Alcy (al-SEE); Even broken glass has its shimmer.

So, I was going to place an order today during the Let's Do Lunch promotion (on Tuesdays and Thursdays they're running ths thing where orders placed between 9 AM and 2 PM PST get an extra item added to the cart free). I added my concealer and this little splurge in Celebrita and proceeded to check out. No free item added. I call their customer service hotline which is supposed to be open at the current time. Answering machine. I apply TOKDM4, a code from a mailer for a free lip gloss. It appears to work, adding the free gloss to my cart. I try checking out anyway (since the free Soft Lights wasn't really a huge deal to me). After trying to finalize the order, I get an error and all items except a free sample removed from my cart. I try again without applying TOKDM4. Same BS, and no Soft Lights added then either. I remove everything from my cart, delete all Smashbox cookies, and try again. No dice. I started my order at 1 PM and it is now after 2 - too late for today's promotion, so I'm going to try again on Tuesday (hopefully the customer service letter I sent will get a helpful reply).

I haven't ordered from Smashbox online before, but this is almost as bad as my experiences with Sephora.com - glitches where every product on the site was suddenly listed at $0 and "out of stock", no free birthday item added despite placing an order during the timeframe AND customer service ignored my inquiry about it, very few of the points I earned actually registered in the Beauty Insider program, my Beauty Insider account didn't register in the database when I shopped in-store and was issued a card for a new account after that which I got none of the points from (though I think the cashier that time just couldn't spell my email address despite that I was very clear in telling her...), ugh.

It's funny, these big supposedly reputable companies have terrible service, yet every time I've ordered from Everyday Minerals it went through just fine, promo codes and all.

there was a feature to ignore new update alerts on a group. I've quit two groups now because I hated seeing the alert go off again every time I cleared it.

Those with pronounced hips/rear/chest generally have such features regardless of the status of their body weight. Likewise, those who do not have them do not generally develop them by gaining or losing weight. "Curvy" is not a size. I am sick of seeing the word thrown around as if it was one.

This post is absolutely not an insult to anyone who has or doesn't have curves, or who is small, large, or anywhere in between.

They bring out the most stubborn shit in all of us. ♥

and use sample pictures from photo editing software, why not at least go for some interesting ones, like the green blobby thing from Kid Pix or something?

And yes, this is about a certain recent pervert that's tried to add most of us before one banning or another.

Kyli and I used to have some serious fun with those Kid Pix sample photos, though, back when we were 13 year old AOL users. We'd send out "Ben" and claim it was us, pretend we were some British little boy whose mother only allowed him to go into Spice Girls chatrooms even though he didn't like the Spice Girls because she thought it was safer or something. People actually liked "him". Ooh, and another time we went on our so-called-friend's screenname (she was really careless about her password) and started a chain letter with some weird kid's open mouth face (also from Kid Pix) in the background called "Delete Button Brokey" claiming the delete button was broken and kept making weird typos we couldn't fix...and then going on to explain each typo, only making things worse. (We also put an arrow to the kid's mouth and said "That ain't mah mouth!" along with..."Toothaches on Saturday night waterfalls!" and "Hey, Joe! How's the shovelin' in Dishoville?") We were pretty terrible, but it was great. ♥ I even bought a copy of that edition of Kid Pix when I found it in a thrift store a year or two ago, just for those sample pictures.

some idiot who can't handle rejection insults you thinking it will somehow improve his (or her) chances.

(Edited because this was not directed at men in general. I was initially referring to a specific experience.)

some people seem to think vocalists who don't play instruments are somehow of lower merit than people who play an instrument but do not sing? I have seen some claim that singing is "easy", that people who have vocal talent were just born able to do it right off the bat, first try? My struggle is proof that is not the case - I've certainly never heard of anyone who did not have to practice not only to keep their voice in shape, but to get it there in the first place.

I haven't written about it yet, but I should - when I was 10, before I had been able to gain the right control over my vocal power, I went through a lot of hardship (including outright abuse over it). It took about two years practicing every day with the radio up too loud for anyone else to hear me before I could really hit a note. Things didn't get any easier for me until around the spring of 1999 when I joined Sweet Envy, my friends' band at the time, who had just lost several members. It was my everything. Being able to practice regularly in a positive, focused environment did wonders - the person who had been threatened for singing just a few short years prior had actually developed quite a range.

When I was going on 15, I was placed in a very difficult situation which took me from my band and pretty much all other opportunity to practice. My voice then suffered for the next several years as I was forced to live in stressful single motel rooms with people that I simply could not practice around. Only recently have I been able to develop my voice again. It's still not entirely in the same amazing shape it used to be in, though it is once again useable and I am improving the more I am able to finally practice again.

