The Darkling Tag

Thanks to Sarah for tagging people who hadn't been tagged! I accept!

THE DARKLING TAG!

• What is your favorite candle scent? I tend to gravitate toward woodsy scents and fall scents like mulled cider or pumpkin pie.
• Do you have a favourite book? I have many! Mara Daughter of the Nile, Lord of the Rings, Fanny (a children’s book about a three legged cat and a puppy who becomes her friend) and The Night Prince Series.
• Are you a tea or coffee person? I enjoy both. Typically I have coffee in the mornings and tea at any given time of day or night (if I am up). Recently I mentioned that I liked tea to my Grandma and she asked me what kinds I like. I told her it would be more efficient to ask me the kinds I don’t like. I have a small stash and just recently found a lemon lavender tea. And I want to make my own blends eventually.
• What is your favourite perfume/cologne? Perfume. I have a bit of sensitive nose so I am generally very choosey and try to keep it light. In Spring and Summer, I like French Lavender and Honey body spray or Japanese Cherry Blossom from Bath and Body works. In Fall and Winter, I like their Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin. Bath and Body works recently came out with a Lavender Sandalwood that I love! I also enjoy patchouli oil but a sparingly.
• Do you have a celebrity crush? Takashi Kaneshiro, Chris Pine, Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton, Eva Green, and Ziyi Zhang. For voices, Ville Valo, Gackt, Travis Willingham- you know what there are too many for me to list there.
• If you could change your name to a stereotypical 90s/2000s gothy name, what would it be? Um Luna? I don’t know.
•  What are your top three tips for surviving hot weather while black clad? Sunscreen, Parasol, and lots of cool water!
• What song always makes you happy (doesn’t have to be a goth band?) Hmm… There are a lot but the one that leaps instantly to the forefront is The Rage Beat from the Gravitation OST. It makes me happy because I think about the anime.
•  Are you active in the arts (eg. Play an instrument, paint, write, etc)? I paint, sew, crochet, embroider, sometimes make jewelry, and write. I used to play piano and trumpet but the batteries in the keyboard corroded (I’m not entirely sure how to go about fixing that) and I had to sell my trumpet for gas money so I could get to my college classes. Thankfully, Amanda found a cornet at a garage sale and as soon as we get it from my parent’s basement, I can play again. We are also going to get an actual piano from craig’s list when we get a house… if we have room for one. Oh and I am going to learn to play the Erhu, a Chinese two stringed violin- just as soon as I learn their musical notation, lol. I found a book in English recently, so yay!
• What is your number one non-gothy hobby? Watching anime?

Thought Provokers:

• If you could be a supernatural creature, what would it be and why? There are a few. Vampire, because I have been in love with them since I was very young and enjoy reading books, watching movies, and writing stories about them. Dragon, for pretty much the same and while I know Smaug was technically a bad guy in the Hobbit, he was my first Dragon love. Elf, because I freaking love them and yes, its because of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. (My Dad read the Hobbit to me when I was really little) Kitsune, because Japanese fox spirits are really fascinating. I’ve read some really interesting lore about them and my totem animal is the fox.
• What horror monster-bases super power would you have? Shape shifting would be fun, teleportation would be handy for when I want to go visit family, but mind control would be great. I could make people smack themselves for being stupid and I don’t think it would ever get old.  
• Do you feel confident or comfortable interacting with other Goths or gothy people (online or irl)? Why or why not? I don’t feel confident or comfortable interacting with people in general- at least until I get to know them and then there are still those I’m never completely comfortable around.   
• Is there something you wish there was more of in your subculture? More plus size fashion- like actual, true, plus size fashion and community. I just recently learned there are once a month goth nights at a bar/club downtown. I don’t typically like bars, the drinks are always overpriced, and I’m just going to come out and say it, I get bored. I’m not much of a dancer and I’m often exhausted in rooms full of people. But, I’m going to try and go anyway and maybe do some networking.
• Care to share an embarrassing story related to your “darkliness”? Just general clumsiness. I tend to look at the ground when I walk to keep from tripping over things so I often get door opened on me or walk into things. I’ve given myself a very mild concussion getting into my Grandpa’s truck. I forgot to duck.
• How are you at DIY? I’d say, I’m okay at it, as long as I have a clear idea of what I am planning to do. When it comes to cooking, Amanda calls me her McGuiver chef.

