I was up all night between Wednesday and Thursday because I had a flight to catch at 7 40 am.
Never had a sorghum cinnamnon latte before. Bye Portland.....!
And HELLO to the Land of The Rising Sun - Japan! After so many years of wanting to visit I finally made it here.
I am staying with my brother in Tokyo in Sasazuka. I managed to exchange dollars to yen, get a bus ticket and hop on a bus from Narita airport to Shinjuku where my brother met me. Not at all difficult.
After dropping of the suitcases at his place, I changed clothes and freshened up a bit then we headed out and did some sightseeing, yes I had to see Shibuya with that famous crosswalk (Shibuya Crossing). Everybody is very orderly here, that was one of my first impressions. I got a latte (see below) and we walked around.....It is late here in Tokyo (I can't belive I am here!!!) when I am writing this and I am in bed, it's been a long day. About to sleep. More on Japan later.
Talking about strip clubs is kind of fun and interesting, at least I suspect that people find it kind of interesting so let's check out some more strip club stuff......
Like little notes in the dressing room like this one. NO lotion ok! Basically do not apply lotion before going on stage. Like do not apply lotion during your shift at the club. Some clubs do not want you to put on lotion before your shift (at home getting ready for work) but I doubt most dancers pay much attention to that. The pole gets slithery from the lotion and if the lotion gets on the stage too then the stage gets slippery and that can mean a broken ankle.
The average height of a stripper heel is like seven inches. So you do not want a slippery stage.
Sometimes I get messages on bills. Perhaps others do as well where they work, do you get them too? Like this one, never met the guy before but he wanted me to text him. He was nice and polite but no I did not text him. Honestly.....I am too tired to engage with guys OTC (outside of the club), I really enjoy quiet alone time and time with friends I already know. If the strip club was like a dating app I would have more dates lined up than I would know what to do with. I would have to schedule the dates for months. It is nothing personal but I am simply not interested unless you are Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch (I have nicer hair than Jerry Hall after all) or Damiano David. Why Bill and Rupert? Well......I could help them distribute their wealth.
There are many animals in need and other areas in the world that need improvement. Plus I need some pampering as well, like a full day at a really good spa.
Ever wondered what a vending machine at the strip club might have to offer?
All kinds of fun stuff! Check it out.....from top to bottom. Dove deodorant, something called "lashblast" which is a kit containing mascara, eyeliner and a powder, then some CUTE outfits (one size fits most I assume), tampons, another mascara this one by Rimmel, then some stuff I am not sure what it might be.
Fake lashes and eyelash glue, more mascara, panties, pole grip (a great invention especially for the pole dancers) lighters, gum, babywipes and lastly snacks.
If you one day wake up and decide you want to try dancing but don't know where to start.....go in to the strip club and head to the vending machine. Pick an outfit, get some mascara, fake lashes and eyelash glue, a bottle of pole grip and some baby wipes and you are on your way to to earning hat first million. Something like that. Or if you are a guy and you suddenly remember that it is your significant other's birthday in the midst of having a lap dance with some hottie......fret not!
Calmly walk over to the vending machine.....get the lashblast, two outfits and bag of cheetos then go home and make your lady love happy.
A while ago I ordered a dancer "cult book" called Lapdancer by Juliana Beasley. I got it in hardcover, the book first came out in 2003. I wish I could copy and paste the entire ten page intro and the last five pages written by Juliana here because it is very interesting and covers a lot of what it is to be a dancer/exotic dancer/stripper. The book is full of photographs (Juliana did the photography too) of dancers she encoutered in the clubs and she also photographed the customers. The photos are a bit gritty and there is nothing glamorous about it, this is not upper end Manhattan dancing or the nicer gentlemens clubs she did her photography in. But it is reality. It is a social study of some sort and very interesting. There are also some dancer's stories weaved in through the pages.
I will quote some of Juliana's text, "This book begins with the premise that dancers, like all good actresses, have lives outside the club."
"But these "intimate" relationships, fundamentally dependent on the exchange of cash for services, are easily disposed of. The outcome of relationships with regulars was always the same: after several thousand of dollars and hours of pseudo-therapeutic conversation, he'd ask me out on a date. I'd put him off, and then he'd become frustrated, realizing I wasn't going to meet him outside of the club. Sometimes he would just disappear without a trace, perhaps moving on to the next club and the next dancer who might fulfill his dreams; other times, distraught, he would come in a and explain that our relationship would have to end because he could no longer continue dropping a grand a week, or maybe he had worked it out with his wife or maybe he was just bored with me. Whatever the excuse, the fantasy was over. What had once been a delightful courtship had turned into another binding commitment to a demanding woman."
