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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!
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The Road to Santiago
 

I'm here and have been...

I've been in France for almost three weeks, but have been unable to post about the trip so far because the first hotel where I stayed (in the toxic industrial town of Melle) claimed to have internet access, which they in fact did not. Plus, three days after I arrived I became so ill I was making phone calls home to tell people I loved them, because I was sincerely convinced I was going to die. The hotel owner wanted to take me to the hospital, but I couldn't even come up with the energy to agree. I was extremely ill for about 12 days. On top of that, customs seized my bike and tore him apart looking for what? Drugs? That I mailed to myself? Assholes. So I had to rebuild Morpheus when he finally turned up. Somehow, I managed to get some work done. A couple of the churches in Melle had been restored, which is nice for the tourists, but I have to wonder how true to the original some of the sculpture is, you know? I think things are sometimes simplified and sanitized for mass consumption. I have to say, though, that two of the churches (St.-Hilaire and St.-Pierre) were completely awe-inspiring in their sheer mass. I felt very insignificant standing in the nave, looking up at the stone vaults high above. The one church I was unable to go inside (St.-Savinien) is the only one that had truly "obscene" elements. Below, notice the couple doing the nasty and a man with an erection crawling along. Both of these are on the west facade of the church-- right by the main entrance.   A few miles outside of town I discovered a little church that had very little sculpture, but what sculpture it did have was nothing but monsters. No religious theme anywhere. I am particularly intrigued by column swallowers and find them particularly phallic, although one of my colleagues disagrees with me. Here's the swallower on the south side of the portal, notice the little hand up to his pointy ear. His compatriot across the portal has left trails in the column with his teeth. You can't tell me that's not phallic.   I think I was made ill by the factory in Melle. I still had five days left in the town yet my work there was finished. I gathered up my strength and checked out of the hotel, loaded up my bike, and pedaled 20 miles to the south to the tiny village of Aulnay de Saintonge, whose church I've wanted to visit for years, if for nothing else than to see the ass playing a harp. What I didn't realize is that the ass also has an erection. In most tourist literature, that part has been photoshopped out. I spent two days in Aulnay and being there was like some sort of healing medicine for me. Every time I have waves of strong emotion, I can't help but wonder if twelfth century pilgrims felt the same way. I really felt connected to that place and felt completely at peace there. I had planned to ride out of Aulnay and down to Cognac, but the proprietor suggested that, as a historian, I might like the old Roman town of Saintes better, so I took a chance and rode about 35 miles down to Saintes, a town full of medieval and Roman remains (and fantastic shops and restaurants!). Here was another place I felt completely connected to, and indeed, I would say happy. I had a great meal and found myself wandering a little drunk on wine along the banks of the Charente River at sunset,   purely blissed out and at ease.   The next day, I left for Pons, where I will be based for the month of June. Pons is a nice enough town, but I feel a little disappointed with it, especially after Aulnay and Saintes. The good thing is that I have a lot of work to do here to keep me busy and there is a train station (something that Melle didn't have), so I can go places if I need to get away. Saintes is a fifteen minute train ride away for $11, so I'm already planning on going there next Saturday for the day. I'm considering leaving Pons a few days early so I can go stay in Saintes and leave France loving a little bit of it. There's more to this story, of course, but I'm so behind in the telling of the tale, I'm just trying to get up to speed. More episodes later!
Heretic

Heretic

2
cranberry's Blog
 

arylkin #2 - shipped

ok - last post for the day...   just got this from spacekitty today (6-2-06).   contents: Centzon Totochtin** - reviewed Dublin** - reviewed Euphrosyne - reviewed Fenris Wolf** Lear** Maledication - reviewed Pannychis - reviewed Phantasm** - reviewed Seraglio** - reviewed       lots here too that I haven't tried. this is so great!   6-16-06: shipped to Cordia Saturday.
cranberry

cranberry

7
cranberry's Blog
 

filigree_shadow #3 - reviewed and shipped

got filigree_shadow's #3 package from spacekitty today.   contents included: Florence - reviewed Jester - reviewed Kostnice - reviewed Magdalene - reviewed Penitence - reviewed Seance - thanks GC swap - this is beautiful! Thaliea - reviewed   ohh - I think I've only tried one of these - I can't wait to try these!   ETA: dropped off at PO tonight (6-5) to cordia
cranberry

