Thanks to scotchgrrl for collecting these! I'll be answering them periodically as time permits!

 

***9/3***

My questionnaire is chock-a-block with ideas for Witching me on the cheap, and without sending "stuff for stuff's sake". And I just came up with another one--make me a Pandora, Finetune, or Last.fm station you think I might like! What manner of affordable Witchery might you covet?

Cheapy used paperbacks are ALWAYS welcome in my life, as are mix cds. I'd be touched if someone made me a MuxTape or something similar. (It's worth noting here that I use a Mac, so any sort of streaming media that will only go through Windows Media Player or RealPlayer may be impossible or at least annoying for me to get to.)

 

Does your cell phone have a place to attach charms?

I'm not sure... aaand my phone's been lost since early June. Well, sorta lost. I know where it is, I just haven't gotten a chance to go pick it up yet.

 

If you drink coffee (and make it yourself) do you use a French Press, regular filter basket coffee maker, Espresso Machine, Percolator?

At this point, I mostly avoid caffeine, and I swear that decaf coffee just doesn't taste the same. When I do have coffee, I just use a normal ol' coffee pot.

 

What movie soundtracks (or scores) do you love?

The Juno soundtrack! The Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack! Basically any musical soundtrack ever... I am secretly a huge, huge, huge musical nerd. Lost in Translation has a lovely soundtrack as well. There's probably more, but I'm not great at remember what music is tied to what movie.

 

How do you scent yourself? Do you layer soaps, moisturizers, etc. or do you go straight to slathering your bod with BPAL?

Soap smells rarely last on my skin. I only moisturize occasionally, and between being vegan and being allergic to aloe (damn you, aloe!), I can't use very many commercial moisturizers, so I usually just slap plain ol' coconut oil on. I've made BPAL scented lotion bars with great success in the past. Mmmm. Uh, where was I? Oh yeah. Anyway, soap doesn't last on me and I rarely use scented moisturizers, so yeah, I generally just go straight to BPAL. I'm not opposed to the idea of scent layering, though!

 

Do you/how do you scent your world? Candles, incense, diffusers, potpourri? None of the above?

My lease forbids burny stuff, so no candles or incense here. Even aside from that, I'm allergic to stuff in a lot of commercial scents and I share a living space with my dude who is easily overwhelmed by heavy scents. So, mostly I don't scent the house at all. Lately I've been fortunate enough to try two of the Lab's atmospheric sprays (Down the Rabbit Hole, via a delightful goblin squirt from my last lovely witch, and L'Inverno)... those don't seem to bother my nose at all, so I've been spraying my clothing drawers and bathroom and the inside of my laptop bag with them. Down the Rabbit Hole smells SO good inside my laptop bag, and one little squirt has lasted forever. Um, I digress.

 

BPAL is such a scent-ual experience. What are your other tactile, aural, or olfactory pleasures?

Back in high school, I had a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful teacher for gifted english. She's probably one of the best teachers I've ever met at any level of education. She's really keenly interested in the process of learning and how it varies from person to person, and how teachers can help facilitate these differences. She had us take a series of little tests to figure out what kind of learners we are, and I came up as tactile. Tactile?! All my friends were getting like, linguistic or interpersonal or spatial or or... I was a little miffed at first, until the teacher made me read about what tactile learners are. We're the people who can't buy clothing on the internet because we can't TOUCH it first. If our t-shirts have tags at the neck that are itchy, there is NO way for us to possibly sit still and learn something. We do best with hands on learning. So on and so forth. It's weird, because prior to this conversation, I had never really realized this about myself, but it makes SO. MUCH. SENSE.

