Blogs

Neo-Tokyo

Imp #3: Neo-Tokyo Note: Mid cycle. Imp fresh from the Lab. "Urban metallics and an ozone-tinged breath of electric light mingled with reedy bamboo, crisp mountain air, cherry blossoms, delicate orchid and a splash of playful, wet fruits." In the bottle: This smells like French double milled soap! (In a good way.) The cherry is coming out a lot in it. I am getting the metallic, too. Like wet, fruity, finely milled soap on the side of a steel wash tub, in the cold mountain air, where you poar fresh water over your head from a pitcher. On me: Cherry is moving back on drydown. Yay! (Why does my right wrist smell totally different from my left? It's cherry +5.) 1 hour+ later: Clean, metalic. I think that clean sharpness is the ozone. The fruit is gone, except maybe as the faintest hint of sweetness. This is a very clean scent on me. Not what I was expecting, but I think it will be good for work wear. Also, it's very light.

this and that from Antaria

January 11, 2007

Ugly

I've never been very selfconfident about my looks - but now I really want to hide myself. For about 6 weeks I have an inflammation right beside my eye. Sometimes its so pale that you almost won't recognize it - and sometimes - like now - it's 4cm in diameter, cherry-red, hurts and is the first thing you see when you look into my face. Well, and the doctors says that it will last at least another 6 weeks. I hate it. I think I should remain at home. Even scents which let me feel sexy (like Hymn) won't help - I just feel ugly (well I know I am) and I hate it how people look at me. For example my boss - everytime he's next to me he stares at it, asks questions and has an repelled expression on his face. My sweetheart says no longer "no you don't look ugly" - by now he says "I don't care as long as you are mine" - that's sweet - but sometimes I wish he'd lie again and tell me "no no, thats not that bad, don't think about it". *sighs* If it only would go away again ... well ... now, not in 6 weeks. And please: Never come back again!!

Antaria

January 10, 2007

heartspun's Blog

my first click n ship!

WOOT! Got a click n ship for the 12/12 order today (01/09)!

heartspun

January 10, 2007

You will hardly know who I am

What I'm reading

Ok, so I'm going to do my best to keep track of what I'm reading this year. I'm one of those readers who starts a million books but only finishes a portion of them, and I wish I wasn't like that, at least not quite as much as I am. So I'm sort of hoping that by listing what I'm reading here, it will give me a little impetus to actually get through the books. I'm going to number them, too, because I'm a Virgo. 1) Earthly Joys, Philippa Gregory - I mooched this book on Bookmooch. Yay for mooching! I just started it a couple of nights ago...go through the first couple of chapters, and then got distracted (by book number 2). However, the first couple of chapters were good, in that mindless, historical fiction kind of way. I really enjoyed The Other Boleyn Girl, so I will definitely go back to reading this one. 2) The Call of the Wild, Jack London - Saw it sitting on my shelf yesterday morning, and thought it would be a great book to read in the middle of January. Loving it so far, but I'm finding it a little emotionally wretching. I love animals, and the fact that some of these dogs die heartbreaking deaths is a little tough to read. But it's a great book, I can barely put it down. My volume includes White Fang, too, and I may read that next.

clover

January 9, 2007

Shiva's Blog

Knitting pictures and other pictures

I've been knitting a lot and I've got a pretty sizeable blog going here: Presence and also some pics of my house and stuff here: Home. Thanks people for your comments and sorry I wasn't able to respond invidually.

shivashiva

January 9, 2007

Lust

Imp #2: Lust "red musk, patchouli, ylang ylang and myrrh." Note: Early in the cycle. Imp fresh from the Lab. In the bottle: This smells rather perfumey to me. And red. Like Red Door? Or is that just a totally dissociated scent memory? On me: The "perfuminess" is starting to mellow. I'm not sure what it is I don't like. Is it the patchouli? Is it the ylang ylang? I'm not sure I've ever smelled red musk or myrrh. 1 hour+ later: This has mellowed down to a light incensy scent, like old books in a sacred library, or the library at Hogwarts, yes, I think this is a Hermione Granger scent -- at least on me. It isn't the lust I was looking for, though. *tear*

January 9, 2007

Do you have a flag?