Confessional (aka True or False):

• I love watching cheese romance films. True and False, depends on how cheesy.
• I ALWAYS remember to wash off my makeup at night. 98% true the other 2% would be if I fell asleep before getting to it.
• I sleep with plushies. True. I usually have a raccoon or fox plush. The cats also sleep with Amanda and I.
• I wear non-black pyjamas most nights. True. I have a couple of t-shirts and night gowns I like and they are light colors.
• I think Andrew Eldrich is overrated. I think the fact that I had to look him up is self-explanatory.
• I don’t like vampires. So Very False.
• I don’t like clubs. True, I just talked about that… >.>
• I don’t enjoy graveyards. False. I’ve been going to them since I was little. My Grandparents took me on Memorial Day to decorate family graves. I loved the headstones and mausoleums and wondering who the people who belonged to them were, what life was like when they lived, and so on. I’ve been to big city graveyards and little, out of the way- in the middle of nowhere Kansas- country graveyards. I like them all.  
• Blood makes me queasy. Not usually, I mean I’ve seen a lot! But there is one instance when it does, when Amanda gets a bloody nose. For some reason, I get a little sick from that and don’t really know why. Anything else I am fine with.
• I’d sooner faint than pet a spider. *shudder* Fainting is preferable and I have fainted. I did so in Toy’s R Us during Christmas rush and smacked my head on a checkout counter. It sucked balls!
• I don’t like haunted houses. Are we talking actual haunted houses or Halloween Haunted Houses? Halloween one are fun, but I always feel rushed through them. Sometimes I just want to stop and look to see how stuff works. Actual haunted houses are okay, depending on the activity.
• I’ve never read Dracula. False. I’ve listened to an audio version before bed for several nights.
• I think “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” is a long and boring song. It is long, but I don’t think it’s boring.

I'm going to follow Sarah's lead and tag anyone who follows me who hasn't been tagged and is interested.

If I could find the thing, I'd whack it!!! Allergies on the run! Asatru.

Yggdrasil and the nine worlds

Last night my friend Christine, Skoora, and I went to the Unitarian Universalist Church in our area for a class on Asatru. It was very interesting and I think I got a few questions answered, but as is the case most of the time, now I have more. The good news is, I met some very nice people and got to listen to their individual beliefs and hear them kindly debate different points. No one was vicious in their arguments. No one had to prove the other wrong or say that their take was the right take. It was so refreshing I almost wanted to cry! It had truly been too long since I have been able to have discussions or in my case, listen to a discussion with a group of people who actually respected each other! And also where the conversation didn't turn petty.

You see I am an observer by nature and I have enough respect of others to let them talk, to hear their opinions. However, it seems that with a couple people I know, the same cannot be said in regards to me. So I basically just stopped talking. It just wasn't worth it for me to express my opinions or thoughts, mainly because I don't agree with most of what is said. Also because a lot of people are so concerned with being right or pushing that their way is the right way that they argue. I even know people who seem to enjoy arguing. And I even know someone who, when they are proved wrong, they have to find some little stab or jab to get in just so they can feel better. Of course, all of this has left me feeling very suffocated and unappreciated and like I just don't matter at all in the friendship.

I don't enjoy arguing. I enjoy intelligent discussions where people can truly and honestly agree to disagree. Where people aren't trying to get the upper hand and or push their agenda. Your way/thoughts/ideas/and opinions might not be the right way for someone else and that seems to be a concept that most people have lost.

Any further and in depth discussion about Asatru will be done on my Witch Ways blog, as I learn more about it. I would also like to point out that I am not researching Asatru and the Heathen path because of the Thor movies. Yes, love Thor, the Avengers, and Thor 2, but as much as I enjoyed the movies, my interest in Asatru and the Heathen path in purely of an honest interest, religious exploration, and scholarly nature.  (Note: I am exploring different paths of Neo-Paganism and so forth so there will probably be a couple of different posts about different paths there.)

Now for the other bits. I am having an allergic reaction to something! I know I haven't had anything with peanuts or peanut oil so I have checked that off the list. I did check the pollen reports and it seems that the pollen warnings are set to moderate, so that could be it. But I am allergic to so many trees, pollen's, types of grasses, and weeds it's hard to figure out what's causing it. If I could figure out whatever is growing or blooming, I'd give it a good whack. I've broken out in itchy hives! Yuck! At this point, I kind of feel as though if I have to suffer, then whatever is making me suffer should at least get a good talking to. Not that that would do any good but it might make me feel better.