A friend of mine I used to know..
My subject line sounds like a song I’ve heard before but I can’t pinpoint it. Oh well. Anyways, a friend of mine I used to know used to have really bad body acne. This was in the formative teenage years where we had to change in locker rooms with lots of other girls oogling the goodies to make fun of us. She got this really strong body acne treatment from her dermatologist but you could always see the spots. She always felt so bad about that. 
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the past. Getting my high school transcript today really brought back memories, both good and bad.
Face soap
I’ve noticed that, as the winter months come into Texas, my face is feeling drier and drier. It might be time that I change my pimple removal methodology. My top secret pimple removal method? Face wash every day. I might need a moisturizing one now that winter is upon us in the good ol’ dry part of Texas. I’ve noticed that my hands are already starting to chap a little bit, if you know what I mean? They just get really, really dry and hurt. I’m going to have to start carrying around hand lotion with me.
Demo, demo, demo
Some of you guys know that I work as a “brand ambassador” or “event specialist”. Meaning that I go into a local store and promote products that I’m told to promote. It helps give people a great idea of some interesting new products or allows them to try things that they’ve never tried before. This past week, I believe, I was talking about some new health care products and one of them was a product to reduce or remove wrinkle.
Well, some people were not very kind about learning a new trick to reducing wrinkles before you even get them! Oh well, I hope in the future people will be more receptive!
I love coupons.
I especially love coupons in an online store setting, where it’s difficult to cite coupon codes if you don’t have an online version of things. Do you have any idea how many e-coupons are out there, including tiger direct coupons, Domino’s coupons and even Kohl’s coupons? That can save you so much money; it’s really uncanny! It’s a great resource though. Any time I’m shopping online, before I check out – I google around for some coupon codes and see what I can find! It’s gotten me a few free things and saved me a lot of money.
Sister Wives and the polyamorous lifestyle
I have to admit that I watch Sister Wives. No, it isn’t a guilty pleasure. It’s a very proud pleasure. I watch it the same as I watch Big Love. I adore both of the shows for their honesty, while still being for entertainment value. Yes, Sister Wives is loads more “real” than Big Love as it is a reality tv show, but with editing it does tend to show a filtered look into the polygamist lifestyle.
Whether or not polygamy is wrong or right, moral or immoral, legal or illegal – I don’t want to get into that. What I will get into though, is my personal disgust and shock at how ignorant people are and how publicly they’ll speak about their ignorance. Being ignorant of a subject is not inherently bad, I would say. It’s only really terrible when you start speaking publicly about something that you don’t know anything about, don’t want to learn anything about and merely want to spout out about for ratings or some form of “publicity”. This goes for radio shows, twitter users, facebook users, bloggers and journalists alike.
It is disheartening to me to hear on a local radio show that Kody, the husband of Sister Wives, thinks he’s a “pimp”. It is disheartening to me to hear on that same radio show that he is a “pimp” of “ugly women”. It is disheartening to read on Twitter things like “the girls are jealous of Robyn (wife #4) because she’s prettier”. It hurts me to see grown adults say that these girls should never be jealous because “this is what they signed up for”.
These women are real women. They are humans. They will experience human emotion. Unfortunately, choosing to live a polygamist/polyamorous lifestyle does not absolve you from feeling human emotions. Unfortunately, choosing to live a polygamist/polyamorous lifestyle does not make you perfect or better than anybody else. It means that you are able and willing to love multiple people.
If you aren’t familiar with the polyamorous lifestyle, I implore you to at the very least read this amazing comic. It sums up my feelings on polyamorous relationships quite well. I know they are possible. I’ve seen them work and work well. I have also seen them blow up into a big dramatic catastrophe. It just pains me that people don’t want to educate themselves.
If you are one of the few who actually wants to learn more about polyamory, go visit PolyCat. It’s a collection of information about polyamorous relationships. It even covers jealousy! When I was first introduced to the concept of polyamory, that is what I found. So go! Look! Read! And for the love of all things pure and sugary, stop giving such shallow reasoning for Kody’s wives to be jealous. They are human and have human emotions. It’s kind of a beautiful thing to see.
Solutions
Of course, with every acne issue comes a veritable plethora of acne solutions. Everything from creams to soaps to washes to rinses.. and you can find all of it on the internet. There’s so much information everywhere. The internet itself is such a wealth of knowledge, it’s amazing how many people don’t tap into it’s versatility. I know that whenever I have an issue, all I have to do is type it into Google and chances are high that someone before me has had that very same issue. Oh, the habits I picked up from my high school computer repair teacher. I have him to thank, honestly. He’s the reason I got into programming. But now I’m rambling..