De-crapification in effect.

Hubby and I have too much stuff. It's taking over our house. I am something of a packrat (if by "something of a" you might mean "HUGE")... I have: - bright fuschia-colored socks that were in style for about a minute in 1986. They don't have holes and are still kinda cushiony (probably because I've worn them twice), so I never got rid of them. With the exception of a few pairs, most of my socks can be dated to the early- or mid-90s. - underwear that I bought 10 years ago. If it still fits and doesn't have any holes, I still have it. Those account for, and I'm not kidding, at least 40% of my underwear drawer. - any piece of paper that hasn't been written on. If there's 2 pages left in the pad of paper, I keep it. This includes spiral notebooks from college (which was 15 years ago). - casette tapes I've had since college. I had a vast tape collection before CDs. I meant to replace them with CDs, and I did, for most of the ones I listened to most frequently. And now we're in the age where even CDs are being phased out... and yet I still have casette tapes. - VHS tapes. Same thing. I haven't looked at a VHS tape since we moved into this house 4.5 years ago. But I still have every VHS tape I ever bought. - clothing. I keep everything I've ever bought unless it is too worn to wear. I have sizes from 5 to 18, small to 2X. Some of them still have tags. And let's not talk about concert/band t-shirts. - and just plain crap. Half a cross-stitch thing I never finished. Half a bottle of shampoo I stopped using in 1998. A metric ton of various candle holders I never use. Junk I bought on various vacations. Books I read half of and will never pick up again. CDs I bought 12 years ago and are still in plastic. This crap has got to go. We have a four-bedroom house with a basement, and it's FULL. We are two people. This is no way to live. My sister (a single mom, she and her son live in a house they share with my mother) is currently unemployed and is wondering how she's going to make her car payment. I take one look around my house and see the answer. This is a great incentive for de-crapifying my house. It would benefit my sister. So I called her up the other night and said, "Hey, if I give you a bunch of stuff, would you be willing to sell it on eBay and keep the money for yourself?" She said sure. I told her I'd come over next weekend or the one after with the stuff. I bet she has no idea that my Subaru Outback will be FULL of boxes of clothes, DVDs, CDs, and books. She's in for a surprise.

