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I’ve been working through some personal things lately, most recently being the discovery of adult acne. I’ve always taken good care of my skin, since I was a young child. My grandmother & mom were both very strict on skin care & cleanliness. So, I adopted & followed their astringent & regimented skincare habits. I had never before gone through any pimple or acne stages during my teenage &/or pubescent years. I thought that as long as I took good care of my skin, I would be in the clear (no pun intended). I was wrong, & now I’m dealing with a mild case (knock-on-wood) of adult acne on my chin/jaw-line. This has been giving me some feelings of anxiety, as well as with other things/issues going on in my life. In the back of my mind, I am constantly feeling a sense of mild anxiety.
This feeling of anxiety now brings me to the main topic of this blog post. Recently, I had a dream, one that’s been prominently on my mind for the past few days. I don’t understand what my dream means, or if it has any connection whatsoever with my skin problem, but I feel like there may be something connecting the two topics together. I will describe my dream later on in this post.
The night before I had this specific dream I had a fairly large, bright red pimple forming on my left jaw. I was really freaking out about it before I went to bed, & was practically slathering the entire tube of my prescription acne medication all over my face to try to get it to go away. I was obsessing over this one pimple, constantly examining it in the mirror & lamenting to myself about the hideous size & color of it. I finally gave up on analyzing my acne after fussing over it & went to sleep. The next morning, after experiencing this specific dream, I felt as though a small weight had been lifted from my conscience, & I felt as though my anxiety had lessened by a few degrees. The pimple I had freaked out over the night before had shrunk & gone down in redness. Most of my acne spots had shrunk, & I felt a positive wave wash over me. My first reaction was that it must have been because of the wonderful, yet strangely bizarre dream I had experienced.
And here comes the dream. I don’t always put much thought into the meanings of my dreams, but this one involved my deceased father. The dream starts off with me kneeling on my bed, looking out of my open bedroom window (which is located directly above my bed). I feel a pole gently fall down & hit my shoulder, & I recognize it as being a Spanish matador’s spear used in bull fighting. I pick up the spear & look out my window to see a group of people partially running past my bedroom. I ask one gentleman what is going on, & he informs me that they are participating in a running of the bulls event. I hand him the spear, & he takes it & walks back to his group. At this point in my dream I get the feeling that these people heading past my bedroom window are spirits &/or ghosts, but it doesn’t scare me at all. In fact, I was utterly calm throughout my entire interaction with the mystery man.
Immediately, a telephone rings in the background, & I am not eager to answer it. I am thinking that this may be a sales call from a telemarketer, but something strongly pushes me to answer the telephone. I pick up the phone & say “hello”. The person on the other end sounds like an automated female machine voice. The voice says my mom’s name in a monotone voice, & I run to call my mother over to answer the phone. She then comes over to talk on the phone, & I am asked by an unidentifiable person who my mom is talking to. I don’t even know who’s on the other end of the line, but I can clearly see that my mom is laughing & having a very friendly & lively conversation. I reply without knowing who my mom is talking to, “It’s my dad. It must be my dad.” I turn around to look back at my mother who is still on the phone. I then turn back to the other person, widely grin & say, “Yeah, she’s talking to my dad.” After that I wake up from my dream, & I immediately feel a small sense of calmness.
I don’t know what to make of my dream, especially the part about the running of the bulls & bull fighting, but I’ve been more focused on pinpointing the meaning of the second half of my dream, the part about my dad. I’m very much on the fence about the topic of spirits/ghosts & whether I believe in them or not, so I don’t really know what to say about my dream at this point in time. I have been debating whether or not I’m should tell my mom about this dream. I know she would love to hear anything positive about my dad, even in dream form, but I have a very difficult time talking to others about my dad (even with other family members). I even find it difficult sometimes to think back on my dad when I’m alone because it makes me feel incredibly lonely rather than reminiscing about happy memories.
This dream I had made me very happy. It still does even after a couple of days have passed. Thinking about this dream will always put a smile on my face, but I don’t think I will tell my mom about it just yet. Until then, cheers.
