transformation

First of all, if you haven't seen the new Transformers movie, go and see it. This was the most fun I've had at the movies in a long time. Not since Mr. & Mrs. Smith have I so thoroughly enjoyed a flick. It had everything -- a cheesy love story complete with a throwback 80s soundtrack, decent suspense, interesting camera work and he-llo ROBOTS! A good time was had by all [ even if the crowd we saw it with weren't quite smart enough to catch that early "I knew there was more to you, more than meets the eye" reference. Philistines. That's what you get for catching a movie at Metrotown -- the mall crowd. Yikes. ]

Earlier in the day I had indulged in a little transformation of my own by way of a long overdue cut & colour. On the way back from the salon we stopped by the Benefit Cosmetics counter at the Bay to see what was new. While getting made-up I inadvertently managed to shock the Benefit girl. "This is our new eye cream blah blah....Which eye cream are you using now?" she asked.
"Oh, I don't" I replied.
And she stopped, literally brush in midair. "You don't use eye cream?" she asked, using the same tone of voice I'm sure she would use if I just told her I didn't believe in brushing my teeth.
"Nope"
"Why? Don't you know that the skin around your eyes is the second most delicate on your body? Don't you know that it ages at twice the rate of the rest of your face? You really don't use eye cream?"

No I didn't know. (And to be honest at this point I was much more interested in which type of skin edged out the eyes for the win. But this didn't seem to be the time to ask.) I didn't know. She was shocked. And yet, amazingly I have survived 31 years without this knowledge. Earth shattering indeed.

I was a little intrigued and so a few days later I stopped by Wal-Mart and checked out the selection of creams. Did you know that there is an entire aisle in Wal-Mart that is all creams & lotions that do fundamentally the same thing - moisturize? If you believe the hype you need a totally different product for every nook and cranny of the female form, plus another if you don't want to age and two really because your supposed to moisturize day & night and there's a difference. Unbelievable. And we're buying it, literally, by the millions.

It reminded me of that part in Genesis where Adam and Eve are hiding and God asks, "Who told you that you were naked?" I think implied in that is the additional question "who told you that it was shameful?" Who told us that we absolutely cannot age, that wrinkles are the enemy? Who told us that we need to use eye cream and night cream? Who told us to scrutinize ourselves with magnifying mirrors and to try to scrub the memories off of our faces? Why is it a bad thing to resemble your Mom?

There is a line in Romeo and Juliet where Juliet is admonished "God gave you one face and yet you paint for yourself another." And I have to admit that I do think of that as I add a little colour in the morning in one place and try to take a little colour away somewhere else. I don't think that make-up is evil or that trying to look your best is wrong but why so much pressure? Why has the whole thing been so intentionally complicated. And why, why did I walk out of Wal-Mart with just a little tub of eye cream?

Oh. Maybe that's why.