2015 McGreat Awards

Last night several instructors and administrative staff members of my school, Miller-Motte College, as well as myself and one other student were invited as guests to attend the McGreat Awards Ceremony held in Wilmington, NC. It was a lovely event and really showed just how much they appreciate their employees and the effort they put forth everyday. Below are just a few photos of the event and award categories!

Our small attending group
(From Left to Right: Mrs. Altheia, Mrs. Robinson, Mrs. Summer, Mrs. Val, Jennifer Ryder)

Cocktail hour included decorative cider flutes, hamburgers, parm-garlic steak fries and a nice little fruit and cookie table!









 After the cocktail hour we were ushered into our reserved seats with some movie going snacks: fresh popped popcorn, a chocolate bar and a bottle of water all were greatly appreciated I assure you ;)

And then the nights real mission got underway!

 

As with any awards show there are multiple categories in which to win an award and here are just a few of the categories Great Clips put forth this year. Each award recipient received a trophy and took a picture of the company's CEO who was amazing enough to not only attend but to hand each stylist, manager and salon their award, take a photo with them and pass on a few words of congratulation and encouragement.

 
 

I thought a couple of their mission award categories were particularly notable as it shows that numbers aren't the only thing this company cares about in their stylists.

 







 "Now comes the part of the award ceremony where things tend to slow down a bit so to keep the energy going we're going to try to liven things up", said one of our two hosts for the evening.

 A mini competition ensued; the entire salon would come up to accept the award to their own personal song in any sort of fanfare they desired. The winner, the most entertaining entourage, would receive a pizza party but we all know the winners were the audience.


All in all it was a fun night and not only did I enjoy myself I learned quite a bit about the company's "mission" and not only it's philosophies but it's acts about and on behalf of its employees and I would tell anyone who asked me about them as a perspective employer to absolutely look into them solely based on what I saw last night.


P.S. On a completely unrelated note....

I found the most dapper gentleman at the awards and had to get his picture. It wasn't until after the event when I showed this photo to an instructor, who is more familiar with geeky things, pointed out that his outfit almost befitting of The Doctor that I realized just why I liked him so much. ^_^ 
Many thanks to this gentleman for being so accommodating and allowing me to take his photo!


And for the curious...

My outfit for the night included a high-waisted black velvet floor length skirt I had made myself two nights prior, a blouse and a few trinkets I had laying around the house. Not too shabby for only having three days notice!

A(ph)ogee protein treatment- Step by Step & Review

Ends Before Treatment

Hair Before treatment
(No Flat Iron)

Let's start at the beginning.... I have recently undergone a hair transformation. I went from a natural level 3 (near black kinda brown) to a level 9 (blonde but not the palest blonde) in two back to back double processes. Needless to say my hair is in need of some repair. Enter: A(ph)ogee a protein treatment. So I have heard tale of how "amazing" this Aphogee stuff is for weakened hair and for $3.79 at Sally's I figured why not give it a shot!




Step One: Shampoo hair and towel blot
Check.

Step Two: Apply "step one" until hair is well saturated paying particular attention to the ends.

Comb through with a wide tooth comb to distribute while hair is wet only!
(Fair warning this stuff does not smell pleasant in any sense of the word but it's not a dangerous chemical so no ventilation is required)

Step Three: Blow-dry with no tension. Do not comb at this point as the protein mixture creates a "crust" around the hair shaft and will break if you apply tension.

(Honestly mine felt like it would get up and walk off on it's own that's how stiff it was!)

Step Four: Re-wet and then rinse with warm water removing all dried protein before towel blotting and applying "step two" (the balancing moisturizer) leaving it on the hair for 2 minutes before rinsing out.

 

Step Five: Dry and style as usual.

 (Left) My usual products (a leave-in, some oil and heat protectant)

(Right) Results after the blow dry with medium tension
(Meh)

(Left) My ends after the blow dry
( not that great, huh?) 

(Right) After Flat Iron

Pink-ish spot I found in my hair after treatment

Thoughts:

Honestly, I did not like the Aphogee... I think my Moroccan oil mask does so much more for my hair (moisture and texture wise) and with how little the Aphogee did for my breakage issue it just isn't worth it for me to do again. Not only did Aphogee not help my breakage issue it also stripped my color made my ends appear even more frazzled than before and I noticed a pink spot in my hair that was not there prior to the treatment. 

Will I say that this product doesn't work and that nobody should ever use it? No. It didn't work for me and what exists on my hair currently. I would hesitate to suggest it to people who have lightened hair or those who have fashion colors simply due to the reduced overall appearance of color (and in my case altered color in some areas). 

In my opinion: save your money. Get the Moroccan Oil hair mask, 10,000mcg Biotin, a regular trim and a semi-permanent clear color... then leave the rest to nature.

Have you tried A(ph)ogee before? Share your thoughts/ experiences in the comments below!

