Tag Archives: fun

[Male Grooming/Fashion] Ahhh… Jealousy! Billy Jealousy, that is!

Today actually turned to be a rather eventful day! I was at my weekend grind and my friend Brian calls me with the following dialogue:

Zero! I know you’ve been wanting to do a male fashion segment! I had a facial earlier with Dani of Billy Jealousy and I had another time slot for 7pm… but I thought you could use it for your blog! Do you want my spot? It’s for 7pm at Barney’s New York out in Northpark.

Naturally… I couldn’t say no… I am a personal fan to guys taking good care of their looks, rather than the common-man logic of “Argh! I am tough! I don’t need to smell like bergamot or patchouli!” I had also been trying to find a breath of fresh air with male facial care, cause most things out in the retail shops contain alcohol which is terribly drying to the face. I figured this was a great opportunity to brighten my horizons out! I proceeded to call my contact that Brian had referred me to, Alfred. I booked my appointment and would await my escape from the office.

When I was driving up… I had thought about my life with with facial care. I didn’t know much other than Neutrogena and Johnson & Johnson’s “Clean and Clear” brand of facial care products. Sadly with those products, I found it hard to use them every day and even now because they are terribly aggressive on attacking the face. The aggression ends up drying my face out badly…

Haggard from 9 hours
“Behold my haggard mug shot here!”

I would walk in to Barney’s and burn some time off in there at the men’s fragrance and grooming goods. I would soon be met by Alfred and make my acquaintance with him. He would ask if I needed anything to relax, so I would get a glass of champagne to unwind while I would talk about my aims with today’s trip. I would then exchange business cards and be led to the lounge.

Crisp Champagne
“Refreshing and floral…”

When 7:20pm hit, I would be introduced to Dani Rouso of Billy Jealousy who would be talking to me about everything while giving me a taste of truly refined men’s facial care. She would ask me a few demographic questions to get a good idea of what would be custom tailored for my needs and even educate me far beyond my narrow scope of the facial care products for men. The first thing she went over was over topical versus cosmoceutical.

Here’s Dani’s definitions on the two:

Topical: A topical is product that plays on emotions with fragrance to get you to believe that the product is doing great things when it actually is not so great for the skin.

Cosmoceutical: A cosmoceutical is a product that blends high end concentrations of drug and, in some cases, creates a positive emotional response while doing wonderful things for the skin and penetrating deep to achieve their results.

This was rather new to me, but it made sense… I know the products I have used are probably more guilty of being topical products. Dani was going to demonstrate some of be wonderful products from the Billy Jealousy line. The refreshing principles of the line were more along the cosmoceuticals. I was excited to feel a world of change on my face.

The first step was to get rid of the oils on my face. I would be layered up with hot towels to open up the pores and then I would recieve the application of the [Bar None] facial wash. The aromatic scent was like a splash of citrus almost like the official website’s description that says it may make the user think of an ice cold margarita. The facial wash was working deep on the pores and sweeping my skin of the excess oils. It worked on an unreal level that didn’t feel as harsh on the surface, but it worked in a deeper level. To me, it was almost an amazing level of clean!

The next thing to do was to exfoliate the dead skin and clean the skin of the grime. I would then meet [Liquid Sand]. This one was something I was felt quite fond of… Exfoliating is something I do enjoy, especially when I want to feel my best. With the over-the-counter stuff you can buy in any retail shop, sadly, some of those “microscrubber” beads are pretty big, coarse, and rough that it’s not much fun to do every day. Liquid Sand has microbeads, but these were far more refined… It glided across my face, but I could feel the very subtle beads sweeping my face and just bringing up the contaminants to be swept away from my face.

Dani had made a great note that on men, the skin nose has some of the biggest pores and trap a large number of contaminants. She would demonstrate one of her favorite weapons to counteract these gross contaminants: [Sucker Punch]. She would apply it right on the common problem spot, right on my nose. I would feel the Tahitian black sand and walnut shells scrub a little more aggressively on my nose, but soon after there was that refreshing tingle that was familiar to me. She would make note that there was also eucalyptis and menthol in the Sucker Punch face scrub. Even though it was on my nose, it felt like that one attack after the feint to sweep up the rest of the heavier set contaminants.

