Five face creams as a base, then a couple layers of make-up…

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A couple weeks ago I dragged my sister-in-law to the Lancome counter at Nordstrom in downtown Seattle. I had scheduled it about a month before when I had let myself be dragged from the main aisle to the Lancome counter, where an exuberant woman put make-up on my face and invited me to pay $15 to sign up for when their world-class make-up artist was going to be doing faces in a special event at the store. I was spending $60 of Nordstrom notes (ie. free money), so I didn’t think anything of the sign-up price and loved the little baggie of freebies.

It turns out the artists that did our faces only had the vaguest of supervision by the well-known artist (whose name escapes me, so he’s well-known somewhere, right?) It started with me telling them my skin-problems and ended with being coated with five different face creams and ointments, a “light” coverage of make-up (which was heavier than my daily make-up), and in the end, being asked if I wanted to put on more. There was some hard-selling involved, and my $15 credit towards the purchase of some of the products didn’t go very far when a lip gloss costs $25 by itself. I walked out with paying more than I wanted to spend for product that I only kinda wanted.

I realized a couple weeks ago that I’ve done this before, and actually left with a little more satisfaction than I walked out with at Lancome. My previous experience was at a chic little boutique in Wicker Park, Chicago that had Sue Devitt cosmetics. Unlike the zoo that was Nordstrom, this was a bit more sedate and felt a little less frantic. The artist didn’t quite give me exactly what I wanted as far as the make-up job, and my $30 sitting fee that was credited to purchase didn’t go far either, but I did end up walking out with a few products that I still feel are the best eyeliners I’ve ever had. I just wish I could find them so easily in Seattle!

I can’t say I’m so impressed with Lancome, though I do love their mascaras. (Though seriously, vibrating mascara? That’s just silly.)

So remember, when they ask you if you want to sign up for a low price for 30-60 min of make-over fun – say no, unless you want to spend at least $50 on stuff you probably don’t need. I found myself overwhelmed just with the face wash and cream regimen. It may promise eternally youthful skin, but at a cost of 15 extra minutes per morning that I could spend, I don’t know, blogging about face creams. 🙂 It’s also a good time to remember – youthful looking skin won’t help you cheat death. It won’t stop a car from crashing into you or prevent cancer (not even with a high SPF). I’m going to work on learning to love this long line stretching across my forehead. Now to work on loving my grey hairs.

“There’s some bad art over here.”

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I don’t remember who said it. It was later in the week at Burning Man in 2000, it was dark, and we were in the middle of the playa surrounded by the ring that is Black Rock City. My company for the evening was a motley bunch of individuals from Colorado. Some of the art on the playa was not well lit, and depending on the evening, you could count on tripping on something that wasn’t properly lit or marked. While we walked from one side of the city to the other, I heard a male voice say, “There’s some bad art over here!” There was a lot of giggling involved as we tried to make sure we avoided tripping over any art, and carefully avoided the even the spectre of art as we continued on. It didn’t take long before we all were muttering that there was bad art somewhere.

Bad art is everywhere, included in well-curated galleries and museums. Contemporary art movements of the 20th century was to art what Free Verse was to poetry: a few skilled people doing it well, and many more people doing it badly. It begs the age-old question, “what is art?” To me, art is largely contextual. Anything can be art, but not everything can be good art.

Last weekend I had the immeasurable treat to see the Seattle Art Museum’s exhibit, Target Practice: Painting Under Attack 1949-1978. The show takes from some of the best works of that period that challenged the art world by using atypical media to paint and create. It included the art of some of my personal favorites, including Jim Dine and Jaspar Johns. There were even a few Yoko Ono pieces. It was a breath of fresh air and made my spirits light. Granted, whoever the new curator of SAM is, they’ve changed the museum for the better, making it a place I want to live, much like MoMA used to be, or the Art Institute of Chicago is.

Installations are a tricky piece of work. Not everyone can do it well. One of the best works I’ve seen all week was at a gallery last night, the Lawrimore Project where just a few days before a fire lit by a transient burned a piece that was parked behind the gallery titled “There Goes the Neighborhood.” Though it is no doubt a tragedy that the piece was set alight, charring the outside of the gallery building, whether on purpose or not – the unintentional creation was art in itself. Maybe I appreciate the cinders because they lack the irony that infuses so much art these days. Like the collection of found objects arranged in an arbitrary space, the remains of this little trailer house that was dropped off in neighborhood after neighborhood had been transformed into a charred shell that had the unmistakable smell of burnt wood and petrochemical furnishings, ready for our experience.

While mixing with some other gallery goers in the “bar area” by the cinders, the question came up as to whether the fire created a new, better work of art. It is, after all, infused with more emotion and drama that is easily palpable compared to some of the other works in the gallery, which are arguably more subtle in their meaning.

The best art on the playa at Burning Man in 2000 was the art that wasn’t there. You see, with my new friends from Colorado, we experienced together a piece of art that we were more than positive was there. I remember the structure well, and it was a massive piece of work. Later on, though, as we dared to get closer, we couldn’t actually find the art that we had been trying to avoid.

