Answer Month 1 - September - Saving Face

I realize September is almost over but I just thought of documenting the whole Answer Year process. So, month one is all about age. More specifically the age of my face. I've never been one for moisturizers and cleansers and masques and toners and all that stuff except when I was a teenager and didn't need it. Unfortunately my poor facial skin has paid the price. I've noticed lots of sun damage recently and more redness than in the old days, so I decided to do something about it.

Luckily for me, a coworker who is currently a massage therapist (and cooking student) also spent 17 years in the beauty and cosmetics industry and knows exactly what I need. Specifically :

Day time: clean face with a gentle cleanser
apply Avene redness relief soothing cream spf 25
apply Roc retinol correction eye cream
Optional: Avene thermal spray water
Also: Roc multi Correxion tone perfecting treatment for brown spots

Night time: clean face with a gentle cleanser
apply Reversa anti-spot night care lotion
apply Roc retinol correction eye cream

The products should last about 3 months each, so for about $100 investment, not bad. I don't yet have the tone perfecting treatment, I ended up ordering it from Drugstore.com since no one local had it. Everything else came from London Drugs or Shoppers. Apparently it will take a month or so after slowly introducing each additional product for me to really see results. Liz says she can see a change already but she has the eye of a pro.

So there you have it, month one. I'll post some before and after shots at the end of the year (ie June 2011), then we'll see if it worked. October starts tomorrow but I'll be posting my October change on Monday after I try it out (if I don't chicken out).

The Year of the Answer

Or what to do when you turn 42. If you don't know what "the answer is 42" means, run, don't walk, to your local library and check out "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams. Or if you don't feel like all that exercise just Google it. The short description is from Wikipedia "In the first novel and radio series, a group of hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings demand to learn the Ultimate Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything from the supercomputer, Deep Thought, specially built for this purpose. It takes Deep Thought 7½ million years to compute and check the answer, which turns out to be 42."

The point of all this rambling is that I have decided to use my Answer year as a sort of self improvement boot camp by adding one change to my lifestyle every month. Hopefully I won't have as much trouble as Arthur Dent - "I seem to be having this tremendous difficulty with my lifestyle. As soon as I reach some kind of definite policy about what is my kind of music and my kind of restaurant and my kind of overdraft, people start blowing up my kind of planet and throwing me out of their kind of spaceships!"

Stay tuned!

I have an inheritance in Nigeria!

Here is one of the oddest scam spam I've gotten in a while. Not sure what I'm supposed to do to claim my inheritance or who those men are that he mentions in the 2nd paragraph . . .

"
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA
Our Ref: CBN/OHG/OXD1/09
Your Ref: ...............
TELEX: CENTRALBANK.
PAYMENT FILE: CBN/BEN/09.
Phone: +234-813-756-8862

Attn: Beneficiary,

PAYMENT NOTIFICATION.

Definitely, I know that this letter will be a surprising one to you.
Firstly, I will like to introduce myself formally as Mr. Lamido Sanusi, The Executive Governor of The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

I am officially contacting you today because your Inheritance Funds were
Re-deposited into the "Federal Suspense Account" of CBN last week, because you did not forward your Claim as the Right beneficiary. Well known to all, The Central Bank of Nigeria is the mother Bank of all commercial Banks here in Nigeria.

Really these men were unexpected by me because their visit was impromptu.
I had to ask them why they came to see me in person and they said that they were here to Collect the Inheritance Bill Sum of (US$4.5M) which rightfully belongs to you, on your behalf.

At this development I asked them who authorized them to come down to Nigeria for the
Collection of this Payment and they told me that you asked them to come and collect this Funds on your Behalf. In fact this was the biggest shock that this Bank have ever received so far because your Inheritance Funds is still in the "Federal
Suspense Account" of CBN, yet you sent these men to come and collect this Funds on
your behalf without notifying us.

We in this Bank do not understand why you sent these men to come and Collect your Funds on your behalf. If actually you want them to help you collect your Inheritance Bill Sum, at least you should have informed me as the Executive Governor of this Bank.

They actually tendered some Vital Documents, which proved that you actually sent them for the Collection of these Fund. Honestly, it really baffles me that you
took such decision without my consent.

Here are the Documents, which they tendered to this Bank

1. LETTER OF ADMINISTRATION.
2. HIGH COURT INJUNCTION.
3. ORDER TO RELEASE.

Actually, these Documents, which they tendered to this Noble Bank, is a clear Proof that you sent them to Collect this Funds for you. Finally, I told them to come
back and they promised to come back.

As the Governor of this Noble Bank, I was supposed to Release this Funds to them but I refused to do so because I wanted to hear from you first. Due to the Nature of my job, I will not want to make any mistake in Releasing this Funds to anyone except you whom is the Recognized Bonafide Beneficiary to this Funds.

Kindly clarify us on this issue before we make this Payment to these foreigners whom
came on your behalf. In receipt of this confidential Letter, you are required to respond immediately to this email: with your full name, address and phone number for
reconfirmation and immediate action.

You are to call me immmediately you receive this email with my direct cell phone for
more information on the way forward +234-813-756-8862

OFFICIALLY SIGNED.
Governor.Lamido Sanusi
"