 

Anyway, point being, I am ALL ABOUT physical sensations. My very favorite thing is food. I like the process of eating-- the feeling of chewing, the feeling of food as it goes down one's throat, the feeling of fullness as it hits one's stomach. And of course, I love flavor. Unfortunately, I have blood sugar problems that keep me from eating a lot of the food I like these days. Did I mention this in my questionnaire? What I have is called reactive hypoglycemia, and it's kinda like the opposite of diabetes in that eating food with high sugar content makes me release too MUCH insulin, such that my blood sugar DROPS. It's pretty irritating, and means that I have to eat basically the same way as a diabetic person, though not usually to the same extreme. I've had it to some extent since I was 12 or 13 and it's gotten better and worse since then... for some reason, it took a turn for the WAY worse this winter/spring and basically made me pretty miserable. This is actually a big part of why I got into BPAL-- I needed some other sort of instant gratification thing to occupy and titillate my senses.

 

Other than eating and smelling, I love listening to things, love touching soft things, love looking at nice things... I'm really pretty much a sensory ho.

 

Jeez, I'm wordy, too.

 

***9/2***

How do people feel about receiving baked goods/kits to make said goods?

Baked goods - oh yes! Kits - if you put it together yourself, I'd try it! I feel somewhat guilty admitting that despite the fact that several of my relatives give me baked good kits (like, boxes of fancy muffin mixes, etcetera), I NEVER use them. It just doesn't occur to me. It's probably because I like baking from scratch so much.

 

Or other cooking items?

In general, I give a big thumbs up to any sort of cooking items!

 

Would you enjoy oil or vinegar flavored with herbs grown at home? Strange and exotic spices with recipes to try? Cookies made with carnation petals?

Oh, good heavens. YES, YES, and YES! These are all insanely wonderful things.

 

What are your pet's names, and what are they named for?

 

Pingpong - he's a guinea pig. When my dude agreed that we would get piggies, I decided instantly that mine would be named Pingpong. I had this idea in my head of what a Pingpong would be like... he'd be white and orange with splotches, and he'd be an energetic little bundle of fluff, and he ABSOLUTELY WOULD NOT HAVE RED EYES. I could give up the white and orange splotches, I thought, but the eyes... red eyes are scary, I could never do that. ... And then when we went to get the piggies, there was one there that was the perfect Pingpong... but with red eyes. I didn't care, he was too loveable. We brought him home, and he really has been the perfect Pingpong ever since. He's a neurotic, twitchy, hyper little man, and a wonderful ball of fluff and love.

 

Mister B - my dude named Mister B. Originally, he was called Bashful, because for like the first ten minutes he was in our house, he seemed really pretty shy. He's ended up being the least fearful, most bossy guinea pig either of us have ever met. So, he became Mister B instead of Mister Bashful. We sometimes make up new things for the B to stand for, like Bitey, Bossy, Beautiful... and so on.

 

Mister Fish - he is a betta fish that our former somewhat batshit insane neighbors left with us when they moved out in a hurry/were evicted. He had another name prior to meeting us, but Mister Fish seemed much more appropriate.

 

***9/1***

Who here is a complete, over the top, Alice In Wonderland fanatic?

I do love me some Alice in Wonderland, but after going to Burning Man and seeing Alice themed rave camps and dance parties, I know I'm nothing compared to many other people out there.

 

Are you a Trekkie? If so, which series do you prefer? Do you have a favorite character?

Oh, dude. I grew up watching TNG in a bad way. I'm probably the only person on earth who genuinely liked Wesley Crusher... I related to him in a big way. (Wil Wheaton is STILL a totally awesome dude, by the way.) I also watched and loved the original movies, though we don't talk about the modern films. McCoy was one of my first celebrity crushes, when I was like... 8. Yes, really. I haven't actually seen the original series and would kinda like to, though I understand there's a lot of SF cheez whizzery to be had in there.

 

Do you have phobias?

BUGS. (Spiders count as bugs.) Also heights to some extent. I had huge social phobia problems when I was younger, but I've learned to mostly work around them, so... not really phobia level anymore.

 

How do you like your mix CDs? Random? Stuff you know you'll like?

Random! I'd rather get a mix CD of interesting stuff I've never heard before than one of stuff I already have.

 

Would you rather get food or jewellery?

