The ball is ROLLING!!

With the passage of my state board examinations, another door of opportunity has yet again presented itself. Work is picking up because of the holidays, but every night I get about two hours to myself before the alarm clock makes that high pitched sound to wake me up the next morning. I think a lot, as well as analyze the series of events that have happened and will happen. Blogging also keeps track of my thoughts so don't mind the useless rambling I'm about to go on and detail.. It's not just for my readers to know what's up, but for future reference for me too.

First and foremost, my license guarantees me employment at any salon in South Dakota. I can live in the Black Hills of South Dakota, which is the western half of South Dakota or in Brookings, located on the eastern half of the state where my university is at - and still have a job. It's a lovely stepping stone to everything I want to accomplish in this life. Brookings is a small college town, kind of like the town I'm living in. It's located about 40-50 miles away from a major city - Sioux Falls. I've researched job opportunities regarding my employment during the school year and bingo.. I found a list of salon's IN Brookings and also Sioux Falls. My plan is not to call these places yet as the earliest reasonable time frame to contact them will be in the summer. It's silly to think of calling them now because I won't be able to set up an "interview." I hope to land a part time job in the salon's located by my university as that would be more convenient in regards to transportation. 

I have a lot of questions in mind that I will be asking around the area once I get there; some of the things that are on my mind are: reputation, clientele age range, and price of services. Working in the customer service industry and dealing with people since June, I've gain knowledge that the reputation of a salon matters. For example, my uncle has competition right in front of our salon in front of Walmart. The workers are known to drill into people's nails causing painful, "ring of fires," which can cause tissue and even nail damage. This salon is also known to charge outrageous additional fees to the service, such as an extra five dollar charge for the scrub used in a pedicure and other miscellaneous "hidden fees." Word of mouth can make or break somebody, and this salon is suffering the consequences of their bad service as most clients avoid going there. My uncle has been in business for about 10 years in this town and obviously, if you had to choose from going to my uncle or aunt's salon's after hearing of the scenario I just explained - you would probably go to my uncle or aunt. Reputation is only one of the few things I have to consider when choosing a place to work part time at.

If you haven't caught on, yes I decided to work part time during college. Even if I can only work weekends, that's still extra income. It's better to avoid whatever amount of loans I can to save myself from a not-so-pretty looking loan bill after graduation. There's plenty of college kids who work part time and go to school full time. In fact, some people's situations differ from mine to the point that some student's have to work FULL time and take a full course load. I admire people like that because they know what real hardship is. Sometimes there's even people who are nontraditional students, who chose to go back to school with a full time job AND with the responsibility of being a "mom" or "dad." They make it through just fine, and I will too. Nothing is given on a platter in this life, you have to work hard so that your sense of accomplishments will give lead. 

The thought of paying almost five grand to go to beauty school and obtain this license is useless if I don't put this "license" into use. It's a win-win scenario, so that's why I decided that I'll be taking up a part time job.

Transportation is another point I almost forgot to mention. It doesn't seem reasonable to pay close to 25 grand to get a truck with a 4 wheel drive. The burden of car payments will be greater than that of my "future stress" from school. I do not want to be pillowed under hundreds of dollars of car payments during school, so I decided to just consider a compact car that will work. I thought about getting a used car, but you never know.. Used cars are sketchy because you're basically buying somebody's car that's already used. You don't know if the used car has been in a car accident, or whether or not there's engine problems. If you ask them, sure they will probably say something minor but how do you really know that they are telling the truth? People who sell used cars need the money too. Fixing my car is the last thing I want to worry about so getting a new car is best. I'm currently looking into the Kia Rio right now. It has great gas mileage. 27 city/ 36 highway. Double of that of a 4x4 truck that I was considering to get. 10 year warranty which means up to 100,000 miles insured for any faults that occur during that time frame - the company will fix it at no cost. It's a pretty sexy car, I'd have to say. 

My estimated car payments will be around 150-200 a month so that isn't too big. Insurance will be about 100-150 also, so I'm looking around 250-350 a month. I will need this car to get around to places, so it will be a good investment. I'm probably gonna get this car around next summer.. no reason for me to be paying now since I don't need a car to go anywhere. I just hope I do well in the snow with this car, since it doesn't have 4 wheel drive.. but hey, snow tires or all season tires were invented for a reason; as well as my common sense: it's logical to stay off the roads when appropriate!

Ahh.. and my university.. talked to an admissions counselor today and I can't wait until I start!! It's a 15 minute walk from one end to the other with an enrollment of around 12 thousand (and growing!). SDSU is one of the largest universities here in South Dakota. I'll let ya know what I think of it when I do a campus visit. Buildings are 5 minute walk from one another.. Big gym, lots of recreational stuff, you know typical college life.. with the DORMS! I'm gonna be living having a random roommate assigned to me since I don't know anyone...yet.. ahh! The thought of having someone random to live with for 6 months is kinda.. scary at first, I hope he isn't a psycho killer like the one in that one movie "The Roommate." I've been watching too many scary movies haha. No chicken here. In all honesty, I just hope my roomie and I will click! I have a pretty easy going personality.. I'm thrilled and can't wait to meet people and have a social life again. Starting college in another state, is def. a "reset" button. I'm gonna make college a blast.. I'm just happy that everything is figured out now... the ball is rolling now! Until next time.. It's getting late here, 

hope all of yall are doing good.

