I think I'll do a BPAL-centric entry with current favorites. I first found the site in September 2004, and did my usual hem-and-haw browsing. I try not to be an impulse shopper as I could get in some serious financial trouble. I finally placed an order in October 2004 and received it in December: a 5ml of Perversion and a 6-pack of imps. Oh Perversion, you cheeky thing! What a great first scent to get, and I was immediately hooked.
I started purchasing off the forums and eBay on top of placing orders, but cut that out soon after (see above re: trying not to go overboard). So I place monthly Lab orders for no more than 3 bottles, usually on Lunacy dates, and of course swap whenever something good pops up. No bankruptcy yet!
Here are my current loves, in the order of the bottles hanging out in my box:
Perversion
Bordello
Dead Man's Hand
Corazon
Port-au-Prince
Wanda
Shub-Niggurath
Alice
Tarot: The Star
Snake Charmer
Gypsy Queen
Dia de los Muertos
Sugar Skull
Haunted Palace
Pink Phoenix
Rose Red
O
Parlement of Foules
Smut
Antique Lace
Black Phoenix
Midnight Mass
Yeah. That's a lot, and that's less than half of the total bottles (most of which I like but aren't madly in love with, unlike the above-listed ones). I am utterly hopelessly smitten.
I'm not on LJ, but I like how you can post what you're currently listening to. It's a nice snapshot into someone, plus I'm a voyeur in that I like seeing what people are reading and watching and listening to and putting up on their walls. To me the ultimate superpower would be invisibility, because I would love to go through houses, especially with no one home, to see how others live (as long as they're not slobby). What do people collect? What do they have sitting on a shelf?
Location: Dallas, Texas, where it hit frickin' 100 today! Ugh. It's too early to be this hot.
Currently reading: Jazz from the Ken Burns PBS series. It's very interesting, as I know very little about jazz. My biggest beef is that I wish there were accompanying CDs so when they talk about how revolutionary so-and-so's recording was, I can listen to it. But that just means I need to see the PBS series.
Currently listening to: Lindsey Buckingham compilation in my car. I called it "Conducive to Creativity" because in one interview he was going on about how he left Fleetwood Mac when it was no longer conducive to creativity, and that cracked my ass up. He's a very interesting musician but seems like a beating to hang around with and talk to. But that's probably how a lot of musicians are in real life.
I splurged and bought a Photoplay from November 1926 that I found in a soon-to-be-closed antique and collectibles store. I love reading the articles and ads, and there was a perfume ad for a company called "Cheramy New York: Perfumes of Youth." They must have spent a pretty penny on the ad, as almost the whole magazine is in black-and-white except for the occasional ad pages in color (the other side of the color page is Palmolive soap). The best part is the breathless prose:
The Last Ecstatic Moment with Lovely April Showers
When you have on a good-looking new frock. when you know that coiffure, make-up, and every detail is just right; when instinct tells you that admiring glances will follow as you pass; then approve the finishing touches before a long mirror and add assurance with springlike April Showers!
For April Showers, the perfume of youth, will lift imagination to heights of ecstacy -- give you joyful thrill of life and youth and conscious power .... It is a breezy fragrance; friendly -- eager -- young! You will love the rare, capricious charm of April Showers in perfumes, powders, rouges, jewel-like little compacts, and other necessary toiletries.
-----
Holy crap, where has this been all my life? I want heights of ecstasy! I need a joyful thrill of life AND youth AND conscious power. I don't even know what exactly that means, but I need it! I too want to be friendly, eager and young -- not surly, tired and old like I am now.
That does it -- I'm going to spray assurance on me and everyone else around, whether they want it sprayed on them or not. Oh, and I'm going to start saying "rouge" too.
