Adventures in Creative Problem Solving, Part 1

A lot of my most creative problem solving moments happen as result of one or both of these problems:

1. lack of money
2. lack of time

I blame this on being a poor student who has not so cheap hobbies and aspirations. Also, I have a thing for not paying for things that I think are unfair (more about that later).

That time I went to a major competition and didn't have my eyelashes.

Let me preface this by saying that the world of competitive ballroom dancing is intense and confusing to some who are a part of it but definitely all who are outside of it. A big part of it is costuming since you have to obviously look awesome when you're dancing and have to stand out enough to be seen by judges as well as audience members who are sitting far away. I would describe ballroom makeup as very similar to stage makeup, except more contemporary and more beauty-queen influenced. Fake eyelashes are a must.

Normally I have a few lying around just because I've buy them when they go on sale, and I tend to not throw out the ones I've used only once. (They're expensive!) SOMEHOW, I end up in the middle of Columbus, Ohio before I dance the National Collegiate Championships with ONE false eyelash. I dug through my giant makeup bag (literally, it's about 15 pounds) and could not find any of these aforementioned 'backup' eyelashes that should have been floating around.

I was due to dance in only a couple of hours, and I had no time to leave the convention center to find lashes and make it back in time to change and warm up. Oh, and definitely could not walk out on the floor (and be photographed by strangers) with ONE giant eyelash.

Luckily, with my brain, and a dash of luck, I came up with the understanding that my eyelashes serve the purpose of making my eyes look bigger. How could i make my eyes look bigger? I remembered that most people only look to the edge of the eyes when determining how long lashes are, so I took that one eyelash (which you're supposed to trim anyways), borrowed some random girl's sewing kit/scissors, and cut that one lash in half. I glued it into the edges of my eyes, added a ton of eyeliner, mascara, and some eyeshadow, and suddenly the world was alright.

not completely done up, but you get the idea.

Creative Problem Solving for the Win!