The next discussion Dani had with me was about maintaining the skin on my face with a simple defense. Lines and wrinkles are small things but also something that does come with time. She would give my face a light shot of [About Face]. It was a clear serum and a little bit of it worked quickly across my skin. The aloe vera was soothing as well as refreshing. I could feel some tightening, but that would soon be taken to the next level with another defender…

The eyes are a beutiful part of most people and well fatigue will sometimes give us the look of dark rings. Nights of hard studying and/or partying are probably the cause of those for most young guys in their twenties, unfortunately… Though some more fortunate individuals may not have to worry until their late twenties. I got to sample [Wipeout] with Dani applying just a small amount on my orbital bone and feeling it rise quickly to areas around my eyes. The puffiness I probably had from my stressing school life just seemed to deflate once the lactic acid worked its way in.

To finish things up, I would get nice treatment to soften up my fatigued hands… I would have my hands massaged out with [Golden Gloves]. I would instantly feel the effects of the Monoi de Tahiti just saturating my hands with moisture. I could feel the intensity of the moisture set in very rapidly. I can definitely say it doesn’t feel as gross as some of the over the counter lotions out there and the scent of it is much more pleasant.

This would end my facial care session, but Dani had saw the wicked scar on my chin and talk to me about the shaving line from Billy Jealousy too. She had found from me in the demographic portion of today’s session that I was a straight razor fanatic. She would then introduce me to Esquire’s 2007 Grooming Awards winner for best shaving cream: [Hydroplane]. Her demonstration of how slick and protective Hydroplane was proved to be phenominal! I got just a small application on my index and thumb fingers. Initially, it was clear and felt tacky, but Dani splash just a little bit of water and Hydroplane revealed its true colors… It just be came slicker and slicker like oil. The lubrication property of Hydroplane was just amazing to see, most of the foams and gels out there don’t even come nearly as close!

Shedding my old face for a new one
“Ah! I feel refreshed!”

From all this, I got a lovely lesson in advanced facial care. I do want to give credit to Brian of Global Fashion News, Alfred of Barney’s New York, and Dani of Billy Jealousy for providing me such a wonderful experience! I want to give Dani an extra big thanks on teaching me a little bit more about skin care as well as the mini-lecture over the importance of sun protection and even suggesting [Combat Lines] daily moisturizer with SPF protection should I decide to get on board with that. (At this time… Combat Lines is not yet posted on the site.)

I can’t even give enough credit to how awesome it feels to shatter the old face of mine in favor of a new one..! Check out the entire Billy Jealousy line on their website (www.billyjealousy.com) or at your nearest retailer!

Charity begets Elegance [Thank You Post]

This past Sunday, I got my friend Wendy’s computer cleaned to the bare system and meddled with her request to have the system running Windows XP again. It took me a few hours to get it going but once all was well, it was grand. Wendy felt bad that I didn’t drink too much on my charity effort and wanted to do something a little more classy for me. She remembered that at the offices of ZeroXR, all I just had was a bottle of Yamazaki 12 year old whiskey and remembered I was trying to keep it only for special occasions… Well last night she ended up presenting me something far too kind for anyone who’s a fan of me as a friend or my site.

Shades of Blue

I was rewarded with a 750mL bottle of Disaronno Amaretto and a 750mL bottle of Bailey’s Mint Chocolate Irish Cream. I didn’t have much to drink earlier in the night, but it was spectacular to finish a night of consoling a few of my very close friends with romantic problems to have those bottles in my hands. The Disaronno I have had, however, the Bailey’s was rather new to me. I decided to have some in the safety of the office of ZeroXR after hours over ice. The silky dark chocolate laced with a refreshing hint of the mint made it stunning to behold. The best way to describe it be comparing it to a drive in a very windy mountain road with the top dropped down and the temperature of the air being 70F to just relax in simple opulence.

