Well, last night was mediocre. My parents wanted to take me to dinner, so the plans that my sister & I had made were dashed.    We went to the local Claim Jumper (how original  ) where my beau was working that night. As soon as we were seated, he walked over to our table, put a shot down in front of me and told my parents to make sure that I drank it as he was walking away. My first reaction was, WHAT?! He knows that I don't drink! Why the #&$% would he do that?! Perhaps we should see other people! I was p!$$ed off and offended by his blatant disregard and lack of respect for my lifestyle. That ruined the whole night for me.
   My family encouraged me to drink it - mother even went so far as to say that I was being rude for not doing so! ME?! And his disregard wasn't?! WTF, mate?!?!
   Needless to say, I passed the shot to my sister, who didn't want it either, but drank it for me anyway. And I ordered a simple iced tea with dinner just so K wouldn't have to make it. I didn't trust him.  
   He came over later and ribbed me for not drinking the shot (someone had told him)...omg, I was sooo not happy with him! But that's the trouble with dating a bartender who happens to have a rather twisted sense of humor. Only this morning did I realize that he had known the entire time that I wouldn't drink the shot. And he probably expected that I wouldn't. That was just his twisted way of saying hello. *sigh* Oy...

Anyway, dinner was simple. I had just a simple chicken cæsar salad and an iced tea. Presents from my parents were a new pair of diamond earrings    and new sweats! The latter I have needed for years. And as for the former, well...I promised my father that I would not lend these diamonds to anyone. Especially not careless, drug-addicted boyfriends with ear infections (which is how I lost the last pair of diamonds that my dad gave me).    Ahem.

By the time we returned home, it was too late for my sis & I to go out, so we're going tonight. As for K, he BETTER have been just joking with that shot. Otherwise, he can go back to dating the usual trash.

SO...hair. The usual CWC routine today. Nothin' fancy.
The usual CWC routine these days is CWC, leave-in crème, air dry, braid.

I'm still gathering individual hairs that fall out naturally to make a lock for K. It will take a long time, but I'm beginning to see progress already. God willing, he will still be around when it's ready for him.

MTB: Thanx!    And honey, you're lucky if all you get is a lecture. I have had every member of my family shut the water off on me while I was in the middle of a shower just to get their point across!    Most of the time, it was my mother, who is an extreme control freak, but she has instructed all other members of the family to do this. The real kicker was that I was even paying the water bill at the time!
   Mother insisted that it wasn't about money, but about "principle." But if you ask me, someone with these types of control issues has no room to talk about principles.

Hair: The usual CWC routine again today, since I had the morning shift at work. Ugh.    Nothing else to report, really. It's just kind of doin' its thang. Still not terribly jazzed with Time Renewal shampoo.

Other Stuff: Finally went to the beach last night with my sister & her friend to the piercing shop.    My sister got a tiny little CZ stud in her tragus, I finally got my 2nd and 3rd earlobe piercings done. All 4 at the same time - my sis was so proud of me.    She said that she would have gotten the 2nd holes done and then come back later for the 3rd set. But I'm hardcore. lol I wanted all of them to be done and healed at the same time. The whole experience was a total rush.  
   Oh, and of course, all piercings were performed in a sterile environment, with sterile equipment, by a professional. And you know what? The 4 hollow needle piercings that I got at once hurt WAY less than any single piercing that I have ever gotten with a gun. I'll never go back!
   I'm sporting little silver hoops with balls in the center in all 4 at the moment. In 2 months, the new holes will be healed enough that I can take the hoops out and replace them with something else. I can't wait to go jewelry shopping!

Afterwards, I went home and my sis & her friend went out drinking. Actually, they'd both been drinking since before we left for the piercing shop    ...and her friend drove!      And she drives like a nut, so I was very thankful to be back home. The girls play a dangerous game, but they will be alright.
   As for me, it was very difficult to sleep with sore ears and anxiety    (the latter of which was K's fault  ).  I've had to be quite careful while caring for my hair, getting dressed and using the phone.

Anyway, I reckon that's all for now. Later.

Trisha: hehehe    She actually said that it wasn't too bad.