Adult acne
Ah, yes, adult-acne is such a difficult topic to talk about. Painful and frustrating. Most adults feel that when they hit 20, they shouldn’t have to be dealing with acne anymore. Sometimes, that’s just not the truth. It’s unfortunate but it’s a fact of life that some adults will always deal with serious acne issues. Thankfully, due to the exciting world of the internet, getting help for your acne problems is only ever a click away.
Hello? Is anybody there?
I have been struggling with Kaplan’s Financial Aid department for about a month now. In December, I struggled with them until March. I like Kaplan; I do. I do not like Kaplan’s Financial Aid department. This is a letter that I just wrote to my academic advisers in an attempt to solve an issue with my student loan. This issue has now been going on for exactly one 30 days and they have threatened to block me from my classes (which they apparently have not done). The letter is as follows:
Hello,
My name is Stacy [last name]. I’ve been a student at Kaplan for about five terms now, I believe. I have always had issues with financial aid so this is nothing new but this has been going on for a month and I would like to resolve it as it is ever-frustrating me.
When I first was recruited for Kaplan, I was granted enough in financial aid AND student loans to cover the cost of my tuition completely. Score one for being a poor single Mom, I guess. That was the first and only good thing to have come out of the Financial Aid department. Back in December through March (when it finally got resolved) I had issues with not being able to get in touch with my financial aid adviser and got switched to a different one. Issues finally got resolved, yay.
Well, now we’re back at another issue with financial aid. Approximately a month ago, I received an email stating that my account was “significantly” past due. [One thing that I forgot to mention was that they told me it was due in July and I first heard about it in September.] The amount was $359.68. Immediately, I started calling and trying to get in touch with Student Accounts, which is what the email informed me to do. Nobody in Student Accounts was able to help me that week. So the next week, I tried again. Whenever I called or got a phone call from them, I told them the same information – that I was past due but there’s no reason I *should* be past due because I know that I have enough in student loans and financial aid to cover it. Again, not resolved.
Third week, I finally get in touch with a lady who did a little digging and was able to explain that yes – I had plenty of financial aid and student loan money, but that my financial aid and student loan money had gone in before tuition was raised in the middle of the year and the leftover was the past due balance. She then told me that all I would need to do was fill out a “loan extension” form and fax it back in. I faxed it in that morning. (I still have the loan extension form that I filled out plus the fax receipts saying they were, indeed, faxed.) [Yes, I did expect to have issues with them from day one.]
I was told that it would take “10 – 12 business days” to process. [As a note, I believe the form was faxed September 27th-ish. Currently, the fax receipt is at my old apartment waiting to be moved.]In that time, I have not heard anything back about what the next step is or whether it was approved or not. I understand that this is not your area of expertise, however – I am near the point of just screaming in frustration. I get phone calls three times a day, at least, which I understand because it’s an auto-dialer. What I am getting frustrated with is: not hearing back from financial aid about the paper and not being able to get through to financial aid on the phone (it kicks me back to the main menu every stinking time) and emailing Student Accounts, explaining the situation and their only reply being either “that’s not our department, I can’t help you with that” or “you have a past due balance because your loans and financial aid didn’t cover the cost” which I am well darn aware of but that never answers my question!
I am emailing my academic adviser team in an effort that someone will be able to help me figure this out because either I’m not asking the right questions or financial aid/student accounts is just incredibly unhelpful.
Thank you very much,
Stacy Malone
And another addendum, I would not be so frustrated were it not for getting in touch with Student Accounts, whenever I manage to, and them saying “What paperwork? I don’t see anything on your file about paperwork?” If they would tell me it was processing or something – that would be one thing. But they act as though I’ve not sent any paperwork in. *sigh* I just hope this gets resolved soon and I thought others would appreciate some insight on Kaplan’s financial aid department.
Work, work, work…
I have work today. I am so thankful for every day that I get to work and earn more money. I think this week I’m promoting a sale on some different products, so I’m really happy about that. It helps to have something specific to talk about when I have nothing better to say. It’s even more awesome if there are other sales going on in the store, so that I can talk about those. The longer I have a customer engaged in a conversation with me, the more likely they are to remember my product and if they don’t buy it that day, they might buy it in the future.
Chain mail jewelry
I have a friend who makes chain mail jewelry. We’ve talked about it a few times and it’s all very pretty. What I want to know is what kinds of jewelry making tools he uses. I mean, it’s got to be a little bit more complex than just using pliers with the intricate designs he makes. I know that some of my friends make bead necklaces too and they’d be interested in knowing what tools might make things easier for them.