Blogs

Early BPAL update

What a surprise to get the update today instead of Thursday! This morning as I'm hopping in the shower I'm thinking, "3 more days until the update, then I'll place my next order. What'll it be?" Pretty exciting thoughts for the shower, hmm? I'm so pleased to see the grapefruit scents back! Thanks to the lovely MichelleM at the last Meet-n-Sniff I got to test Baobhan Sith, which was very peppy and went on my Big Bottle list, but since it was DC I wasn't expecting to ever find it. I barely got to test Cheshire Cat last year, as I took a new imp to work and then dropped and broke it, but what I tried smelled nice. And all those Mad Tea Party additions! That's one of my favorite sections; King of Hearts, Mouse's Tale, Tweedledee and Tweedledum all sound great and I'll be keeping an eye out for reviews. On top of that, the planets aligned and I received last month's order today. I love seeing that little red, white & blue box on the porch. I received Monster Bait: Closet (a creamy yummy blackberry), The Masque and Montresor (which I had sniffed before, thanks to the lovely jj_j at our last Meet-n-Sniff, and knew I wanted bottles before they disappeared). Plus frimps, all from the A's and B's, 4 of which I've never tried. I love that aspect too, to be able to receive random scents that you wouldn't pick out on your own. What is it about these little glass bottles of smellies that is so fascinating? Sure, I place orders with lots of companies online, but nothing compares to the excitement of seeing an update, deciding on orders, and anticipating these oils. I placed my monthly order, but it was for the Seamus statue with Hellion. The LEs on this update weren't tempting enough; Dragon Moon sounded OK, but dragon's blood goes quite floral and strong on me and tends to overwhelm. I haven't gotten into the Celestials. And I tried everything I wanted to in the Carnaval Noir series and have bottles of my favorites: Midway, Snake Charmer and Gypsy Queen. So what better time to invite an imp into my home, holding a 10ml no less?

April 11, 2006

Brad Pitt's mental health

And I'd almost (hear me? almost) bet a bottle of Monster in my Panties that you're thinking I'm going to go off on a rant about Brad dumping poor Jen for naughty-pants Angelina. But I'm not. Jen projects such a damn normal image that I have to wonder if she isn't a seething cauldron of weirdness, and Angelina is so out there with her weirdness that she may have less frightening shit lurking beneath the surface. I don't know; you have to live with 'em to really know. But what I'm talking about is Brad's tendency to make himself look like his sweetie-pie of the moment. When he was dating Gwyneth and she cut her hair, he ended up with this blond floppy side-part haircut. I'm rather surprised he didn't sport wee little barettes in his hair, as did La Gwyneth. When he was with Jen, he had to go through that suntanned and highlighted and immacuately-groomed stage. Jen should have seen trouble brewing when he stopped giving a shit if he looked like her. Now with Angelina, he's kinda pale, dyed his hair really dark and looks like the earnest crusader for UNICEF efforts that his jeans, t-shirts and backwards ball caps. I want to say: "You're Brad fucking Pitt! Why do you need to make yourself look like someone else?" It just boggles the mind.

Filling the Periodic Table

April 10, 2006

Do you have a flag?

THANK YOU!

ETA: This was from April 10. I can't find the appropriate thread right now so I'm putting this here. Holy fricking crap. This has been one of the best days I've had in a long time. I'm thinking it ranks right up there with the day we brought our puppy Prudence home. I had so many packages delivered today that the mailman left one of those plastic mail bins outside my front door. And this is what was in it: My March update order with 5mLs of Peony Moon, the two Monster Baits, Saturn, and Uranus. And 3 imp packs with imps of all but two of the March GC updates, plus 13 frimps. YAY! I also got packages from herbhealer (Thunderbird!!) and sheila (with tons of stuff off my wishlist that I bought from her, including a 5mL of Beatrice, which is now my spring scent!). In addition to that, I got my "mystery box" from eBay, which had in it decants of Peony Moon and the Monster Baits! Plus tons of other stuff too, including 7 BPAL imps! I also got my fabulous order from Arcana, with soaps and perfume oils, and they frimped me a couple of oils plus a free big bar of Dia de los Muertos soap! And here is where I'm saving the best for last. I got a total of 13 decants that I bought from lorajc, including these: Snowblind, Skadi, Queen of Spades , and FORMULA 54. This has been my BEST BPAL DAY EVER!!!! Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who sent me these great packages!!!