Shinobi Clans - A Ninja Card Game

With the expansion of interactive media and the ease of access, varied playability, and essentially unrestricted time dedication it provides it's no wonder that so many of our younger generations are just plain bored when they hear the words, "Let's play a board game".  Shinobi, and games like it, just may be the key to bringing games (and friends) back to the table. 

I bought this card game on a whim from Amazon for less than $20 for a gift for my husband and have not regretted it one bit! It is quite simple to play and follow, is perfect for 4 players (3-5 players suggested), the artwork is just plain gorgeous and the play time is a comfortable 45-60 minutes!

Workup Phase:
To begin shuffle your play deck, the contract reward and target cards separately. Then choose three random cards from the target cards and draw three random cards from the contract reward cards. This gives each target its value for either being assassinated or protected. The values are found by adding the numbers, in the ryō*, on the bottom right for the assassins reward and the bottom left denotes both the reward for the protector as well as the additional protection bonus that gets added to the protectors damage count against the assassins. 

Taking Contracts:

Next, take the contract coins each player was given and take out the red (assassinate) and blue (protect) contract coins that correspond with the target cards laid out from the step above. As the backs of these coins are random in color and will not give away your choices. At this time you decide whether to assassinate or protect only two of the three targets and place those coins face down in front of you. 

Tip- keep the values of the targets in mind when making your contract decision. 

For example: the Shogun is worth 9 ryō* (gold) if assassinated however one would need to    overcome the the five defense it poses in addition to whatever defense another player may contribute. You have a choice... defend somewhat easily for less gold or go all out for a larger pot, remember the one with the most gold wins!

Drafting Phase:

Next (for the first round) deal each player four cards for their hand and then an additional six cards for the drafting phase. The drafting phase is simple: take one card and pass it around until all of the cards have been chosen. For the second round each player is dealt 2 cards and an additional 8 for drafting (extra cards must be discarded at the end of the drafting phase) and for the third, and final, round no cards are dealt to the players hand instead all 10 cards are drafted. 

Tip- Keep your contracts in mind when selecting your draft cards. You have many options aside from simply picking the cards most suited towards your goal. 

For example: sabotage your friends! Select the cards you would not like to oppose you in battle and discard them on a target that you do not have a contract with! This way it doesn't hurt you and it forces an opponent to fortify their position giving your true contracts a higher chance of success! 

 Specialty Cards:

There are a variety of cards aside from assassins, protectors and weapons there are specialists, events and meddlers. 

Event cards allow you to draw additional cards which may or may not be advantageous.

Meddlers are cards that alter the contract values. These are especially useful to mess with opponents!

Specialists are cards played face down (unless otherwise noted) on the target card. Each, as the name implies, has a special ability. There are bomb makers, poisoners, scouts and spies. Some will "kill" the cards near it others will reveal what opponents contract intentions are to give you an edge.

 

Playing Phase:
The playing phase was probably the most confusing part until we gave up and dove in. K.I.S.S. method very much applies here. Each player lays down one card during their turn face down unless it is an event or a specialist card that designates it to be played face up (card types to be explained soon). All specialist, assassin or protector cards are lined up face down on top of the intended target to be played in reverse order after the completion of the playing phase. All weapons cards are to be played on the corresponding side (left- defend, right-kill) and the assassins/ protectors are played on top of the weapon cards adding to their attack/defense values. The playing phase ends when all cards have been played or all players have 'passed' on their turn. Once you have 'passed' you may no longer play cards in this round.

Tip- Be careful not to place a weapon too soon into the round as it will tip off your opponents as to your contracted intentions, unless you are attempting to throw them off with a bluff.

Resolving the Battle:

With the last card played (or all players having passed) the playing phase is over and you can begin to "resolve" the contracts. As I mentioned earlier the cards are played in reverse order so the card at the top of the pile is the placed on the weapon closest to the target card on the corresponding side (again left-save me/ right- die, die, die). You'll note two cards in the upper right one was a specialist card which removed another card from battle and again I'll go into more details about those soon. The winner for each contract is determined by simple math. 

For the assassins: add the attack values (denoted on the bottom right) for both the assassins and the weapons below them taking unique card wordings into account. For example: one card may say that it's value is double that of the opponents card in the same slot. Meaning if it is the first card on the protector's side it's defensive value is 2x the first assassin card.

For the protectors: add the defensive values the same as the assassins and add the targets personal defensive value to that score.

Compare the two in this case Protectors: 17  Assassins: 6 The player(s) who selected to protect the Shogun split the contract reward rounding up. Resolve the remaining two targets the same way and continue rounds two and three. The Shinobi Clan (player) with the most ryō at the end wins!