I do not mean to belittle people who only play an external instrument, it takes a lot of focus and often time to master one - but they do not typically require years of tuning before a decent sound is able to come out. My instrument not only required that, but still has constant requirements of use, not to mention physical care of my health necessary to keep it in shape - yet there are people who will look down on me for this? I even recently saw a comment (by a self proclaimed "feminist") on another blog that basically implied female vocalists who do not play other instruments were unintelligent.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to learn an external instrument. My fingers are too short to comfortably play a guitar. I did at one point start to learn keyboard, which I may very well take up again once certain obstacles in my personal life are out of the way. Drums interest me as well. I just don't see why anyone - particularly anyone involved with music - would look at me as less of a musician when my instrument perhaps requires the most upkeep of all.

Some time that isn't now

(Does anyone else keep getting errors from Buzznet that they didn't write anything in their journals, when they actually DID?)

The only sentiments that have EVER made me feel ashamed to be a woman were uttered by self-proclaimed "feminists"?

I don't need extra motivation and 'empowerment' to get through the day. I'm not victimized by oh-so-horrible media campaigns (which many like to conviently forget target men as well...and only idiots of any gender fall for in the first place). I don't need to see another woman doing something for me to feel able to do it myself. I do not feel like it is an attack on me when I see some other woman in a less-than-ideal situation. If I don't always get my way, I don't go around playing the gender discrimination card. I sure as hell don't feel proud, powerful, or degraded when I look at all of the terrible things that happen to innocent men in this country. I don't feel offended by the word 'cunt' as an insult - just as I'd assume most men wouldn't feel overly offended by 'dickhead' (and if either one honestly bothers you, why not both?).

I know most of Buzznet isn't going to agree with me on any of this...but whatever.

P.S. I think the Dove Real Women campaign is a crock of shit. It entirely overlooks men with eating disorders or other appearance issues, basically insults people who like to dye their hair (I actually thought the little girl on the commercial would've been able to pull off blonde, which is a shade I don't generally think looks good on many), is an outright slap in the face to people who DO have a similar body type to the typical models and celebrities - which are far more common than the campaign likes to insinuate, blames the media for every person that has low self-esteem when chances are, if the media never existed, these same people would find other things to feel insecure about, claims people shouldn't worry about their weight at all which is downright dangerous, on their website insulted an art shot of a girl who had smile faces drawn over her barely existant breasts which came off to me as a positive message that she was happy with her tiny size...I could go on and on, I've even written in to them before (about the quiz where the girl with the smile faces was).

Better than anything on cable! It's a magical land where all it takes is one feather to set off a long chain of loose cannons! ♥ I can't wait for the next thrill-packed episode!!!

http://stickam.com/profile/alcy

I'm not going on just yet, but add me! Make sure you say you're from Buzznet when you do.

Anyway - I've decided to cut my hair live on cam! ♥ I think I'm going to try something a little different this time.

I'll post again when I'm ready to go on...probably in a few hours. ♥

All this election talk is reminding me of something my stuck up teacher put on a quiz way back when. The question was something along the lines of "Why is it important for people to vote if they are 18 or older?". Thinking she meant to emphasize the "over 18" part rather than "why is it important for people to vote", and keeping in mind her generally ridiculous attitude, I answered that "younger people would make bad decisions". She marked it wrong, and when going over the answers with the class, just gave the usual "make your opinions count" speech.

FYI: I don't actually discredit the opinions of minors unless they show me good reason to do so. There are several here on Buzznet alone that seem to have well thought-out reasons for favoring whichever candidate they do...not to mention I've noticed some people of legal age outright say they're voting for superficial reasons rather than caring about what the candidate actually supports.

Come to think of it, teachers asked a lot of strange questions and/or gave unexpected answers that year. Another incident that's always bugged me a bit was with the music teacher...one time, she played music from Fantasia and asked us to draw whatever came to mind from it. I don't remember what I wound up drawing, but it was whatever the music inspired me to. When the assignment was done...she went on to praise everyone who drew Wizard Mickey and acted as if the rest of us had never seen the movie. So much for supporting creativity.

What is it to have a human heart?

http://cms.myspacecdn.com/cms/Splash/Page_Header/vitaminwater_bg.jpg (warning, large image)

Upon viewing today's Myspace ad, several questions came to mind.

WHO thought that was a good idea???
WHAT the fuck???
HOW much did they have to pay him in order to convince him to be seen in THAT? (He looks humiliated even in that picture!)
WHY, WHY, WHY does that shirt exist?

BUZZNET DRAMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111111one1111one1111

PLAGIARISM!!!!!111111111111111111111111111111111

and

THE RETURN OF JAMIE CALIFORNIA~!!111111111111111111111111