filigree_shadow

April 10, 2006

Alannah's Blog

Order placed~ 4/10/06

Dragon's Moon Enraged Bunny Musk Pluto Neptune Imp pack #1: Eat Me, King of Hearts, Mouse's Long and Sad Tale, The Pool of Tears, Tweedledum, Tweedledee Imp pack #2: Baobhan Sith, Cheshire Cat, Phobos, Shattered, Hurricane, Undertow

Alannah

April 10, 2006

Home, for good this time.

I got home from Atlanta yesterday. I was there for a weeklong exam-prep seminar. I've mentioned on the forum that I am an actuary, midway through the 9 exam process of becoming fully credentialed as a Fellow of the Casualty Actuary Society. So, this exam covers a number of topics: Loss Modeling
Survival Models
Credibility Theory
Simulation
Interpolation and fitting
It took 4.5 full days to take a sprint through all of the material, including problem solving techniques. I would guess that the material covered would take about 3 full semester college classes. Unfortunately, outside of a handful of colleges with actuarial science programs (which generally only prepare people for the first 4 exams, anyway), the whole actuarial exam thing is all self-study. I've been studying for two months now, and the seminar I went to was basically an opportunity to fine tune which topics need more study, and to learn useful clues to look for in the wording of problems to simplify solving. I have 5 weeks left before the exam. I have scheduled for myself 32 hours a week outside of work for studying: 4 hours per day - Mon, Tues, Wed, Fri
Tursday nights off for dance class and sanity
8 Hours per day Saturday and Sunday
Ooof. This is going to be a rough 5 weeks. To get in at least *some* excercise, I am planning morning yoga a couple of mornings a week. I'm home for lunch today, and doing laundry. I will have to fit chores in at odd times, and will be needing all of my boyfriend's support. He's a sweetie though, and very understanding. I was talking to a number of actuarial students this past week whose spouses/partners didn't get it. Like, "Come on honey, you've been studying for like 2 hours. I'm sure you'll be fine. Put it down and spend time with me!" That's the nasty part, most study guides say that it takes 300-500 hours of study time to pass each of these exams. That takes a lot more than 2 hours each saturday morning. I had a boyfriend like that, and my abject misery at failing exams over and over didn't help the relationship any. Anyway, I have to go move the laundry to the dryer and head back to work. Oof.

antimony

April 10, 2006

This Old Snark

A Full Dance Card

Some of her distractions are also things from which she wanted to be distracted in the first place, though they tend to fall solidly on the "stess" side of the stress/eustress delineation. Still, she feels better knowing that her days are filled with deadlines and potential outcomes. Thanks to the forum, she's got Spring Switch Witch, Year-Long Deco books, and a brewing craft-for-smellies swappathon to distract her from the ongoing house saga (a frothy mix of one part stress to one part eustress mixed together with the swizzle stick of sticker shock) and upcoming followup mammogram. Mister Snark has been wondefully calm and supportive on both all-consuming, thought and time-stealing topics. She's a bit frightened to find that she is losing her memory of a time without him. Her vaunted (and often cursed) independence harumphs and settles down on the sidelines. She's layered LUSH's Skinny Dip buttercreme with Faustus to give herself a violet-tinged boost of assertiveness. They will get that house. And she will be healthy, whole, uncorrupted.

darkitysnark

April 10, 2006

poisonapple's Blog

Switch Witch and randomness

Yay Switch witch is starting. I got an email from my witch. It was cute and brightened my day. My person has such a cool list....I almost don't know where to start. She is kinda young so I hope I don't send her old fogie stuff...LOL As for the update...oh my acheing wallet. I should know better than to have a list. I almost never stick to it. I got Dragon Moon Snake chamer (x2) Gypsy Queen Belaine Shattered Blood pearl and the imp pack my hubby wanted. I am so bad. LOL I think I am covered this month..I have talked about doing another order on the 20th..but I think 6 scents are e nough for one month. I need to clean out my bpal box anyway...I got a few that just don't do anything for me Carnavle Torture King Moon Rose Red Pheomix Gamorrah Just don't do anything for me. It is sad because I really wanted to like Gamorrah. I live in the bible belt and was just dying to wear it out so someone could ask me what I am wearing. Oh well....I so need to write a few more reviews....