Oh crap. Just when I'm contented with my BPAL purchase, and we've gotten the gutters replaced ($2000 total), other favorite sites are updating too! Son of an Ass! (tm Samir in Office Space)
--Villainess has a huge update with a bunch more soaps. Crushed is back! It came and went so quickly I didn't have a chance to order the first time -- I'm a sucker for raspberries and chocolate. Plus I want the new Villainess signature scent (florals and leather), and Byzantium (resins and Egyptian musks), and Canaan (honey, berries and florals), and Krakatoa (tropical fruits! I coconut) and Vintage ("antique oak and yesterday's vanilla," what a great description!) and and and *falls over*
--feMaledictions is in the process of updating too, with a Sugar Butter Scrub! Oh jeez that sounds nice. I love her incense and she's added 4 new scents including The Golden Proportion (black vanilla beans! Where's my perfume to match? ) and New Rose (I love rose incense and can't find it very often, other than the bulk Indian incense packs at Cost Plus). Plus hemp soaps? And soy tarts? And a hint at 50+ new blends? *gets up off the floor, then falls over again*
BPAL is the priority, and every month I make orders there. But I like supporting these other small Internet businesses. If someone's making a good product and putting thought and heart into it, and bucking the bullcrap old-and-busted "retail" model, that's cool too.
I started a huge work rant, then deleted it all. Work today went fine, a lot better than I feared -- I'm not blamed for the vendor flake-out, I'm already making arrangements with the runner-up, they seem pleased that we're back, and I'm glad I didn't burn any bridges.
Beth posted a whole bunch of new TAL oils, and I'm really intrigued. I should read the forum section, but I'm under the impression that people wear TALs as oil, or anoint a candle. I'm very interested in Milk & Honey, as it seems to speak to my goals -- I'm not looking for a financial windfall, but I like enjoying what we have and hope it continues. The description is, "A subtle love and money combination blend. Tends to invoke the luxurious, pleasurable aspects of romance and prosperity." I really like the image that creates.
How would you use some of the Temple blends? I'm guessing that if you have certain favorite deities, like Egyptian, you would use that oil. I need to do some more research.
I realize I'm unsophisticated. To some people I'm probably pretty tacky. I'd rather hang out in a bar eating something fried out of a basket and drinking a beer than somewhere fancy and expensive and all dressed up. Our home furnishings range from "comfy" to "odd." Some pictures on the wall are posters in cheap frames. I don't travel to exotic places, and really don't want to. We got married in Vegas, and my dress cost $100 online.
But I work full time. Everything we have we've paid for -- we didn't get help with the house, or the cars, or have a bunch of money placed in our bank account. I have a college degree, but went to an inexpensive school and got a 4-year scholarship.
I have extended family members who have a lot of money, and they live nearby. They probably feel obligated to invite us to family functions. They like talking about their vacations and how much their house is worth. Their kids go to the privatest of schools and are thought to be perfect in every way.
I'm tired of pretending I like them. And I'm not going to do it anymore.
OK, so we got a new DSL modem. It's working great, except it poops out every half-hour or so. It'll just die, then come back I'm seriously tempted by darkity's reminder about cable, but other than the burps things are working fine.
Back to BPAL: I've been so impressed with the last couple of orders I've received. The Maelstrom scents I tried were great -- I have bottles of Berenice, Masque and Montresor, and Montresor is an all-time favorite on the level of Perversion, Morocco and Hellion, my favorite dark blends. I was tempted with Tell-Tale Heart too, and will maybe sniff eventually.
Monster Bait: Closet is great too, really nice sweet & fruity.
On Monday I got my teeny April Fool's order of Underpants, which is wonderful While it sounded extremely foody, it's a beautiful sweet vanilla scent. As if to reiterate the vanilla, the Lab sent a frimp of Antique Lace with it, which I previously tried and liked so much I already have a bottle, purchased when it came back in stock.
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.
--We were testing our DSL on a streaming radio station and I wanted some '80s music. I picked a random station and it came up "ew Wave and Alternative" on iTunes radio -- HAHAHAHA! I listen to ew wave!
--sophia_helix had a general rant/complaint/statement a couple of days ago regarding people begging for LEs, like "OMG I NEED THIS LOL!!!" I can see where she's coming from. Everyone right now wants Monster Panties or the C12 blends, like those are the best things Beth has ever created. The fact is that Beth has many many blends that are great and are GC and wholly available.
I completely understand the lure of the LE: there has been many a blend that I bought simply because it was only available for a limited time and what if I love it and I'll never sniff anything like it again and and and *falls over dead* But then when you get them, they're not better than a GC blend just because they're LE. I can name a bunch of GC blends that I love and a bunch of LE blends that were meh.
In conclusion: don't fret over not getting a 5ml of Storyville. There are many other blends that are great.
