Happy pre-Halloween -- newspaper nails

There's a TL;DR down there somewhere (CTRL + F) if someone has happened to stumble on this post and just wants to know about how I actually did the manicure without all the personal rambling/background information... 

I've somewhat neglected this blog, no doubt about it. I guess it just means I had other areas to put effort into writing for/about (and also that I've been busy with other life related things). Anyways, here's a little pre-Halloween post. 

A week or so ago, I became aware of this costume, which I personally think is pretty amusing. Apparently some people don't like it, but it's certainly less offensive than some costumes. Anyways, I thought that it would be an interesting costume for me to ironically wear, but I don't think it's worth $55. Maybe half that price, and in which case, I would prefer just regular real news which is more applicable for everyday life/wear. Update: when I went to go look up the link to add here, it looks like the price has now risen to $59 and the costume is also out of stock... 

Two weeks ago, I got motivated/inspired/compelled to finally paint my nails for once, even though the last time I painted them was probably at least a year ago, if not even longer. In the past, I used to paint my nails more often but then I just stopped, even though I've accumulated a ton of nail polish. My favorite brands are essie and OPI, which are fairly commonly available. Butter London is an expensive polish brand that I tried once and I think it's very overrated. 

By yesterday, (two weeks since I had painted my nails previously), they were looking sort of less than fresh, so I decided to do a new manicure. At first I wasn't sure that I had polish remover on hand, but thankfully I found some. I knew that I should have it somewhere, but I just wasn't sure where. I also thought that maybe it was expired since I don't remember the last time I used it, but it worked fine. 

Because I'm starved for attention I thought it would be interesting, I decided to do a technique that I must have read about a few years ago or something but never actually tried out until now. It involves using newspaper to transfer the print onto your nails, leaving a design of whatever words were on the piece of paper you used. The technique is pretty much like how you would apply a temporary tattoo. 

Most of the things I read online said that you need to use alcohol (of some/any kind - I saw rubbing alcohol, vodka, perfume, etc, all mentioned) to transfer the print. Since I couldn't find any rubbing alcohol and didn't feel like wasting perfume (or rather, cologne) in what would undoubtedly result in a fairly strong smell, I decided to give it a go just using plain water, which only one thing I read mentioned. TL;DR, it worked. 

I'm not sure how exactly alcohol is supposed to work better; I think I got decent results just using water. As for the how-to: 

Materials: small dish/bowl, water, light colored nail polish, top coat, paper towel, scissors, newspaper   

1) Paint nails in a light color of your choice (it might even work with something that isn't quite pastel, but still not too dark, like essie's tart deco color)  
2) Cut up 10 (or more, if you think you're going to mess up) pieces of newspaper that will fit on your nails. For average size/length nails, this might be around the size of a postage stamp. Maybe do this part before you paint your nails so you don't mess up the polish while it's still wet/drying. 
3) Lay one of the newspaper pieces in the dish of water and let it absorb for a few seconds. 
4) Lift it out and place it over a dry, painted fingernail. 
5) Fold up the paper towel a couple times and use it to firmly press (like a temporary tattoo) the newspaper onto the nail. I waited about 30 seconds. 
6) Carefully peel the newspaper off; the print should have transferred. 
7) Apply topcoat to seal; try to be careful so the print doesn't smear. 
8) Repeat on the other 9 nails.  
9) [optional - in my case] Enjoy the hopefully good results; hope to impress people you're going to see the next day with your manicure 

If you want to make it sort of... more fitting for Halloween, you can do this and also turn your manicure into a pun of sorts... They sell shirts (and magnets and pins and other items, I think) with this saying at the Newseum: if it bleeds, it leads. It means basically that stories involving violence tend to get good ratings. I came up with this idea after scratching myself, which resulted in a little blood getting on my manicured fingernail, and had a lightbulb moment. I don't know if actual blood (of your own) would work as nail polish, so it's probably better to use a blood colored actual nail polish and add some dripping blood splatters over the newsprint pattern. Although maybe I should try it with my own blood! 

Also, I think maybe nail polish should be more popular among men. There's no reason why they can't have interesting manicures too, even though it's not commonly considered masculine for men to paint their nails. 

(Shh...)

This is my blog, so if I would like to use it to air my personal vendettas, then that's what I'm going to do. Since it's just my blog and I'm not writing in any sort of official capacity, anything goes. T____ convinced me that I shouldn't write something about this for the newspaper, which is fair enough, so I'm writing it here. 

Over the course of... a bit over a week, conditions have deteriorated between myself and my not-boss who thinks he's my boss and that's brought me to the conclusion that I should at least try to get him replaced - I'd be happier if that were to happen. Otherwise, I think that I would be inclined to resign. I shouldn't have to work with someone like that and I think I deserve better. I've just had it with him, I really have. And who would blame me?? 

