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  • Silvertree

    Mod post: No wishlist posts in blogs

    By Silvertree

    Please be aware that we do not permit swap-related content on profiles or in blogs. Please post this content only in the For Sale, Swaps, and Wanted forums, or in the Wishlists topic. ~from Swapping 101  Thanks!
    • 5 comments
    • 5,262 views
Thoughts from Yuggoth
 

The Poor Lost Dummy

ETA: SEE MORE RECENT POST!   I think I may have to bite the bullet and admit that, for the first time in all my BPAL buying, selling and swapping, the Royal Mail has lost one of my parcels.     I had a bottle of Monsterbait: Ventriloquist Dummy on the way from lorajc. She shipped it on the 8th of May - nearly 2 weeks ago - and it still hasn't shown up. Every other purchase I made from the 7th - 10th of May has turned up apart from that one. That is in no way her fault or my fault, just the stupid Post Office losing packages   I haven't had a problem before, but as I've bought literally hundreds of things off the Internet in the past few years, statistics indicate that at least one or two of them would be lost. Why oh why did it have to be a bottle of BPAL though especially a discontinued LE!   I'm going to go and cry have a big cup of hot chocolate now
Jenesis

Jenesis

3
Thoughts from Yuggoth
 

Feeling Miserable

This is just a general post whingeing about exams and end of term stuff that's bringing me down. I noticed this because, even though I personally don't get stressed out the way some people do, my body does! My insomnia has been worse in this past fortnight than it has been for a year, plus I have three lovely mouth ulcers and a cold sore, all brought on by my general tiredness. I felt a little coldey and fluey yesterday but thankfully it just seemed to be a bad day rather than illness. I was a little worried as my boyfriend's housemate currently has the flu, poor chap. Another lovely side-effect is a mild depression and aching/tired muscles.   At this point, I just want to go home I have one week of University left, with two exams - one tomorrow and one Friday - which I know I'll either scrape past or fail completely. To make matters worse, my father is coming to pick me and all my stuff up on Saturday morning so not only can I not go out on Friday night to celebrate with my friends, but I somehow have to pack an entire year's worth of stuff, including books, folders, bedding, saucepans, plates etcetera (not to mention my BPAL, securely bubble-wrapped!) while I'm revising for my last exam. My father has to pick me up then as it's the only weekend in about a month when he's home. I know it's very selfish, but sometimes I wish the office would stop sending him overseas all the time, especially over the weekend He's been working for them for thirty years and is retiring in December, give him a break! I didn't see him very much when I was home, and now I can barely see him at all. Mum resents all his trips too, but she knows he gets paid extra for it so she can live with it.   I have a bad feeling about my father's imminent retirement. I'll be happy to see him stop working and be less stressed, however I also know he's the kind of person who needs something to do in their lives. I predict my Mum will be able to put up with him under her feet for a week, tops, before they start screaming and shouting at each other. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he goes and gets a part-time job or goes and works in the Library on his book or something. Sometimes I wonder how they're still married.
Jenesis

Jenesis

0
I smell glorious
 

I have a tea set!

I am very pleased with myself. I managed to find a tea set that I like and that didn't toally break the bank. Between Mom (for my birthday present) and I, I have a teapot, two teacups, three mugs (which don't quite match but whatever), a cream and sugar set, and a tea caddy. Yaaay materialism!
myoubi

myoubi

1
Esscentual's Blog
 

RAMBLINGS possibly rated "R"

O.K., let's get one thing clear; I came out of the closet YEARS ago. Right in front of EVERYBODY. My staff, clients, Mom, adopted daughter, next door shopkeeper, suppliers, the whole shebang. I told them, loud and proud; I'm here, I'm STRAIGHT, get used to it. ................It took about 5 seconds for everyone to shrug their shoulders and say, "yeah, so?"........ And I thought it was a big deal to come out of the closet. I don't have any closets. Maybe I will try another subject next time I come out. Maybe that I became a Christian. That could create a little excitement, considering my "oh so bad girl" past. Or that I don't like clowns in any form or fashion. They scare me for some reason.   AHHHHH< I KNOW what to come out with next! The guy I am supposed to marry? I am not ready for it. Might never be. How's that for a screamer . ========================================================================== In order to blog here, the rules are;   You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use this Blog system to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise violative of any law.   Now, what fun is that? What if you don't know you are being inaccurate or profane? Didn't George Carlin do a bit in the seventies about the words you couldn't say on T.V? That's not a valid list anymore anywhere, is it? And the certain words you could say in one way, but not another? Something about pricking your finger... Ok, I understand not threatening, hateful (although I have seen some of that on the forum threads), harassing, illegal, but it IS a blog, which could mean a little levity would be nice. You know, let off a little steam? And all the above listed may be one thing to one person, and another thing totally to another. Am I being a rabble rouser? Sorry. Guess I will get another warning (BAD GIRL!! baad baad!!). Maybe I could put a rating on my blog, like the movies. PG for the kiddies, R for the adults, X for someone elses' blog. ========================================================================   I hate being broke. I am not used to this amount of brokeness. I am not good at poor. I am good at giving things to people. I enjoy making people smile. I can't do this at this level. It is very depressing. ==============================================================================
impadua@aol.com

