The Day Of Rest I might have taken Sunday as a day of rest a little too literally. Yesterday I slept most of the day away, finally waking up 2PM. I did the usual: recon to find all my belongings I'd scattered around my room in my altered state, recounted my weekend with a long-distance friend, and ate left-over Indian food. Before I knew it, I had to be on my merry way, for this weekend I had a full dance card and my next tango was coming up in the form of a birthday party in the ABCs. But first thing's first, I was overdue to get my lady garden landscaped by the "we don't fuck around" Russian ladies at Dyanna Spa (highly recommended.) When I got there, my Waxer/Waxologist (what's the job title?) took a look at my face and said, "You look different." She said she didn't know what it was but that it was different and nice. And so we conversed about different things, the weekend, my job, my vagina; my naked face seemed to be bridging not only a language barrier but bringing me closer to a woman who'd seen me in more positions than my yoga instructor. Sunday, Bloody Sunday I was beginning to feel more confident, especially after my weekend of partying. No one really seemed to notice I wasn't wearing makeup, and if they did, they didn't care. Which goes back to the old philosophy, people care far too much about themselves to notice anyone else. After the party, I checked out a tattoo parlor (I'm thinking of getting one,) and looking at the artists' books and the massive work that people had gotten made me question beauty. More so than putting a face on everyday, we all have beauty routines. We brush our hair, we moisturize, we accessorize, we create ensembles, we make up, we dye, we wax, we tattoo, we pierce, we tuck, we implant, we Lipo, I could go on forever, but I think you get the point. Beauty routines are not abnormal, but they are varying, both by way and extent. Now some might say certain regimens or procedures are unnecessary, and they might very well be, but they might very well not be to that individual. But where and when do we draw a distinction between normal, acceptable beauty alterations and deformation? Side Note: I know I'm raising a lot of really deep questions this week, and while I might not be able to answer all or even any of them definitively by the end of the week, they represent more of a greater meditation on beauty than just asinine questions meant to confuse the reader. I'm guessing this didn't help with that much. This post is brought to you by Original RadFem, and no stranger to makeup, Christina Aguilera.