The two new bottles of liquor have earned their place as part of my stash of thinking liquors. By thinking liquors, I mean products that will be a “staple” for when I am buckling down hard on meaningful posts for the site and that could definitely use something to unwind and unlock my potentials. Yamazaki is purely too special to be squandered away… That’s for truly joyous occasions. Bailey’s and Disaronno however are wonderful pleasures that aren’t too difficult to buy.

[Editorial] Empowering Debilitating Words

A while back… My dear friend dare2dreamer had told me quite the interesting anecdote that involved the skill-toy folks. The tale was quite interesting and I thought the resolution that came to it was quite good!

One of my friends had posted a video of his demos online and some egotistical fellow out in New York basically slammed him for his demo. This person went as far as picking out “flaws” in my friend’s demo and even went as far as calling him “mediocre” and his skills “amateur”. Of course, this bothered my friend… however, the guy out in New York claimed he was doing skill-toy stuff on a professional level and made claims that the mediocre skills would not be taken seriously. I decided to pick apart the “professionals” use of the word “mediocre” and decided to re-spin it as a positive. We were joking around and going “I’m mediocre!” with enthusiasm. In essence, we turned the word mediocre from meaning “ordinary” to “awesome”. We may even go as far as making t-shirts just for kicks and have my friend do another demo video of his skills with the t-shirt. In all seriousness, it should have never gone this far.

With regard to this uplifting tale, I can see how we as humans can let debilitating testimony get us down. I know with personal experience that I have let too many trample on me just for the sake of their own glory to just simply gloat “I am better/faster/stronger/[insert misc adj. here] than you.” I have been spinning attacks made on me to a better light, because honestly… what’s the point of getting disturbed with pathetic and cheap-shot attacks? The next time you encounter someone taking a cheap shot at you by saying something that is derogatory… Turn it into something much better!

After all… We’re all mediocre! 😀

Edit: Get your “Mediocre” and “Am I Mediocre Yet” Apparel below!

“Am I Mediocre Yet?” Shop
“Mediocre” Shop

A Ray of Hope and A Journey East

Well… Today’s been interesting. Found a decent little car windshield mount for my phone for cheap and I rather like it. It has my phone oriented in a way that can present my GPS clearly, which is very important for when that need arises. It didn’t cost me much coin and that made my day a little brighter. I will be testing it out on the open roads tomorrow.

Work at the office was rather relaxing for once and not at a frantic pace. I did however wire myself up with a 700mL “can” of Monster Lo-Carb and the reaction of my boss looking at the monstrosity of a can was priceless!

Really dude? Really? Thing looks like an oil filter.

Then my subordinate eating ice cream with chopsticks took the cake for the day… Yeah… A sad day indeed.

Things picked up knowing that Sol would be awaiting me at my residence. He will be accompanying me to my journey to Commerce.

My colleague wanted to meet up on launching himself as a brand on the web, so I would meet him up for food and drink while bantering about things. I did manage to network with him so it may lead to a tangent here on ZeroXR 13mg for a potential set of fashion and men’s care segments to keep unique content rolling. Rest assured, I will be playing with Linux distributions, games, and other technologies as well still. I am looking into the male fashion and care tangent as some have rather liked my work on straight razor shaving and anything for geeks looking into being stylish is always a good thing!

In 6 hours… I will awaken to drive to Commerce, Texas to discuss with my school about what I need to do before I may register for my classes and such. I know for sure that I hope to be back in the burg of Dallas by mid day to talk to banks and financial establishments on procuring monies for school. Let’s hope that I can hit the tasks I need to complete before everything surges at me like a river. I may have Sol assist me in logging my adventures tomorrow, so don’t be surprised if you end up seeing a few quotables from him.

“Zero?! Why aren’t you as studious with your updates?!” – Anonymous

Lately, I have had some of my fans a little upset that I haven’t been hammering away articles like a relentless machine… A lot of things have happened that I have had to “realign” myself and even balance out my mind. A good deal of people have been rather supportive of me which has helped expedite the process of rebalancing and realigning. My thanks this week goes to Sol, Rei, my Twitter fans, Yamcha, and my newest outspoken fan, Pistol. They all have kept me laughing, smiling, and most of all… having a great time!