impadua@aol.com

0
circe_blue's Blog
 

Exams etc.

I feel like doing this   Just calculated my grade and I need to do very well on the final (at least 95%) to get an A in Virology. Arrrrrhgggh! I don't think I can.....I've got a project for this class too, and ...just.....there's too much stuff going on Now I just feel like not putting in so much effort into the project and studying if I'm just going to get a B anyways. I'm not this grade-grubby usually, I swear. I just liked this class a lot, put a lot of effort into it so I wish I did better.   On top of that, I've been running around trying to find a moving truck for the apartment becuase while it was *implied* that we reserve the truck when we reserved the storage space, it is not so. I miss my friends, and I miss my bf. I'm tired of being cooped up in my room studying or writing papers/projects with no one to talk to. I am burnt out! And obviously I don't handle stress well.   All I wanna do snuggle up in bed with hot cocoa, turn down all the lights watch my new Pan's Labyrinth DVD and take a nap.
circe_blue

circe_blue

0
Starfish & Coffee
 

This Winter and Spring.

My mother died in early January. I've been a little out of the loop online. I've dealt with a great deal of family and administrative stuff since then, and am ready for a breather.   Next weekend I'm heading down to Portland with Brumbjorn's group for Convergence XIII. This will be my first road trip in over two years. Last year I tried to schedule a visit with family in L.A. during a May BPAL open house ... which was cancelled. Here's hoping that I have better luck this year.
byrdie

byrdie

0
Thoughts from Yuggoth
 

Graphics Cards, Frames per Second, Memory, Core Clocks, oh my!

W00tage! I have found the graphics card I want   The XFX 8800GTS 320MB. The brand is XFX, a reputable brand, and as mentioned in this article on MadShrimps, the XFX 320MB 8800GTS gives the best "frames per penny" rate of the bunch of similar cards they tested. This means that I'm paying the best money/performance ratio for it, which can't be bad! It's also under £200 on Scan, which I should be able to afford at some point this year   There is also another article on the same site, testing the 320MB and 640MB versions of the same card. To be honest, people, there isn't really that much difference at all, and certainly not £100-worth of difference. The 640MB can run at a few more frames per second (i.e. single-digit amounts more) on higher settings than the 320MB, and that's about it. The core clock speeds are the same and they overclock (if that's your thing) the same as well. Besides, very few games use more than 300MB of memory, let alone 600MB. I get the feeling this is just another attempt, and probably a successful one, judging by the sales, to appeal to the "mine is bigger than yours!" market of teenage computer nerds. Y'know, the kind who run their games on the highest possible resolution with 16x Anti-Aliasing because it makes them feel big and important.* Now, I'm not too fussed about AA above 4x (there's no discernible increase in image/texture quality above that), and I game at the most convenient resolution for my monitor. As said new monitor will be no bigger than 19", I think the 320MB will be fine.   My current card, a 256MB laptop version of the 6800, manages to run most things pretty well. It can manage The Sims 2 on mostly high settings with a couple of mediums, and it can run Half-Life 2 with no problems. It's in games like Oblivion and F.E.A.R. that the age of the card begins to show. It just can't handle AA at all, and only by turning the physics and detail settings down to minimum can these two games be played at framerates of more than about 10fps**. However, it should be noted that Oblivion is notorious for being a very demanding game graphically: It was released last year, before the 8800 chips were developed for consumer use, and very few gamers were able to manage it on the higher settings. It also uses a complicated rendering/shadow engine that, again, is notorious for being very demanding. F.E.A.R. is also quite demanding, for the physics and texture detail, and both of these games are often used in benchmark tests such as in the articles above. Tomb Raider: Legend is another benchmarker, a rather newer game that actually runs quite well on older systems thanks to an options/setting set that's a bit more customisable. I could run the demo of that with no problems on the lower or medium settings.   I think my processor may have something to add to this as well: It's a Centrino (Intel, uuuurgh) 1.8GHz single-core. Veeery slow and a bit clunky at times. It can't be bottlenecking the system, as the rest of the components are about the same standard, but it isn't helping. Thank the almighty that my new PC will be a dual-core! Having said that, I am quite attached to my laptop. I've had it nearly 2 years now, and for a laptop, it's done very well. When I bought it (or rather, when Daddy bought it for me ) it was the bees' knees, now it's a crap-but-still-above-par-for-a-laptop rig. It will do for work, the Internet and World of Warcraft, but for newer games I'll be using my new system. Watch this space for more rants, musings, thoughts and comparisons of hardware   Oh, and a review of Windows Vista, coming soon!   *I know, I used to date one. **Which is a pain in the behind because when played on a good rig, F.E.A.R. is a beautiful game.
Jenesis