Anyways, there are a number of points I'd like to make...
a) If I want to meet with other people and ask for/take their advice, I'm perfectly free to do that. I'm my own person and M____ isn't my boss/in control of me. 
b) Unsavory, negative comments like the ones M____ made about me are not very conducive to a positive working environment - who would want to work with someone who's said things like that about you??? I certainly wouldn't.
c) In the 21st century, it helps to be hip with new technology related things.
d) Personality goes a long way. 
e) People skills count.
f) Things would run more smoothly if M___ didn't try to be in charge, which he's not supposed to be. I'm supposed to be in charge. 

Anyways, there are some things that I wanted to get out and which probably best belong on my blog here instead of somewhere else. Shh...  

In other matters, I'm sort of considering doing online dating yet again.. I don't really know why I keep trying, but I do! I think the key is, go into it with low expectations and use it more as a source of amusement/entertainment than anything else.  

An open letter of potential resignation

To Anderson (Cooper), T (names abbreviated for discretion) and M. 

As you may know, at the beginning of the fall semester this year I became the editor in chief of my college's student newspaper. I was pleased about this because I thought that it would be a good experience for me and I would be able to make some steps towards becoming a real actual journalist. 

Unfortunately, some events have transpired that leave me in what I consider to be a rather untenable situation. In my view, the solutions to this are: my resignation, or M___'s replacement. I don't believe that I will be able to work productively and in a positive environment if I continue to have to deal with M___. Therefore, I'm considering resigning to escape what has become a negative work environment. 

Anderson, even though you won't read this, I want to say that this situation (my potential resignation) pains me because I very much wanted to work on the student newspaper and get some journalism experience. It was you who got me interested in journalism in the first place, and I admire you considerably as a journalist and as a person, so it's disappointing that it doesn't seem like I'll be able to pursue that career in the current circumstances. 

Hence, I am considering resigning my position as editor in chief of the student newspaper. Don't get me wrong, I very much enjoy the reporting and journalism side of things, it's just the dealing with M___ part of things that has pushed me to want to resign. I would be perfectly happy if I didn't have to work with M___ and instead had a supportive and non-overbearing/micromanaging adviser. 

T____, thank you so much for all of your incredibly helpful and supportive advice over the past few weeks. I appreciate it immensely. You're a great professor and mentor, in ways that M___ just isn't. Nevertheless, the current state of affairs between M___ and I (which you are also involved in) has made me somewhat inclined to resign as editor. I would be resigning due to the situation with M____, not because I've been turned off of journalism as a career. I still would like to be involved with journalism and try to get some experience in that field, but I just don't think that the way things are right now is the best environment to do so.

M___, I'm sorry, but I just don't really think that things will work out. Just so you're aware, I consider it to have been your attitude that has driven me away. I don't think that I can continue to work with someone who has said such snide things about me and is unwilling to allow me to run the newspaper as I see fit and as I should be able to, being the editor in chief.   

- Rachel, (potentially former) editor in chief. 

Commentary, personal update, Stephen Glass costume

Apologies for the lack of Postsecret reviews; I've been busy with being the editor in chief of the student newspaper. I'm pleased about having that position even though there is a bit of an issue that will need to be resolved/dealt with (although it's not that I did anything wrong on my part). It seems like it would be best to not splash the details of that all over this publicly available (although probably minimally read) blog at this time, so I'll refrain. (If you can imagine a cross between the personality [more or less] of Jon Stewart and the appearance of Glenn Thrush, that is one of the characters involved in this drama, if you will.) 

Anyways, here is a little more commentary and pondering on something. I came across this one website, which is sort of maybe like a bit more intellectual version of Buzzfeed or Thought Catalog, and it's a repository of writing by college students. I looked into it a bit more to see if it would be worthwhile to get involved in, but then I found some things that made me reticent. Some people that formerly wrote for the website said that the website exploited their writers and only cared about quantity, not quality of the things the writers were expected to write and it became an unpleasant experience. I think it's more impressive to be editor in chief of the student newspaper anyways, rather than just "I write for this online website that people probably haven't heard of".. 

PS: I have been trying to convince someone I know to wear a Stephen Glass costume for Halloween. It would consist of clothing like this (remember to take your shoes off indoors and walk around in your socks, and of course don't forget to go around asking people "Are you mad at me?"): 

Interestingly enough, about 16 years later (I assume the previous picture was taken around 1998), here is Stephen Glass in a very similar outfit (old habits die hard, I guess. Although hopefully he did manage to kill his fabrication habit): 

And here we have Hayden Christensen (such a fun name!) in the perennial Stephen Glass blue shirt from the movie Shattered Glass (which I should rewatch!):

While looking for pictures for this last part, I came across this review of Shattered Glass from 2003 in Slate. I actually don't think I read this one in the past (which sort of surprised me, since I have read so, so much about everything Stephen Glass). 

I found this other picture of him as portrayed in the movie Shattered Glass, and I noticed a little something about the costume design. The (mostly blue colored) shirts that Stephen wears in the movie have a fairly billowy fit to them (and I do realize that was the style in the back then, compared to nowadays). But, if you look closely, they also are too big for him in the shoulders. I think that was a nice touch by the costume department people, to convey his youth and insecurity, among other things.