Monday, everyone heard about me taking my aseptic training final. I was so sorely reminded of almost 3 years ago when I took the PTCB test… I took the 20 question test and finished it within 15 minutes. It scared me like my PTCB event… I walked alone but instead of waiting for the anticipation of my scores turning out in 3-4 weeks, I was able to get instant gratification knowing I passed. The night ended it a few rounds of celebration with Yamazaki.

Tuesday, I actually decided to go to extremes with my phone. I had grown rather fond of the _Alex_ ROM based in Windows Mobile 6.0 on my phone, but I couldn’t deal with the fact that sometimes the system was just awful slow at times. I wanted to have my phone as streamlined as possible but also have the cool “tricked out” features like the HTC Home screen, TouchFLO, and the HTC Cube. So I decided to do the most insane phone hacker thing in the history of my ownership of phones… I was going to build my phone completely from scratch. Naturally, I would have to get a “foundation” to build from… Thanks to the folks at XDA Developer’s Wiki on the Kaiser/Tilt, they had a link to the newest OEM ROM build for the HTC TyTN II using Windows Mobile 6.1. I would take that ROM and begin streaming the build into my phone… However, I had a snag that almost turned my phone into a paperweight… The ROM flasher utility had a hick-up and there was a warning that I needed to obey specific instructions to save my phone from being dead. I abided and given the blessing of whatever electronic deities were watching me. Eventually, the upgrade would finally finish and it would be grand. Everything from the unbranded HTC TyTN II was all there, but even though there was a tinge of the HTC TouchFLO control it was not quite my vision of the phone I had. I would have to add in the hacks and tweaks to give myself the HTC Cube, increased TouchFLO sensitivity, and even “steal” some elements from the wonderful HTC Touch. After finally getting that all set-up, it was time to restore use of my TomTom Navigator 6 to finally get a phone that is completely minimal of extra “features” for a device that simply works.

Most of the week was spent toiling about homework that I had to take care of at the office. I can assure you it was very boring and time consuming. I savored being able to put aside my homework to relax at the offices of ZeroXR, believe me.

Friday, Sol and I had quite a fun lunch. We hit up BJ’s Brewhouse in Dallas for some good Chicago style deep dish pizza and ice cold, hand made, draft root beer. We decided to do things proper with getting what I called the Death Pizza! I will say, it was quite savory and even meritted a laugh! The root beer was delicious and made the heat index of 95F feel like nothing.

Continue reading “Zero?! Why aren’t you as studious with your updates?!” – Anonymous

I know…

I am overdue as hell for the contest. Gimme a break here… LOL! I did have an aseptic exam which I PASSED WITH FLYING COLORS!!!!! Then on top of that, I have had a bit of a bad day for Monday that threw me off guard. I know that there was Cousin Sol and one other very close person that helped me kick past the bad. I had a wee bit much of the Yamazaki, but to celebrate a small victory, I am happy to at least celebrate with something very special. Tomorrow, I may not have time to read through and pick a winner… but the last 2 entries I recieved were rather funny.

I am about to hit the hay as the Dallas summer heat is really screwing with my head. A winner is nigh… don’t fret!

Queen – “We are the Champions! We are the Champions! No time for losers, ’cause we are the champions of the world!”

Today was the day that would decide my fate… It was either giving it my all or going home broke. I went to the examination room. It was a somber place. A halo of deathly silence came over us all. My pharmacist and instructor basically made a short speech going along the lines of:

I am proud you have gone this far and exceled on your practical final. Today will be the real test of knowlege and retention. Make me proud and take your time! I know you all can do your best!

From there, we were dropped the exam. It was a narrow line of failure and glory. Twenty questions and a minimal grade of 70% to pass. The math part tripped me up as some of my closest readers know that I had something derail me from concentrating at my optimum level. The scary part… It was like deja vu of 2005 and me walking out of the testing room. I completed my test and got it graded only 20 minutes after being issued the exam…

I would walk alone… but I found out I passed with flying colors!

I had to celebrate with something special, classy, and unique… So I hit up Centennial Fine Wine and Spirits for something to fit the bill. I found something that was worth the full price.

Yamazaki 12 Year Old Single Malt box

The box clearly just mentions what it is without flowery art and bullshit!