filigree_shadow

January 8, 2007

Diplomatka

Cold

I want to start out by saying I know cold. I have lived in Siberia for two years and have seen my share of -53 degrees days. However, not even a stint in a Soviet gulag could prepare me for the cold I now have to endure in Kabul, without the warmth of a coal-burning electrical plant to fire my radiators in the depth of the Central Asian night. A lot of people assume that Afghanistan is a warm place, that it is mostly desert and that it rarely dips below 80 degrees. For those people I have two words: Altitude, baby. Kabul sets in the Hindu Kush mountain range and the capital is about 4800 feet above sea level. Its location between hell and the devil’s anus means that summers are long, dry and hot and winters are snowy, cold, and also long. Now, I know that everyone bitches and complains about cold weather. Even in Atlanta, I have known people to work themselves up over 50 degrees during the winter. However, these people have access to central heating and constant electricity. Here in Afghanistan, there is no electricity. Sure, during the summer there is central power almost 12 hours a day, but in the winter, you are lucky to get six hours every two days. Central heating is unheard of. That heat pump you’ve got out back or that sputtering radiator in the kitchen--Afghanistan has not seen technology like that since General Najibullah was around. In order to keep warm, Afghans (and white folk like me) use bukhari. These are little stoves with chimneys that feed into the wall. Generally, these are diesel or wood burning and need to be refueled every few hours. They heat only one small area, so running to the bathroom at night results in a severe and immediate drop in body temperature. Bukhari. My carbon footprint is bigger than yours! But there is another, more sinister effect of the cold: frozen pipes. Here there is no central water system, no sewage system: wells are the name of the game. White folk (like me) generally have a well in the yard and an electric pump that forces water into a tank on top of the house. Most Afghans in the capital have this system too, but outside of Kabul most people carry water in buckets to their houses—all year. When you have a tank, the miracle of gravity brings this water to your sink, shower and toilet. Frozen pipes prevent this water from reaching your sink, shower and toilet, resulting in dirty (frozen) dishes, unwashed bodies and solid streams of urine to greet you in the morning. This past weekend, my husband and I had the trifecta of cold-related problems: no electricity, frozen generator and frozen pipes. On Friday, we were surprised when our generator was frozen solid, so we spent the evening baking brownies by candlelight and drinking copious amounts of contraband alcohol. Saturday was even more surprising because when the generator finally started, we discovered our pipes were frozen. Forced to shower at my husband’s office on Sunday before work because we had NO water (Muslim workweek is Sunday-Thursday), I had no idea I was in for the greatest surprise of all: frozen pipes at work. Now, it is one thing to have to face your own frozen pee in the morning, but it is a whole ‘nother issue to have to stare down the excreta of your fellow employees. Plus, I had my period. Why am I telling you this? Because I don’t want to forget how shitty (no pun intended) living in this country can be. I don’t want to think for a minute that things were OK here and not really that bad and that I could do it again. You might read articles about Afghanistan that are romantic and poetic about the country, but when it gets cold, all bets are off. The beauty is gone and all you are left with is exhaust from a diesel heater and yellow snow. I have no idea how people live here in mud brick buildings with one room and no toilet or running water. I have no idea how they sleep at night with one thin blanket and go to work wearing a patu and no coat. No idea. White folk (like me) just can’t.

Confection

January 8, 2007

O - First BPAL

I decided to try O first. Here goes: "The scent of sexual obsession, slavery to sensual pleasure, and the undercurrent of innocence defiled utterly. Amber and honey with a touch of vanilla." Note: Early in the cycle. Imp fresh from the Lab. In the bottle: This is much sweeter than I expected! Something sharp... but not in a bad way, more bright. I don't know why I didn't expect it to be sweet, looking at the description "Amber and honey with a touch of vanilla." The honey is shouting out here, with a sort of Sweet-Tart-ish tang. On me: A little mellower, less sweet. The amber is coming out more. The vanilla is just giving it an extra zing. I'm not sure I put enough on to really get a wet stage and a drydown stage. My skin kind of soaked it up before I had a chance to order my thoughts. 1 hour+ later: It still has throw, despite the fact that I only applied a little. I was smelling it a tiny bit as I went about my tasks around the house, without having to sniff at my wrists. It isn't what I expected from other reviews. On me now, it is like warm, aching desire. I'm glad it has morphed into this. Here I go to put a little more on.

Filling the Periodic Table

January 7, 2007

Sourball Ho!

Update!

I'm completely overwhelmed by the latest update, with the Lupercalia and Carnaval Diabolique additions. So many great scents! I don't want to go through the whole list of every new scent, but the ones I'm interested in are: Svadhinaopatika -- the amber blends are OK on me, not great; they don't seem to last very long, but I love the honey blends and would like to try this Vasakasajja -- I've been really liking the champaca blends lately, so nice and incensey/floral Chintamani-Dhupa -- another incense blend that sounds exotic and romantic and great Khajuraho -- I sniffed last year's at a Meet-n-Sniff and while I thought I would love it, it was a bit underwhelming. All the ingredients sound nice though, so I should try a bottle Parliament of Monsters -- another incense blend. More please! Australian Copperhead -- what a great idea to do so many variations of Snake Oil. I want to try the blends that focus on my favorite BPAL notes, like vanilla or honey or musk, so this one with amber and vanilla sounds nice Death Adder -- same as above, with black coconut and vanilla Temple Viper -- same as above, with sugar cane, frankincense and champaca Western Diamondback -- if this had the leather from Dead Man's Hand or Quincey Morris, I will die! Wild Men -- maybe red amber would be stronger than regular amber? The additional ingredients sound nice In conclusion: I ordered Haloa (before the Yules disappear), Haunted (a GC that I've been wanting forever) and Australian Copperhead