cranberry

7
cranberry's Blog
 

filigree_shadow #2 - reviewed and shipped

received 6-2-06 from spacekitty.   Akuma - reviewed Baku - already reviewed Eternal - reviewed Grandmother of Ghosts - reviewed The Ghost - reviewed Haunted - already reviewed Roadhouse - reviewed   ETA: Ok, this pack is ready to send to cordia on Monday/Tuesday. If I can I'd like to send 2 packages just to keep them moving and make my way through this avalance of imps.   ETA: dropped off at PO tonight along with f_s 3 to cordia
cranberry

cranberry

7
cranberry's Blog
 

filigree_shadow package #1 - shipped

received 6-2-06 from spacekitty   Dragon's Bone - reviewed Dragon's Eye - reviewed Dragon's Blood ** Dragon's Hide** Dragon's Tears** Dragon's Musk - reviewed Dragon's Milk - already reviewed   along with this one, I got filigree_shadow's #2 & #3, plus Aryllkin#2. I am OVERFLOWING with imps! wahoo!   ETA: I've either got imps or bottles of all of these, so rather than testing any of these, I dropped this off in the mail to cordia tonight along with the package from spacekitty. But most of them I've only had a quick swipe (except Dragon's Milk - yum! and Dragon's Hide - smokey and sexy) so now I have to test and review them!
cranberry

cranberry

4
Squash Soup
 

on the subject of obsession

True Story: I was yet again waxing poetic on BPAL to a guy at work and like always, he was ignoring me. I knew that he was thinking of a truly fitting description of my insanity so I simply said, "Hey Robert. You know how you feel about those grass plugs you just planted in your lawn? Well that's how I feel about perfume." Suddenly the planets aligned, pure light rained down from the heavens, for a moment the world made sense and we understood each other. What a great moment.     He still thinks I'm crazy though but I certainly don't blame him!             P.S. My sister had a girl yesterday!! Yay! I now have two nieces and one nephew and I'm in Auntie heaven!
jessiesquash

jessiesquash

0
Sourball Ho!
 

Happy Birthday Marilyn!

June 1 is Marilyn Monroe's birthday! She was born June 1, 1926 (the year Rudolph Valentino died). I tried to post a live picture but failed, so here's a link:   http://sourballs.org/icon/marilyn_small   She liked teh smellies too! Her favorite was Chanel No. 5, but she may have liked BPAL for the sheer decadence.
dawndie

dawndie

2
Fishnets and Frankincense
 

Harpo!

I was still on my kick the other day about "The Philadelphia Story" and went online to see what DVD versions existed, and I found a box set of 1940's movie classics, that includes: "Casablanca," "The Maltese Falcon," "The Philadelphia Story," "Arsenic and Old Lace," "The Big Sleep," "Now, Voyager" and "Citizen Kane." Damn, what a set! It costs about $170 and I simply don't hold still long enough to watch movies very often, but it's tempting.   But actually, if I get a box set of classic movie DVDs, the first one that I must buy is The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection, which has their first five movies: "Cocoanuts," "Animal Crackers," "Monkey Business," "Horse Feathers" and "Duck Soup." They early Marx Brothers movies were the very best, when the boys still had their tendency towards political commentary and general weirdness intact. Granted, there's semi-cheesy musical interludes (remnants of the Vaudeville Days), but that's what fast forward is for.   I watched "Duck Soup" on the day of both George W. inaugurals rather than watching the real thing. Hail Freedonia! I'm rather certain Rufus T. Firefly was a more cogent leader that the W. could ever hope to be. That movie has one of my favorite Groucho lines, spoken at the "trial" of a political spy, played by Chico: "Gentleman, Chicolini here may look like an idiot and talk like an idiot, but don't let that fool you, he really is an idiot." Maybe now you see why I watched it on both inaugural days.   But as much as Groucho's acerbic humor makes me laugh, my favorite Marx Brother is Harpo. I was utterly fixated on Harpo when I was a little kid, and I still love Harpo. I am completely unable to look at anyone else if he is on screen. He is the consummate trickster. And he was really, really cute in his wig. Has anyone seen a photo of Harpo out of his wig? Gah. He and Groucho really looked a lot alike when out of makeup, except Harpo went bald at a pretty young age. I prefer to think of Harpo always looking like "The Professor" in Animal Crackers, because he was the horny little imp in that movie. Let's see... I have 3 Harpo figurines, a big "Animal Crackers" poster and a smaller "Duck Soup" poster in my office. That's in between the vintage Wonder Woman reproductions.   I think in a previous life, I had one hell of a good time in the 1930's and 1940's.
valentina