Jenesis

0
Thoughts from Yuggoth
 

Pending Orders

Pending Orders   -------------------------------------   None   ------------------------------------- Past Orders   -------------------------------------   8th May 2009   5ml Strawberry Moon 5ml Velvet Nudie   CnS: 15th May Received: 22nd May   18th November 2008   5ml Candy Phoenix 5ml Snake Charmer   CnS: None (Was sent during USPS weirdness period) Received: Dec 20th   24th October 2008 (Trading Post)   Clockwork Scent Locket Samhain Room Spray   CnS: 4th November Received: 10th November   3rd September 2008   5ml Lilith Victoria 5ml Graveyard Dirt Resurrected 5ml Pumpkin II 5ml Pumpkin IV   CnS: 20th September Received: 26th September   29th July 2008 (Trading Post)   Explorer's Society Tee Imp Case: Witches Dancing on the Sabbath 2 Notepads Keychain: Triple Dagger Goblin Squirt: Dungeon   CnS: August 13th Received: August 19th   29th July 2008   5ml Schwarzer Mond 5ml Inez 5ml Doc Constantine   Imp Pack:   1 Antique Lace 2 Fae 3 Tweedledee 4 Nostrum Remedium 5 Stimulating Sassafras Strengthener 6 Eden   CnS: 2nd August Received: 9th August   18th May 2008   5ml Hand of Glory 5ml The Illustrated Woman 5ml Pickled Imp   CnS: 10th June Received: 17th June   22nd May 2008 (Lab eBay Auction)   5ml Geek   CnS: May 24th Received: May 30th   22nd April 2008   5ml Rangoon Riptide 5ml The Antikythera Mechanism CnS: May 7th Received: May 13th   18th April 2008 (Trading Post)   Dragon Moon tee Phoenix Steamworks tee Hell's Belle Claw Polish   CnS: May 17th Received: May 22nd     17th April 2008   5ml Te Po 5ml Theodesius, the Ledgerman CnS: April 25th Received: May 1st   25th March 2008   5ml Tiki King 5ml Upa Upa 5ml March Hare CnS: April 20th Received: April 28th   15th February 2008   5ml Love's Philosophy 5ml Ebisu Making Love as Two Octopuses Look on 5ml Mme. Moriarty, Misfortune Teller 5ml Severin CnS: March Received: March   19th January 2008   5ml Khajuraho 08 5ml Luperci 08 5ml Smut 08 CnS: February Received: February   7th November 2007   5ml Samhain 2007 5ml Plunder CnS: November 30th Received: December 14th   25th October 2007   5ml Ivanushka 5ml Samhain 2007 5ml The Perilous Parlor 5ml Gingerbread Poppet 2007 5ml El Dia de Reyes 5ml Vampire Tears 5ml March Hare   Imp pack #1 1. Schrodinger's Cat 2. Katharina 3. Event Horizon 4. Embalming Fluid 5. Iago 6. Sudha Segara   Imp pack #2 1. Bastet 2. De Sade 3. Fire of Love 4. Goblin 5. Whip 6. Incubus CnS: November 14th Received: November 20th   30th October 2007   5ml Black Forest 5ml The Lurid Library 5ml The Snow Storm CnS: November 14th Received: November 19th   13th July 2007   5ml 13 5ml Eat Me   CnS: July 28th Received: August 4th     11th June 2007   5ml March Hare 5ml Saw-Scaled Viper   CnS: June 25th Received: July 3rd     10th May 2007   5ml Imp 5ml Brown Jenkins   Imp: The Red Queen   CnS: June 6th Received: June 13th     29th April 2007   5ml Monsterbait: Bloody Mary   Imp Pack: 2 x Brown Jenkins 2 x Vice Imp Shub-Niggurath   CnS: May 11th Received: May 21st -------------------------------------
Jenesis