poisonapple

April 10, 2006

LunaDragonGirl's Blog

Colds are TehSux

So I woke up this morning feeling as though I had been run over by a bus. Blegh. Thought maybe I had just not slept very well but it turns out I have a cold. Headache, sore throat, sniffles, body aches...the whole shebang. I've been drinking lots of EmergenC and TheBoy made some tasty soup for me for dinner, with lots of garlic. He's a nice Boy. Spent a lot of the day on the couch, perusing the forum and the Spectra.net forum that I just joined. Mmmmm...MAC makeup goodness. I hope I feel better tomorrow. I hate being sick. I'm one of those people who feels guilty relaxing and resting even when I'm supposed to, like when I'm sick. It makes me restless. PS: The rain can stop anytime now...I'd like to put in a vote for some nice sunshiny springtime weather...if any of the weather gods/goddess are listening.

LunaDragonGirl

April 10, 2006

Make it magnificent

My super-favorite purchase of the moment: Blondie greatest hits with videos! I had a couple CDs already but couldn't resist getting a DVD of old videos. They're so much fun -- it looks like they woke up and said, "Let's make a video!" And Blondie dresses up in a Hefty trash bag and a bathing suit and some electrical tape and tube socks and Candies and they make a video. So great! Can I be Blondie? No? Damn.

Court's Vices and Musings

April 10, 2006

DISCOUNTANIMEDVD.COM

http://www.discountanimedvd.com/ ....Damn, I just made an order from here a few days ago, and now the final dvd of the anime series Melody of Oblivion has just arrived in stock...early! The sixth volume was not supposed to be released until 4/25...*headdesk* And here I just spent all of my anime budget money (yes, I factor this into my budget monthly ) on discountanimedvd's graphic novel sale...! *Hits head to desk again*

Court Analyst/Strategist

April 10, 2006

Peculiar pinup art

As someone who loves vintage pinup girl art and underwear, this homage to the peculiar illustrations of Art Frahm never fails to draw a titter: http://www.lileks.com/institute/frahm/art1.html "The Shakedown" is my favorite. The illustration alone is absurdly Freudian, and the description of it as being from Frahm's "Edward Hopper period" are spot on, although Hopper is probably rolling in his grave. OK, I just channel-surfed past the Home Shopping Network or QVC, or one of those channels, and they were selling some skank-ho trashy platform sandals that had a peculiar "Carmen Miranda goes to Africa" vibe to them. And they were $150. You know 50ish fat ladies will be tottering around in them, their tubby little toes with toenails pained orange (and always long toenails, because they're too fat to trim them properly) spread wide from the tonnage inflicted upon them from being placed at such an odd angle. Christ, these shoes wouldn't be cute on you adorable young things with really cute feet and skinny little legs. You'd look like you were wearing cement blocks on your feet that were painted in a black-and-white tribal design. Wouldn't it be great to have a goth home shopping network? Or just to have a few good goth merchants show up on QVC? Beth and Puddin' could do a BPAL and BPTP segment. I would pay good money to see it and of course would spend money like a drunken sailor.

April 10, 2006

Fun with homeownership

I mention in my About Me that we have a house with a bad attitude. I opine this because since we've bought the house we've needed foundation work, a new heating/AC system, plumbing work, and now gutters. We were hoping to put this off, but a few weeks ago we had quite a bit of rain: 10 inches in one day. Yes, 10 inches of rain in one day. The gutters were literally falling off the house with the weight of the water. So we hire someone to replace the gutters, who of course reveals rotting wood called "fascias." So this weekend has been another guy to replace the rotting wood. They bring down these pieces which aren't really wood, they're pressboard! Like a bunch of pieces of wood molded together. This has been on our house, rotting and falling away, for 35 years. Ugh. In general, I like our house. It was built in 1968, and the neighborhood we're in everyone still has the "original" house -- no one's done the tear-down-and-put-up-McMansion yet. We have a funky ranch layout which we love. These repairs aren't fun though -- it's not a fun new bathroom or great kitchen; it's gutters. No one gets excited about gutters. Gutters are boring and not fun.