valentina

1
This Old Snark
 

Tummy Love

Valentina recently asked about favorite romantic movies and Snarky, as is her MO, twisted it all back to the tummy. She suspects this close association between heart and hunger is genetic as her entire family has spent a combined gazillion hours of their most memorable moments either consuming, making, or planning meals.     As per her comment on Valentina's blog, Snarky's all time favorite "it's all about the food" movie is "Tampopo". This is a classic of not only modern Japanese cinema, but of all foodie cinema the world over. It is a collection of short stories concerning various people and their obsessions with food. There's a main story involving a John Wayne-esque ramen-loving trucker (I kid you not) and a struggling noodle shop widow. This was the first movie that opened my eyes to food as love-play (and no, I hadn't seen "9 1/2 Weeks" yet) and sparked my life-long romance with teh ramen noodles .   This just says everything Snarky wants to say about how important food is in her life.   Other movies that come to mind are "Like Water for Chocolate" (Snarky still wants to make some of the recipes in the book), "Babette's Feast", "Big Night", and "Eat Drink Man Woman". She does not count that one with Penelope Cruz ("Woman on Top"?), because it was just. Not. Good. Bleah. So much wasted potential. Maybe it was because the "rival suitor" was the same actor from that meh sitcom "Good Morning Miami", also he played the optomotrist Miranda faked orgasms with on "Sex in the City".   What are your favorite foodie movies?   Today, thanks to Valentina, Snarky smells of Al-Shairan.
darkitysnark

darkitysnark

3
Denise's Cool Blog
 

Back to business!

*phew* I was going through total withdrawal without this forum for a while... I guess that is sort of a lame statement, but I truly don't have much going on in my life, and I'm obsessed! hehe.   I got TWO packages yesterday!   From Chouchen:   Embalming Fluid 5ml Frumious Bandersnatch 5ml (small amount left) Moon Rose (Frimp!) candy & sample of Lush soap (Frimp!)     From ReedSong (my first real SWAP... yay!):   City in the Sea Empyreal Mist sniffies of: Peacock Queen & Peony Moon   I can't wait to get the rest of what I have coming to me!     p.s. I started up a LJ BPAL Feedback page HERE... and realized I didn't know this existed... I just went back through all my sales/purchases/swaps to see if those people had feedback pages, and only found a few. If I did BPALbusiness with you, and you have a feedback page, let me know! Sorry I hadn't known about it before (i know you're not supposed to ask people for feedback, but this is me saying I want to leave feedback, just don't have your link).
eviltemptressdq

eviltemptressdq

0
Forum Updates and News
 

I built to breach ya

So, we were hacked.     99% annoyance, 1% actual damage done. The hacker yoinked the password hashes from the first 50 users, injected some malware iframes into one of the skins, and attempted to inject code to let him come back and fuck around (foiled!).     We ended up going through and reinstalling the forum from scratch, and fixin' stuff. We're keeping track of who changes their passwords when, but nothing is being done with it yet -- it may turn into a security mod, requesting a change of password on an annual basis.       Entry title: Voodoo Dolls.
ipb