Jenesis

0
Thoughts from Yuggoth
 

Layering Thoughts

This isn't turning into a blog so much as an extension of my BPAL database. Oh well!   Layering   Vice & Velvet/Candy Butcher   I recently started experimenting with layering my BPAL. It started with Vice - I liked it, but it didn't really wow me, just a simple (if a little plasticy) cherry scent. After receiving Velvet and finding the same thing only with chocolate, I had the bright idea of layering them. The result? Sweet cherries rounded off by chocolate. The resultant blend can be a little too sweet sometimes, so I swap in The Candy Butcher (a slightly more bitter cocoa) for Velvet when that happens. With the Butcher and Vice I smell like a box of those hellishly expensive dark chocolate cherry liqueur chocolates. Yum yum!   I'm also going to try it with Bloody Mary when I get home on the 26th. As that's a cherry scent too this could work quite well! I will post how that goes.   Shub-Niggurath & Xanthe   This one's a bit more tricky to pull off. While in theory the scents work very well together, the sweet fruit of Xanthe drawn to Earth by the herbal ginger of Shub, the two scents have such radically different strengths and throws that it took me a whole day of experimenting, and I'm still nervous about doing it! My basic finding was that ginger AMPS on me. A LOT. The people in the opposite block of flats could smell me when I wore Shub. So, I apply a tiny, tiny bit of Shub first - using an Imp wand or a toothpick or something - and rub that in. I let it sit for about 30 minutes or so, and then I apply Xanthe as liberally as I do when I wear just that. That's a dab from the cap on one wrist, rub wrists together, re-soak cap, a small dab on each side of the neck, and rub wrists on neck. Quite a lot for some scents, but just the right amount for the shy clown.   After the Xanthe enters the drydown stage, the ginger of Shub comes back into play, and wowee! A gorgeous, fruity blend with spicy ginger in the background. The sweet sexiness of Xanthe with the uniqueness and individual spice of Shub. Just like me really   As an aside, I have an Imp of Shub coming from the Lab in the Bloody Mary order. I might (since I have two bottles of Xanthe) try putting a custom Imp together of 1/4 Shub, 3/4 Xanthe and see what happens. Just a thought
Jenesis

Jenesis

0
Thoughts from Yuggoth
 

BPAL Postage Price Rise 2

Why oh why do I have this incredible inability to get out of bed before 1030? It's really messing my work/revision schedules up. I guess it's related to my insomnia but I don't know where that comes from either. Oh joy of joys. (And before you recommend Somnus, all that did was give me a migraine .)   More Shipping Thoughts   I've had some more thoughts on the postage price hikes. This will not stop me buying BPAL altogether, as some of the other UK people seem to be rather dramatically going towards, it will just make me a little more thoughtful with my orders. Here is my reasoning (done in bullet points 'cause I'm a scientist and I like things to be simple):   - Postage before was $9-$11, or about £6. This was an AMAZINGLY low rate for a Priority box from the US. I've paid three times that for things from within the UK. - Postage now is $22-$25, or about £14. - This is indeed double, BUT it's only an extra £8. - I can live with that, especially in a "large" order... - ...Because for me, a large order is between 4 and 6 items.   - Thus, if we make a theoretical order using four items from the current catalog and compare the new and old prices:   -------------------------------   Old Postage   1 x 5ml [A Carnaval Diaboliqe] $20 1 x 5ml [A GC] $15 1 x 5ml [A GC] $15   Imp Set $19.50   Total: $69.50   Postage: $9 (four items)   Total: $78.50 or about £40.   New Postage   Same order: $69.50   Postage: $22.00   Total: $91.50 or about £48.   -------------------------------   Also, bear in mind that I've probably overestimated the pounds part, by assuming an exchange rate of $1.9 = £1.00. It's actually more like $1.999 or even $2.00 = £1 at the moment.   Now, this is an extra £8 on the order. Assuming that I could afford the previous price alright, all I have to do to afford the new price is not go drinking for one week or stop buying coffee for a week or something. (Or even save up all my coppers!) Certainly doable, especially if (like I already mentioned) I only order when I have enough wants to justify an order, which would be once every few months at the most. Also, I don't order lunacies or really Limited Editions (i.e. not long-term LEs) so there's no problem there. For this particular order mentioned here, that is a larger order than I've ever made with the Lab, and I think it would take about 8 weeks to save for that by putting £6-7 a week away.   So there we have it an objective, scientific analysis of the new shipping costs as related to BPAL buyers in the UK. By the way, I am a student, so I know how being poor feels besides, if you save up for your BPAL rather than just buy it on a whim, doesn't it smell sweeter?   ETA: Another thought. BPAL is a luxury. Maybe this will make me think of it as such and not just another thing I bought off the Internet.
Jenesis