dawndie

January 7, 2007

Druby's Blog

What I Own/Have tried: Imps

Bewitching Brews Absinthe Arcana Belle Epoque Bewitched Black Pearl Blood Blood Kiss Chimera (sniffie) Dee Jack Jolly Roger Lurid Penny Dreadful The Coiled Serpent The Raven Funeral Oils Embalming Fluid x2 Les Fleurs Du Mal Nocturne Dark Elements Inferno Sin & Salvation Anathema Black Dahlia Cathedral De Sade Dirty Dorian Envy Les Infortunes De La Vertu Lust Pride Sloth Vice Love Potions Desire Harlot La Petit Mort Lucy's Kiss x2 Muse x 2 Nefertiti Perversion Satyr Snake Oil Succubus Whip Diabolus Blood countess Bloodlust Bluebeard Djinn Dracul Lycaon Maenad Marie Medea Nosferatu Pain Wolf Moon 2006 Mad Tea Party Alice The Caterpillar King of Hearts Illyria Goneril Titania Wanderlust Eden Hollywood Babylon London Paris R'lyeh Ars Draconis none Rappaccini's Garden Black Rose Opium Poppy Wolfsbane The Salon none A Picnic in Arkham none Excolo Eris Hades Polyhymnia Voodoo Blends #20 Love Oil Black cat Fire of Love x2 Queen Red Devil Wolf's Heart Tarot Oils none Sephiroth none The Chakras none Panacea none Somnium Baku Carnival Diabolique Carnaval Diabolique Melisande, The puppet mistress Limited Edition Rose Red Smut Trick or Treat Creepy Schwarzer Mond Strawberry Moon Black moon Ace of Hearts Order of the Dragon Lucy Westerna x2 + 5ml The Carpathian Mountains Johnathan harker + 5ml Carfax Abbey Brides of Dracula + 5ml Wilhelmina Murray +5ml Dr John Seward + 5ml Bloody Sword Count Dracula +5ml The Castle R.M. Renfield +5ml Quincey Morris

Druby

January 7, 2007

Flickr makes my garden rock

I love the "notes" feature in Flickr. I took pictures of my brown, dead winter yard, and notated where I've planted all of my bulbs (or at least where I think I've planted them) The pictures are kinda boring, but I'm excited and looking forward to a few months from now, when things start sprouting, and I can match them up to the pictures. Have a look at all the ugly landscaping I'm trying to work around!

antimony

January 6, 2007

First Order arrived!

I just received my first order from the lab, and I can't wait to try it out! Of course, it's something I will do better to avoid, since I am about to go out and join friends, and I have no idea of my body chemestry. Still, I will try one tomorrow morning. I received my order: Anne Bonny, Blood Kiss, Hamadrayd, Scherezade, Swank, O, Lust, Sea of Glass, Sin, Neo-Tokyo, Prague, and Tintagel. Plus, I received two free imps: Seraglio The Bow and Crown of Conquest Funnily enough, the package smelled a lot like stepping into Raven's Nest Herbals. From that, I really feel that true oils were used.

January 6, 2007

heartspun's Blog

current orders

order placed 12/12/06: 6-pack of imps - alice, the lion, eden, dana o'shee, sudha segara, tenochtitlan order placed 01/03/07: 5ml bakeneko, 5ml svadhinaopatika

heartspun

January 5, 2007

Phone saga

The watchdog group didn't work out. We paid stupid Trinsic. They're going to disconnect the number entirely in 24-48 hours, so I'll probably be without DSL until Verizon can get us hooked up. I dunno how long that'll take, so if you don't hear from me, don't worry, for I am not gone. Ugh. I hate this.