ipb

0
Sourball Ho!
 

Defending Your Life

valentina's post got me pawing through the laserdiscs and DVDs for favorite movies in general, and I must babble about Defending Your Life. Albert Brooks wrote, directed and starred in a movie all about what happens after you die. It's a mix of Occidental/Western religion and Buddhism with some bureaucracy thrown in, because we all love that! Woo!   While I don't like everything Albert Brooks does, he's so dry and smart in this one plus it makes you think for days afterward (or years, but I'm slow ). The premise is after you die, you go to Judgment City and you have to "defend your life," and here on Earth we have to prove we weren't conquered by fear so we can move on to the next level. You're assigned a defense attorney and during your trial you're shown scenes from your life and the attorneys argue before a couple of Gods/judges about whether you faced your fears.   One scene is when he's 10 or so and is confronted by a bully at school, and he backs out of a fight. The prosecutor said he was afraid -- getting hurt, looking foolish -- while the defender argues that "he wasn't afraid, he was showing restraint!" Hee!   So what's my fear? Number one is probably not being able to to support myself -- living on the street, no money or security, where every person is a potential predator and enemy. So am I facing my fear, by working and trying to save, or just avoiding it?   *Edited for spelling, duh
dawndie

dawndie

1
Diplomatka
 

I Survived the Kabul Riots of '06 part 2

The next day (today) was the day of reckoning. Today I had to go and see for myself just what had happened. I choked down some Nescafe and went to my office. It was like a scene out of a war movie. The entire building was burned; the roof had caved in and there was the smell of an electrical fire in the air. I walked around to the side of my office and saw that it was still smoldering. There were papers and parts of computers scattered all over the ground. A few Afghan colleagues came up with sad faces and put their arms around me. I started to cry. It was so sad, all of the things that we do to help people in this country and this is what happens.   After the office visit, it was time to survey the house. A crowd of neighbors watched us drive up and walk through the gate. It was a complete mess. The windows were broken, there were chocolate chips smashed into the carpet, cans thrown around, furniture broken. The pearl necklace my parents gave me for my birthday was gone, but luckily my diamonds were still there. They had taken everything out of the cabinets and closets and turned them over. They stole mine and my husband’s shoes, our DVDs, our laptop, two digital cameras, two DVD players, two TVs, an iron, two satellite receivers and dishes and an external hard drive. I was so mad. It wasn’t as bad as I had imagined, but it was still terrible.   We cleaned up what we could and decided to never stay in that house again. I guess this is what it feels like to be robbed—you just feel so violated. I came back to the guesthouse and that’s where I am writing from now.   This is the official news of what happened:   Police sources have reported the following detail regarding the civil disturbances in Kabul on the 29 May 06.   The initial RTA involved 22 vehicles, several of which were overloaded buses. Six persons were killed as a result of the RTA and a further 5 were killed in SAF that immediately followed.   A total of 300 individuals were detained during the disturbances, of these 92 remain in custody. ANP claim that 12 of these persons were 'ringleaders' and 3 of them were armed at the time of there arrest.   NDS state that they arrested 6 Pakistani males in the Karte Char area (PD3). The individuals are believed to have been rioting in the area and were in possession of combustibles at the time of their arrest.   So far today the city has remained calm, a planned demonstration at the Kabul University has been dispersed through negotiation between ANP and rally leaders. A second demonstration in the vicinity of the Serena hotel has also been dispersed.   The immediate area of Sarae Shamali (RTA location) has been sealed of by a large number of Afghan Security forces in order to prevent any demonstrations in the area.   A curfew will be in place tonight 2200-0400hrs. Any persons stopped after this time will be detained at an ANP station until the reason they have broken the curfew is ascertained.   There are a lot of stories from my ten colleagues who stayed behind to fight. More on those in the next few days.
Confection