Jenesis

4
Squash Soup
 

Blue Moon order

I just wanted to try and put together my next order to be placed with the upcoming revisit of Blue Moon. It can't be as extravagant and my last one but as long as the new CD scents don't come out, I'll just focus on getting a few GC scents I've been wanting.   Blue Moon - Hopefully we'll have a few reviews before it goes live again but if not, I think I'll get two bottles just in case I ADORE it. $27.50? The Star $26.50 Y'ha-nthlei $15 Kiyohime Changes from a Serpent $25.50 Sunrise with Sea Monsters $25.50 Snake Oil $15 Whip $15 Sea of Glass $15
jessiesquash

jessiesquash

0
Thoughts from Yuggoth
 

Computers and World of Warcraft

Meh. Simple harmonic motion is SO BORING. And the word "simple" is a very inaccurate description. So I've come on here to rant about World of Warcraft and computers instead   World of Warcraft   I play World of Warcraft. I play it a lot, but it's not the only thing in my life. And no, I don't mind paying for the subscription because it's so good.   I play in the Aggramar realm. I'm a gnome Warlock called Jenesis, currently level 37 (trying to level fast though), specialising in Demonology (I want a Felguard!). I was looking around the WoW-Europe site earlier and I found the High-Level Armour Sets - these have given me a new incentive to get to Level 70 and go do some instances! I particularly like the Felheart armour set, a Tier 1 Raid set that can be obtained from mobs in Molten Core. So when I get to Searing Gorge, off to Molten Core I go   If any other BPALers are WoW (EU) players, whisper me and say hello!   ETA: Molten Core is in Searing Gorge, not Outland. Oops   Computers   I can't wait to get home on the 26th. Why? Because I will be building my new computer after that I'm aiming to have all the components arrive at my house the following Monday so I can build it/test it/tweak it/swear at it when it doesn't work all that week. Not that any of you are at all interested in this, but check out the specs:   Case - This is a sexy case Processor: AMD 64 X2 5200+ Dual-Core 2.6GHz Motherboard: MSI K9N nForce 590 SLI-Ready 8-Channel Audio with Creative Audigy soundcard OS: Vista Ultimate   The other specs like hard drive (500GB SATA), memory (2GB at least) and things are all a bit more changeable and so not concrete yet. Total cost: About £900, or $1750. Not bad for a from-scratch dual-core system. A bit annoyed about the graphics card though; I can't afford a new 8800 yet (check out this sexy beast *dribble* ) so I'm using the boyfriend's old 6600 card until I can! He got an 8800 for his machine and gave the old card to me. So I'm gonna have this lightning fast rig bottlenecked by an almost outdated graphics card   ETA: Must... resist... getting... credit... card... out... I WANT an 8800!
Jenesis