Oh, sheesh. This is a hard one! Probably food, but it's close... I mean, I'm just going to eat food and then it'll be gone. On the other hand, I don't wear jewelry all that often, so I'd probably just drape it on my dresser and coo lovingly over it in the morning. (This is what I do with most of the jewelry I own right now.) Which's not to say that I wouldn't enjoy it... because I would!

 

Do you like children's toys, such as jacks, those little things you tilt around to get the ball in the right hold (wtf are those called?), the aforementioned caplet dinosaurs, cap guns, etc?

Sorta. At this point, there are SO MANY tiny toys in my house (my mother-in-law and husband both love these things, so she sends us them all the time) that they basically just form clutter. So... while I don't mind receiving them, they're probably not the best gift in the world for me.

 

English candy/tea/marmite or other stuff that you love and can't easily get outside of England?

Having never been to England, I couldn't say for sure. I'm a vegan, too, so that kinda cuts it down.

 

Fanfic as a gift* - yay or nay? Your fandom? Slash preferences?*well, a virtual gift obviously. You know what I mean.

Alas, I've never been able to get into fanfic.

 

Any beaders here? Need beading supplies?

Not a beader, though I'm interested in trying.

 

Do you like making up your SW packages around a theme, or prefer to mix it all up?

This is only my second round of SW, so I'm not sure yet! Last time I managed to do one theme package and a couple of random ones. The theme package was fun to do, but I don't think it was a totally integral part of my experience.

 

Band-aids: do you like the fun and funky ones?

Of course!

 

What's the scariest thing that's ever happened to you?

Jeez. There're so many to choose from. What's really weird is that things have happened to me that I objectively KNOW should be higher on the scary-o-meter-- things that were vaguely life threatening, etc. But you know what the thing that always jumps into my mind is? (Spoilering this because it could be triggery for some.)

 

 

***8/31***

What is everyone's favorite Halloween song?!

Wait, there are Halloween songs? Am I... am I just blanking on this or do I really not know any? I do like the Danse Macabre.

 

How many of mah fellow witchies play video games? Platform? Do you like used games?

Oh hell ya. I have access to, uh, most non-current gen consoles and to a lovely xbox360, as well as a contemporary PC that is still new enough to play just about anything and an Intel Mac that will play... uh... Mac stuff. I do like used games!

 

What kind of music (genres, please) do you like?

I will listen to basically anything other than modern country music (is it pop? is it country? either way, it's shitty!), teenage girl pop/boy bands (gag me with a spoon), and gangsta rap (I just can't relate to putting caps in people's asses, sorry). Seriously, beyond that, you're welcome to try me. I'm not terribly into electronic music, but I'm trying to get better.

 

Have any of you ever received a book from a Witchy and loved it so much you ended up buying a copy for a later Witchee?

No books, but there're some presents from my last witch that I'd be thrilled to find copies of for my witchee.

 

What kinds of eye shadows do we all like?

Absolutely NO powder eyeshadow-- I have insanely sensitive eyes, and even the littlest bit of eyeshadow near them will cause my eyes to itch and weep and goo up for days. I wish I was joking, because I love glam eyeshadow and would love to be able to pull it off every now and again... but powder eyeshadow just doesn't work for me. Some cream shadows are fine... it kinda depends on whether or not they dry into a powdery mess or not. Honestly, the thing I've had the most success with is using a little bit of lipstick/lip gloss on my lids. I know, I'm a classy lady.

 

Do you like lip balm? If so, do you like tinted, glossy, sparkly, pearly or just plain lip balm?

Yes to all of the above. I will put basically anything on my lips that isn't made out of animals or full of aloe. (Note: I AM open to beeswax. This is a huge source of debate among vegans, and I'm not really decided on it one way or another.)

 

What are some of the SW gifts/finds from past rounds (or you can just name a gift in general that you found for someone if this is your first round!) that you are the most proud of in terms of your sleuthing skills?