April 9, 2006

Random thoughts, all happy

I must start today's post with a moment of love. Thanks to shriekingviolet (I corrected this from the original, where I called her "Ultraviolet." Sorry! If you're going to thank someone, it helps to call them by the correct name. Jeez.) and all the mods who helped get the forum running again and in its new, improved and expanded form, including this little blog corner. You guys are fantastic. I went shoe shopping today. Actually, sandal shopping. I wanted a new pair of black sandals, femme-looking, and I was having a hard time locating such a thing. I like the wedges, but a lot of the wedges with black uppers aren't very delicate looking. Picky, picky, picky... I'd actually purchased a pair of wedges a couple of days ago and hadn't worn them yet. I put them on last night and decided for the price I'd paid, they weren't exactly what I wanted. So I went back and found my usual salesman, who knows an addled shoe 'ho when he sees one, returned my first purchase and started on a new quest. I found what I wanted. I'd include a link to them, except they just don't look as hot in photos the way they do on the foot. They're Kenneth Cole Reaction shoes, the model is called "Float Ur Boat," or something like that. All black, kitten heels, a teensy wedge with canvasy edging, thong-style, and the thong has rhinestones and sequins (all black) on them. Got my toenails painted a nice burgundy, and I am ready to rock and roll. Foot fetishists, watch out. If anyone likes jazz, go buy Cassandra Wilson's new CD called "Thunderbird." The first time that I sampled "O," I was convinced that it smelled like b.o. on me. The scent had to grow on me, and it helped that other people would kind of have their eyes roll up in their heads and go "ummmmm" when they smelled me. A couple of people that I know did such a long "ummmmm" that I thought they were chanting "Ohm" like a yogi or yogini. And now, it's become my comfort scent. I love it alone, I love to mix it. But I'm really excited to get my order with Osun in it... it has honey and herbs, and that sounds OK with me. That CnS should be coming in a few days, since in my classic fashion, I ordered 1 LE bottle and then decided to go on a GC rampage. And then last week I went on another LE rampage. Do you know why I stay in the blogs so much? It's to keep my no-self-control, goodie-purchasing ass out of Retail Therapy. I am rather easily enabled. I have a dear friend at work, a great guy, our brains work in very different ways. He's terribly thorough and literally worries things to death. I am a classic Intuitive on the Myers-Briggs inventory and I will jack around seemingly doing nothing and then regurgitate a lot of work. My friend said to me yesterday: "You tend to read, think and write a lot faster than I do." A couple of weeks ago he walked into my office at the end of the day and said: "It's not that what I was doing today was so difficult, it's just that I had a hard time doing it." You have to love such goofy honesty about one's own self! It's a quiet day around the blogs, I bet you were all out panty shopping, right?

April 9, 2006

Whiskers and Whispers

Popping my wax tart cherry...