Jenesis

0
Thoughts from Yuggoth
 

BPAL Postage Price Rise 1

Today's Scent   So today I got my bottle of Shub that I swapped with naughteblonde for my backup Gennivre bottle. On first sniff I thought "Oh no!" but on application it mellowed. It takes a while to mellow on me so I had to be patient, but it was worth it in the end: Lovely spicy ginger! This is going to be my "spicy" scent. I don't have any yet, Chimera is just barely spicy enough, and all my other blends are creamy-foody or light. So all in all good. And by the way: DON'T LAYER SHUB WITH CHIMERA. I tried it out of curiosity, and oh boy did I regret it. I was scrubbing my wrists for ten minutes after that gaffe Smelt like baby sick   ETA: It does work well with Xanthe though! The uplifting fruitiness of the Clown is darkened and sweetened by the herbal ginger of Shub. Worth a try if you have both   USPS Price Hike   And so we move onto the main story of the day: The huge increase in International shipping prices by USPS. I started a thread about it myself here, but it's more expertly covered in this thread here. To US customers of BPAL that's not much, but for us UK citizens (and indeed Canada, Australia and the whole of Western Europe) it's crippling.   [ETA: The threads have been split, the main one discussing the prices as directly related to BPAL and possible solutions is here. The other thread mentioned above is mainly discussing the hike in general.]   The cost of shipping an order from the Lab to me is now $22.00, up from $9. That's over double the price. I don't know about you but this is seriously going to limit my orders. Good for my bank balance maybe, but not so good for the Lab, and definitely not good for new customers and newly enabled peeps. I really hope we can get a UK group order circle going. I don't order LEs much anyway (and certainly no Lunacies), but I definitely won't now. I can't justify spending $20-25 on a bottle and $20 for shipping of something that might not work on me.   So my plan is to plan my orders way in advance - say 3 months before I order - and make it at least two or three (GC or long-term LE) bottles and some Imps or other things of equivalent value. That's the only way I can justify spending $20 on shipping, where before I was happy to order one 5ml and a couple of Imps.   Such a shame
Jenesis

Jenesis

0
Thoughts from Yuggoth
 

BPAL Reviews

BPAL Reviews   Whenever I review a scent, I'll post a link to my post in the review thread here. This is also partly for me so I can keep track of all my reviews   13 (July 2007) Aziraphale Black Pearl Bon Vivant Brown Jenkins The Candy Butcher Carnivale Creepy Crowley Death Adder Death of the Grave Digger Delousing Powder Dorian Eat Me Enraged Groundhog Musk Fire Pig Geek Gennivre Imp Kumiho Lampades Mania Monster Bait: Bloody Mary Monster Bait: Ventriloquist Dummy Obatala Odin The Red Queen Saw-Scaled Viper Shub-Niggurath Spooky Tanin'iver Tenochtitlan Two Monsters White Rabbit Xanthe
Jenesis

Jenesis

0
Thoughts from Yuggoth
 

Introductions

Where to start..? Well, explaining the title for those who don't know would be a good idea! Yuggoth is the name given to the ninth planet (Pluto, to us) in the works of H.P. Lovecraft*. In some of his stories a race of monstrous alien beings from another solar system have a base in our own solar system on the ninth planet, as they call it, Yuggoth ...Not that Pluto is technically a planet anymore. While I do understand the reason for the reclassification (i.e. some asteroids are bigger than Pluto) it still tugs at my heartstrings a little. If Pluto had feelings (and indeed a personality and a brain etc.) it would be very upset. My Astronomy lecturer expressed the sentiment: "When I was young, Pluto was a planet!"   Anyway, I guess introductions are in order! Hi there everyone, I'm Jenny and I've been a member of this forum since December of last year (06). I got into BPAL when I saw "BPAL" referred to on the Lush UK forums, had no idea what it was and Googled it, coming up with the Lab's pages! I was intrigued and placed a small order (Hell's Belle 5ml and a couple of Imps) before joining the forum. I began to buy on the For Sale forum to further my collection. I placed another Lab order in January and I've continued to be a BPAL addict since!   Notes   My first order of Hell's Belle has since dropped off my "Likes" list, as my tastes have changed somewhat. I (now) love foody scents, especially fruit. Florals and I really don't get on; they go straight to "old lady nasty cloying soap" on me, and citrus and I have declared all-out war. I cannot wear a citrus blend without either gagging or spending the whole day with a nagging feeling I should have my hands in a bowl of artificial-lemon-scent washing up water. As I do enough washing up already as a student, this is a bad thing.   Layering   I don't wear layered scents exclusively, but I do layer some of mine. As far as layering goes, I'll try anything once! My favourite layering is Vice with Velvet or The Candy Butcher - sweet cherries rounded by the dark cocoa. I also layer Shub and Xanthe sometimes. Thankfully, foody scents tend to layer well, and as 90% of my BPAL chest is foody stuff this works quite well for me!   Favourites   See my signature link or the link on the right for my current Top Ten, but suffice to say, I will crawl over hot coals for Imp, run through a lion's cage for Xanthe, and maybe suffer a small paper cut for Shub or Chimera. Well, I would, if I didn't already have bottles of them   Thanks for reading this far, and keep watching for the updates of the BPAL-obsessed-physicist-gamer-violist-computer-geek!   *It should also be pointed out that BPAL is soley and wholly responsible for my Lovecraft fandom. I looked up "Arkham" after seeing it on the BPAL site and the rest, as they say, is history!
Jenesis