SW - I was really insanely happy with the second necklace I got for my witchee, edenssixthday, last round. I had felt nervous about sending her a second necklace and wasn't sure if I should send it... but when it arrived at my house, I was just taken aback by how beautiful it was and knew it would be perfect for her. She seems to have really liked it, so I count that as a good thing! Said necklace was made by a friend of mine, so that's an additional bonus.

 

Non-SW - many years ago, before I went from vegetarian to vegan, my husband (then boyfriend) mentioned that he was really interested in learning how to make cheese. This was circa July or August that he mentioned this. He did a little research on the internet but was daunted by the cost of it and was like siiiigh I'll never get to do this... so he just forgot about it in a couple of weeks. Me, I remembered about it until Christmas and bought him a cheese making kit. I've never managed to top that one, I think-- he was really touched that I'd remembered and facilitated his desire to learn how to do this thing. Also, I got to eat lots of excellent cheese because of it.

 

And, secondly, what is something you've been searching for but just can't find?

Hum. I don't know. I'm generally a pretty content little person. The only thing I've been trying to obtain and failing at lately is, uh, a baby, and I don't think you all can probably help me with that.

 

***8/30***

Do you knit/crochet? Do you need any supplies?

Not anymore... I have carpal tunnel and knitting used to make it flare up in a HUGE way. I've considered trying again lately, because I haven't done it in a few years and my wrist problems are generally much better now that I use a touchpad instead of a mouse (really!).

 

Who here has an etsy shop?

Not me, says the flea!

 

What are your two favorite etsy shops?

Lush Beads - that's the friend of mine who made my last witchee's necklaces. I really love her stuff, though I don't think she's listing many of her new things on Etsy right now. (She's in the middle of moving both her store and her home, which is as big of a pain as you can imagine.)

Zygopsyche - picking a second place store is just this side of impossible for me, so I'll pick one that's fresh in my mind. Zygopsyche is a lady who makes stuffed piggies and bunnies. My lovely witch from the summer round, cuervosueno, bought me one of her guinea pigs and it is the most beauuuutiful thing ever. I'm thinking about getting one for my mother in law for Christmas.

 

Are you active on any other boards/forums? If so please specify where and your username there.

I'm on again off again active over at the Post Punk Kitchen (ppk) forums! My username is the same as here.

Other than that, I don't do many forums anymore.

 

***8/29***

What would you tell yourself 6 months in the past about 2008 so far?

You're going to face a lot of disappointment re: the baby thing. It's harder to conceive than health class would have you believe.

You're going to finally make two great local friends whose first names both start, incidentally, with A. This will help with the loneliness a lot, so just hang in there.

You're going to learn how to ride a bike all over again! Isn't that exciting?

Your strange little plan to try one imp pack of BPAL every month for a year is somehow going to turn into you trying something like 400 scents in seven months. Good luck!

 

If you had one minute of fame, what would you do/say in the spotlight?

I dunno. I don't really like being in the spotlight a lot, which is funny because I love acting and public speaking and stuff. I guess I'd just say thanks.

 

Robots versus zombies: who wins?

Robots.

 

What would zombie say?

Braaaaaaaaains.

 

Where are a few of your favorite places?

Bed, Burning Man, the local arboretum, Oregon, the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, the Mercer Museum in Doylestown, PA, the Exploratorium in San Francisco, Santa Cruz, San Francisco, and Scotland (though I haven't been there yet).

 

Out of curiosity, all the fall babies who are celebrating their birthdays during the round - who are you, and when is your bday?

I'z not a fall baby.

 

What is one (only one) object that you collect, that totally goes against your personality or beliefs?

Uh, perfume. Every time I tell anyone about the perfume thing for the first time, they're like, WHUT. I'm about the least frilly person you'll ever meet, and I'm freaking cheap too, so BPAL seems pretty at odds with the rest of me.

 

Are you a soap addict? Anything you like to avoid in soaps (goat's milk, lye, dyes, etc...) or any particular scents you like or brands you want to try?

Yes, I'z a soap addict. I don't do animal products, even in soaps. This means all milk soaps are out for me. I'm also allergic to aloe, so aloe's right out there. Right now I'm really hot for Arcana soaps, and also for Magic Hands... and, well, Villainess, of course... and I'd like to try more BPTP soaps... yeah, I'm in to soap.

