javacat

- I had a dream last night where I was in some sort of high-end, very posh mall, and spent ages looking at a mysterious cosmetics counter that had lipsticks that were exact matches for the OG Chanel Vamp and MAC Verushka. They had tubes of those discontinued lipsticks to swatch and match. I woke up as my dream self was about to spend $160 for two lipsticks. I'll admit I'd be tempted to do that in real life if the company did indeed have the OG tubes to swatch against.

- The US leg of the MCR tour ended last weeked. HOWever, as of yesterday, new ads related to MCR have been seen in New York, Detroit, Minneapolis, and San Diego. Some are just spray painted logos in parking lots outside of stadiums, but some have been bulletin boards and signs of either one or more of the band in the Black Parade uniform, or the Keposhka MCR logo. The fandom, no surprise, are losing our MINDS. Does this mean there's going to be another US leg of the tour? If there is, does it mean more weird storyline/lore that the band is potentially in some sort of stasis or time loop? (I won't give you the whole breakdown, but over the course of the tour Gerard has become more and more corpse-like; paler, wounds on his face, etc., and he's stabbed to death at the end of each Black Parade segment of the concert. There's more. There's a lot more.) Does this mean there's going to be a DVD or something? Should I start saving money for tickets and travel just in case? Who knows? Not the fandom, that's for sure.

- I've been tired ALL THE TIME lately. I'm sure some of it is the ambient stress level we're all dealing with plus the ongoing varying stress levels of work, but the rest may be my chronic health issues flaring up? My body trying to stage a coup and force me to rest? I don't like any of these answers.

- I'm finally getting back into a rhythm of witchy things. I'm pulling a tarot card most days, and I did some ritual work this week. It felt good. I need to do more, because it helps me approach things with more clarity and giving myself grace. And whooooo-boy, do I need both of those things.

So! How are you folks doing?

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3143/

Although now people will realize three-per-em space that all this time I've been using weird medium mathematical space whitespace characters in my hair space hair space hair space speech dot dot dot...

https://xkcd.com/3143/

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3142/

If you want to see true audacity, do an image search for 'Altoona-style pizza.'

https://xkcd.com/3142/

sonia

Kyrianna.art Portraits via

house_wren.

Portraits of people in watercolors, overlaid with plants or structures that symbolize their illnesses. I love the title page portrait of a sitting woman with her limbs emerging from a much smaller decrepit house. Each portrait has its own page describing the person's illnesses and why they chose the symbols to represent them. Beautiful and powerful.

sonia

I have been looking for someone who can revamp my Wordpress website traumahealed.com to make it book-focused rather than practice-focused.

Anyone have a skilled Wordpress person they can recommend? Bonus points for experience with book marketing sites.

I had a lovely conversation with one person who gave me a bunch of good marketing ideas, but said he doesn't have design skills, and I think that's the main thing I need. He gave me a ballpark estimate of $1,500 and said he charges $150/hour. He mentioned the Divi theme as one option.

The person who recommended him also recommended a woman who suggested the Divi theme and said she could install it for me on my staging site to let me see what it's like. She charges $80/hour. Sounded great. But she dropped out of communication when I had some feedback on the changes she made and asked how much time she had spent. I thought about how heavyweight and complex Divi seems and decided that's not the direction I want to go.

When she finally re-surfaced, the woman said she had been heads-down in a project (so let me know I'll hear back in a couple of weeks?) and there were "pink flags" (apparently that's the new yellow flags?) about my wanting to modernize my website. I declined to engage with that and simply paid her bill for 3 hours and called it a learning experience.

I talked to a third person, recommended by a bodyworker, who gave me a specific estimate for $1,440 and seems very open to feedback and heard what I said about a lightweight theme.

Now I'm debating with myself. That's a chunk of change to spend on marketing books that I doubt will ever earn it back, but it seems like the going rate. I don't want to just shut the website down, and I don't feel like I have the skills, time, and energy to revamp it myself. At the same time, I have strong opinions and don't want to spend that kind of money and end up with something I don't like.

