OK, so here we are getting ready for the first competition of the year. ISSE Long Beach. I love this trade show. Aside from it being in my own back yard, the convention center is right across the street from the Pacific Ocean. There is a restaurant in The Shoreline Village (located in between the convention center and the ocean) called Parker’s Lighthouse that my husband and I used to frequent when we were first married. He was a marine engineer on super tankers and the water taxis would leave from a tiny pier just steps from the restaurant. You can see the Queen Mary and where they used to house the Spruce Goose (it now lives at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in Oregon) just west of there... So anyways, this is the biggest beauty trade show on the west coast and if you haven’t been, I strongly recommend it. (That's me on the winner's stand last year with competition veteran Trang Nguyen on the left.)

The competition schedule has been out since Thanksgiving. This will be another strenuous competition event.Thereare five different competitions in total. We have; Hand Painted Nail Art (theme: Cocktails Anyone?) turn-in only, Mirror Image one hand, Mixed Media (theme: Rio Carnival) on site, Salon Success, and finally, Sculptured Acrylic Nails.

I can paint (a little) and I don’t think I will have any trouble with the rules regarding the Salon Success or Sculptured Acrylic Nails competitions. But the Mixed Media and Mirror Image, I’ve never seen on the schedule before.

Now, like I said, the schedule has been out for over a month and (here comes the gripe) as of this writing, there still are no rules posted for the new year! If you go to the website and click on the link to go to the Rules and Criteria, it says “New 2010 Rules are coming soon.” How can I prepare for a competition that I have no idea what the rules are? That’s like cooking for “Iron Chef” and not knowing what the darn secret ingredient is! I can’t practice something if I don’t know how to do it! Where are those confounded rules?

So I have a “call to action” here. If you plan to attend this competition, (oh shoot, even if you are just reading this) please send the competition director an e-mail and ask her to post the rules? Even if you aren’t competing in this event (you are at the least interested in it or you wouldn’t be reading this thing, right?), you will still benefit from knowing and understanding the rules.

I mean, what the heck?! Peace, out.

— Lynn Lammers