I have officially decided that I am against Mary Kay!

My sister used to sell Mary Kay, and it was then that I decided that of the little bit of make up I wear, I like using Mary Kay. Before then I didn't really enjoy makeup at all because it made my face feel gross. But Mary Kay marketed a product that didn't do that. My sister didn't sell for very long before she decided that it was more of a burden than a help.

Sometime last year a friend of mine from college came to my house to do Mary Kay makeovers. I bought some products that night, but I also became the victim of some hard core sales tactics! They kept trying to push me to sell Mary Kay, and I (of all people) hardly even wear make up! But they would not leave me alone about it! They carried on and on about how much money you can make selling Mary Kay...

I thought this was just one bad apple in the bunch, but that was before another friend of mine invited me to have a facial at some sort of meeting. I told her about the bad experience I had and she assured me that this time it wouldn't be like that. So, even though I really didn't want to go, I decided to help my friend by going. This was a mistake...

So I walk in the room, only to see nothing but pink (everywhere). Playing in the background is what initially sounds like really bad karaoke. When I listened more closely I realized that it was actually a compilation of popular songs, rewritten to be about Mary Kay! (what???) So the guy would sing Mary Kay lyrics to the tune of "YMCA"!!! Besides that, the women who are staffing this thing look like gypsies! They have huge hair and LOTS of makeup! One of the first things they told us was that Mary Kay lives by this rule: God first, family second, career last. Then they preceded to tell us how much $$$ they have made selling Mary Kay, and kept on telling us for the rest of the night. I didn't hear anything about God (the supposed #1) all night, and seldom heard anything about family (except that the woman was excited about her kids being away all week). But they didn't fail to mention the free cars, jewelry, and clothes they received in addition to all the money they made! I don't know about their big three...it seems to me that its all about the BLING!

Moving on... I made the assumption that someone would be doing the makeup for me. WRONG. I was to do my own makeup. No big deal right? Well, my skills go as far as foundation, blush, and eye shadow. So when they asked us to put on the eye liner, I looked like a clown...had to wipe it off for sure before I gave the older women heart attacks. Lipliner and lipstick didn't work out too well either, so off it went too! By the end, I didn't have even half the makeup the other women had on their faces! All the while, the Mary Kay presenters are blurting out false facts about the products. For instance, did you know that Mary Kay mascara helps to lengthen your lashes (impossible), or perhaps that their facial protectant guards against the sun's harmful UVA and UVB rays even when you are inside the car. You might possibly believe the latter of the two...that is, if you didn't already know that UV rays cannot penetrate through glass! Anyway, after we put on the makeup we had to all say something nice about everyone else. People were dumbfounded when it came to me because I barely had anything on! So my friend (the one who brought me) yelled something out from way across the room where the consultants were sitting. I felt ridiculous.

By this time I'm thinking only about how nice it will be to leave, and how bad it sucks that we've been here so long already. Also by this time I had heard them exclaim, "Yay!" about 20,000 times! It wasn't over though. I had to sit through a long presentation of how to move up in corporate Mary Kay, AND they tried to recruit the entire population of guests to sell it!

In conclusion, Mary Kay is one of the most hypocritical groups I've ever encountered. They say that they try to help people, but really all they care about is MONEY!

Have you ever walked away from a test so bummed and frustrated that you had to go to Larry's Giant Subs and binge on an 8 inch sub (with the works) and a bag of baked lays??? Well, it happened to me today! I am aspiring to teach 7th grade math at the school where I've been working as a PE teacher. Not only am I aspiring, I've already been hired! So, in order to do this I have to pass the PRAXIS II test to get certified to teach math to the middle school kiddies. As it turns out, there is only one test date before the beginning of the fall 2006 semester...Saturday, June 10...today. Needless to say, I really really need to pass this freaking test the first time around. (repercussions of not passing = maybe not being able to teach math, and having to fork out another $115 dollars to take the test again).

There were 40 multiple choice questions, which didn't take me long. I felt good about it. Then came the three explanation questions. You know, the ones that give you a problem, then break it up into parts a, b, c, d, e, and f! They were super-long, and really hard. I had an hour left when I started the first one, and was still working on it when they announced that there were 30min left. So I figured I'd better move onto the second one. I only answered half of it because it was hard as crap, then moved onto the third one, which I don't really think I got right. When I figured out how to do the rest of the first one I got excited! ...then it happened--"Please put your pencils down and stop working." I wouldn't dare quickly write the answer in...they'd take my test and rip it up! Ahh!!!

All I have to say is, I REALLY hope it doesn't take much to pass...