TL;DR: You are ninja. Choose your contracts well. Assassinate or protect your target through either strength or cunning and win the ryō! It's immensely fun, the artwork is amazing and since most of the cards are hidden until the resolution phase there's very little time for sore losers to complain before shuffling out the next drafting hand! If you're looking for a fun, simple, cognitive game to play with a few friends I highly recommend Shinobi Clans!
 
I hope you enjoyed this play through even 1/10th as much as I enjoyed playing the game.  Good luck fellow ninjas.... live long and prosper!

 **Fun Fact!: Ryō was a form of currency in Feudal Era Japan converted from the Chinese equivalent tael a unit of measurement. Local daimyo's would mint the coins each with their own mark so everyone would know where the money came from, and one ryō was equal to 4 koku (an amount of rice). One koku was said to be enough rice to feed one person for one full year roughly 330lbs/ 150 kilos! 

No wonder the one with the most ryō wins... based off of one contract alone I won't have to worry about rice for years to come!

About the Author

Hello everyone~!

First things first: affirmations, yay!

I will use improper grammar as well as spelling at some point. Honestly, I think it's deeply ingrained into our generations social structure.

I believe in doctors. I am not a doctor. Any advice I give, cosmetically, should always be secondary
to a Doctor's seal of approval for those with sensitive skin.

I will be awkward... it comes with the territory.

I will post pictures of both successes and failures because things don't always turn out the way you'd like but that doesn't mean that you can't learn from the mistakes as well.

I will do my best be "there" for my readers. I would love feedback and questions as well as suggestions so please feel free to chime in with opinions!

Also, puns. There will be puns, some bad, most awesome. That is all.

Now to the nitty-gritty.

Hi, My Name is: Pantera... and I used to be a closet geek. I was such a closet geek that I hid from other geeks in fear of being deemed as "not geeky enough". My first con I had a panic attack in the line waiting to get in and ended up wander the mall next to the con to see some of the other attendees without them "seeing" me before making a shameful retreat back the to safety of my bedroom, bathrobe and laptop. Sadly to say that was many years ago and traumatized I kept my geek buried down inside. Until a few years later when I made a somewhat unorthodox decision: I was going to beauty school.

I am a recent cosmetology student graduate currently awaiting my state board certification and looking for employment in the industry that used to intimidate the pants off me, frankly at times it still does. So as I grow and learn I will in turn pass that knowledge along to you! Knowledge is power and I don't know about you but I can always use a little more empowerment in my day. But I may be getting ahead of myself. Let's go back to last January.

I went to school petrified of being judged. Heck, I barely went to salons before because I felt "less than" the pretty women doing my hair so half the time I just cut it at home. I was insecure, introverted, lacking confidence and chewing anti-anxiety gum the first three weeks. Through my journey I learned to take pride in myself and learned how to take care of myself better (90 min beauty process or not) and met some strange, amazing and talented ladies who I now call my friends. The one thing they taught me was "Let your freak flag fly high". Since starting school I have come to love the geek that I am "super" or "light" by your standards I am, what I am: Awesome. And so are you!

I am a jack of all trades and a master of none. I am a self-proclaimed intermediate sewer, I crochet amigurumi and I'm a n00b gamer that still can't play Diablo with the volume on if someone isn't in the room with me. I enjoy good fantasy novels, sci-fi and supernatural mystery shows and I love learning about new cultures. But more than any of that I have a strong desire to help others feel more confident in themselves and their surroundings.

Oh, and I'm just a bit of a manga, anime and Korean drama junkie; guilty pleasures, we all have them.

TL;DR: I went to cosmetology school so I have been educated on the subject to some degree, I'm into stuff, and I want everyone to be true to themselves and feel confident and awesome while doing it.

What is G33k2Chic, Anyways?

We live in exciting times. The term "geek" much like the term "nerd" used to hold highly negative connotations; I.e. a basement dwelling person of low social skill, poor hygiene habits and obsessions with space and the obscure. Fortunately, for those of us who identify as geeks, the tide has begun to turn with the rise in popularity of comic hero based movies, both mainstream and indie gaming, sensationalized portrayal of geeks in T.V. and the ever hard to miss ComicCon and similar events that happen world wide. 

With this paradigm shift in social acceptability it's shocking that one stereotype seems to still linger in the minds of many people and that is simply: "Geeks aren't Chic."  G33k2Chic is on mission to change that by informing, educating and encouraging its' readers to explore the mystical world of hair skin, nails and makeup for both cosplay and everyday life!  Stay tuned for tips, tricks and tutorials from the industry that we can put a geeky twist on before adding it to our arsenal. 

This blog will have the following:

• Information on various beauty and grooming rituals ranging from hair to feet and back.
• Tutorials for make-up, hair maintenance, sewing as well as general crafting and drafting
• Pictures. They are worth a thousand words I won't have to write so expect pictures.
• Snippets of my journey into the cosmetology industry, life and pursuit of the holy grail
• Reviews. From beauty to gaming and more I will review products I use, try for the first time or play.