Why wasn't I born beautiful?

I, as one of the average looking people of the world, use skin products. Makeup is not enough to cover up the many flaws of my face so I try to prevent them. Try.

So under the recommendation of the same YouTube reviewer that inspired me to purchase the Holika Holika BB Cream, I also purchased Skin Food Egg White Pore Foam and I've been using it for a couple months. No, I do not look like her yet (sadly).

This is a review of the product if you haven't figured that out already.

Flaw: Gigantic pores
Fix: Eh, I don't know. I don't think they've become smaller because I have been far too lazy to use toner. Also, the only toner in my household is Clinique which is dangerous levels of toxic. I actually use it as a mild cleanser for hard surfaces because of the alcohol present.

Flaw: Acne
Fix: Maybe? To be fair, I do not have acne. I just get a pimple every once in a while and I'm sure it has more to do with hormones than it does with my facial care products. My frequency of pimples didn't decrease but it didn't increase either. The only times that I got pimples were when I ate greasy/fatty/high sugar meals.

Flaw: Greasy skin
Fix: I think so! My skin isn't actually greasy but it does become a little oily when I use products that aren't mild enough. Like Neutrogena Acne Wash Gel. Those were some bad times.

Flaw: Sensitive skin
Fix: Yeah! I have sensitive skin and it didn't irritate it. I think it is perfumed though so that is something to avoid.

I use a little more than this to wash my face and it's enough. It foams a lot. Aside: Why is inserting images so much harder now? I want to upload it directly, not through Drive :|

Overall:  I like it. I like it a lot. It smells wonderful and eggs are one of my favourite foods. My skin feels super clean after washing it and I was actually afraid that this might make my skin greasier. Thankfully it did not. The next one I'm going to try is Neutrogena Oil-Free Acne Stress Control Power-Cream Wash, which I am kind of wary of because I've had a very bad track record with their products. However, I somehow bought it for about 50 cents because of an anniversary coupon or something like that. I'll make sure that I have another bottle of Skinfood first though.

Prompted by: I has time because exams are over for me :3

Things I unironically dislike: Starbucks

Starbucks, we used to be friends. Today is the first day that your profit-driven, customer segregating policies in regards to the registered rewards card comes into effect. No free soy, no free lactaid, no free syrup, and no free tall coffee (which costs 1.94 total in Alberta) with the purchase of a bag of coffee beans (which costs at least 12.99). And along with this policy comes the abandonment of Starbucks by myself and many other former customers.

Not having to pay for alternative non-dairy milk was the main reason that I registered my card. Yes, there is a buy 12 drinks and redeem for a free item in effect. But that isn't actually worth it for anybody who gets drinks with syrup and/or alternative milk. If it was only syrup, we have paid $6.00 for that next "free" item. If it was only soy, we would be paying $7.20 for that next "free" item. If it was both, we would be paying $13.20 so I hope that free item include tumblers (it doesn't). Way to penalize loyal customers who like having sweeteners or are lactose intolerant.

And seriously, TWELVE drinks? Why do you have to be so cheap? 10 is more reasonable if you reduced the cost of soy/syrup. I'm pretty sure that 5 pumps of syrup is not worth $0.50. For all your penny-pinching, I hope that the 0.50-1.10 you will be making off SOME drinks is worth losing the thousands of customers who each spend hundreds a year on your stuff. I mean, it's not like Starbucks is lacking the funds when you consider how much tax they're paying in the UK.

How to respond to the backlash: with absolutely no addressing of how some people feel about the issue. PR should all be slapped on the wrist and fired. The last time I checked mystarbucksidea, there were tons of ideas about not going ahead with this. And I would have screenshotted it but it looks like it's down...because there were too many negative boycott posts, perhaps. Good thing there's Twitter though.

As a consequence of this happening, I will never return after using up the remaining $2.00 on my Starbucks card. I will also do so in the cheapest way possible, because customers should reflect the values of the company.

I JUST GOT MY GOLD CARD A MONTH AGO TOO. I MEAN, DAMN. WHY YOU GOTTA BE THIS WAY STARBUCKS.

Dream log - 13/14 Sept 2012

At times, I think my brain is wonderful and amazing.

Other times, I wonder what the hell is stored in it.