Confection

4
Diplomatka
 

I Survived the Kabul Riots of '06! part 1

I picked the wrong day to wear my sandals with four-inch heels.   Yesterday started out like any other: I went to work at 7:15, had meetings until 10:00 and then left the office to go four blocks to another meeting on gender issues. On the way out of the office, I saw three German ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) tanks moving down the road away from the Hanzalla Mosque in the direction of Taimani street. While an odd sight, I didn’t think anything of it.   I got to my meeting at the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief and proceeded to totally walk all over the condescending Afghan man holding the meeting (hence the four-inch heels, if you are going to railroad someone you need to wear stylish shoes). Basically, this guy wants to merge meetings on gender in the Afghanistan Development Strategy with meetings on programmatic gender issues which I oppose because in the past he was in charge of the meetings and nothing got done. When I got up to explain my position he acted like I shot his dog and then tried to ignore everything I had to say.   At 10:20 the phone rang, it was my husband but I didn’t answer because I was in the meeting. A few minutes afterward, I got a message from him that read: “I was told to stay inside rogur in streets because of car accident”. I had no idea what “rogur” meant so I sent back the message, “what?” but it didn’t send. I didn’t know it, but the network was overloaded which is what happens in Afghanistan when there is a bombing or kidnapping. At 10:40 someone at the meeting from Counterpart received a call that there were riots (aka "rogur") and that we needed to either leave for our offices or stay there. I called a car.   While waiting for the car I tried to call my husband but kept getting the “network busy” sign. As I got into the car, I asked Fraidoon, the driver, what was going on. He said that there had been a car accident with American troops and some people were killed. On the way back to the office I got a hold of my husband, “Where are you?” he demanded. I told him I was on my way back to the office. He said that there was a mob moving up Taimani street (the street my house is on, by the way) and to stay at the office.   When I arrived at my office, I went to talk to some of the people who were leaving from an earlier meeting I had left to go to ACBAR. I asked what was going on and they said 30 people were dead. The Americans shot at a group of people in Sarai Shomali (a place at the end of Taimani street where I buy plants and flowers) and the group decided to take the demonstration to the Parliament, the Ministries and any international group they could find.   I searched out our security guy—he was a mujahadeen back in the day—he acted totally nonchalant and told me to stay at the office, that it would pass. Besides, the group was far away. I turned on my four-inch heel with a “I am going home, I don’t know about y’all” and walked to my office to get my laptop. My husband called again and told me to get out of my office and come to his office across the street. “There are armed guards,” he reasoned, “you will be safe here”. I gathered my things and left my office for what would be the last time. At the door, a group of staff from Administration asked where I was going and a coworker urged me to go to her house. They told me not to go to my house on Taimani. The protesters were coming that way. I went to my husband’s office to wait.   At about 11:45 the shots started. We heard shouting and it sounded like there was gunfire coming from all directions. I kept searching google news to try to find out what was going on. There was an intense firefight around the corner. We thought it was DynCorp (big security firm with a bad rep among Afghans) but we found out later it was at the German Embassy. I stole looks out the window of my husband’s office. I tried calling everyone I knew, but AWCC, one of the only two mobile service providers in Afghanistan, was down. I tried to call my boss who was at the American Embassy when everything happened, but I found out later he was on “lockdown” in a secure place in the center of the Embassy and could not answer his phone. I called over the radio to let my organization know that I was OK. I heard a barely audible response—something about bombs and fire at my office. I tried to call two of my coworkers who live together to make sure they were safe at home but they both had AWCC phones. I called over the hand-held radio and got a short response from a woman I work with: “radio about to die”. I tried calling again over the next few hours but there was no response.   At 12:30 my husband and I joined his coworkers for lunch at the guesthouse adjoining his office. About ten minutes later we heard shouting and chanting and then loud booms against the side of the building. The crowd, taking advantage of a construction site across the street, was throwing rocks. One of the Afghan women who was there collapsed on the floor and started moaning and screaming. She obviously was terrified by the noise which brought back memories of past conflicts.   Once the group passed, we went upstairs to inspect the damage. A few broken windows, but that was about it. We went back to my husband’s office to wait. During this time, I was emailing my other boss who is in Bangkok at a workshop. Her partner (who is still in Kabul) had sent her an email saying that our office had been breached. I went out on the balcony to see what was happening. There was white smoke coming from the direction of my office building. My husband and I went back inside where it was safe and heard gunshots and explosions and saw people running from that direction.   I called my boss in Kabul and was able to get through. I told him what I knew and he said he would try to get in contact with the people still at the office over the radio. He said that quite a few organizations had their offices burned: IOM, UNOPS and a few guesthouses as well. There was smoke visible in different parts of the city. It seemed like there was shouting, gunfire and smoke everywhere I looked.   At 3:00, a former colleague of mine who just moved to Kabul called. “Your office is on fire and it’s on Yahoo news!” she yelled, with a little too much glee in her voice. I quickly got online and pulled up the slideshow she was referring to. There it was, my office, in flames. The crowd had looted it and set the computers and files in the middle of the street and set them on fire. The loud explosions we had heard earlier were gas cylinders in the kitchen being set alight. I started to cry. Then I saw something on the slideshow even more upsetting: houses were being looted. I panicked. At 4:00 one of the drivers from my husband’s organization agreed to take an unmarked taxi (all of his organization’s cars are marked with company tags) to the house to see what was going on. 30 minutes later he returned with the bad news: our house had been looted. They took the TVs, DVD players, satellite dishes and our laptop into the street and burned them. Nothing was left but the carpet, he said.   At this point the stress level was so high I was not sure how I could handle it. My husband, trying to find out as much as possible, sent the driver back with a camera because we were not allowed to leave the compound. He brought back the camera and we finally got to see how bad it was. Everything was turned over and smashed. They broke the windows, the dumped out our clothes, they broke dishes; everything was messed up. Then I realized I did not have my passport. It was in the living room at home. There was nothing to do, I got a drink.   I continued to check CNN and BBC to try to find out what was going on. There, on the front page, was a specific reference to my organization’s offices being burned down. I decided to call my parents because if they saw this and didn’t hear from me they would have assumed the worst. I told my mom all about the office and my house but told her not to worry. She laughed sarcastically. She was glad that I called, though, and I promised to keep her posted.   The person at my organization who manages the houses called and told me they would secure the house. I asked him to look for my passport and for my husband’s. He said that the group who looted the house tried to set it on fire but a neighbor intervened. Things could have been worse, I decided.   My husband’s organization gave us a room at the guesthouse for the night. I had a few more gin and tonics, all the while getting phone calls from friends and colleagues to ask if we were OK. Right before falling asleep, the guy at my house called to report that he had found our passports. I went to bed about 9, but woke up at 2 and could not go back to sleep. I kept wondering what had been taken, what did they want, how did this happen, and what could I have done to have prevented it. Without any sleeping pills at my disposal, I went downstairs to try to get my hands on some chamomile tea but the closest thing available was Horlicks (which is really gross and is non-narcotic so I am not really sure about all of those sleep-inducing claims). I went into the kitchen and struck gold: NyQuil. I knocked back a shot and went back upstairs. My husband was in the bathroom puking from all the stress.
Confection

