Adventures of a Tofu Slut

My hair has decided to have a flashback to grade 6, and go all layers and feathered. HA. Oh, hair.

Also, I haven't done laundry in two weeks*, so I am down to the last days underwear. The underwear of the last days is really Not Spectacular.

*I could have done it any time in the last couple of days, but logically when I'm this close to the next laundry time, I should just wait. Right? Right.

Hoo boy I hate my skin. It objects to everything! The latest casualty is the awesome-smelling grapefruit body butter I bought at one of the four craft fairs I went to this past weekend. I used it yesterday, and by the time I went to bed, my arms and legs were itchy, red and bumpy. Argh! How can something that smells so good be so evil?

The short list of things that I have managed not to be allergic to or otherwise wronged by:

-SpectroJel (the unscented, un-anythinged version)
-Lubriderm (also the unscented, un-anythinged version)
-Body Shop body butter (amazingly)
-BPAL oils, except if they contain cinnamon (although I pretend not to know that, because most of my favourites have cinnamon)
-Kiss My Face pure olive oil soap (which is on notice, because I think it's making me break out, and even if it's not, I think it's making my skin drier than usual)
-That tinted moisturizer they stopped selling in Canada (but I now have a supply that will last me for at least another couple of years)
-Dove deodorant (which is also on notice, although I'm still not allergic, but it seems to have stopped working. There is no point to non-working deodorant. I'm scared, though, because every other deodorant I've tried has caused me to break out into a rash, from the super-scary chemical anti-persperant to the all-natural Lush baking powder blocks)

Pretty scented shower gels are pretty much always a disaster. Moisturizers are pretty terrible, too - not because of allergies, but because they make me break out. In the winter, even though I'm generating enough oil to support a small country, I'm also horrendously dry and flaky, so I've been experimenting with moisturizers, with no real luck so far. I have faith, though!

Sigh.

My mom is going in for eye surgery on Friday (something to do with the muscles in her eyelids being too weak to lift her eyelids, making it very hard for her to see). She said that mostly she forgets that she's going to have this done, and then all of the sudden she'll panic that she'll be blind after. Then she said, if I go blind, you'll come visit me, right? I said, sure, I'll wear a big fluffy sweater so you'll have something to touch. She said, great, and wear flavoured lip balm so I have something to smell.

Hee.

On Saturday I took time out from my exhausting schedule of moping and weeping to go out to starfishchick's with sarcasma, sanity_clause and mystery_diva -- and we got to meet iseult_variante, who was in town staying with the Starfishfolk. Yay iseult_variante! You are fabulous, and I'm so glad we got to hang out. Also, I swear I'm not normally quite such a lush. But wine is tasty! I think I'll also blame the wine for the fact that I found myself watching boy band videos on YouTube at 3:30 in the morning. I admit it, I hate the music, but I love the boy band choreography. Of course, the downside is that this morning I woke up with the Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way" looping through my head. Yikes.

And then today we all met again for brunch and a trip to MAC, where mystery_diva made us over and I bought sparkly gold eyeshadow. It's much classier than it sounds, I promise. Seriously girly.

Now I'm going to watch Studio 60 and go to bed and get lots of sleep and go to work and do it all again. And buy some groceries, because all I have in the fridge is soy milk, orange juice, plain yogurt, half an orange pepper, and 3/4 of a red onion. That's not food, yo.

BPAL review: The Star (tarot oils)

voleuse, thank you so much for this sampler! It's fantastic -- coconut with a hint of lime and mint, and a rich vanilla undertone. Very much a scent for me. I can't stop sniffing myself!

I don't know anything about tarot, but The Star seems to be a card of hope and optimism, which is lovely thought to carry with me as I wear this.

* * *

Went out last night for the 2nd annual Anti-Valentine's Day celebrations with shoefiend, mystery_diva and MD's co-worker -- silly drinks and chocolate fondue in a snazzy lounge way up in the sky (with an awesome view of downtown Toronto). There were gifts, tiaras, laughter, and, of course, much cleavage. Good times. We've already made extensive plans for next year (which is kind of sad if you think about it - we're assuming that we'll all be single still next year).

I'm really out of it this morning, though. Oh yeah. When did I get too old to function on barely any sleep? Oh, that's right, ALWAYS.

* * *

Someone at Zip is totally mocking me -- last week I got sent Queer as Folk (UK), Kama Sutra, and Kinsey. THANKS. Like I'm not fully aware that I'm not having sex. I will share my thoughts on these movies when I'm awake enough to have thoughts, but let me just re-iterate that I have a SERIOUS crush on Peter Sarsgaard. And also a serious crush on Maggie Gyllenhaal, so they, as a couple, are the hottest thing around. Not that I haven't discussed this with many people before (including last night), but it bears repeating.

* * *

So what's going on with you lot? How's February treating you so far?

Birthdays!

Happy birthday to the fabulous zosiablue, and to my beloved vestra, who is all the way on the other side of the country (yes, you can open your presents now).

***

Yesterday's BPAL:

Al-Shairan

The enemy of God, also named Iblis, He Who Despaired of the Mercy of God. Al-Shairan is the leader of the Jinn, a tempter who whispers false suggestions to men enticing them into evil and perfidious acts, and is the sworn enemy of all of Adam's children. His scent is fiery, bright and thick with sweet sinfulness: clove, peach and orange with cinnamon, patchouli and dark incense notes.

This was a score - fruity (the peach was very prevelant), but with that added bite from the cinnamon and patchouli. Like a really good incense. And it stayed very consistent throughout the day.