Oh and I didn't put pictures up in this blog post.. oops. Wall of text, sorry. Got kind of lazy.. you know it's late and all.

Anthony

State board examination results!!

HEY guys.

I have WONDERFUL news. I passed my state boards!!!!!!!! It's been a long time since I last posted. I had to wait a grueling 2 weeks to get the results. My life is changing, for the better. I am delightfully excited because with this passing of the boards; I can do nails now to support myself.

Some benefits of this license:

• I don't have to worry about going hungry when I go off to college or worrying about money.
• Job security (obviously, not gonna do this for a living) due to the demand for nail tech's in South Dakota
• High prices to do for services than other states = more $$ = less work to earn a pay check.
• I do not need anybody to support me now. Since my mom left the picture totally, I'm the first person in the family to be able to know how to make money, eg. not depending on parents like my cousins.
• My doorway to success = COLLEGE next year 2012!

My uncle whose been supporting me these past months through payments for beauty school, a place to live, to eat, etc. was the first to find out and he called me. He was THRILLED. I called all my family members (aunts, uncles) )to tell them, except for my mom and practically everyone was happy for me. They don't need to worry anymore knowing that I have my life in my hands knowing that I can be fully independent..

Despite the mistake I made during my practical examination, I passed with an 85 on the "hands" part which consisted of doing a manicure, silk wrap, sculptured nail, nail tip, and polish on a mannequin hand. The only mistake I made was that my when I was filing my sculptured nail, the nail completely fell off and hit my face! Bizzare because out of all the times I practiced, that moment when I was testng had to be the most unlucky one! I scored a 95 on the written exam and a 94 on the laws and rules which consisted of 110 questions and 25 questions respectively.

Now, it's time to rock n roll. The nail business may not be the best job out there, but heck, it'll put me through college with some extra money left over. It's better than working at a fast food joint making minimum wage, whereas I earn a commission now!

Did I also mention that I got a pay raise of 10/hr now? I got paid 8/hr before, but now it's 10/hr. My uncle ROCKS. I've been working full time, getting more than 40 hours per week, but out of respect I do not go over 80 hours for two weeks since that's too much of a burden for my uncle to pay me this time of year.

My plan is:

• Work until Fall semester begins of next year.
• during that time, around June I will fully be a resident of South Dakota, meaning I can qualify for in state tuition which saves me 5 grand a year in the long run. 
• I'll also be making moolah. I'm gonna be saving up though for expenses related to college, eg. food, tuition. 
• I'm not gonna get a car because I can't handle the car payments, insurance, and gas costs. I'll be living on campus, surely I'll make plenty of buddies to car pool with if I need to go anywhere. Might be annoying, but it's better than paying 200/mo + 100/mo for insurance, and another 50 for gas. 
• How am I gonna be getting to school from where I live to my school? Simple, there's a greyhound bus that runs through my town directly to my university for only 50 bucks! Greyhound FOR THE WIN.

I have time to decide on my major now in between and some studying to do. Currently, my major will be Nursing with a minor in Aerospace studies (air force reserves officer training corps)... save that talk for later. I am DETERMINED!

I'm no longer pissy about going to work now because I look ahead to my goals. "Don't lose sight of your goals," was what one client of mine told me. I will never lose sight of that goal.

Other news.. of my loove life: my ex and I have been talking lately, heck, there's a lot of love there still. We are no longer sad, but enjoying each other's company by webcamming, talking on the phone, etc. The words "friends" was never mentioned. He has admitted to me that I need to come back to Georgia so I can hang with him and have fun with him "like old times." and that he misses me. Absence does make the heart fonder, but I am not jumpin in with my two legs just yet. Life is going too good for any man to bring me down, haha. Taking it one step at a time. We are cool, and I'm glad he's in my life again, as well as he is too. He's single.. I'm single, and that's not gonna change. The best friends make the best lovers. Him and I are friends, with some love there; gonna stay that way for a long time though because we both aren't ready to jump the gun. He's goign through a lot of issues with his health... losing weight, his glow and you know what, I thought to myself; I loved this dude at one point of my life and still do, I can't let him know that I left him for good. I know him better than anyone out there.. he's on multiple meds, for me to disappear from his life would taint his image of what real love is. Meds cause him to lose track of his emotions, and worst of all his best friends are always with their boyfriends.. it's like they forgot about him from what he implied. He's been let down by many people, despite our past, my love for him is like a phoenix. from the ashes from what was, i'll love him with what's left. I got his back, he's got mine.. we indirectly said so during our talks. Love is when you are strong enough to let go, he said it himself and I can say that I've let go already. Our communication is getting better, he's more happier that he can talk to me without the burden of me bringing any lovey dubby stuff up. I love that dude DESPITE all the stuff he put me through; it has made me a better person and a more stronger, person. I learned sooo much about myself, and all the people who cared for me in the time of need; I'd like to thank them so much and that they have my heart right back at em, you know who you are!!

All the prayers helped. I'm thrilled!!!!!!! Hope yall are doing just fine. 

Going to sleep with a big smile on my face; Good night guys!!
 Anthony