byrdie

Thank you for the hug. It was very odd: the guy has been on better behavior since the instructor had a talk with him ... and informed the brainiac that he wouldn't have been surprised if John had taken a swing at him. They've both been officially told to stay away from each other, but the unofficial decree is that John was completely in the right. Oh, and my boyfriend pulled the 2nd highest grade on a recent test while brainiac barely got a D-.

By someone I've never had any exchange with whatsoever: http://johnblack13.livejournal.com/2007/06/15/ This was said to piss off my boyfriend, possibly to provoke a physical fight. I think it was the dating equivalent of a "yo mama" jab. I'm still trying ot figure out how I feel about it.

An astounding number of the Love Potion oils put me off. I'm not crazy about rose, gardenia, jasmine, dragon's blood ... gah. For me, sexy scents that I like include: Loviatar O Imp Dracul Snake Oil UltraViolet - great for daytime Spooky Black Parl Dorian Antique Lace - new formulation Mme. Moriarty Miskatonic University - especially the soap Boomslang Coral Snake Asp Viper Sugar Skull - boyfriend Bliss - boyfriend Lump of Coal - boyfriend 13 - boyfriend There are some scents that other people find incredible on me that I just detest. I figure that if I'm uncomfortable, then it's pretty much a case of the sexy wearing me than me wearing it.

And I'm finally having some of the bagged Assam that I picked up at the Portland Stash store. Either I kept the teabag in for too long or this is only one step above Lipton.

I attended the end of a local kinky group meeting that I hadn't been to in years. They've been hosting it in my neighborhood, a bit north-easterly of me as it turns out, so I finally and beleatedly decided to see if I could find the place in question. I did, the facilitator remembered me, and I even got the reinforcement of someone fanning themselves as I described some of the stuff that Daddy and I had been up to. heh. It was weird, to attend this sort of meeting again, but not really as a n00b. But I live in easy walking distance of the place, so I have no excuse.

Possibly the single most amazing thing to happen to me at Convergence XIII was to have someone who was looking through my stash ask me about two oils she'd never heard of before: Boo! and Void. I'd forgotten that I hadn't taken them out while I was packing: those were my personal two leftovers from the big single note project box that Chumley sent out a few years ago. I'd made oils for a few other people, and those two for myself. I think I'd just had a bottle of Spooky explode on me after I'd replaced all my caps with the wand caps that someone had purchased, and the Spooky bottle was too small for the cap. boom! I already knew that I wasn't going to get anymore Spooky for either love or money (which I was actually wrong about), so I tried copying it while I had the box. Hence, Boo! It didn't turn out too well, but I'd heard about leaving the oils to set for a while, so I did. Pretty much the same happened with Void, which was my attempt at Tulzcha ... which I hadn't purchased the first time around. (argh) The person I was talking to asked if she could smell them, so I said yes with only a little hesitation. I hadn't smelled them in at least a year, and couldn't remember for the life of me what Void was supposed to be. Her eyes widened in surprise, and she outright stared at me as she asked me if I could get her my recipes for the scents. "Um. Okay." I sniffled Boo! and found tha the chocolate in it had finally come out. Void took me a little while, but I realized that ... yes, I could eventually figure out what it was just by sniffing it. They'd both needed to sit for a while, but they also both reached their potential while I wasn't watching. Wow. So, last week I signed up for Cat Yronwode's Hoodoo Correspondence Course. I don't know of any hoodoos to learn from in Seattle, and I figure that turning in homework regularly might be a good plan so that I can figure out if I'm up for going back to a standard school again. Also, I want to learn this stuff, as I have one idea for a book once I get good enough to know what I'm talking about. (Basically, I suspect that I may have a way of teaching myself how to learn some of these concepts, but want to use them myself and do a bunch of research before I unleash it upon an unsuspecting populace.) And finally, I know that I have the ability and possibly the temperment for workings, but I really need a framework to wrap it around. I grew up with hoodoo type comments in my home and neighborhood, and I've been feeling for a while that I'd be on familiar ground here. It occured to me today that I might want to take the subject headings from the Twilight Alchemy Lab site and figure out what BPAL oils I use for what occasions. I understand that the ingredients that resonate for me are probably not what works for traditional use, but at the same time a fair amount of hoodoo involves winging it. This is what I have so far: Love, Lust and Beauty 13 * Bliss * Dorian Loviatar Lump of Coal * O Joy & Inspiriation Aunt Caroline's Joy Mojo Fae Jester Lick it! Crossing, Binding & Controlling ? Prosperity, Success & Good Fortune Blood Rose Greed Rose Red Ultraviolet Purification, Protection & Uncrossing Dragon's Blood Dragon's Heart Imp Utility Blends ? * Mainly because of my boyfriend.