I'm also struggling with wanting/not wanting to market the books at all. It doesn't feel right to take them out of print, but it still feels vulnerable to push them out into the world. It feels difficult to be making the decision alone, without outside input. If you have thoughts on the matter, let me know!

sonia

via @Zumbador@mefi.social
"Beautiful crackling record audio of Lauren Bacall reading "The Thirteen Clocks" by James Thurber

This is one of the all time best books to read aloud."
https://ia804507.us.archive.org/4/items/lp_lauren-bacall-reads-james-thurbers-the-13_lauren-bacall/disc1/lp_lauren-bacall-reads-james-thurbers-the-13_lauren-bacall_disc1side1.flac

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3141/

Mantle plumes explain Hawaii, Yellowstone, Iceland, the East African Rift, the Adirondack uplift, the Permian extinction, the decline of Rome, the DB Cooper hijacking, and the balrog in Moria. Those little hills of sand in your yard are caused by antle plumes.

https://xkcd.com/3141/

cupcake_goth

A week or two ago a dear friend sent me a care package of Trader Joe's marshmallows, which are entirely corn free! No corn syrup! No cornstarch laden powdered sugar!

This afternoon, feeling incredibly groggy, I decided I needed a cup of my fancy cocoa (with half a scoop of protein powder), and instead of using sugar or honey, I would use a few of the marshmallows for sweetness.

YES. This was a good idea. This helped stave off a mild panic attack because of my stupid brain deciding it wants to freak out over everything ever said to it. Cocoa and marshmallows made my brain be quiet. I need to remember this. Not the cocoa with protein powder, I've been doing that for a bit, but that 1) adding marshmallows is GOOOOOOD, and 2) maybe have this treat a bit more often because maybe it helps with the fucking anxiety.

So yeah. That's where I'm at right now.

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3140/

Welcome to the Linguistics Department - It has been [2] [DAYS] since someone noticed that the Biology Department sign has a one-day-long singular/plural disagreement after it resets.

https://xkcd.com/3140/

cupcake_goth

The Vampire Masquerade Ball weekend was fantastic! My outfit was everything I'd hoped for.

To what will be the actual shock of everyone who knows me, I didn't go to Powell's. I waffled about it, because Powell's, but I haven't finished the stack of books I bought there last year. On the suggestion from someone on FB, the Renfields and I went to Black Cat Frozen Custard, which is a spooky-themed frozen custard place. It was lovely, but we weren't there for the custard, we were there to go to Conspirators Coffee Lounge, which is a coffee speakeasy hidden in the custard shop. You have to know the password to whisper to one of the staff at the custard counter. You enter via a door hidden behind a wardrobe, and step into someplace that looks like a reading room in an antique occult library; velvet chairs, (fake) candles everywhere, curiosity cabinets, a spiral staircase to another section, and so on. We were there strictly for vibes, but to our joy the coffee (and chai and matcha) were delicious!

The ball itself was wonderful. So many pretty people, guests and performers alike! If you are on IG, check out the one for the VMB. One of the performances was an aerialist who, instead of using silks or straps, used metal chains. She was wonderful to watch, but I felt they sympathetic need to coat myself in arnica.

Of importance to jengalicious: I saw your ex and his ladyfriend, but had no interaction with them. However, I can say that my all-white outfit was far better than theirs (I could tell he made her outfit by the usual last-minute construction flaws that were visible across a darkened room), and that he looks like the result of Baby's First Necromancy Kit. I took petty glee in both of those things.

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Yesterday I woke up with a terrible migraine. See, this is why I make sure I schedule a recovery day after an event, because I know my body hates me. Ugh.

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I may have figured out next year's VMB outfit. The white coat I wore for this year also comes in B&W stripes! All I'll need to do is remove that lace trim, add metal buttons on the front, and have the Madwoman in the Attic add pockets. Oh, and decide what color skirt and (sleeveless!) blouse I'll wear with it.