Confection

0
Do you have a flag?
 

Entire GC Swap Reviews - Kakiphony Package #2

Cross-posting to Reviews forum and my LJ journal.   I got the second package from kakiphony, which incldues Leanan Sidhe, Neo-Tokyo, Obatala, Tweedledee, and Vixen. Here are my reviews.   Leanan Sidhe - Her perfume is a crush of Irish herbs and flowers, Gaelic mists, and nighttime dew. While the scent is strong, it's quite herby and green. Reminds me of Irish Spring soap and dryer sheets. It smells bright, clean, and fresh. It ends up (after an hour or two) smelling like a faint green floral. So when it's strong it's herby, and when it's faint it's floral. Interesting.   Neo-Tokyo - 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. Smells mostly aquatic to me, but sweet too. The florals are modest and not overly strong. This oil smells cute. I like it, and might get an imp of my own. Probably not a bottle though.   Obatala - Obatala’s ofrenda is soft, white and pure: milk, coconut meat, shea butter and cool, refreshing water. It's funny, I remember reviewing this when I first got the imp -- I thought the coconut had a suntan lotion smell and I didn't like it. This time I thought it would be different because it started out as a creamy, dark coconut. But after about 30 minutes, that suntan lotion scent I remembered was back. So... this one's still a "no" for me.   Tweedledee - Ridiculous! Kumquat, white pepper, white tea and orange blossom. At first, pepper. But that was for about three seconds. Then a very bright and juicy fruit scent came up quick and shared the spotlight with pepper and tea. I thought it was an odd scent, and a little jarring. I sniffed it again 15 minutes later and that weird discordant pepper note was gone -- it's mostly just bright fruit. This is an interesting scent, but I don't imagine I'd ever reach for this imp instead of other ones that I truly love.   Vixen - Lascivious, flirtatious, and vampy as hell. A true heartbreaker’s perfume. The innocence of orange blossom tainted by the beguiling scents of ginger and patchouli. Vixen reminds me quite a lot of Dior's Poison, which was my signature scent throughout college -- but it's better. It smells exactly like the description says it does. It's been on my list of favorites since the beginning and I expect it always will be. Vixen was one of the first BPAL oils I tried, and now whenever I smell it I am transported back in time to that evening, when I was in total awe that anything could ever smell that good. There's nothing quite like BPAL newbieness, and Vixen brings it back to me.
filigree_shadow