...but the tart doesn't smell of cherries! I burnt a tart for the first time yesterday-it was Alternative Breeding's Einstein-and I'm very impressed. They are stronger than scented candles-so strong that not only did my room smell nice, but the whole house did! The smell is lovely too-a refreshing herbal cucumber. And a very appropriate scent to revise my physics work with! I have loads of tarts to try out but since tarts take longer to burn away than candles, I'll have to wait until this one is done... I am so busy trying out new imps that my bottles don't even get the attention they deserve! So today I tried out my bottles of Seraglio and Cairo for the first time. (I bought Cairo in August.) I'm glad Seraglio doesn't have the 'soapy almond' note I got in a recent bottle of Queen of Sheba (which I usually adore) and an imp of Port au Prince-I think that was a certain batch variation that went a bit awry on my skin when the usual almond notes don't do that. But the sandalwood is more pronounced, and I love that. And my bottle of Cairo isn't as lemony as the imps I tried, this one smells more like sweet red wine with myrrh and other fruits, and also a hint of papyrus and lotus, and a dry note that makes me think of hot sand, which is fitting. To be honest, I don't feel bothered to do my coursework. The procrastination bug kicks in again, it seems. I'm getting through it veeeeeery slooooooowly. But maths is an absolute beyatch. Thank goodness I can go and see my tutors every now and then, when they are not at any conferences... My tastes in chocolate are getting more and more expensive. Sure, I love my Cadbury's and have been eating more Creme Eggs than is healthy, I just want something a bit more luxurious for Easter this year. I love all those yummy cinnamon and cardamom chocolates or the ones with strawberries and cracked black pepper and coffee beans and lemon peel and so on. I have my eye on one particular choccy egg or two but they are very pricey...about the price of a BPAL LE bottle each. maybe I shouldn't bother with chocolate and just buy more BPAL-especially if it smells of chocolate.

yeahbutnobut

April 8, 2006

wearing Rage

Yum! After the initial powerspice, it's not as geraniumy as i recall. Almost a year on this 10ml bottle and it's aged to perfection. Little changed from early days but some of the bite and clashing note edges softened. Still a strong one though, herbal touched and turned toward the floral.

KymbaKhan

April 8, 2006

...but then I got a CnS...

My day blew chunks, but then I got a CnS for my Monster Bait: Underbed order, and the dark clouds parted and the moon came out! (The CnS arrived at 8:04 p.m., sun wasn't around.) I am really, really tired after my week at work. A minor rant follows. I work for a state legislature and everyone in my office tends to specialize in certain policy matters. I was assigned a legislative bill last year that has morphed into something that's not within my subject matter specialty. Because it's a terribly controversial issue that keeps morphing, and because the person working with the subject matter that my bill has now become is the newly-hired golden boy in the office, my boss didn't reassign the bill to him. He's making me keep it and I'm going to be the one whose name goes on what may be a controversial analysis document. Now, WTF? Some of my coworkers told me it's because my boss trusts my work, but I don't believe that for a minute. I think he likes to run my butt up the flagpole and spares the men in the office. If the new guy did the work, my boss would have to trot along with him if a senator is upset, because the new guy is a poor little baby and we can't have his feelings hurt. With me, no way. And it's not like I even did that much of the difficult analysis -- economists in an agency did that work. But my name goes on the document, and we do have the ability to disagree with agencies. But I didn't, because it's damn near impossible to accurately figure out what's going to happen. I said there was no basis, at this time, to disagree. How's that for weasel words? And here's the worst part: I was telling my boss today about an obscure part of the bill and he said to me: "I didn't know that was in there... good girl for finding it." Now, WTF? I am not his fucking dog who retrieved a bone, nor am I a girl. I am fucking over 40 years old! Patronizing 'nadless sack of shit. And they all wonder why I have such an attitude. I do need to investigate those TAL blends and see if there's one for my boss. Any suggestions, TAL experts?

April 8, 2006

Work

So, I have a job. I'm an HR admin for an orthodontics company -- saving the world from crooked teeth. This means I send payroll to be processed, get everyone paid and signed up for medical, dental and life insurance. We have stock options and I prepare the agreements and keep track of all of those. I work for the General Counsel (in-house attorney) helping with contracts and litigation. In general, I like my job. We have a main office, but Boss Lady and I are in a different state and work out of our houses. I'm at her place 2-3 days/week, and at home the rest of the time. It's very flexible, in that I can run to the grocery store and do other errands if I'm caught up. I love that aspect -- I can be free for an hour or two, in the middle of the day! If it's busy, though, and we're working on a big project I'm expected to be checking email constantly and by the phone. Because it's a sales company, everyone's very outgoing and energetic. I'm told I have a pleasant phone persona and don't mind answering questions on the phone or emailing all day. The company is doing great (as far as I can tell, but I don't see sales figures). I feel fortunate that Boss Lady (whom I worked for previously) liked me so much she wanted only me for the job. It's exciting to be working for such a young and growing company -- I sometimes compare it to the Lab, in that things seem to have taken off with demand. What's no-so-great about it? Boss Lady can be abrupt and demanding. She likes me to make calls for her, then stands next to me and corrects me during the call if I've misunderstood something. Look lady, if this call was so important to you, and you don't have anything else to do at the moment, why aren't you on the phone? Other people can be demanding too, like I have nothing else to do except answer their vacation time questions over and over. Seriously, our policy isn't that confusing, and no you don't get all your vacation time for the year up-front. I don't care that "every other job you've had" did that -- that's a stupid way to do things, because if you left a week later we'd owe you that unearned vacation time. Does that make any sense to you? Go sell something. It's not an exciting, artistic job, but with DH's job we can pay the bills and have fun money left over. What more can we ask for?