"I once asked a Turkish man if he would like a lap dance. He was well behaved and nervous while I danced for him. He told me that he had never had one, that this was his first time. I expressed my sadness about the recent earthquakes that had devestated his country. He then looked at my arm and noticed a tattoo I cover with makeup when I dance, and which in low light looks like a burn. He rolled up his sleeve to show me the terrible scars on his forearm. He asked me if I too had been burned. I reassured him I hadn't. I was struck by his innocence, by his desire to find similarities between the two of us.
Despite all of our differences, within the time limits of the lapdance, we had been led to momentarily find things in common. I doubt I would ever had this interaction with this man otherwise, nor with the countless other men and women I met over the years, people who taught me many lessons about myself and about life, valuable friendships that would had been lost had I never first walked through that club door."
AMEN to that!
I am currently working in FOUR (!) clubs. Like really now.....? Even I feel slightly exhausted thinking about that and feel like I should hire a personal assistant just to keep track on when and where (just kidding of course) but it is nothing unusual for dancers to work at several clubs in Portland. One of them I am at once a week and that one will close its doors soon because something else will be built on the land it sits on. Stuff like that happens. Another club I am at once a week as well but I think I will change that to once every other week or just quit, not worth my time. Then I recently started at another club and so far I have been there once or twice/week. Another club I go to once in a while depending on my schedule that particular week. I have an offer from one of the newest clubs in town to start working there and I could probably work at several clubs in town if I wanted to.
Portand has WAY TOO MANY clubs, most of them are hole in the walls and kind of crappy overall in appearance and lack in dancer and clintele quality. Or like somebody told me, "those haunted places which smell like a special cocktail of cat piss, mold and cupcakes where you perform". Ya......something like that. I actually did work at a club last year that reeked of urine (yes, GROSS I know), from the men's bathroom. And the Great Alaskan Bush Company in Anchorage smelled really bad of urine in the vicinity of the men's bathroom when I first started working there. So do not blame the dancers for that piss smell, most of us dancers smell yummy and have good bathroom habits. I said most, in Portland I have actually encountered several dancers that need a long hot shower, thorough body scrub and apply a thick layer of deodorant.
Check out this note I recently found hanging in the dressig room in one of the clubs I work.
And to end this entry a pic of me. Gotta run......have to shower before work tonight. Gotta smell yummy you know!
Ready for some news? No not the latest about Ukraine, US circus politics and whatever else that is happening.
Strip club news! The uplifting news that make life fun!
So I am a bit late with the news on which lovely lady won Miss Exotic Oregon, it was announced in January and she ended up on the cover of Exotic magazine that month. I saw the competition back in December and my fave was Nia and guess what.....I know talent because Nia did indeed win. Great performance, gorgeous girl with a beautiful smile and nice hair.
She was the best I thought and she got my vote and I handed her the beads I got upon entering the venue. Here she is. Resting on top of Fatima's bosom.
This coming Saturday I might have to go and see these two put on a show, they are also winners of Miss Exotic Oregon. I bet the show on Saturday will be amazing.
If you need to make some extra money you should head to club Déjà Vu in Lansing Michigan on May 20. Prettiest butthole competition is happening. I highly encourage truckers with hairy moist buttholes with some toilet paper remnants to enter, people with a purple hemmorhoid or two hanging out, the extra busted buttholes, somebody with a pinworm infestation
(I bet the worms would glow well in the blacklights). Why not? Everybody should be represented.
I mean.....who comes up with this? Prettiest butthole? I just wish some heavy sweaty trucker dudes show up and try to enter, it does not specify that it is for females only. Some pervs came up with this bullshit "competition" just so they can stare at some pink fresh teenage girl buttholes. Like really now. Barf.
And finally.....start planning for Christmas and give away the gift of 2023. A board game like no other.....Nightshift.
"Nightshift is a competitive, thematic board game. Players adopt the role of a dancer and must charm worthwhile customers into emptying their wallets. The player that ends the night with the most money wins! Be careful about interfering with another girl's customer or your night may not run so smoothly..."
Once you learn the skills us dancers have you will not fail at life. take it from Tati.
Exotic Cancer a very talented former (?) dancer, artist and designer. I really like her stuff, I have mentioned her on the blog before.
www.exoticcancer.com
Let's talk about shampoo and conditioner. Let's talk affordable products I got all of these at Costco!
