Happy World Goth Day 2021!

Hello bats...wishing you all a healthy, happy, and safe World Goth Day 2021! I always thought it was a little bit cruel that WGD is in May...every May 22nd, without fail, it's stupidly hot and humid out here. Spring and summer are especially hard on goths! I don't have air conditioning, so I'm melting even though I haven't left the house. According to the thermostat, it's 29°C in my bedroom, so the last thing I wanted to do was do my makeup and hair. Can't even open the window because of the pollen apocalypse outside. Sigh.

At least my pajamas are kinda festive? I'm in spiderweb-print leggings and a Beetlejuice shirt. And I looked cute at work the other day, too. I don't have a lot of summer clothes so I was kinda scrambling to find something wearable - it was 34°C that day! I bought a cute Kuromi insulated bottle so that I could carry cold drinks to work. Can't wait until Starbucks starts letting us use our own bottles and tumblers again!

Not too much has been happening these days, but I do have a piece of exciting news: I got my second dose of the vaccine on Wednesday! No side effects other than tiredness and a sore arm, just like the first dose. The doctor made sure to avoid my tattoo, which was very considerate. Not sure if vaccination can disrupt a healed tattoo at all, but I don't want to take any chances since the shops aren't open for touch-ups. As soon as they reopen, I'm going in to get some more work done. I have a few things in mind right now: I want a Patrick Nagel-styled portrait, a vampire castle, an ankh, and a butterfly.

I'm on a no-buy since I'm saving up for the tattoos, I need new work clothes...and I also want to buy a condo. Not to mention, I still have tuition to pay. My closet is stuffed to bursting, too. So I'm trying to limit my purchases to replacements of things that have worn out, or things that I absolutely need.

For instance, the tote bag I've been carrying every day for about 5 years has finally started to wear out, so I lucked out when I found a used Strawberry Switchblade tote bag on Mercari! Isn't it cute? It's a little faded, but otherwise in good condition. It arrived a few days ago, and I've been decorating it with pins and things. I've ordered a few band pins and patches to decorate the right side of the bag. I'm also going to add snaps along the top so that I can close the bag.

Speaking of recent purchases...the other thing I purchased recently is...a longboard! As a young kid I was obsessed with Tony Hawk, Thrasher, X-Games...I even used to skateboard little bit, but I was never really any good. I cruised (well, wobbled) clumsily around the neighbourhood and I couldn't even ollie. I sort of bought it on a whim. I've always hated commuting by public transit (too slow, too crowded), but it's gotten markedly worse since the pandemic started. I've seen so many people nodding off, shooting up, fighting, flashing, and worse on the subway and streetcar that I only take it if I absolutely need to. Plus, a lot of people still refuse to wear masks or keep their distance. I have to get off the streetcar/train and either walk or wait for the next one so often that I figured I might as well find a better way to commute. So I picked up the Rayne Future Killer 35"! It's a downhill/freeride board, so that should be good for riding my hilly commute.

I strapped on my helmet and pads and headed over to a nearby park with a big parking lot. There were tons of kids around, and I even saw a teen girl skateboarding around. I remember getting picked on as a kid for being tomboyish and liking skateboarding, and the boys were pretty mean and dismissive towards skater girls, so it's cool to see girls still taking it up. It's been fun so far! I'm not very good, so I've been trying to practice a little every day after work. I got a little too confident on day 3 and decided to hit the streets where I tried to take a tiny hill, tried to bail, and slammed my shoulder into the pavement. So back to taking baby steps at the parking lot, haha! At least the view is nice.

Anyway, that's it for my boring life update. Time to get back to video editing, since I did sort of plan on uploading a few things before ditching my channel for good. Thanks for reading, and see you soon!

[Current Music: Siouxsie and the Banshees - Slowdive]

Closet Cleaning ✨

My office is moving locations, so it's been a very busy couple of weeks for me! I spent the last couple of weeks hauling boxes around and cleaning the new office space. My allergies and asthma are teaming up to kick my ass since I've been huffing tree pollen and drywall dust for the past few days, and my hands are cracked and covered in scrapes. I'm really not cut out for physical labour.

It was my first weekend in a long time where I had both Saturday and Sunday off. Initially, I planned on lazing around the house and tuning in to the parts of the Gothicat Festival that I missed, but I ended up doing some closet cleaning instead. It feels cathartic to get rid of these pieces that I'm not using, even if I like them or think they're pretty. I'd rather that they go to a new home where they can be worn and appreciated. Most of the pieces went to friends, so I feel good sending them off. I cleared out a ton of blouses and dresses, and I'm still only halfway done.

Also, I like to make "goodbye" coordinates when I sell items that I like, so here's a few!

First, I sold my Holy Queen skirt, and twinned with myself! Holy Queen is a weird piece for me. I've had it in both the skirt and JSK in every single colourway, and I just...I dunno. I want to like it, but it never seems to work out for me. I always end up selling it. I really thought the skirt in this colourway was the final one, but I'm just not feeling it. The skirt cut is lovely and very flattering (the JSK looked awful on me), but I rarely find myself reaching for it. Time to go.

As a side note, how are we feeling about this blouse? I love this blouse under JSKs, but the way it clings and wrinkles up makes it look terrible with a skirt.

I also came to the conclusion that I don't look good in sweet, so I made the difficult decision to sell off most of my Baby, The Stars Shine Bright collection. I love these dresses and prints, but I don't love them on me, if that makes sense. I just feel a little bit awkward and silly in pieces like these...I don't really know how to be cute.

"Cute Meowing Friend" Alice and Her Black Cat JSK was one of my dream dresses when I was a wee baby lolita at heart, lurking on the EGL Livejournal community. I was (and still am) a huge fan of Alice in Wonderland, and Baby has the best Alice prints bar none. It's still one of my favourite Baby prints overall...I just don't feel like this style suits me at all.

Sleeping Alice is another favourite print of mine. To be honest, I'm still on the fence about this one...I really like the print, and I feel like I could coordinate it in a less cutesy way. Not sure about if I'm going to keep this cardigan, too. It's not aggressively sweet so I think it'll still fit in with the rest of my wardrobe. I'll probably hold onto both if them for a little while longer before I decide on it.

Back to wardrobe pruning for now...

[Current Music: Drab Majesty - Ellipsis]