Today’s song of the day:
Spring, 1958. 21-year-old Rose Pamphyle lives with her grouchy widower father who runs the village store. Engaged to the son of the local mechanic, she seems destined for the quiet, drudgery-filled life of a housewife. But that’s not the life Rose longs for. When she travels to Lisieux in Normandy, where charismatic insurance agency boss Louis Echard is advertising for a secretary, the ensuing interview is a disaster. But Rose reveals a special gift – she can type at extraordinary speed. Unwittingly, the young woman awakens the dormant sports fan in Louis. If she wants the job she’ll have to compete in a speed typing competition. Whatever sacrifices Rose must make to reach the top, Louis declares himself her trainer. He’ll turn her into the fastest girl not only in the country, but in the world! But a love of sport doesn’t always mix well with love itself …
It’s very rare for me to fall head over heels in love with a movie. There just aren’t many movies that capture my interest. Most movies that I enjoy watching are ones that most others find boring, not relevant to mainstream pop culture, or just plain uninteresting. I recently decided to crack open my dusty Netflix account & see what’s new. I found this movie called POPULAIRE. Well, this movie isn’t exactly new (it was released in 2012), but it was new on my Netflix menu list so I decided to watch it.
I wouldn’t describe myself as a romantic of any degree, but I do enjoy watching a romantic movie or read a romantic novel every now & again. When a romantic movie is good, I can watch it multiple times without getting sick of it. Such is the case for this movie. I am so in love with this movie Populaire, so much so that the scenes have been on loop in my mind from the time I finished watching the movie until now. I am even thinking about the scenes of this movie as I type this blog post. I just absolutely adore this movie!! Everything about this movie just oozes cuteness, sweetness & charm. My mind is swimming with so much to say about this movie, but I can’t seem to get all my thoughts into coherent sentences.
Let me start with the movie plot. It’s an incredibly adorable movie premise. A naïve & clumsy young woman leaves her small town to travel to a bigger city in order to follow her dreams. She encounters a handsome gentleman with a highly masculine personality & unbeknownst to both characters, sparks begin to fly. Next, cue the awkward road of events that leads to them separating, only to find out they love each other in the end. Finally, a happy ending occurs & all is right with the world. I genuinely & thoroughly enjoyed this movie plot. It was very sweet, fun & quite romantic (I actually swooned). I’m a bit of a sucker for lighthearted movies such as this one.
Also, I have a small confession to make. Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve always dreamed of having a secretarial type job…just like the character Rose Pamphyle does in this movie. (It was either that, or becoming a radio station DJ.) I’ve always liked using a typewriter, & even my very first experience on learning how to type was on a typewriter! Although, I kind of cheated by using an electric Xerox brand typewriter. At least Rose got to learn using a traditional typewriter…& lots of determination.
The next thing I loved about the movie, other than the fact that the time period was set in the late 1950s, which is one of my favorite eras in history, were the costumes the women in the movie wore as well as the hair & makeup. I’ve always professed that I’m not a huge fan of fashion, makeup, or getting dolled up in general. However, I just admire the fashion & the hairstyles of the 1950s & 60s eras. I was highly envious of Déborah-François’s character Rose Pamphyle in this movie. She always had a fresh looking face with just a hint of makeup in blush pink colors, & an artfully done hairstyle. I quite envied Rose’s fashion in this movie as well. I loved all of the dresses she wore in each of the scenes. The male characters in this movie were also very well dressed, including Rose’s father who lives in a small French town.
FASHION
HAIRSTYLE
MAKEUP
Next, this movie was set in various cities around France. I’ve always imagined France to be a place where romance blooms all around you. This movie really romanticized France for me, especially the backdrop of a late 1950s France with swanky automobiles & classy ladies dressed primly. Oh how I’ve always wanted to visit France, especially Paris. I most especially loved the part of the movie when Rose & Louis are in Paris for the National Speed Typing Championships. Rose chooses to get dolled up for the event, & that’s when Louis finally sees her as a sexy, attractive woman. Of course Le Sexy Time ensues, & that scene was both tender & hot all at the same time. That was when I truly believed that Rose & Louis were meant to be together. But then Louis has to screw things up by becoming insecure & telling Rose that she should move on from her measly little job in her measly little town now that she’s become the country’s new media darling. Then Rose actually moves up to a larger company, only to realize that she was perfectly happy where she was from the beginning. Obviously love conquers in the end & the two main characters end up falling into each others arms at the International Speed Typing Championships, & Rose Pamphyle has become my all-time favorite female movie character. Cheers!
DISCLAIMER: All image & GIF credits belong to JAIR SFEZ – © 2013 The Weinstein Company, Tumblr & Google Images.
Today’s song of the day:
Rabbits & Foxes 
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