 

Do you like kilts and would you wear one?

Of course I'd wear one! I'd kill a man for a Utilikilt.

 

What's your favorite book?

Isn't this on the questionnaire? If it is, I probably said I can't really say for sure, which's true. Ender's Game is up there, as is Last Call by Tim Powers. There are so many other wonderful books though that I just can't really pin it down.

 

What size socks do you wear? How about hat size?

I am only barely aware of the fact that socks and hats come in sizes, so uh, go from there. I have medium feet for a lady... I wear 7 or 7.5 shoes. My head seems to be normal head sized.

 

Do you read comics? Which ones do you love and which can't you stand?

YES! In terms of print comics, I love most things by Warren Ellis (provided that they don't turn into people shooting people and nothing else... damn you, Warren). Also big into Fables... loved Promethea... loved Y: The Last Man until I eventually got bored of it and just wanted it to end... love all things by Jeffrey Brown... Owly... and uh, I read Shojo Beat every month basically cover to cover, even though I can't stand some of the series therein. On the manga track, I'm big into Skip Beat, which I'm trying to read in Japanese because I like stabbing myself in the eyes it's a learning experience.

 

Online comics: Anders Loves Maria is probably my most favorite online comic, followed shortly thereafter by Questionable Content. I read some others off and on, but those're the two I'm really into.

 

Comics I don't like: X-men other than the original X-men (which I love)... anything superhero-y... many web comics.

 

Symbols that are meaningful to me?

Hum. Nothing's springing to mind other than the Burning Man symbol, which's fresh in my mind after a week on the playa.

 

By nature are you a morning lark or a night owl?

Kinda both. I would say I'm more of a morning lark right now, but as a life long insomniac, I often see both ends of the evening.

 

What's your favorite type of music to hear live, rather than recorded?

My favorite person to see live is John Vanderslice, followed by the Mountain Goats. I've seen each of these gentlemen something like twice a year every year for the past four or five years. So... I guess we're going to have to go with indie rock.

 

What is your favorite autumnal-seasonal drink?

HOT cider. It has to be hot. Cold cider is sort of an abomination.

 

Hot cider is best if you drink it outside in the freezing effing cold out of a paper cup, but being that I live in California now, my chances to do this are few and far between.

 

***8/28***

Crossword puzzles? Other pencil puzzles?

I am mildly addicted to crossword puzzles. When I have the time, I do about five daily puzzles, though if I don't have as much time I'll just do the New York Times and maybe the (vastly inferior) Washington Post. I love to do crosswords in the bath, especially Sunday sized ones. The Wall Street Journal has my favorite Sunday puzzle.

 

I like other wordy sorta pencil puzzles okay, but I'm not really interested at all in Sudoku-- too easy to do if you know the basic method and have time to crunch numbers out.

 

Favorite artist?

Like art artist? That's hard. I've always had a soft spot for Van Gogh-- I like that you can almost see him going insane throughout the course of his painting career. There are a really insane amount of contemporary artists whose work I love, but I never remember names.

 

Favorite poet?

Hard to say. Maybe e.e. cummings, because the stuff of his that I like I really love... though admittedly, I can't stand about fifty percent of what he does.

 

Halloween. Do you like it kooky or creepy?

Either!

 

Reserved or Raunchy?

Halloween can be raunchy? I had no idea.

 

Earth, Wind, Fire or Water?

Water or Earth.

 

Tea or Coffee in the morning?

Neither, lately. Tea more often, though.

 

Fruity snacks or chocolate?

Chocolate. Mmm.

 

Would you accept art?

Of course!

 

Antiques or Brand New?

Antiques!

 

What keywords do you use when searching for items for yourself on Etsy?

Vegan - annoying because a lot of times non-vegan things are labeled as vegan.

Recycled - I like recycled art and jewelry a lot.

