[ozma]

Then I relaxed for the evening, as much as one can relax the night before a photo shoot when one's chin has broken out in a twice-a-year eczema rash. As foolish as it may sound, much of relaxation involved laying down with potato peels stuck to the rash to calm the redness. I wasn't in the mood to head out to a drug store and figure out the Japanese word for "Hydrocortizone cream", so...potatoes! Glamorous, my life is, and I share it with you. Stinging and absorbing the nutrients of a potato I thought "This, this is why I have hired Momo to do all my make-up and stuff, she'll take care of it"

Saturday:

I woke up at 6:30, as usual, ate my yogurt and cereal in front of my light box, and then went back to sleep (wearing yet more potatoes) until 10:30. The photo shoot was slated to start at 10PM and I'd need all my beauty sleep.

When I woke up again I started to compile two soundtracks for the shoot. Farasha, my good friend/loyal costume customer/local dancer had given me this advice for what to throw together:

"Recommendation of order:
First comes relaxation music (It is natural that one would be nervous in their 1st shoot)
Second some goddess pose music (makes you pose naturally)
Third comes dance music (so that you can naturally dance.)
Forth comes sexy kind of music ( you are warmed up so you can show your deeper side. think of expressions)"

I tailored two cds. One for each costume with that as a basic structure but also emphasizing what sort of mood I was going for over-all for each costume and what sort of music I'd need to wake my lazy butt up once I started to fade due to the late hour.

Farasha also gave me the good advice of:

"Write down what you will do in each costume! I recommend this to avoid doing the same thing over and over. and when the photographer asks you "what do you want to do?" be able to tell him what kind of pose or shots you have in mind."

I did not do this because of my general dislike of posing for pictures was awakened by having to think about it and because it's only after my first shoot do I really have an idea what sort of poses are possible/ a good idea/ suit me...It is great advice and I will think about it for the next time. I had thought about what mood I wanted, a general idea of what sort of movements this would encompass, and what sort images I like personally and which images would suit which costume better.

I burned the set for my second costume on both cds by mistake, carefully mis-labeling the cds "costume 1" and "costume 2" a fact that I would learn at the shoot. These are the sorts of errors I am prone to m ake when I don't double check my cds before packing them. Luckily, I also had packed a few other favorite cds.

Per Eshe's advice on Bhuz I was sticking to foods that don't bloat me or give me gas (no sugar granola, whole wheat stuff, yogurt, whole fruits) and had packed fruit juices, veggie juices, and water for the shoot itself when I'd really need a sugar pick-me-up.

And again, I napped.