Hot Stone Treatment

Today I was the "client" for one of the advanced students to practice the hot stone treatments. They left the room while I stripped down and climbed on top of the bed which had hot stones laid out in 2 vertical rows. I laid down so that my spine was between the two rows. The hot stones were covered with a towel so that I wouldn't get burned. I covered myself with the layers of sheets and blankets, topped off with a nice quilt.

When the class returned, I was first given a very nice facial - cleansing and exfoliating - with a very nice facial massage. There was a steamer directed at my face too. Possibly too close. I felt very humid. But maybe that's the point. I'll have to ask about that when I have that instruction.

After cleansing, she added a mask and placed two stones on my eyes. At some point, she added hot stones to my feet. One on each sole was held in place with a velcro strap. Smaller hot stones were placed between my toes.

(No, these are not my feet. I found the photo online.)

At the same time, there was some aromatherapy going on. The steamer with the hot stones had some sort of essential oil. I believe she said it was orangewood.

Another hot stone was placed in a pouch and laid on my stomach. Ooohh, I liked that one.

I don't exactly remember the order of things, but the mask was removed with a nice steamed towel. She performed a hot stone massage on my face and my arms and hands. I really liked this part. Any massaging of the arms and hands is heavenly, as far as I'm concerned.


The hot stones used to massage my arms were placed into my hands. The stones used to massage my face were placed strategically on my face and upper chest. She left them for a while and then removed them ritualistically.

It was all very relaxing even considering that the class was watching and they were having discussions about technique and ideas for marketing the treatment. One idea they had was to offer "affirmation" stones as a gift with the treatment or maybe to be given with a gift certificate for the treatment.

In any case, my mind immediately started working out how I could make those stones. Eventually, the instructor even mentioned that I could make them (knowing my art background). One student said she could buy them from me. So, who knows? Maybe I'll have yet another side business to this. I'll have to keep a log of these ideas.

Waiting

I'm still waiting for my packages to arrive. The textbook, according to USPS tracking, has arrived in Denver, but it wasn't in my mailbox today. The tattoo equipment is on its way too, but it's coming via FedEx. And I've now ordered another book - Essential Oils Pocket Reference. I'll be studying Aromatherapy at this school too.

In the meantime, to assuage my anxiousness, I found a tattoo artist's manual online. I have been reading that and getting a head start on studying the skin. (Epidermis, Dermis, and Hypodermis - to be exact)

I am hoping that I'll have the tattoo equipment before this weekend. I'd like to be able to play with it while Donna is out of town.

Official Now

I paid my tuition today. It's official. I am now a student of Concentric Healing Institute. This Saturday I will join the class. The advanced students are practicing their Reiki and I will be a practice subject. Plus I'll get to learn a bit about the Reiki treatments too. I don't officially begin my education until Monday, March 2nd.

Snafus and Grumbles

(Priority Box Art by Franck De Las Mercedes)

I wonder how many Gen-X'ers know the origin of the word "snafu" and what it stands for. Snafu is actually an acronym. It stands for "situation normal - all f***ed up". I believe its origin is in WWII, when soldiers used it to make political commentary on their leadership. In my case, however, I think the proper acronym would be "scafu" - situation CRAZY, all f***ed up.

In my last post I reported that I had ordered my textbook, workbook, and tatto machine. All were ordered from Amazon. I love that website, by the way. You can get nearly everything there. Friday, I received my email from Amazon advising me that my books were on their way. Friday night, when I ordered my tattoo machine I noticed that the shipping address defaulted to my old office address. I'll explain.

I live in a townhouse "complex" that gets a little confusing for UPS and FedEx. Confusing enough that I have had 3 packages in the past delivered to the wrong townhouse. So I used to have all my packages delivered to my office. This is an office that I have since closed up - like over a year ago. In fact, the building has been vacated and is now in the process of refurbishing.

Realizing that my class begins in about a week, I knew I didn't have time for anything to go wrong on this delivery. I immediately emailed Amazon to see if there was anything they could do to divert the package to my home. There wasn't. It was travelling via USPS. Dang.

Okay, think think think. Do I re-order now with the correct address, ending up with 2 deliveries and returning the last package to arrive? Or try to retrieve it at the old office? I contacted an old friend that used to work in the same building. She informed me that everyone is out of there now, but she graciously offered to alert everyone at the new building in case it happens to find its way there.

So I go online to the USPS website. I tried to do a "change of address". It won't go through, because they need a credit card with a billing address of the "old address" to confirm my identity. Of course, I don't have a credit card with that address. It was my office and all bills came to my home. And even if I did use my office address as a billing address, this office closed up over a year ago.

Sigh.

So I printed off my "change of address" form from the USPS website and visited the post office that delivers to my old office. This post office is not an ordinary post office. It is merely a sorting post. Signs all over the door and wall saying that it was not a retail center. However, they did offer package pickup. So I rang the doorbell and got someone to come out and talk to me. I explained the situation and was told there was probably nothing that could be done, but "wait here a second, let me go ask someone else." A few minutes later another postal worker came out, I explained, and he offered to personally watch for my package and redirect it to my home. Such a nice guy. I hope it works.

In the meantime, I deleted that old address from my Amazon account. I verified that the tattoo machine is set to deliver to the correct address. And I am hopeful that my new friend at the post office will come through for me.

Esthetician / Tattoo Artist

Where to begin? I have wanted to be a tattoo artist for a very long time now. It always seemed to be something too far out of my grasp to do more than just dream about it.

The traditional entry into the field involves begging an experienced tattoo artist to take you in as an apprentice where you work for free, cleaning and taking out the trash, and occassionally getting to "watch" a tattoo being created. Eventually, you will be allowed to handle the tattoo machine. Meanwhile you are not getting paid. And I have a house payment. I can't afford to work for free.

So life goes on. I work at one job and then another. Currently I am a plant lady. I water and maintain interior plants at offices and hospitals and restaurants. But with the current "economic downturn" (read: Depression) my accounts have been cutting back and some have even cancelled their plant service. My paycheck is getting smaller and smaller. It's time for another career change.

Looking back at some of my past interests, I considered going back to school to finish that Paralegal program I had started back in 1977. I thought of applying to law school - a way to put my History degree to work. I even got a book to study for the LSAT. All the while, in the back of my head, was this nagging notion of learning to tattoo.

Eventually, those thoughts began to twist and turn and I started to think of it in other ways. Why don't I learn how to remove tattoos? There is certainly a market for that. Right? Aren't there people who acted impulsively and have now come to regret that crazy tattoo on their neck? Or maybe they are no longer happy to have Mickey Mouse covering their calf. I should learn how to do this!

So I researched. Typical tattoo removal involves lasers. Lasers require specialized training only offered to those with a medical background or to Estheticians. Estheticians? What is this? Estheticians are skin care specialists. They typically do facials, microdermabrasions, skin peels, face massages, makeup, waxing, micropigmentation..... Micro-what? Pigmentation? Pigments, as in ink? Micropigmentation = permanent makeup = facial tattoo. Well, well, well.

So I've enrolled in a program to become certified as an Esthetician. I start March 2nd. I've ordered my textbook and workbook. I have also ordered a tattoo machine so that I can start practicing that too. At some point I will find a way to get laser training.