Childhood Memories

I've always been fascinated with one's first childhood memory.  My daughter says she doesn't remember anything before the age of 5.  Mostly her memories are unfortunately, of daycare centers and bratty kids.  She does have one special memory of our house in Carlsbad, CA.  She remembers her and I planting seeds in our garden, seedlings sprouting into graceful cosmos along the side of our house.  I remember that day as well.  Her in her tiny jeans, plastic pink garden clogs, and ball cap worn backward. She was 4.

For myself, my first childhood memories are of Japan.  Being adopted at the age of 3, seems like that was the magic age I started to store my memories.  Of running around the statue of the Giant Buddha at Kamakura, chasing my cousin Stevie.  Of being held in my father's arms afraid of the NOH Kabuki players in a street festival.  I remember their white painted faces and their vibrant costumes, swirls of red and white and black.  I remember visiting the Temple at Nikko, peering into the glass boxes that housed fat sumo wrestlers wrapped in snakes, frighten and awed at the same time.  I remember being passed from one person's lap to another at the base theater before the movie started, my mother keeping a careful eye on me.  I recall my mother's beloved Pomeranian she had to give away because it was jealous of me. That must have been hard for her, she loved animals so much.

On the voyage home to America, I threw up on the bunk after a particularly stormy night, it was my 5th birthday, I had pumpkin pie. I remembered the ship's dining hall tables had a raised rim around the edge so the cutlery wouldn't fall off.  It was on that ship I made friends with another girl who asked to borrow my paper dolls.  My precious paper dolls.  I took great care to make sure they were perfect and place just right in the holder.  My paper dolls came back crinkled and creased, heads bend, dresses wrinkled and torn.

Those are my first memories, rich in experience and texture.  They say that you have all your memories stored and that it is just a matter of recalling them.  I hope my daughter will be able to remember more of her childhood, at least more of her memories after we adopted her.  Hopefully hers will be rich with experience as mine were. 

Thinning Hair, Beauty Tricks

So my daughter tells me the other day while in the orthodontist office as we wait to see the dentist, braces being off for the last year, pearly whites smiling at me as she inspects the top of my head, "ewww, I can see your scalp!" 
What do you mean you can see my scalp?
I can see your scalp, it's gross!
Gross?
Yeah, I can't look at it.
What! am I bald or something?
No, I can just see it through your hair, it's thin!
Thin?
Yeah!

Holy Shit I think, this age thing sucks balls!
Not only do I worry about the skin sagging off my face down to my sagging throat, down to my saggy watery pancake of a butt, but now I have to worry about anyone over 5'4" looking down on my head and seeing my scalp, gross indeed!

Over the past few years I've given into some beauty "treatments", out of necessity.  Hell, I still have to look presentable.  I work after all.  Have to keep up appearances.  Not to mention, I'm a mother and want to look like a mother and not a grandmother for heaven's sake!  Some woman at the gym asked me where my granddaughter was?  Granddaughter?  You mean daughter, I ask with obvious contempt.  Needless to say, I no longer acknowledge her presence anymore. You are dead to me! (the woman at the gym).  I don't take these things lightly.

A few things have alleviated the pain of getting old, some of which I shall share with you here.  I'm all for full disclosure and anything I have tried and tested and found to work, more power to us!

BOTOX-while I don't like the idea of injecting botulism, heck if you get botulism from something you've eaten, you could actually get sick and die, but me,  I'm happy to inject it into my crow's feet.  It works beautifully but alas, it only last 6 months.  I should try to be more like Victoria Beckman and not smile or laugh.  And to think I used to think she was such a bitch when she was just probably trying not to create more crow's feet.

LATISSE-I have Asian eyes and therefore, Asian eyelashes or in other words, short, stubby, straight and sparse.  Latisse is the answer for all 4 of the S's above.  It creates beautiful curly lashes in 16 weeks.  Of course, it needs up keep and you have to keep applying, but a small price to pay for never having to use an eyelash curler again!

JUVEDERM-Hyaluronic acid injectable for frown lines of which mine were pronounce and deep.  I looked like a ventriloquist's  puppet.  I've had it done twice and each time, the amount of time lengthens in between injections.  I asked my dermo how long can it last and she said in one of her patients it lasted over five years. It's been over two years and counting for me!  Oh happy day, turning my frown upside down.

And now for my latest at home beauty treatment, drum roll please.....

DERMO ROLLING-What is it you ask. It's a roller that has between 240 to 560 needles anywhere from .25 cm to 2.0 cm.  Rolling it on your skin traumatizes the skin to create more collagen.
More collagen, where do I sign up?  I bought mine online for around $29.00 and I got the 560 needles 1.0 in length.  Of course, I carefully researched the Bible of instructions, YouTube.  Most of the reviews are favorable.  I was excited to try it.  Ok, one word, OUCH, YIKES, OOOOHHH, PAINFUL.  Ok, that's four words, is ooohhh a word?  Well, you get my drift, it's painful, it hurts, your face feels like it's on fire, and it turns red.   Does it work?  Well the jury is still out. I'll keep you posted.  Just remember those famed words, no pain, no gain, right?


As for my thinning hair, I'm on a quest to find the product that works at thickening it.  It's that or wear a hat for the rest of my life!