Normal Sunday for us is running errands, then going out for a late lunch + beer and watching Sopranos. I kinda feel bad as we were invited to the big Easter bash at uncle & aunt's house and we blew it off. Yes, since we were invited we probably should've gone.
On the other hand, we weren't invited by the uncle and/or aunt, but the sister of the aunt, so it's not as important, right? Plus it was going to be a huge gathering, and did they really miss us when we didn't show up? No way.
I feel like, since it's our day off, we should do what we want. We went to Home Depot and bought stuff for the house like A/C filters and aerators for the faucets. We also went to The Labyrinth, a witchy herb store that I've been wanting to go to for a while. Lots of incense and oils and books and stones, and it was great.
It seemed like we went on the perfect day, as Easter came from the spring renewal rituals, so why not go to a pagan store on that day? The owner was talking to me about rituals and what would be best to use. I've always been interested in different religions, not just growing up Catholic and Christian but learning about Buddhist and Pagan too. I really felt comfortable there -- I felt like things were going well for us and I wanted to give thanks, and she was open to that. It's more than financial, just a peaceful feeling in life, and it seemed that to "ask" for more meant being greedy; I just wanted to give thanks for what we had. That's all.
I actually "cast a spell" today, but it wasn't anything serious. I was reading the TAL threads thinking there may be some rules with oils that I wasn't aware of, but from what I gleaned there weren't -- it's respecting the spirit in which oils are created, and belief in thought, and how there isn't good or evil power, it's simply perspective.
So I got a round votive candleholder in blue glass, one of my favorites. I filled it with coarse salt, because I wanted to anchor a thin candle and it felt natural. I coated a green candle with patchouly oil (that's how it's spelled on the vial) and thought about how grateful I am that finances are going well -- we both have full-time jobs, the house isn't falling apart, our cars aren't asploding -- and put the candle in the salt. After it was lit, I put it on top of the checkbook and stood for a minute, just listening to the house hum around me. There's so much I want to do with the house, but I need patience to have the money to do it.
That was it! The rest of the day was OK; I'm still breaking out in rashes from my BPAL applications, which is pissing me off, but I feel good about us and our personal situation. We'll see!
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.
OK, last night's episode was awesome. Lots of stuff happened: a ton of ouija-type glass movement, the TV turning off and back on, and pool balls being thrown. It was great! Plus it was so cool to hear all about the building. I was a bit disappointed they didn't do more in the rooms upstairs, but they spent a lot of time in the cool bar in the basement which was rad.
I left a pretty giddy message yesterday for my sister to watch the show -- Mom and I are into haunted stuff more than she is, so she was probably like, "Whatever, it's Friday night and since we have a social life we're not sitting at home watching TV." I haven't heard back from her.
I wish I had a stronger psychic sense about things, but nothing weird has happened to me. DH, on the other hand, has had a ton of stuff happen to him and he said he didn't feel anything weird in the building. But since there were 150-200 people there, there was probably too much going on for anything to hang around. I'll put his experiences in another post -- he has some great stories to tell.
I think my allergies finally cleared up, as I've been able to wear my nice BPAL smellies without breaking out in rashes for the past couple days!
How I missed Hellion and Masque and The Star and ...
Ugh, these allergies are driving me crazy. I never had them growing up in Southern California, but when we moved to Ohio after college, to a place that actually had "seasons," I started getting them. Most of the time it's nothing more than sneezing and nose issues, but this spring has been irritating, literally.
I have "dry head," where it feels my sinuses are dry and crackly. I wake up in the middle of the night with my sinuses hurting, they're so dry. My eyes are red and dry and itchy, and I have that weird empty-head feeling like after you've cried and you're done and feel better -- "airy head," maybe?
But the worst is I haven't been able to wear any nice BPAL smellies for 2 weeks. I'm breaking out in red itchy rashes wherever I apply, and it doesn't matter what I wear. I love the fruity winey scents the most, and just received bottles of Masque and Montresor, and while both smell great when I apply I end up with rashes that last for days.
I'm debating buying a locket, but will probably try a cheaper one first before shelling out the $70 for a BPTP one. Plus my very favorite Triple Dagger is sold out. They have some cute ones at www.necropolis.biz -- I like the celtic cross and knot, and they're cheap enough for me to try and not feel guilty about more jewelry.
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!
