Sweet 16

I was did henna at my first teen party tonight. 20-30 teenagers, birthday girl was sweet 16.

First thing that happened was I arrived at the house to find no one there. About 5 min later a car drove up, man said I was at the wrong party house. I confirmed the address, and who he was. Turns out the party was at a different house, and the mom I'd been hired by didn't catch that on the event confirmation I sent her.

I get to the house, and I could hear the music from the street. Oh joy. They put me in a room as far from the music as possible, but it was still too loud. And then my nerves would jump every time someone came in the room, and did or did not close the door. Or bump the table. Or the time they all started jumping and dancing in the room and it made the wood floor shake. It was all I could do to not break out my teacher voice, but to keep a smile instead.

First thing I thought was, "man, I'm never doing teens again" Music too loud, too silly, too many smeared designs. But after the first half hour I realized something- it wasn't about how many I could do and how fast. They'd keep coming back for more. I think initially I'd felt this pressure that I had more teens at a party than I'd ever had before. The grad party I'd done was very tame compared to this. So I began to take more time. I also kind of chuckled inwardly at all the white kids and hard gangster rap that was being played. Ironically though, by the end of the evening, they too were complaining that the music was too loud, and the DJ didn't seem to want to fix it. They'd come back to my room just to chat.

Finally the end of my 2 hours came, just as I was running out of paste (thank heavens I didn't run out earlier- next time I'll pack an extra just in case) I'd made an announcement that it was almost ten, and this would be the last girl I'd be working on. Imagine the perplexed looked the next teen gave me as she sat down and started to point to the design, only to have me give her the remains of the tube. "I'm sorry" I said, "I'm out of paste, but you're welcome to keep it if you want a go at it." She took it, and it was amazing how fast the room cleared, allowing me to pack up in peace.

I'm tired, and my upper back feels like it's cramping. I prolly didn't pay attention and hunched over the whole time. I guess the main surprise of the night, is how quick I can be on simple designs now, as compared to a year ago.

I may think twice though before doing a party of that many young teens again.

Best laugh of the night was when a girl asked me how I got that bindi on my forehead. With a deadpan face I told her I'd pierced my forehead. Simultaneously she and 3 other girls are exclaiming things like "OMG!" and "didn't that hurt?" and "HOW?" I just laughed and said no, it's a sticker, and show the ones I'd brought for them.

heehee