Yamazaki Bottle

The bottle glows with a liquor so fine that it begs to be drank from!

Beauty in a Glass

The smell is wonderful although a little overpowering from the alcoholic notes… The first sip was like a love story that met my ideals… A woman dedicated to me but had been separated from me, she had left me a love note saying “Wait for me…” almost 7 years ago and to be finally reunited with her. That was the first sip… every returning sip was like more of the love story being written on my taste buds. It was like something that a fantasy romance novel… Totally worth the price of admission!

I AM COMPLETELY AND NATIONALLY CERTIFIED AS A TECH WHO IS SKILLED IN ASEPTIC PROCEDURE AND TECHNIQUE.

[EVENT] Social Gathering at Times Ten Cellars in Dallas!

I have been meaning to kick back and really relax. So… I wanted to announce that I’ll be hanging out at Times Ten Cellars this Friday to relax and finally unwind! Everyone is invited to come and hang out with me to partake in some wine or other handmade snacks. Feel free to bring friends, I am always looking to make more new friends. I will be buying 2 rounds of wine, so if some of you are a little too greedy, you’ll need to chip in your fair share… be it buying snacks or more wine. For those who are not much into drinking wine… I encourage you to come down to partake in delicious cakes, truffles, and other delicacies. They do have sparkling water and soda, should you want to “drink” with me but not get a buzz.

I know some of you are the type that cannot shy away from the computer or internet, but I do have good news. Times Ten Cellars does have high speed wi-fi internet. Bring your laptop or wireless devices to hang out and relax with me! Times Ten Cellars has a very relaxed dress code, so come as you are… I came in there two weeks ago in a polo shirt, basketball pants and sandals, but the staff treated me like a well dressed enthusiast! If you’re a little “new” to wine, let me know and I may just buy you a flight of wines to try, savor, and taste if you play your cards right with me! Expect me in “casual slack” mode or “hardcore formal” mode. If you want “details” on my event, click on the picture of my “invite” below!

Time: Friday, May 9th, 2008 at 5pm
Location: Times Ten Cellars, 6324 Prospect Ave, Dallas, Texas 75214

Let us drink, laugh and be merry! For tomorrow we may die and never live again!” – Anonymous

[Contest] Bluetooth Haiku! Oh Yeah!

I will be giving away the Aliph Jawbone (in glossy black) to one lucky contestant! However… You have to enter to be eligible to win! These are the following rules:

  • You must enter with a haiku
  • The haiku is to be themed about Bluetooth
  • The theme can be about why Bluetooth is cool or why it is important to you
  • You may submit your poems as a comment on this post OR send it to info@zeroxr.com
  • The deadline is May 4, 2008! That is ONE WEEK!

For those who have forgotten how a haiku is structured…

  • It’s a 3 line poem
  • Line one has 5 syllables
  • Line two has 7 syllables
  • Line three has 5 syllables
  • Can be unrhymed BUT should you add rhyme, this will add bonus points.

For you grammar purists, I know that a haiku is supposed to be about nature… but for the sake of this contest, we’ll deftly ignore that. 😛

Contest Winner Fine Print
If you are a Dallas local, we’ll arrange a meeting location and I will exchange you the headset to your possession. The headset will be in as-is condition so any further damages will be the responsibility of your own.

If you are not a Dallas local and you win, please contact me ASAP to arrange shipping information with me. You will be responsible for shipping charges. If there is a shipping option you’d like to opt for, let me know and front the cash. i WILL NOT BE SHIPPING TO COUNTRIES OUTSIDE THE USA!

May the lulz be with you!

PS – I will be posting ALL submitted haikus on announcing the winner.

NEW ERRATA, DEADLINE EXTENDED!!! May 19th, 2008 by 12:00am!

Hang-Out Invitation!

Well, it’s a lovely weekend and I could use a good end to a chapter of my life. I invite you all to hang out with me and just be yourselves and possibly mingle with each other… Here’s the formal “invitation” form, click it to view it in its glory. If you have my contact data, gimme a call and maybe we can all converge at one place. If no one responds, no big deal… no hurt feelings here.