filigree_shadow

0
Do you have a flag?
 

Entire GC Swap Reviews - Kakiphony Package #1

Cross-posting to Reviews forum and my LJ journal.   I got the first package from kakiphony, which incldues Ave Maria Gratia Plena, Hymn to Propserine, Jazz Funeral, Jolly Roger, and Juke Joint. Here are my reviews.   Ave Maria Gratia Plena - Rosewood with Sicilian lemon peel, red Mysore sandalwood, pale musks, sweet mountain sage and a dusting of lily, night-blooming jasmine and orris. At first this smells mainly like lemon, but that fades into a strong floral. I can't really smell any sandalwood, which is too bad. I think there's some musk under there, but the florals are so strong I can't really tell much. I do think this is pretty, but it's not my style. Too floral for me. Lots of throw, and pretty strong.   Hymn to Prosperine - The darkening amber of faith’s sunset, deepened by the dark fruits of Proserpine. The first time I tried this, it went wonky after 20 minutes. This time, it's staying mostly perfumey amber that doesn't go powdery, and the dark fruits aren't starting to smell like rotten fruit. I'm blaming hormones for that first failure trial. This time it's dark, ambery, and only very slightly fruity. Fades pretty fast though; it's almost completely gone in an hour, leaving just a trace of amber.   Jazz Funeral - Bittersweet bay rum, bourbon, and a host of funeral flowers with a touch of graveyard dirt, magnolia and Spanish Moss. At first I can mainly smell the dirt, but it has a very sweet floral overtone. It turns into a sweet floral with a really lush, rich background. It smells humid to me and reminds me of a hothouse. This might be the only GC blend with a dirt note that I would wear. (I specified GC because I sometimes wear Queen of Clubs.) Good throw for only the first couple of hours, but it's still faintly there for several hours after that.   Jolly Roger - Sea spray with an undercurrent of leather, Bay Rum, and salty, dry woods. At first it smells salty and grassy to me. It's pretty green. Then as it's drying it smells more like an aquatic/grass combination. I like the scent, but as a perfume it fits my hubby better than me. Good throw.   Juke Joint - A bawdy, gleefully wicked and unruly scent: Kentucky Bourbon, sugar and a sprig of mint. The first scent I can pick out in this is mint. Then it turns into a sweet boozey scent with the barest bit of mint... blends like this are what makes BPAL the paragon of perfume excellence that it is. I have never smelled anything like this. It's like springtime, but it's a fun spring day -- like one of the days when you have a few drinks with good friends and you all end up skinny-dipping in the lake. The scent that I can tell is bourbon reminds me of my grandmother, which is kind of weird. Makes me wonder if Grandma was in the habit of taking a nip from a hip flask when I wasn't looking. Wears close to the skin; not a lot of throw.
filigree_shadow

filigree_shadow

0
Do you have a flag?
 

Grrrr. Women who shouldn't be moms.

