The Headache

You know how you wake up with a headache because you're still tired? I get that sometimes.

So when I got out of bed only ten minutes late, I thought it was one of those. I'd overslept, my body was tired, a bit of water would get me right back where I was again.

I showered and philosophised over my hair. It's too long. I still look like a Hitler Youth applicant when I comb it while it's wet, but it now has this fancy curl to the ends. It needs to be shortened at some point. Either that, or it needs to grow out more.

Then I had breakfast and got dressed, more than a little aware I was running late for my second day in the nail studio. I arrived on time, but still with wet hair. Luckily, there weren't any clients yet.

I've been promoted. From looking and dusting, I am now also the studio slave. Not that I mind. I learn from it. So now I can fill footbaths, find stamping plates and know where all the gels are kept. Oh, and I learned about short fingernails and nail stickers today. And a bit more about filing. There's several sizes in filing, from uselessly small to ridiculously big. As with most things, the one inbetween is considered better in most cases.

By half past ten, my stomach started acting up. Now, true, I hadn't eaten that big a breakfast, but the way it was dancing, I knew something was up. Also, my head was still weird. I threw back a hot cocoa and soldiered on.

It was quiet today. Not many customers, not much dusting. The high points included someone coming in with her dog and J. painting the nails of a coworker hot pink with black 80s print and silver accents. This was the most exciting nail design of the day so far.

At some point, someone ran out of cleaner fluid. Normally, no problem, get a new bottle, but the stuff hasn't been delivered yet. Perhaps it's hiding along with my package. Long story short, there's no new cleaner to be had. I don't know how they're going to solve it.

Oh, and I got to paint my first nails today. Granted, it were tips stuck to pots of gel and, yes, it were only two, but I learned from it. Mainly not to stick pots of gel in the UV tunnels and that it's hard to open and mix new pots of gel without getting the stuff over your fingers, but also how much gel I needed and how to apply it in the most effective fashion. I'm not winning any prizes just yet, but I improved, mess-wise, from my first to my second nail.

When J.'s last client before lunch came, my headache got worse. And my stomach was definitely not happy with me. I sat through it, observing how the woman had nails almost as short as mine, and tried to not give in to the urge to crawl away and huddle in on myself.

After the client had left, I begged off. I felt awful and my focus was wavering. J. didn't see any problem with it and let me go.

I'm almost done forcing my lunch down and am going to try and see if more sleep will fix things. Here's to hoping.