Oh, FINE. Maybe I'm a tiny bit jealous that all you had such fun, exciting New Year's Eves, full of drinking, and friends, and games, and staying up too late. Not that it's not my fault for being such a wuss and staying in away from the snow, but my evening of doing dishes and going to bed early just doesn't compare.

Not that going to bed early (-er, than usual) has been all that useful in attempting to get more sleep, which is, incidentally, my January resolution -- I have terrible insomnia these days. Can't get comfortable, itchy all the time, way too hot in my bedroom even with the window wide open and the fan on. Even when I finally fall asleep, hours after I go to bed, I keep waking up. It sucks, you know? But I will triumph! Maybe I'll start taking post-work naps. Or, oooh, lunchtime naps.

In conclusion, I think "In Translation" is my favourite Lost season 1 episode, I had to take my books back to the library before I could read them (so sad!), and the Girls' Bike Club CD is fucking brilliant.

BPAL of the Day:

Wanda

"And yet a restless,always unsatisfied craving for the nudity of paganism," she interrupted, "but that love, which is the highest joy, which is divine simplicity itself, is not for you moderns, you children of reflection.It works only evil in you. As soon as you wish to be natural, you become common. To you nature seems something hostile; you have made devils out of the smiling gods of Greece, and out of me a demon. You can only exorcise and curse me, or slay yourselves in bacchantic madness before my altar. And if ever one of you has had the courage to kiss my red mouth, he makes a barefoot pilgrimage to Rome in penitential robes and expects flowers to grow from his withered staff,while under my feet roses, violets, and myrtles spring up every hour,but their fragrance does not agree with you. Stay among your northern fogs and Christian incense; let us pagans remain under the debris,beneath the lava; do not disinter us. Pompeii was not built for you,nor our villas, our baths, our temples. You do not require gods. We are chilled in your world."

Along with Loviatar, she has become something of a 21st century Patron Goddess of all Dominatrixes. While Loviatar is the Goddess of Pain, Wanda governs Control. She is the breathtakingly beautiful sable-wrapped marble queen of Sacher-Masoch's fantasies. Her scent is a deep red merlot with a faint hint of leather,sexual musk and body heat over crushed roses, violets and myrtle.

I would never have picked this out -- I mean, roses and violets are usually big warning signs for me -- but I tested it at a smelling party a couple of orders ago, and I loved it. I think it's the wine. So far every scent with wine that I've tried has been wonderful.

Hahahaha! I'm such a big liar. I'm not wearing Bastet today, I'm wearing Bengal:

A sultry and unruly blend that emulates the ambient scent of the markets in ancient Bengal: skin musk with honey, peppers, clove, cinnamon bark and ginger.

And there's the cinnamon that made me red and welty. This ingredient list makes much more sense -- these are all scents I love, so it's no wonder I'm enjoying it so much.

[ps. eanja, I got your package yesterday -- thanks! It turns out that it was one that someone else had ordered, and I tried it on Saturday and liked it, so that worked out well. :)]

On The Hour tonight, they showed a website that uses face recognition software to find famous people who match you most in looks - not hair or colouring, but bone structure and things like that. It's called My Heritage.

I think it's some sort of genealogy site, but the face matching is the fun part. linaerys, you'll find this amusing -- my top match was Shah Rukh Khan. Hee. Other than that, they were mostly people I'd never heard of, but I could actually see the similarities.

(George's best match was Johnny Depp. I'm just saying.)

Some samples that I got from sh1mm3r, chimerakitty and vestra.

( Calliope, Centzon Totochtin, Cerberus, Eve, Sin, Snake Oil, Vinland )

1. I am testing the BPAL scents that chimerakitty sent me. I am fully multi-flavoured. At the moment Cerberus is the winner (mmm, chocolatey), but it seems to be a very changeable scent, so we'll see.

2. I had TWO packages in the mail today - my dvds from Amazon (Lost and Undeclared) and a "strikes suck" care package from canirl, with tea, chocolate, jewellery and a book. Awesome. I bet you wish you were locked out right now, too. (Or not.)

3. Of my two current jobs, working with mystery_diva definitely wins, even though printers are EVIL and must die. I can say this with authority since I've spent most of my time there printing pamphlets out. My other job is fine, but I'm not a fan of working 12-8. It kind of feels like winter already (other than the fact that it was so hot and gross out all this week) because it's dark when I leave work.

4. This is the first time I've been home alone for any length of time in a while. I should be doing laundry or cleaning the bathroom. As you can see, I'm not.

5. Did I mention that I met sarcasma and sanity_clause's wee kittens? They are adorable, and almost got distracted enough by the toys to not run in fear of my feet. So sweet.

6. I don't want to go to work tomorrow. I'm far too conditioned to having weekends off. And, in fact, to working only five days a week.

7. Now Cerberus smells like fruit, or candy, or something. Still nice, though.

8. I haven't talked about books in aeons, and I have a huge long list. The one thing I can say about walking the picket line is that it gives me lots of time to read, especially since I have mapped the path and no longer trip over the fire hydrant. I still don't recommend it, though.

9. Two weeks to Serenity! Eeeee!

10. I started looking at flights home for Christmas and then I realized that I don't even know what's going to be happening then. Maybe we'll still be locked out. But I have to wait in any case, because if I am back at work I have to put in for my vacation time. Of course, I can't do that until we go back to work. It's very complicated! I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter much, though - all the airlines are the same price, and think the days of sales for buying early are over. God, why is it so expensive to fly across Canada?

11. I would like an egg salad sandwich for dinner. Sadly, I have no eggs and no bread, so that's not going to happen.

12. I had grand plans to enjoy my evening off, but I'm already falling asleep. Damn. Sweet dreams, y'all.