2002-01-03 - 1:40 p.m.

On the internal soundtrack: "Cry to Me", from the Dirty Dancing Soundtrack

This is a twofer posting. You might want to read yesterday's entry first.

So, last night I went shopping for groceries, and I brought a smile to three people's faces. In the process, I put myself in a ridiculously good mood. I think I need to do this more often.

My first stop was at CVS*. Among other things, I bought some L'Oreal mascara that was on sale. When I got to the checkout line, the woman there looked at the mascara and said, "Oh, I want this one, but in waterproof, and I can't find it." I said, "Oh, I saw that one -- I didn't want waterproof. You wanted it in soft black?" She said yes, so I said, "Well, I'll go get it for you then." (There was no one behind me in line and she had a lot of Pringles cans to ring up.) So I did, and I came back, and she said, "God love you." It was nice.

The other two people were at the grocery store.

At the deli counter, there is a guy who has captured my attention for some time now, but he has never actually been the one to weigh Poindexter's weekly half-pound of honey ham. He's well over six feet tall, almost certainly gay, black, and he has a different hair style every time I'm there. Once it was cornrows, then neat rows of little braids with beads, then little short braids randomly all over his head. He also sometimes wears pink-tinted glasses which amuse me to no end.

Last night, however, he was the only one there, so he packed up the ham for me. And he was wearing a ballcap. I said, "Hey, you're wearing a hat! I always like to see what you're going to do with your hair next."

He looked quite surprised and pleased that I had noticed, and smiled, and told me what he was thinking about doing next. "I look forward to seeing it," I said. And he told me he was gonna have it done on Thursday. So I'll have to make sure I get him next time I'm at the deli so I can compliment him on it. I'm sure it'll look fabulous.

Finally, there was a new girl at the cash register that I hadn't seen. A very light-skinned black woman with perfect, PERFECT skin (think Sonia from The Cosby Show), wearing a tan wool blazer that complemented her perfectly. She looked very well put-together fashion-wise, like she belonged in a board meeting rather than at Safeway, although I think she was young enough to be in college. So I said, "Wow, I love your jacket, it looks really good on you!" And she looked quite pleased.

There was one more person I was nice to, although she said "thank you" as though she were entitled, which kind of ruined a little. I had to go to another store for vegetables since the first one was out. I got in the express line with nine items, and behind me was one person with one item. Since vegetables take forever to ring up, I said, "Here, you go in front of me." "Thank you," she said, and breezed right through.

When I was in high school, there was a girl who was fairly popular, and she always took the time to compliment me if I wore an outfit she thought was nice. It made me feel really good (especially since she was popular and well-dressed herself), and somewhere along the line I made the decision that I would try to remember to compliment people when they look nice. Or for anything that I like about them.

I think lately I'd gotten out of the habit of doing it -- most of the people at my office don't care what they're wearing or what anyone else is wearing, plus I've been rather antisocial lately. Taking that first step to talk to someone becomes difficult when I get out of the habit, because it's not something that comes naturally (partly due to a fear of meeting up with a mumbler).

But last night the first woman at CVS was so happy, that I decided to notice and go out of my way to say and do nice things. I'll keep trying, and I'll letch'all know how it goes.

*CVS had won't-kiss-off lipstick on sale that I wanted to try.

I am in a perpetual search for my perfect colors in lipstick that doesn't kiss off. Poindexter and I are ALWAYS kissing each other, all the time (no tongue in public of course), sometimes almost as often as people kiss babies when they're holding them and talking to them. We smooch on the lips all the time, and often I will grab him and kiss his cheek repeatedly because he's so adorable. It's just irresistible.

So, wearing regular lipstick when he's around and having to resist the urge to smooch is a strain on both of us.

[Those of you whose eyes glaze over at makeup-talk may leave now. The entry is over for you.]

As you might imagine, I wear my cream lipsticks at work or when I'm out and about without him, and I wear those Revlon Colorstays and L'Oreal Endure when he's around. Now Cover Girl has come out with this super-long-lasting-won't-kiss-off stuff called "Outlast". It's a bit on the dry side, and feels really weird when you first apply it, but my god that stuff doesn't come off. You have to use baby oil to remove it.

So, I bought some Outlast just before vacation, going for a deep rose shade. Unfortunately, on me it turned out a light pink shade for which I have NO clothes to match except this ONE shirt my MIL bought me for Christmas. This week Outlast was on sale so I wanted more colors. I bought a red shade (#521, "eternal flame") that turned out to be freakin' PERFECT for me and I am wearing it today. Woo! I'm happy.

If you should like to try it, I recommend getting one that has a little sparkle in it. It's not too glittery. The matte color is just too dry and accentuates the little lines in your lips.

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