Jenesis

1
Forget Everything And Remember
 

*sigh*

I swear, one of these days I'll remember I have this thing when I have GOOD news.   But for now, notsomuch.   A friend just found out that she can't get the money to go to Thailand to get her surgery. She's getting gender-reversal surgery, or whatever the technical name is. As she puts it, she's making her outie an innie. Except that now, due to the selfishness of certain people, she can't. And I'm terribly afraid that this may be the last straw between her and her wife, who is taking the side of the selfish people. (I'd give more details, but it's not my story to tell.) I don't want that upheaval for her. I want things to work out, desperately, because she is a very dear friend. If I had the money, I'd give it to her, no questions asked, no repayment. She NEEDS this.   Another very dear friend is having family issues as well. And while they somewhat mirror some of my family issues, yet again, there's nothing I can do to help besides listen and be a shoulder. Apparently that's enough, but I feel like I could do more... but I can't figure out what.   I have no idea what's going on with the house, because after the owner verbally accepted our agreement to his counteroffer last Wednesday, and told the realtor to fax the papers to him, he has been incognito. No contact with anyone that we've heard of, and both we and the realtor have been calling him. My husband finally got ahold of the owner's boss (although I think the owner is actually just another realtor or something, not sure) and the boss said he'd look into it and call us back. Nothing yet, but we found out the other day that the listing isn't on the website anymore. Could be good, could be bad. I don't know, because, oh yeah! WE CAN'T CONTACT HIM.   Another random 'friend' IMed my husband out of the blue and started whining about how his wife is leaving him and he's so put-upon, blahblahblah. Whatever. Only contact us when you want something? Sorry, got enough worries on my plate right now, leave a message and I'll call you back.   I blocked my ex from my IM list today, after his amazingly insensitive and ignorant performance yesterday. I'd go into detail, but eh. Suffice it to say he was quite the know-it-all despite the fact that I've had depression about, oh, 12 years longer than him? But my life is great, I have no reason to be depressed. Hi, ever heard of clinical depression? And yeah, beta-blockers are just fantastic for depression. Except for, y'know, being for heart disease and not depression. And pregnant women just LOVE being called lazy for sleeping in! So I told him I didn't appreciate that, and he logged off in a huff. Oh well.   And now it's bedtime. Mrrrrrr.
Kitrona

Kitrona

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Is Anybody Out There?
 

Top Favourites

Quick post- more to come   51 Alice Arkham Bengal Black Opal Dorian Jailbait Katharina The Lion Mouse's Long and Sad Tale Persephone Queen of Sheba Whitechapel   LE:   Asp Viper Beaver Moon Boomslang Et Lux Fuit Green Tree Viper Hungry Ghost Moon Lotus Moon Pink Moon '05 Punkie Night Snow-Flakes
smallvoice

smallvoice

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circe_blue's Blog
 

designer dogs

A quick blog entry before I begin my exam studying/project finishing/essay writing in earnest.   ----------------- I confess that I've been really judgemental towards one of my close friends lately. Of course I never said anything to her face but I certainly thought it and I've ranted to the bf about it. You see, my friend recently dropped $860 (!!!) on one of those "designer dogs" that seem to be a trend now (ugh.) She bought her from some breeder in Delaware. First of all, I'm totally not down with designer dogs, cats, etc. even though I know that some pure breeds are in a way, designer. I just think that there are so many animals that need a home already, and once certain types of people (I don't think my friend is this type though) realize that caring for an animal requires time, patience (and the willingness to scoop poop), love, and yes, money (for vets, and shots) that these poor animals will end up at the shelter.   Of course, I know I shouldn't be judging her becuase it's her money after all, and she can afford it. She also has a bunch of other pets that she cares for very well. I dunno, I guess these thoughts reared their ugly heads Saturday afternoon when the bf and I stopped by PetSmart to buy cat food and toys. They had a bunch of animals there that needed homes, and were up for adoption. We met two Welsh Corgis one of which recently had back surgery so her two back paws were still not functioning as they should be. There was also a mini pinscher that had been rescued from a puppy mill and a bunch of cats and kittens. I was particularly smitten with "Erin" who was an adorable 6 month old calico. So cute I wish I could have taken in another pet but the cat I have now is most definitely more comfortable being an only. I made a donation but I still think of those cats and dogs. I hope they're going to good homes soon. I got my own cat 7 years ago from a woman who found him as a kitten, in a paper bag in the dumpster. She heard him mewling and actually thought he was a baby that had been left in there. Ugh, some people disgust me   Oooh! There was also this Great Dane that was someone's pet. I looove Great Danes so it was so awesome to see and pet one. He was lovely. Times like this I wish I just had a huge house filled with animals.
circe_blue