I was at the airport yesterday picking up my husband, and I was sitting in one of those rows of chairs. A woman and her child sat down behind me, facing the other direction. For the next 20 minutes (until I could no longer stand it and got up and left), this woman lied to her kid, made him cry, berated him, and basically told him he sucked. Not only that, but she had this whiny nasal voice with a pitch that could bend steel, and she spoke very loudly.   Apparently the kid (probably 3-4 years old) had just gotten a Spiderman toy less than an hour ago, and he threw it into some baggage bin or something, and they had to sit there and wait for airport personnel to retrieve it for them. So the woman ran through the list of other things she could have bought with that $8 instead of wasting it on a toy for the kid which he then "threw away." She told him that his dad works hard for that $8 and it was not nice of him to throw Daddy's money away. She told him that when she told Daddy about what he did with the toy, Daddy would probably never buy him another toy again. She pointed to a policewoman and told him that she was going to go over and tell the policewoman what he had done and she would come over and arrest him and take him to jail. This is when the kid started to cry. The crying just spurred her on, she then described how miserable he would be all alone, without Mommy or Daddy and no toys at all either.   All of this because the kid had a toy and did what kids do when they have toys that look like superheroes who fly through the air: He threw it. She sat there and let him throw the toy repeatedly, and then when it landed in a bad spot she berated him for 20 minutes in public, doled out the "wait until Daddy finds out" threat, and then told him he's going to jail. Of course none of this is her fault, it's all the kid's fault. Unbelievable.   I have no idea at all what gave that woman the idea that it's acceptable to talk to a little child like that. I honestly can't imagine that it would be natural to anyone, so I guess she must have seen someone else do it and figured it was a good idea. Which sickens me even more.
filigree_shadow

filigree_shadow

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Filling the Periodic Table
 

Pictures from my garden - Flowers!

Because the forum limits the number of pictures per post, I had to split it up.   My miniature roses: I had a bad aphid infestation while these buds were forming, so these flowers are a little ratty looking, but there are a ton of new buds that should look beautiful when they open!   My pot of morning glories and moonflowers: I planted 2 of each, I'm planning to grow them up the balcony railing. I planted them kind of in the 4 corners, but I guess some sloppy watering moved them around a bit. The two little sprouts are the morning glories, and the two moonflowers are sprouting as we speak!   My moonflower seeds breaking through the soil: How awesome is that?!? I feel like I'm in 1st grade again! I am planning to take more pictures of them in a few hours to see how far they've come   My moonflower seeds 24 hours later:
antimony

antimony

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Filling the Periodic Table
 

Pictures from my garden - Edibles!

My strawberries:   My Habanero pepper:   My hanging basket tomato: I swear it's growing so fast I can almost see it happening!   My "Experimental" tomato: - I'm trying it out in a self-watering container made from a 3 liter bottle. I know it won't produce well or have the best-tasting tomatoes, but it amuses me. I'm going to wrap the container in mylar to keep the roots from burning.   My herbs: Thyme and basil
antimony

antimony

0
Fishnets and Frankincense
 

Your fave romantic movie?

If you had to pick your favorite "romantic" movie, what would you pick?   Romantic is indeed in the eye and mind and heart of the beholder. If you look up "romantic" in Webster's, you'd find definitions that include: "consisting of or resembling romance," "having no basis in fact," "imaginary," "marked by the imaginative or emotional appeal of what is heroic, adventurous, remote, mysterious or idealized," "marked by expression or love or affection," and "conductive to or suitable for lovemaking."   Indeed, what some call romantic, I might call sentimental and almost maudlin, and thus, unromantic as hell. And I'm sure others might watch my favorite "romantic" movie and wonder what was so romantic about people who were all confused, drinking a bit too much and acting snarky most of the time. But I do love "The Philadelphia Story." First of all, it's too damn funny and witty. It has Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn and Jimmy Stewart zinging lines back and forth at each other. The snappy repartee is delicious. But what I really find romantic about that movie is that for some people, when you meet your match, when you meet someone who can both dish it out and take it, you just can't let it drop. Ever. Finally you just give it up and give in to what's going on. But the fight is fun and it makes giving in even more delicious. That's a very romantic notion of mine, and "The Philadelphia Story" has it in spades. Sigh...   So tell me your favorite romantic movie, and tell me why...
valentina

valentina

6
cranberry's Blog
 

Spacekitty #1 - reviewed and shipped

Picked up my first package it the General Catalog swap last night and am testing my first oil tonight.   Contents included: hamptons - reviewed black forest- reviewed jabberwocky - reviewed la petit mort - reviewed mock turtle lessons - reviewed megaera - reviewed psyche - reviewed shango - reviewed   wahoo! I can't wait to try these!   ETA: ok, I've tested these all. I'm awaiting a new tin and then they are ready to send off to cordia. Woot!   6-2-06: ETA, I've sent these off to cordia - the tin that spacekitty used was just fine so there didn't seem to be a need to wait.
cranberry

cranberry

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