. Melissa is something of a talker, which I imagine in this field is an asset. The fact most of it was about her success in the field and with how happy her customers are seemed fair enough given we were in her domain. I think though by the time she got to the third story about a man she did a facial for who was resistant initially and who ended up yelling her praises to the world afterward I was really ready for some quiet time.

However, I must say that Melissa gives a hell of a face massage. I was so relaxed after 30 minutes of having creams rubbed into my face that I would have agreed to anything. So when Melissa mentioned that I had a few stray hairs on my eyebrows she could tidy up I readily agreed. Next thing I knew something really hot had been smeared on my left eyebrow. ‘Too hot darling?’ she asked before suddenly tearing what was obviously wax away with a significant number of what were previously very comfortable hairs. I have never had anything waxed in my life, and I was completely unprepared for this kind of sudden violence. And it kept coming. Hot smear and RIP. It was all I could do to keep my screams from unleashing in shock at this sudden turnaround in our relationship. One minute she was a caring facial masseuse, and the next a violent hair tearing demon!

And in the midst of all that she casually mentioned that the waxing would cost extra. Talk about kick a man when he’s down.  I guess she’s got to make money somehow with the social media deal not making her anything. I thought about mentioning how inappropriate it was not to discuss it sooner, but quickly remembered that she was wielding hot wax, and who knows what other torture devices, and quickly decided that at the first available opportunity I’d run. She used some weird electolysis zappy machine after that, and my journey to the dark side was complete.

Ok, so it might not have been so bad had I been expecting it, but it definitely wasn’t fun, and women get this done regularly!  And a significant number of men if Melissa is to be believed.  Arrrgggghh: the price of beauty.

I drew the line at goatee waxing

So when it was over I paid the $25 extra for the bonus torture session and walked out of there. Yes, face may have been glowing.  Yes, my eyes may have appeared clearer. Yes, I had never had such sculpted brows. And no, I shall never be setting foot in such a place again.

Challenges 39 and 40 – Surfing and Sugar Free September

Bah, weekly challenges.  I give you monthly challenges!

1) Surf every morning for the month and see every sunrise

2) Cut out sugary sweets, such as cakes, biscuits, chocolate and ice cream. 

On one of the challenges I was dedicated, committed, perseverant and unshakeable.  And the other, well…it was hard ok!

My love of sleep ins versus my sweet tooth.  Sportsbet would have struggled to set odds on this one.  Sweetness versus light.  Craving versus sleep in.  Sugar high versus beddy bye. 

Which habit is stronger, which desire is deeper, which would you choose?!

Sugar AND sleep! How do you give this up?

 As it turns out, if you’d bet on the sugar letting me down, you would have been sweet as.  The sugar.  Man, that was a tricky one.  I found it was such a habit that one morning I ate a slice of banana bread before my brain kicked in.  SUGAR!  I ordered an iced Mocha at one point, and for some reason was surprised when it came with cream and ice cream.  MORE SUGAR! D’oh.  I had it anyway.  I mean, I don’t want to waste food.  Challenge or not that would have been sinful.  That was about halfway through the month, and it was delicious.  The fact that it was so tasty highlighted to me that I had cut down significantly.  I ate jam at several points too, even though that is mostly sugar.  Also I couldn’t give up BBQ sauce with BBQ’d meats, even though I’m pretty sure there’s significant amounts of sugar there too.  Orange juice was in the glass before I clicked that this was yet more sugar.  It’s everywhere man!

I did though make some tough calls.  None of the free chocolate wheatons at work.  No department birthday cakes at work when it was all laid out in front of me.  Just fruit salad.  Even a work lunch where every dessert on the fancy restaurant menu was delivered to the table I managed to restrain myself.  There was also (yes, the corporate world is fuelled by sugar) several days at work last week where there seemed to be cake everywhere I looked.  I even had a pre-ordered 3 course meal where I gave my delicious looking dessert back at the end.  My sister Susan was aghast when I told her of my plan, and suggested a week would be a better plan.  She was onto something.  So, it wasn’t sugar free, but it was definitely sugar reduced!

I also found that through eating so little sugar at work my energy levels were much more balanced.  I didn’t crash in the afternoon as much as previously, usually after indulging in sugar.  This was pretty handy considering I was up at 5am every day for the surfing challenge.