Because wtf was that, brain?

 I really think that my brain was trying to make me aware that I was in a dream. 6:80 was the actual time of the dream...which would indicate that dream me is completely stupid or lives in a world of nonsense. Or both.

Screw email

I personally think that the most revolutionary form of communication thus far is email. Prior to its invention, important business notices were sent out primarily via phone or fax (source: nothing valid). Email creates a quick and easy way to send information to selected groups of people. For most people, it's free! For businesses, it's very cheap. People now no longer have to pay to send things to somebody who is across the globe! How wonderful!

Except I hate it.

In theory, it does make contacting people and sending them information much more quickly and easily. In theory. And it does, but I am very unhappy with the consequences. With the invention of email, the volume of work that people has to do has increased which is actually more stressful (on me, who cares about you anyways). I can't just leisurely read something, mull it over for a little, and then beautifully handwrite a well-thought over and eloquent response. NO. I have to respond right away because that is what people want. People are expected to productive but being productive brings very minimal satisfaction in this manner. There's a reason I only check my email once a day.

Prompted by: I just spend an hour and a half doing nothing but sending emails.

P.S. Screw you too, technology.

Jennifer Love Hewitt's Cleavage

Last night, a new show premiered on the Lifetime channel (10 o'clock eastern!). Did I watch it? No, no I did not. But I did watch the commercial for it yesterday. At a conservative estimate, I watched it about 50 times. I am not sure who decided that the people who wanted to watch The Other Guys, Inception, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in one sitting would be THE target audience for the show where Hewitt plays as a brothel prostitute who is also a mom (or something like that).

"WOOOW, somebody sure knows how to make their presents look pretty."
"99% of what we do here is legit."
"So you always buy your girls something special to wear?"
*guy staring at viewer through keyhole*
"There's some tension in my upper thigh area." ... "That seems to be going around."

It was on every single commercial break without fail. Geezus, that is some aggressive advertising. And I guess it was somewhat effective because I remember the title and almost every single detail of the advert. Normally, I would not give a damn and move on but clearly I do because I'm so bothered by it. I understand having it on the Movietime channel but Showcase? And considering what was showing at the time, they could have done a lot better. I can only assume it was on every single channel that exists in Canada but I really think it was a waste of money. It probably would have been more effective to pay more money for more ads on TLC or some similar channel but what do I know.

I hate Converse

Dear Converse,

I hate you and I hate your shoes. When I decide that I'm going to wear a pair of sneakers to go out, it's because I want to give my feet a break. Today was the first time I've ever worn a pair of Converse sneakers. After a few hours of sort of limping around in pain, I had to walk on top of the heel part. I don't think I'll ever buy another pair again. EVER.

Here, enjoy this beautiful picture of my ankle. It is surprisingly difficult to photograph your own ankle.

It's the same dilemma that one faces when wearing that pair of heels - they look fabulous but they will scrape your ankle raw. Except these sneakers are not glamourous and somehow scraped me ankles raw through a pair of socks. THROUGH THE SOCKS. I didn't even spend that much time walking around.

Yours truly,
Carmen Dam

P.S. I hate you

Actually, I hate it when people text while I'm talking

So, today I went to an advance screening of Hit and Run. Don't click this link if you care about spoilers. It was advance in the sense that other theaters in the city won't have it until Friday despite the premier being a full seven days ago. Oh Canada, you're almost as slow as I am in the uptake of media.

The plotline is that Charlie Bronson must drive his always politically correct girlfriend to L.A. It did make me laugh and it was interesting/exciting enough that I did not fall asleep. To put this into context: I fall asleep during everything and did the so for The Avengers, which didn't deserve the amount of hype that it received.

I thoroughly disagree with the 5.9/10 rating that is on IMDb at the time of my writing this. That's only 0.7 more than Paul Blart: Mall Cop, a movie that is objectively bad. I can only assume that this rating will go up because it's absolutely fantastic. Unlike a lot of movie that shoehorn certain things in, the movie felt very organic. The chemistry between the onscreen couple was very natural (and if it wasn't, I'd question their real life engagement). I would recommend it the people who like watching movies that are genuinely good. It's a movie that is good not because of a huge budget or a ton of ~special effects~ but the acting and directing are done well. Kudos to Shepard for putting so much work into it because it paid off. I liked it enough to actually tweet him about it

I do have to gripe about the line to get into the theater though. I was there half an hour early and it still went through a lot of the theater. People, do something better with your life. The look of the woman in the very front of line was one tiredness and defeat. It probably wasn't worth it because there were still seats available. I hope you were satisfied lady, because I thought I was too early.

