Finally!

Finished, finis, fertig, done!!!

I finally, finally graduated from Massage Therapy School on December 20th.

With a 4.0 average, thankyouverymuch!

I took my National Certification Examination for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (NCETMB for "short") on January 2nd and PASSED! With high scores in every category!

I guess I'd better update my profile.

Now, I just have to go through the incredibly frustrating, expensive, all-around pain in the ass licensing process.

I have to get a state license, a Clark County License, and since I plan on doing out calls for my private practice, licenses for Henderson, North Las Vegas, and the City of Las Vegas!

And I also need to get a Health Card and Sheriff's (or Metro) Card.

The "wonderful" new state license unfortunately does not replace all the others, I have to get it in addition to them!

I'm not permitted to perform massage in my home (for pay), I can run my business OUT of my home, but am not allowed to touch anybody there (for pay).

The reason for all this crap is fairly obvious once you open the local yellow pages to the Massage section.

Here's a brief glimpse of the typical full page ads there:

"Blissful...Fantastic Asian Massage...Our Masseuses (!) will lead you to a blissful and relaxing experience...satisfaction guaranteed...hot oil rubdown...1st class full service full body massage...no rush attitude!"

"Superstars massage...excellent full body massage...treatment for kings (what about the queens!)...friendly and skilled masseuses (!)... hot oil slow caressing-secret touch...body shampoo and body scrub from head to toe"

"Awesome Asian Touch...hot oil rubdown massage...our job is to pamper you and make you RELAX from head to toe!...enjoy the tender touch of our friendly masseuses (!)"

Well, you get the idea. I must note that most of these ads are in lurid shades of pink and red, depicting cherries, lipstick (WTF?), and hearts, among other things, and also that some "masseuses" perform the "massage" in bikinis or lingerie (that's right there in the ad).

It's gotten to the point that the few legitimate therapists who advertise in the phone book actually have to put "non-sexual" in their ads, and I'm sure they still get calls requesting the other kind!

My school, and a few of my instructors especially, strongly suggested we NOT advertise in the phone book. I'm just going for referrals from my existing clientele, I'm not going to advertise at all, especially since my private practice will mostly consist of out calls (going to peoples' homes to perform the massage).

In other news, I had a fantastic Christmas with all three of my spawn, the younger two of whom I hadn't seen in a year (because of school), they are THISCLOSE to being as tall as their big sister, and I'm sure within the next six months they will surpass her.

Heh, heh, heh!

I don't know why I find this so amusing...maybe because it's karma?
I told her and told her when they were little not to pick on her baby sisters so much, because they might grow bigger than her and there are TWO of them.

Hmmm, didn't know I was psychic!

Anywho, it's time for me to order some yummy pizza and settle in for an evening of watching Silver play "Okami", it's like watching a movie!

I know, my life is all thrills and chills, innit? ;)