January 5, 2007

More school

I mortified myself this morning. I rushed to get to school and was about ten minutes early, and the math classroom was empty except for the instructor, who looked like he was grading papers. So I came in and looked over my math, and I thought about running over to the admin building to get the add sheet I'd forgotten to pick up yesterday (and again today!) but decided against it. People slowly filter in, and this girl sits next to the instructor and starts asking him questions, so I don't want to interrupt that, but I do want to catch him before class starts, so I go over there, pull up a chair, and listen to what they're discussing while I wait my turn. Finally, I'm like, "Hey, I don't mean to be rude, but I forgot to grab an add sheet." He stares at me blankly and is all, "Add sheet?" So I say, "Yeah... to add me to the class... I spoke with you yesterday about it?" And he laughs, and loudly says, "Oh, I'm not the instructor." He glances back and then points to the guy walking in the door. "He's the instructor." Mortified. So I slunk back to my seat in shame. How awful. And everyone heard the exchange, but seriously, I'd only met the guy yesterday and I didn't really remember what he looked like, and... yeah. So freaking embarrassing. The rest of the day was fine, though, surprisingly.

January 4, 2007

Calmer now

As has become expected, I am doing much better today than I was yesterday. I am SUCH a freak the first day of a new quarter, seriously. Speech is going to be challenging, but I think it'll be good for me, and I already like the instructor. I got into the 8:00 math class and dropped the one that traumatized me, so even though I'll have to get up at 6am, I'll be totally done with school by 11:30, and that is really nice. I have missed that. I'm half tempted to do a 7:00 class next spring so I'll get out at around 10. But... eh. I'm not that much of a morning person, and dragging myself to yoga at that time was seriously difficult, and that was only two days a week. I like my Lord of the Rings instructor, too. I have a feeling that is going to be a good class for me; I just need to get reading. For now, though, I need to do some math! to everyone! Thanks for all the support!

Fishnets and Frankincense

January 4, 2007

Squash Soup

OH THE INSANITY

My wishlist just got crazy out of control. It's like its grown, divided and had babies like a couple of springtime rabbits. The worst part is that I'm BROKE.....yes the kind of broke that deserves capital letters, bolding and color. It's a very sad situation indeed. I'm wearing Mme. Moriarty today and I may have fallen into deep deep love with it. It is an amazingly beautiful scent, with depth and incredible lasting power. I may have to hoard it. I have a feeling it will age in truly lovely ways. At the moment I have one lone decant so I'm being very selective. Its so strange that it even works on me at all. Plum smells like stewed prunes on me and fruit of any kind is usually a death wish anyway. And if everyone else is swooning over it, chances are its just not me. (Snake Oil, O and Smut anyone?) Who knew! What I'm really dying for right now (I mean besides the parade of fabulouness that is the current update.) is Penny Dreadful. I got a chance to test it at our Meet N Sniff and have fallen deeply in love. I really knew that I would love it because I just can't get over how fantastic the name, concept and notes are. I mean where else but at BPAL could you even dream of finding a perfume of rich graveyard loam and noir perfume? But I suppose that is what drew me here anyway. My true favorites are almost always the really unique blends like Loviatar and Underpants. Hah talk about preaching to the choir. Ooh I enabled the one person that I swore would never fall for BPAL! My best friend actually asked me for my imp of Delirium, which I was happy to pass along since it was in my swap pile. Unfortunately the lid broke and then I made matters worse by cracking the vial and in the end, it'll probably end up getting poured into my bath. I'm just glad that even she of the "oooooh Paris Hilton's perfume smells gooooooood" camp can be dragged in kicking and screaming. And just in case you're wondering I forbid her from buying the stuff and instead gave her one of my extra bottles of Lancome Miracle (which is smells exactly like I might add) and she is happy. Ooh Seduction fizzies! I must have one or two or 5 million!!!!! (someone get the straight jacket, quick!)

jessiesquash

January 3, 2007

Back in the saddle again!