circe_blue

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HJackson's Blog
 

Adventures in Grocery Shopping

Or "Why Heather Shouldn't be let loose in a grocery store without supervision"   I just went slightly insane in the grocery store. No, I didn't create a scene. I decided to take cookies to game night, but I wanted to take homemade cookies, but not too much work, so I settled on getting a mix. Now, which mix... Chocolate Chip, Double Chocolate, Sugar, Peanut Butter, Oatmeal?? I discarded double chocolate immediately; I adore them, but not everyone worships chocolate like I do. I also discarded sugar, because of the assumed time and effort involved. Chocolate chip was tempting, but I can make ANY cookie a chocolate chip cookie... so no. Peanut butter was finally eliminated, after much hemming and hawing, out of fears of possible peanut allergies... not that choosing oatmeal prevents a peanut reaction, but it is less likely.   Anyway... having decided on oatmeal, I then selected some chocolate chips... some semi sweet and some special dark... after hemming and hawing over the size of which to buy, I remembered I had Bible Stoday tomorrow morning, and am taking dinner to a couple with a new baby... so off to fetch more mixes, etc. Then I recall reading on the package (as I looked to see what I needed to make them) that I could add butterscotch to them, too... so back to get some butterscotch chips.   What I haven't told you is that in the midst of all of this, I'm still shopping for other things... so I must have looked like a loon zooming all over the store, and then back to the same aisle over and over and over again to get more of the same stuff every time!!   Oh well. At the end of the day, I'll have: Oatmeal, Oatmeal Scotchies, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip, and Oatmeal Dark Chocolate Chip. But no oatmeal raisins, because I just don't like them. If I come across a dark chunk in a cookie, I want it to be chocolate, not fruit.   And that's today's insanity... I have to go... I have 5 pacakages of cookies to make, and a kitchen to clean before that can happen!! ACK!
hjourdenjackson

hjourdenjackson

2
portalkat's ramblings
 

Missing Pavo

February 11, 2007 - Totally devastated Back on the 24th of January, about 2 hours before I had to leave on a long business trip, our huge Moluccan Cockatoo, Pavo, fell in her cage and broke her wing. It was touch and go fo awhile, but Thursday, the vet thought that she was on the slow road to recovery. Unfortunately, a fungal infection must have originated in the wing and she began to have respiratory distress yesterday evening. We rushed her to the emergency vet at 4am and then had to make the horrible decision. We couldn't leave for 2 hours because we couldn't stop crying long enough to handle anything. We finally, now, just dragged ourselves out of bed, only to find an empty cage and her medications and food. She was with us for 18 years.   RIP, dear sweet Pavo, RIP
portalkat

portalkat

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elbow's scentblog
 

My name is not Saint-Germain.

So I tried Saint-Germain last night. It's sharp lavender backed with mellow amber (and carnation and moss, which I can't really pick out). It's a really good blend, but I think I'd like it much better on someone else. Specifically, someone male. It's kind of edgy for me, kind of aggressive, and I just can't get comfortable with it on myself. Too intense and attention-demanding. I wonder how much of that is me associating it with other scents I've smelled on guys, and how much of it is the scent really not being a good fit for me.   That reminds me, a cute guy sat down next to me on the bus the other morning, and I caught just the faintest whiff of his aftershave, and it was so yummy. I kept trying to inhale more of it without being conspicuous, and trying to pick out notes, and wondering if I would have liked it as well if it had been on someone I wasn't attracted to. I might not even have noticed it before I started this whole nose self-education program. I've been a lot more tuned in to smells lately.
elbow

elbow

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grimms_creed's Blog
 

I want my smellies!

I ordered a bunch of imps and a 5ml of Eden 2 weeks ago. I know that the lab has a long turn around time, and that I need to be patient and wait my turn, but I want them now!!!!!   In other news, Yew Trees has suddenly become my favorite scent. It's been a lovely outdoorsy fragrance for these nice spring days. Mantis, on the other hand, has become something sickly and almost alcohol-y. wtf?
grimms_creed

grimms_creed

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