Why wasn't I born beautiful?

I am very average looking - subpar of that, even - so I am always resentful about the way genetics work. So, like the rest of the ugly people in the world who try, I use makeup which I am now realising is very aptly named. It bridges the gap enough that I can leap and maybe hang on the edge of the other side.

Anyways, today I tried Holika Holika Aqua Petit Jelly BB Cream #2. #1 is for people more pale than I am. The bottle is really cute, unlike the people who need to use it. I took a picture of the bottle like everybody who writes a blog review but I couldn't take a nice picture so here's a google link. The texture is jellylike (duh) instead of like lotion and starts off yellowish instead of greyish. This is good for people who are not pasty and do not desire to be. I do still put some beige powder on afterward because I don't particularly like having whiter skin but I don't really have to. It blends into a very nice matte texture and smells pretty too. I was a little concerned because I have sensitive skin but I didn't have any adverse reaction.

No, it did not make me look like the youtube makeup person who recommended this product. This fact is severely disappointing.

I dislike smartphone usage

Hi internet. If you've ever pulled out your phone to check Facebook while having a conversation with somebody in the real world, I think that you should eat a bag of dicks. At the very least, you should be honest and just say "I would rather speak to someone virtually than pay attention to you."

The point of making plans to see a person is to spend an experience with them. People usually say "spend time" but I don't really believe in that. I could spend time with someone and we could just both text other people the entire time. If you don't respect somebody enough to listen to them or they're just that boring, I don't understand why you would take the time to come into contact with them. Just text them. At least then they'll get your full attention.

I appreciate what phone companies are doing with technology. Really I do. It has saved me from boredom and I've retrieved numbers from Facebook during sort of emergencies. I just sometimes wish that everybody had a brick phone that was only good for calling people.

For the record, this was prompted by Eva restaurant in Los Angeles. They actually understand that the enjoying of a dinner is greatly enhanced by enjoying the company you're with. I am also okay with texting. I'm not enthralled by it but I tolerate it without getting angry.

So, I hope you're enjoying all those cocks.

Life is beautiful

One of the things about life that I truly believe in is that it's beautiful. It really is, even for a bitter old croon such as myself. It's very rarely that I feel that way though, and today was one of those days. For approximately the last two weeks there was no difference between myself and Debbie Downer. It was to the point that I had forgotten that the proper mix of sunshine and being with people you like is probably better than burrowing at home. It was that conundrum of feeling too depressed to do anything that would actually cheer you up and doing something stupid instead. Note for the future: getting riled up over Big Brother is never the right action for any reason.

But yeah, life is beautiful and I was too busy being bitter that I had forgotten that.

Hello, world

Hi internet. I probably will have an audience of exactly 0 people because I don't have any especially helpful advice and am not likely to talk about it. If I'm lucky, maybe three people in total will ever read one of my blog posts. And those three people will be very disappointed because, oh no, it was a complete and total waste of their time.

So lone reader, I'm sort of sorry. I guess. This blog is just for me to be bitter and rant about things which is enjoyable to do but not to read. I'll explain the title a bit. To those who are familiar with the types of chocolate it is fairly obvious.  Unlike me, who had to look these things up because I'm fairly ignorant. Just like you (probably). Couverture is a type of chocolate that is made with extra cocoa butter and is considered very high quality. 65 to 70 is a reference to cocoa solids and just happens to be my preferred percentage. It's pretty bitter but still nice.

In short, I'm being pretentious and saying that my blog is high quality and I am a bitter person which will become increasingly evident. Of course, couverture is used as more of a coating or for decoration which means that it's just seemingly high quality. High quality in the way I use paragraphing, proper spelling, and try to have some eloquence (some). And then you realise the contents are empty. Sorry again, I guess. But nobody's reading this so apologising is kind of pointless. Goodbye, to absolutely nobody.