Okay, I'm updating my original 2004 answer. My boyfriend gets off on any oils that smell like chocolate, so I'm doing well with: 13 Bliss Lump of Coal - very sparingly However, smelling like chocolate doesn't make me feel sexy by default, so my dancing scents tend to be Imp or Loviatar. During the day, I go more for Dorian or O.

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

Oh, yes -- I got a fan letter posted on Laura Antoniou's website. If you tend to avoid kinky stuff like the plague, don't bother following the link.

Someone recently contacted me on the Lush forum and asked if I didn't love all the folks in the BPAL forum anymore. I sent them this: my job sucks big, sour oranges. I don't remember the last time I placed a BPAL order, and I've been supplementing my own income off of my nearly non-existent savings. I've been job hunting My commute to work is much shorter than it was back when I was writing BPAL reviews ... which means that I have less undisturbed time as a captive writer on the bus to jot down my impressions of what I do own. Since about Spring, the already threadbare regional department I work in has dwindled from three employees to just one: me. Therefore, what little time I put into various boards is limited. After nearly a year and half, my boyfriend and I still can't keep our hands off each other ... which also means that our weekends and thus a fair chunk of what would have been downtime online is taken up. While I'd scaled back my visits with my mother -- who'd had a stroke in July of 2005 -- she was diagnosed with lung cancer after being admitted to the hospital for pneumonia on the 15th. I'm the main Power of Attorney, and am thus a little distracted. So, while it feels that I don't know that many people on the BPAL threads anymore, it doesn't mean that I don't miss writing reviews. It's just ... I have a hard enough time figuring out when I'm going to do laundry and dishes. I find it amusing, though, that of the very few blogs here that I subscribed to read, nobody has actually posted anything in them! At least, these are the explanations. Only one is really good stuff. Maybe someday soon I'll get to the good stuff.

Exactly like fresh-turned earth. Zombi ~ fresh-turned earth with roses. Penny Dreadful ~ fresh-turned earth with sweet florals. Premature Burial ~ fresh-turned earth with spinach. Death Cap ~ fresh-turned earth, briefly with mushrooms but ultimately with cupcakes.

That's possible. However, at least once she told me that she was discouraged by her progress with her voice exercises (everything else came back so quickly in comparison) and that she figured that the vocal part of her brain was simply damaged and that this was as good as it was going to get. According to my niece, it's her memory center that's shot, her language center just needs work that she's not willing to put in. Neither is my mother willing to type, so getting her a TTY phone isn't an option. So, it's possible that she goes back and forth between "I'm not that bad off" and "I'm doomed." Tonight involves downtime at home: possibly a DVD, pizza and microwave popcorn (bliss!). Tomorrow will be a movie with friends. Saturday will likely involve giving my first tarot reading in ages. I'll be spending next weekend with my boyfriend, and the weekend after that I'll be having tea with a friend for the first time in a long while. I plan to hit the Hot House Spa sometime soon (I haven't been since my birthday weekend). So, I'm trying. It's just that time seems short enough that even treating myself looks daunting. I think the coming of Spring and the lengthening of the days may help that attitude, though. Thank you for the support. It helps!

d'oh! Penny Dreadful! I completely forgot about that one. yowsa! Thanks for the reminder.

Regular catalog: Baneberry Bengal Dorian Gluttony Imp O Snake Oil Ultraviolet Limited Editon/other: 13 Gingerbread Poppet Lick It! Lump of Coal Mitzvah Snowblind Spooky Sugar Skull Aromatherapy/Ritual: Eulegba - ritual High John - ritual Nanshe - aromatherapy (sleep) Sleepy Moon - aromatherapy (sleep)

After reading reviews of Peony Moon, I decided to layer Milk Moon with Budding Moon. It starts off taffy or ice-cream sweet, as both are sweet oils. The florals of Budding Moon are still obviously there, but they're less shocking with the creaminess of Milk Moon. Similarly, Milk Moon's sour phase seems to get distracted by the florals of Budding Moon. The combo is just starting to get a little musty now, but then I've had it on for almost three hours without a touch-up.