Diary of a Manicurist

There is something about every Friday that fucks with me. If I knew why, I probably wouldn't be writing this blog. Yesterday however, took f'ed up Fridays to a whole new level. I went to see Louis XIV perform at the Rio Thursday night and while driving home there was an eerie fog over the city. The top of Mandalay Bay was actually invisible, hidden by clouds. It was beautiful in a creepy way. When when I woke up Friday morning I went to the window wondering if there might be snow on the trees...I LIVE IN LAS VEGAS. What was I thinking?? I have greater odds of being dealt a royal flush on a video poker machine than I do of finding snow on trees here in November. However, it was raining like hell which is also something quite rare. So I went off to work in the rain and haze and I don't usually work on Fridays but it's mortgage week and I needed to make up for having Thanksgiving weekend off. In the break room was a plate full of these tiny lime-looking fruits. They we

There are lots of reasons I haven't been around lately. These reasons have been brewing for a year and I'm tired. I'm so tired of so many things... I decided in October that I'm indefinitely boycotting concerts. I am beyond sick of paying exorbitant concert ticket prices. Never in my life have I ever missed the following performers when they've been through town: Collective Soul, Marilyn Manson, Alice In Chains. I missed all of them in one month's time and it would have cost me over $200. Not to mention I would have also liked to have seen Tommy Shaw and Jack Blades when they were here, add another $35. There were a handfull of small shows as well like Winger, Warrant, Kings of Leon, add $65. That doesn't even include having a couple beers at each show. So yes, I missed them all in just 8 weeks. I've been wondering for years why I can't ever seem to get my credit cards paid off and now I know. I just paid one off last week. If I continue t

Back in Indiana I have a best friend named Vikie. Vikie and I have lived parallel lives for the past 20 years. We always seem to be going through similar experiences at the same time. For example, the day before I jumped on a plane to start a new life and be self-employed in Las Vegas, I helped her paint the walls of a new salon that she would soon be opening. During my most recent visit with beloved Vikie I learned that her life was going in a completely different direction than mine for the first time ever. I took a look around me and felt like I had fallen into stagnant waters. With the way I set my life up I have already reached the "glass ceiling" and can't get any further. I'm stuck with no way to achieve my future goals without sacrifices that wouldn't be worth it. I went into panic mode--a full blown mid-life crisis. I had myself so stressed out that the veins in my neck were twitching and throbbing visibly. I've never felt this helpless and hopeless.

I decided that the best thing I've written so far is my review of Jet's concert at the Hard Rock pool this summer. It was originally published online at Glam-Metal.com (http://www.glam-metal.com/jet.html) It was also printed in the June issue of Vegas Rocks Magazine. So I thought I would share it here as well, minus the photos. Enjoy... On April 27th Jet took the stage again in Las Vegas, this time at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino pool. I was so thankful to be in the front row since the Hard Rock crammed so many fans into the pool area I was almost afraid to look behind me! If you really crave guitar driven rock, the live show from this 4 piece Australian band will hit the spot every time. This performance, although shorter than their usual set, was no exception. Jet hit the stage with a squealing guitar opening with "That's All Lies" from their newest album, Shine On. If drummer Chris Cester's pounding industrial machinery beat on this song doesn't

"Hey lady you got the love I need~maybe more than enough~oh darlin darlin darlin walk a while with me~oh you've got so much..." July 30, 1988  In the summer of 1988, a few friends and I took a long road trip to Val-Du-Lakes Amphitheatre in Mears, Michigan to see my new favorite band, Guns N Roses, who were the opening act for an old favorite band, Aerosmith. We arrived very early and wandered around the grounds in the sweltering heat. I walked up a hill with a friend hoping for a better vantage point to view the area where the bands' tour buses were parked behind a tall fence. At that moment a bus door opened and someone came out. The next thing I knew, Guns N Roses' guitarist Izzy Stradlin was propped up over the top of the fence pointing at me and wiggling his finger to come over. I looked all around me in disbelief but he really was pointing at me! I ran down the hill to the spot where he instructed security to let me through. We spent the afternoon talking t

You know when you're on an airplane and the flight attendants go through their routine information about seat belts and emergency exits? Most people don't pay much attention but there is a valuable life lesson hidden in all that safety info. In an emergency, the oxygen masks will drop from the ceiling and you are instructed to secure your own mask before helping others with theirs . I think that advise can be extended to everyday life! If I don't take care of myself first, how can I be of good use to anyone else? For example, if I don't stop in the middle of my 10 hour work day to leave the salon for a bit and eat lunch, you're going to have a crabby manicurist with a bad attitude by hour 5. (Do your cuticles hurt just thinking about that? haha ) If I don't attend to my own emotional needs by spending some time alone thinking, praying, journaling , etc. then how can I be of any support to a friend who wants to talk about her problems? Remember the flight attenda

Let's say you go to a fast food joint and want sweetener for your iced tea and ketchup for your french fries. They'll throw sweetener in your bag like they're giving out Halloween candy to the best costumed kid in the neighborhood, yet they'll ration out only 3 ketchups for an entire order of fries like ketchup is some highly valuable commodity. Isn't one packette of sweetener more than enough for even the largest size drink? But how can anyone expect 3 little ketchup packets to cover a huge order of fries? Seriously, do these employees never stop to think about that? I always feel like a jerk when I have to specifically tell them that "one sweetener is enough thank you, but I do need at least 8 ketchups please" like I'm some neurotic control freak ketchup monger. Shouldn't that just be common sense? Or perhaps I'm the dumbass in this equation for eating at fast food restaurants in the first place?

"Please allow me to introduce myself..." I was born into this world as the love child of two hippie teenagers who hitch-hiked to the Woodstock Festival. I was given up for adoption and grew up in northern Indiana near the border of Michigan. As a small child you could always find me with a radio in one hand and a Barbie doll in the other...I was born fascinated with both music and the beauty industry! Soon the little radio gave way to a big stereo, tons of albums and a guitar and the Barbies succumbed to a drawer full of nail polish and make-up. Although I tried for years to play guitar I finally gave it up, deciding it might be more fun to spend time with people who already knew how to play--and I could grow my nails long again! Never very starstruck, I always thought of musicians as nothing more than just regular people like me--perhaps a little more exciting to talk to maybe. I liked hanging around talking to them because they were usually either eccentric, flamboyant show

Welcome to Diary of a Manicurist. I've been searching for the right place to publish my rock n roll memoirs and other humorous and ironic observations. Finally my writing has a home! About 2 months ago I was asked to write my own column for Vegas Rocks! Magazine. I began writing feverishly only to be told that another memoir is not exactly what the magazine is looking for. *sigh* I guess I'll just write up an occasional concert review for them when I feel inspired. Back in 2005, I was interviewed by Miss Pamela (DesBarres) for her newest book, "Let's Spend the Night Together," only to have my already well-known story get edited from the book for being too long. I was not, however, disappointed. Okay...I was disappointed for about 12 hours...and then a dear friend helped me realize that I don't want the world to know me as "the chick who f***ed Izzy Stradlin" because that's not what nor who I am at all. That was just one day in my life (and I was