(Of course, when I say "back in the saddle again," Steven Tyler's voice goes through my head...) I don't really hide the fact that I work for a legislature, and today is the first day of the new legislative session. It will run until June. Anyone who reads this page will no doubt hear more about it than you will care to stomach. You will celebrate the end of it as much as I will. However, I'll try to keep a good attitude as long as possible, although I've already started it on a snippy, but personally meaningful note. I was beginning my dressing ritual, which during the session, is a much more conniving process than the rest of the year. I tend to create a bit of an image that serves as an armor. There's a few people, mainly my friends, who see through it, but I can even fool some of my friends. The administrative support staff in the office get intimidated by me during the session, which always dismays and amuses me. Last year's armor was some very nice pant suits, which I will of course continue to wear this year. The new additions to my armor include slightly above-the-knee pencil skirts, to be worn with very simple, long-sleeved tops. I have on such an ensemble today. Along with The Boots. The Boots are a new acquisition, and are black, knee-high faux suede boots, aprox. 3 inch narrow heels, pointy toes, and they have corset-style lacing up the back. From the front, I'm one thing, from the back, I'm another. The lobbyists will notice them, the senators won't. And in honor of the lobbyists re-entering the building in droves, I'm wearing Snake Oil as my fragrance. The choice was between Mme. Moriarty and Snake Oil, and I just didn't want to wear the Misfortune Teller the first day of the session. The Madame can be trotted out the second day. I also have on my new red jasper pendant, which goes with my red jasper ring. I wear the ring all the time. I purchased it in late November because I felt I needed a ring with a red stone to provide some grounding energy. People are very attracted to it, but also a little intimidated by it. So of course, I had to wear the red jasper pendant on the first day to ward off whatever demons may approach. I am only half-kidding. This year I'm feeling very aware of the energy that some of these people (the politicians and the lobbyists) create, and I know what I want to avoid. Today also marks the first day of the rest of my obsession, which is a really long story that I'm not going to tell. (How coy of me, I know.) Suffice it to say that a process of mine in a 12-year obsession is over. It makes me sad, and part of my recent red jasper wearing is to ground myself so I can move beyond that process. I'm not sure the obsession is over, but I know a certain process is over. That's as clear as I'm going to get. But rather than be wistful about the end of something, I'll endeavor to remember that on New Year's Day, it occurred to me (out of the blue, while working out) that we can all grow our own power to whatever level we want, and we need take back seat to no one else's. While I work in a place where supposedly "powerful" people move about, political power is only one sort of power, and I sometimes think a rather pathetic sort of false power. Getting elected to an office is a way that some people use to create their own power, because they're so needy that they don't know how to back off and find the power in their own center. Certainly, there's a few elected officials who aren't that way -- they either ran for office out of a true sense of public service and dignity (rare), or they found something inside of themselves while they were serving. I've seen that happen, and it's always very nice to watch. So let the madness begin, I have my look on and I'm really starting to think that most of them are completely full of shit. But I'll do my very small part to try to contribute something useful to the process. My my heart really isn't in it, not at all.

valentina

January 3, 2007

School daze

I don't even have an episode of Heroes recorded to soothe my wounded soul from today. My math teacher? Is insane. No calculators on exams or the final. This is an algebra class. He also does pop quizzes and collects homework randomly, and doesn't make use of the online math center that helped me so very much last quarter. This blows. Math was the class I was least worried about. Now I have to upset my whole schedule, and it's just aggravating, and I just don't like the guy, right off the bat. Although I hated my english teacher early on and we're on good terms now. I think I'm going to drop math this quarter and take it next. Now to figure out a good class to pick up in its stead... My eyes ache from my earlier hysterics.