Pet Peeves: Stop!

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Lately, I find myself getting peeved at intersections, whether on foot, or in the car. Maybe I’ve just never noticed it before moving to Seattle, but my experience here, consistently, is that few drivers or bicyclists recognize or heed the red light or stop sign. I’ve caught myself at least twice in the past week, pointing to the stop sign when I’ve clearly had the right of way, and when I was in the middle of either walking or driving across the street. Both times were at stop signs, and I saw people literally roll through, and in some cases, I see people not even feign stopping. It’s like the signs don’t even exist.

I find myself a little tense when driving near intersections, especially if there’s a light turning yellow in front of me. Twice yesterday, as I saw it turn yellow, well within stopping distance, I slowed to a stop while the person in front of me drove through, not even accelerated, a fully red light. These were two different occasions. I get tense specifically because I’m scared one of these days when I’m dutifully stopping at a traffic light or sign I’m going to be rear-ended, because clearly, I’m not part of the norm.

I think to myself – do they not have driver’s ed here? Are the rules different in Washington? I was taught that you stop at the stop line, and if there is no stop line (which there aren’t in Seattle, I’ve noticed) you stop at the place where the stop sign is, then roll forward to make your turn or wait to get through traffic. Those who do stop never stop at the stop sign, but always near or past the curb, slightly into the intersection.

As a pedestrian, this is what bothers me the most – there is no buffer at many of the side streets for crossing safely. Those who disregard the stop sign have me training myself to not only look both ways before crossing, but to not trust that the stop sign means they will actually stop. I actually had a woman in an SUV look me square in the face with what I hope to be self-conscious horror as she blew through a stop sign and stopped short of hitting me by about 5 ft.

People in Seattle can’t be totally dim as to the rules, with a point in their favor being at 4 way stops, where I will see people minding the rules of dealing with 4 way stops.

Then there’s traffic circles – but perhaps that’s another rant for another day. If only our traffic circles had the handy diagram signs that Chicago’s traffic circles in Rogers Park has.

My Favorite Medicine: Placebo

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I love placebos. They’re my most favorite drug in the world. Part of my love, no doubt, comes from an episode of M*A*S*H , which Wikipedia notes is episode 24 of the 6th season, “Major Topper.” In this episode, a shortage of morphine leads the fine doctors of 4077 to count on the placebo effect to help the wounded.

When I worked at a psych hospital, there were a few vocal critics of homeopathic therapies. (By homeopathic, I’m specifically referring to those remedies with NDC codes including the range of Boiron pellets to Bach Flower Remedies.) This isn’t surprising on a few levels – first of all being that the medical establishment has it in their own best interests to poo-poo homeopathy, second being that homeopathic remedies have a heck of a lot of pseudo-science (and magical thinking) backing their efficacy. I wouldn’t dare say that homeopathic remedies have the same power and efficacy as modern pharmaceuticals, but one thing that they do have is the worst case scenario that is better than Big Pharm – at it’s worst, it just won’t work at all.

Not a bad side-effect, huh? Homeopathic remedies can often be used in conjunction with pharmaceuticals, can be combined together, and at best will work, and at worst, will have no effect, with no side-effects or interactions. The actual efficacy of homeopathic remedies is debatable, and may be attributed ONLY to the placebo effect. The third major argument is that it’s a waste of money to take a placebo. Maybe, the transaction of money, plus ingestion of the little sugar pills, is what makes you stave off that cold and flu or lower your anxiety.

Since I worked at Whole Foods, specifically with these remedies at my fingertips, I have tried a few of them and have found some work better for me than others. There’s actually a difference between how some remedies, for the same problem, work for me. For instance, Hyland’s – Calms Forte did not help me at all with getting to sleep, but their other formulation, Insomnia works so well that I sometimes wonder if there’s a secret narcotic ingredient. It could be that my own expectations of efficacy has influenced my body’s response to the placebo. I did read an article, which I can’t find right now, that showed that the expectations of a medication/placebo can influence the reaction a person has, including doing the opposite of what the person may expect.

The past six months have been allopathic-medication heavy. I appreciate the need for modern medicine, and definitely appreciate the need to use it when appropriate. When I was discharged from the ER with a 15 page document telling me the full dangers of my new medication regimen, I both understood the need to take the medication as prescribed, and longed for the simplicity of my ‘bos. During those first few months, I took full advantage of my Bach Flower Remedies, which are, by far, some of the most ridiculous homeopathic remedies around. The way I understand, these concoctions, in brandy, are pretty much just the dew off of specific flowers carrying a vibrational energy that is conducive to emotional health.

I’m fond of them, nevertheless.

Specifically:
Bach Essence Star of Bethlehem
Bach Essence Aspen
Rescue Remedy Sleep

I don’t go for that woo-woo stuff, mostly cos my belief in the supernatural is that it’s all in the mind. However, I’ll take the vibrational properties of flower essences over getting hooked on Xanax any day. (Disclaimer: there is a medical purpose for Xanax, but doctors need to be very careful in doling it out, and need a defined exit strategy. That’s another post for another time, though.)