On the left, Nexxus. I like the shampoo and the conditioner. Pura D'or Advanced Therapy, I have not tried those yet.
Monday I got because I really liked the look of the bottles but I did NOT like the product. No good. Used once then gave away. Costco's own brand Kirkland Moisture shampoo and conditioner I like as well. Right now I alternate between the Nexxus and the Kirkland. I do a deep conditioning hair mask once in a while, I have been doing the Moroccanoil Intense Hydrating Mask for that. And I gently squeeze out excess water with a towel before I apply conditioner and hair treatments.
Now you know! As far as trimming/cutting my hair.....twice a year is a lot for me. Sometimes a year goes by with no trims.
Let's take a look at the products that I use for my face. I have a lot of face products but I tend to use like less than half of them, more like 1/3 or so. The rest are taking up space in my bathroom cabinet and taking up thoughts like "hmmmmm I should use that sometime" and then I don't.
I KNOW that sunscreen is super important and that is the one skin care routine that I am am really bad at, I totally fail in that department.
Last summer before Burning Man I bought the EltaMD UV Daily Broad Spectrum SPF 40 (the white tube to the very right).
I used it like twice at Burning Man. Instead I just covered my face in bandanas during the day and yes during one of the dust storms I got a sun burn on my face even though I had covered my face with the bandanas. I hope it is still good to use because I will try to make an effort in using it as soon as the sun starts peeking out more. It comes highly recommended by dermatologists by the way as a great sunscreen.
Let's go through the products from right to left. Next to the EltaMD is the RoC Retinol Correxion Deep Wrinkle Night Cream, can be used nightly although I would probably start off every other night due to the retinol. I have only used it like two or three times though and for desired results you should use it for at least three months on a regular basis. It goes on nicely and it smells good.
Paula's Choice 2% BHA Liquid Exfoliant is a great and affordable exfoliant. It really works on keeping the pores clean. I highly recommend it. Mario Badescu Vitamin C Serum is a serum with vitamin C and yes I think it delivers.
Tingles on the skin, not to be used excessively and be careful if you have sensitive skin. DHC Deep Cleansing Oil is not expensive and works OK (not my fave cleansing oil that I have tried though and I won't buy this product again). I recently ran out of my Neutrogena face cleanser (Neutrogena Naturals Purifying Facial Cleanser), I think they discontinued it because I looked for it in a couple of different stores and no luck. So when looking for a replacement I found a cleaser by It Cosmetics called Confidence in a Cleanser and it works well. I sometimes double cleanse. That is when you first use a cleanser with oil and then follow up with a water based cleanser.
Now these are the two face creams I have been using for a few months. One for day and one for night. Andalou Naturals Goji Peptide Perfecting Cream (for day) and Andalou Naturals Resveratrol Q10 Night Repair Cream (for night). I really like both, they feel like good quality face creams. The night cream is especially luxurious, soothing and smells amazing.
For the delicate skin around the eyes I have been using Wild Carrot Wild Rose Hydrating Eye Cream. I like it a lot, it is gentle and nice and affordable. My latest skin care product is a sunscreen by StriVectin, Advanced Retinol Daily Repair Broad Spectrum SPF 30. I got curious about it because it contains retinol and that is usually not a day use product. So far I have only used it once but it felt very nice on the face and goes on smoothly. I will make an effort to start using sunscreen on my face, hands, neck and décolleté on a regular basis. My biggest skin care regret is frying myself in tanning beds for years and burning my skin in the harsh sun too many times. That is one sure way to ruin and age your skin. I am vain so I want to have nice and supple skin of course. I can see the sun damage on my hands and my chest area (décolleté). Plus I have a LOT of moles/freckles all over. I want like 90% of them lasered off.
And what about the Q-tips you might wonder......? How are Q-tips fitting in here with all those products? Well, I have a thing for Q-tips and their "hidden" message (says my imagination). Seems like each time I am getting ready to run out of Q-tips I also come to a change or event of some sort in my life. I just ran out of a box and yes I am going through some rather difficult and often upsetting stuff that I am trying to work through right now......a one day at a time kind of situation. A rather big change in the situation happened today, not sure of the outcome yet. I opened this new box of Q-tips yesterday, I used two so far so 623 to go. I wonder how long this box will last? And will something happen in my life when the Q-tips in this box are gone?
As far as face creams go.....my next purchase will probably be the SkinCeuticals Triple Lipid Restore 2:4:2, I have been eyeing that one for some time. I got a sample of it last year and it really felt amazing on my face.