Hair: Last night, I heated up a tube of V05 hot oil, applied it to the length of my hair, placed a sleeping cap over it and left it on overnight. The instructions say to apply the hot oil to wet hair, but the heck if I'm getting my hair wet before bed! Forget it!
    My hair was still damp and starchy from the treatment this morning. I don't think that I will do any more overnight treatments for the next 2 months because my slumber cap gets in the way of my new piercings. I want them to heal completely without too much outside interference.
    Anyway, washed once with Restoratives Time Renewal shampoo and squeezed the water out of my hair with a microfiber towel before leaving the Time Renewal Replenishing Mask in under a shower cap for an hour. After rinsing it out, I chased with Restoratives Breakage Defense conditioner. Voilà.
    My sister then possessed herself of the bathroom (she's not feeling well), so I wasn't able to use any leave-in's. But it's alright - I brought my bottle of EVOO to work and will oil my hair dry before I braid it during my break.

Love: *sigh* Hate to say this, guys, but I think I may have hit the wall with K. I'm not going to hash out all of the details publically, but something has come to my attention that I don't see any good way out of or around. It has been stressing me out for days. 
    Actually, a lot of things about K have stressed me out, whether or not I've mentioned them. Dating him has certainly not been all roses. And almost every time I have concerns, he either shies away from discussing them or is too busy to discuss them. I don't need to tell anyone here that this is not a healthy pattern.
    It actually reminds me of a dream that I had not too long ago in which I had become pregnant - out of wedlock - with his child. My family and even my boss were all around - they were all quite sympathetic to my predicament even if oblivious to my inner turmoil. I remember feeling very sad, stressed and confused. But where was K during all of this? Nowhere to be found. Even with the sympathy of my immediate family and my boss, I felt as though I was facing everything alone. I remember talking to the doctor who was going to perform the abortion just before I woke up. It was probably the most depressing dream I've ever had. 
    What does this have to do with anything? Well, perhaps nothing. But it also might be my subconscious' way of telling me that it has its doubts about whether K would be there for me in a pinch. And maybe that I cannot count on him in serious situations. Something worth thinking about.

Money: Well, today is payday. Finally! I finally get to bring a positive balance to my bank account. I also signed up to receive online statements only, instead of having paper statements mailed to me. This way, my financial info stays private and my parents will not be able to pry like they have been. Even if they open all of my other mail, they will never know just how much $$$ I have or don't have at any given time. And that is exactly how it should be. My business is my own.

Other: Yesterday, I went jewelry shopping a little early and ended up getting a pair of sterling silver hoops with silver balls at the center. I wanted something that would coordinate with the hoops that have to stay in my 2nd and 3rd holes for the next 2 months.

Alright, it's almost time for my break, but I might write a little more when I return.

Alright, it's happened. I broke things off with K. 
It sucks because I was really hoping that we would work out. But we just didn't see eye to eye on some really important issues. I loved K and I already miss his company, but I was not hopelessly in love with him the way that you should be when you decide to spend your life with someone. So it's a good move, really...because now I can move on and hopefully find someone with whom I am more compatible. *sigh*

It's a rather disheartening process eliminating him from my life. Taking him out of my phone and off of my Buddy List, etc. He told me not to give back the things that he gave me, and I just don't have the heart to toss all of it out yet. But I probably will soon.
    Actually, I've been revamping a lot of things lately. My beauty & financial binders have both been cleaned out and updated. My toenails are now sporting a shiny, new coat of black polish (the chipped eggplant shade of last fall had to go!). My annoying old purse has been replaced with a new (smaller and less annoying) one. My AIM Buddy List has been cleared of people that I don't speak to regularly. Just lots of little things like that. Angel's takin' out the trash. 

So that's what's been going on with me. I'm bummed about the K thing, but I'm regrouping and looking forward to meeting someone new. And whoever he is, I hope that he has lips like Thom Yorke - woooo!   

Anyway, in hair news, I didn't get a shower until after noon, so I had to do a W-CWC. My hair feels ridiculously smooth when wet. I wish it felt the same way dry!
    I applied the Restoratives leave-in crème to the length, but didn't braid. My hair was still damp & stringy when I left the house to run errands and go shopping this afternoon. The air is dry and staticky once again, so my hair was pretty wild when it dried.    Gotta love SoCal.
    So it appears that I have only 19 days to go before my hair reaches BSL. God willing! It sure has taken long enough!

Ok, my mind is going blank and all I can think about is K being the newest member of Losers Anonymous: The Angel Dumped Me Club. lol Sorry...I think I'll go and watch AFV on TV and just try not to think about him. I'll write more tomorrow. Hope everybody had a good weekend.