April 8, 2006

littletingoddess' Blog

I won something! And an added bonus!

I won a radio contest tonight!! I had to be the 5th caller (usually, I never get through) and know what #4 and #7 were on the countdown. And I did it! I won this cd: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ETRCG...5Fencoding=UTF8 and a Headbangers Ball poster, and pizza and Crazy Bread from Little Caesar's! Only a minute or two after they played back me answer the questions, my cell phone rings... it's Brad, my big crush! He heard it and wanted to congratulate me! It's the first time he's ever called for something that didn't have to do with work. But then, the call waiting started beeping.. it was the dj calling back to get my info, and I had to hang up with Brad. I'm still giddy, though!

littletingoddess

April 8, 2006

Forum Updates and News

Progress is painful, and the vanguard feel the gre

Oh great googley moogley. It's really good that we hadn't yet announced the feedback, because as it turns out, anyone who has registered (or changed their password) since we upgraded to 2.x wouldn't've been able to log in. Fixed now, but all y'all totally owe emzebel for finding this bug and working with me til it was quashed! Entry Title: Pearls Into The Dirt

ipb

April 7, 2006

Kicking back with finances, y'all

I joke about filing for bankruptcy, but actually have experienced it almost-first-hand: I worked for a bankruptcy attorney for 2 years. It seemed I saw people at the worst point of their lives, but as I've said after working for attorneys for many years, "If everyone was rich and happy, no one would need an attorney." We seriously had a Kleenex budget, because many times we had people crying in the office over their decision. There were straight-up dumbos whose logic was, "I have credit cards I can't pay, so to feel better I'll go shopping!" One couple who made really decent money (over $100K/year) had almost $300K in credit cards and loans. But a lot of people were there for normal bad luck -- divorce, where one person gets stuck with a house payment they can't afford on their own; illness; losing their job; people who owned their own businesses mixing their personal finances up with the business. It drives me crazy, especially with this new "bankruptcy reform," that the general consensus is that people who file for bankruptcy are deadbeats and abuse the system by filing over and over. As I saw it, the system was in fact working fine, with honest judges and attorneys who wanted to be fair to everyone, including the creditors. The attorney I worked for flat-out refused to represent people whom she suspected were lying to her. She was one of the top bankruptcy attorneys in the city, and there was no way she was putting her license and reputation on the line for anyone. What I learned was to be very diligent with our own finances: --Pay important bills in full every month. Mortgage/rent, utilities, car payment & insurance. --Everything else like credit cards that can't be paid in full, pay as much as possible. "Minimum amounts" are for suckers. --If you can't pay off something in one month, try to pay it off the next month. Seriously. If that means less going out, less concerts or movies, do it and catch up. --Pay everything early, not late. Creditors luuuuvs when you pay late, even one day, because not only do they get their money but they have the excuse to charge $25-45! Because you're one day late? Nah, man. --If you don't like an interest rate, change it. If the mortgage is too high, you can refinance after a couple years if you've been good with payments. Credit cards, call them and ask for a lower rate. If not, use one of those 0% interest for 6 months offers with someone else. And keep track of the due dates too -- if it's no interest until June, pay it off or transfer by June. Anyway, I'm going on and on. The point is, take control! Power to the people!