And the surfing challenge is where the real September success came.  Thirty consecutive sunrises, watched from a prime seat in the Pacific.  I had the luxury of friendly company for almost every session too.  I had messaged most of my surfing mates at the start of the month and had a great response to the call given how early the starts were.  Flatmate Johnny was a trooper, and joined me almost every day for the month.  Neighbour Heike was also brilliant and made almost every day in the first 2 weeks before going on holidays, several of them after only a couple of hours sleep.  Toby and Regi came when they could, and there were other mates who dropped in. On a number of days there were 5 of us bobbing around, getting some waves and having some laughs.  It was great to start the day socially doing something so fun.  Thanks to everyone who joined in.  I’m looking forward to many more surfs together.

I saw whales one day, and dolphins another.  On one of the days I was out the surf was huge, messy and for me a little scary.  Then some dolphins began playing right near me.  They were surfing the waves and popping out the back.  I felt a lot better after that, and eventually got a great wave all the way in.

Here are the surfing stats for the month: 

33 surfs

30 sunrises from a surfboard

4 different beaches

9 different surf buddies (Heike, Johnny, Toby, Regi, Maria, Jase, Watto, Steve, Amrit)

3 different wetsuits

6 different surfboards

Only one day without a wave (just went for a long paddle) and only two days surfing solo 

Social, fun, rewarding and the perfect way to start a day.  Once into the routine I just jumped up when the alarm went. 

And now?  Well, it’s the long weekend and I just enjoyed two 8am sleep ins.  So good!

Morning light

 

 

Waiting for the sun

 

 

Challenge 38 – Art Therapy

 How long since you’ve sat down with crowns and a huge sheet of paper and just drawn something?

I can’t remember doing that…as an adult.  I did try painting a few years ago.  I painted my girlfriend at the time from a photo.  It turned out like Planet of the Apes.  It was so bad I almost wish Id framed it for comedy value.  So when invited to participate in an Art therapy class all I could think of was that painting.  And that if anyone had art that needed therapy, it was me.

As it turns out though the class isn’t to improve your art.  In fact, the art itself is far less relevant that what you express through the art.  Phew!  Lucky for me, as even with crayons in my hand I’m capable of producing drawings that 3 year olds would frown upon.  Nevertheless I drew with gusto, and appreciated the time spent pre drawing where we visualised what we would draw first.  This helped alleviate any creative blockages.

It was however the one on one sessions I had with Lainie that really connected with me.  We had some interesting exploration of my life and journey so far, and one of the things we focussed on was the Surfing September challenge.  Each day during September I’ve been up at 5:20am to go surfing, and at 5:10am for the last few weeks of the month.  And the significant effect this has had on my sleep patterns.  I’ve been more productive and life has felt richer for the experience.  Of course, I’ve had some pretty sleepy afternoons as well.

A talk by a sleep specialist I went to earlier in the year advised that getting up at a consistent time is more important for our sleep patterns than what time we go to bed.  It seems like it may be the case, as I’ve been feeling great this month.  The early surf is obviously a factor, but so is the fact that by 9pm I’m really tired and ready for bed, hence having an earlier night and sleeping much more deeply than I normally do.

And so from the perspective of these sessions I’m thinking of continuing the early starts well past September, and continuing to do something fun first thing, such as surfing, snorkelling, swimming, running etc.  I am finding it’s such a great way to start the day, and I feel more alive, energetic and alert afterward.  My family can testify that I was never anything like a morning person, and it’s only in recent years that surfing has started to change that.  The art therapy was a great way to look at this clearly and to visualise and draw the space I feel around me by starting the day so early, giving me more time to do what I want, and more time to enjoy things rather than rush through them.  I drew a butterfly (or something roughly butterfly shaped)  in the centre of the space, representing the freedom of such choices.  These challenges are having a bigger impact this year than what I could have imagined.  When I look at this year through the lens of an artist (or my wobbly 3 year old version) there’s a lot of colour, shape and inspiration.  Not to mention crayon all over the walls.  How does that keep happening?

So, I got more out of these classes than a series of sad looking drawings.  I got insight, and inspiration.

See you at a sunrise sometime soon!

Fly my pretty, fly!