 

Are there any of y'all who are allergic/sensitive to having natural fibers on your skin?

Not me, though I don't do wool for personal reasons.

 

What was your favorite ghost/scary/campfire story growing up?

I'm blanking.

 

Bugs? Do you like 'em or not?

n-o!

 

i haz no imp storage. do you?

I have four 100 imp ammo boxes, of which about two and a half are full. I'm open to more.

 

***8/27***

If you have a garden/planter box, what do you grow?

I tried to grow lilies this summer but after thriving for weeks, they SUDDENLY DIED. The same thing happened to my rosemary, though it took longer. Sigh.

 

What incense scents do you prefer?

I don't do incense (see higher up).

 

Do you decorate for Halloween? What sort of decorations? Dress up for Halloween?

I dress up, but have never actually decorated. I wouldn't mind having like a light up cat to put on my porch, though. Or some sorta flag.

 

Bats, cats, skeletons, monsters, vampires, witches or what other ghoulies do you prefer?

I have known and adored a great many black cats in my life, so I love black cat decorations. Monsters are fun, especially if they're kinda cute, too. I like little cute ghosts and skeletons. I... I guess I'm a cutesy Halloween person. Hadn't realized that before.

 

Do you like horror flicks?

Yes, though they do tend to genuinely scare me.

 

Who here prefers stylus and ink to ballpoint? Anyone invested time and effort into calligraphy or proper Victorian writing?

I WANT to very much, but I've never had a chance to try.

 

What about stationery? Need some? What styles do you like?

I always need more stationary. Basically, if it's anything other than plain white printer paper, I'm interested. I especially like little tear-off notebook pads-- like little hand sized ones. I use them to write notes on.

 

***8/26***

What is one item that you've wanted forever, could have afforded, but have never gotten and why (haven't you gotten it!)?

Hmm. I don't know. I'm bad at buying stuff for myself, but I also don't tend to want stuff very much. I guess one thing I've always really wanted is to leave the country, even to go to Canada or Mexico. There have been plenty of times where I could've afforded it (though it would've been a scrimp at some point... it always is) but I've just worried too much about spending the money. Travel in general is something I love to do but rarely treat myself to.

 

What Halloween scent are you most looking forward to?

Oh, sheesh, I'm not sure. I broke down and bought a bottle of Huesos de Santo this morning while picking up the Lilith scents (yay! baby! yay! baby scents!), so it's probably that. Basically all of the Sleepy Hollow scents are also screaming my name.

 

Tattoos! Do you have em? Do you want em? Whatcha got or getting?

None yet. I'd like to have one, but I've never been sure what exactly I want. Ursula Vernon has a picture of a riding guinea pig that I love that I might see if someone could put on me at some point.

 

Reduce - REUSE - recycle. Do others feel the same?

Yes'm.

 

What is your favorite crafting supply?

Watercolor paper. Paper in general.

 

Weigh in...Are you right or left-handed?

Righty.

 

Any period of time that you love?

Oh, lots. I even kinda like now.

 

***8/25***

What's your favorite part about Fall?

Rain!

 

It used to be jumping into leaf piles (and overall, the turning of the leaves) but we don't really have that over on this heathen coast.

 

Do you like office/school supplies? If so, what is your favorites?

Yes! New pens and lead for my mechanical pencil.

 

What's your favorite Halloween candy?

Alas, there is little left that I can still eat in the way of Halloween candy. I DO like candy corn, despite the havoc it wreaks on my blood sugar.

 

Will you be participating NaNoWriMo? If so, is there anything you'd like to have for that?

I don't know if I'll do it this year or not... maybe. I've done it successfully before and really enjoyed it. If I do it again, I'll want a good notebook and a special pen to write it with... I found I had much more luck in just getting it done if I wrote it out by hand first and then typed it up.

 

***8/22***

Where does everyone like shop for witching goodness?

I'm about fifty fifty internet and local brick and mortar stores.

 

What is your favorite pumpkin goodness?

PIE

 

Phew. I'm fiiiiiiiiinally done!