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4:40 p.m. - 2007-01-27
girls girls girls
I get my nails done every three weeks. I know that probably sounds really frilly and expensive and extravagant, etc. But in actuality, I find it helps me avoid being high-maintenance in this small area of life. When I say "get my nails done" what I mean is that i get a layer of acrylic painted over my real nails, get them filed down almost to the skin because i hate having long nails, and get them painted a pretty color of my choice. Sometimes I pick what Kels refers to as a "distracting" french manicure. This week, i went with red. When you engage in this process, you never have to cut or file your nails, or use nail polish remover or paint them and your nails never break, leaving you with nine normal looking nails and one weird, stubby freaky one. My nails never snag anything, and it also discourages me from picking at anything because the nails are too thick and smooth with acrylic on them to really dig at anything...blemishes, dry skin, etc. Not to mention the fact that they always look clean and neat. No chipped polish, ever.

You go every three weeks to get them cleaned up, the polish taken off, a new layer of acrylic and a new polish color put on. (Actually most people go every two weeks but I can stretch it out to three because I'm cheap and busy and my nails don't grow that fast.) It only costs 15 bucks and it takes about a half an hour.

I have been doing this since my wedding which was the first time ever that I experienced this lovely process. I have been going to the same people that my friend Haley has gone to for almost 15 years. They are Karen and Steve, a couple originally from Vietnam who are great and funny and do a good job. They have a charming little girl, April, and they think haley and I are hilarious, which, together, we probably are. The downside is that this salon is nearly an hour from my house depending on traffic. Usually Haley and i go together and have lunch afterward and i could stop and see my parents so it all worked out. At least that's what we were doing until two things happened. The first is that my schedule changed. We used to be able to go in the middle of the day during the week, when i was working part time. Now I have to go on Saturdays and Haley's weekends are always jam packed. The second is that we somehow got off schedule. I had to go today (a couple more days without an appointment and my nails were going to become officially dangerous; typing was becoming impossible.) But Haley could go a week or more before she needed to get hers done. So, I did the unthinkable. I went to a different nail salon!!!!

I know, 90% of the people reading this blog think this is boring and stupid to even waste time writing about. But maybe you have a vendor you're loyal to. Like a hairdresser or an auto mechanic. And for one reason or another, you go someplace else. (In this case, the someplace else I went to is about .8 miles from my house.) And you feel guilty the whole time. You worry you'll run into your usual service provider and it will be awkward. You know they'll ask you about your new hair style or how the truck is running. And you wonder if you can ever go back there...because you'll have to confess that you're a dirty rotten traitor.

I have a decision to make. Do I do routine-twisting backflips to try to get back on schedule with Haley, which would make the 35 mile journey well worth it, and beg forgiveness when Steve sees my nails and knows that another man has had his hands on them, or do I say a silent farewell to Karen and Steve and inform my new nail technician, Tyler, that he has a new loyal customer?

Tyler, a 30-something asian man, did a fine job. He let the drill/filer thing get a little too warm, but as long as there is no blood, i'm good. but he wore a medical mask and I could hardly understand a word he said. I experienced this language/mask barrier when I used to get regular manicures in Seattle (different than the acryllic process, mind you.) We had a couple of awkward moments like when i asked if I should put the hand he wasn't working on under the dryer/light thing and he said "That's enough." I repeated my question and he repeated the same answer so i decided he meant "no." So, he reached over and put my hand under the dryer for me. O-kaaaay.

When something like that happened with STEVE, he would go "You not understand what I say." And Karen whose diction is a little clearer would say in feigned exasperation "Jesssssiiiii, he ask you if you watch Steeler game!"

See, now writing about them is making me miss them! Maybe I can go there every once in a while....

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