"Listen to the wind blow, watch the sun rise"

 [...] Listen to the wind blow, down comes the night

Running in the shadows, damn your love, damn your lies

Break the silence, damn the dark, damn the light

 © Christine McVie / John McVie / Lindsey Buckingham / Mick Fleetwood / Stephanie Nicks. 

Fleetwood Mac. 1977. 

"The Chain". 

Rumours.

Some one in my community still doesn't know when dawn or dusk are, so the sign to go Nightswimming is still valid. I guess REM has been playing too much in that person's head? 

I don't know what the person who made the sign was thinking, but here it is, Christmas Eve, and people probably want to take their family to the pool. Proving no one pays attention, the hours of operation aren't going to affect them because "we all know better" than being allowed to swim from night to day. Especially since our community security system yells at anyone who is on the pool deck as soon as the sun stops shining (trust me, I experienced this myself). 

So people escaping the cold, will be splashing away in 75° Florida weather. And then go back to whatever frigid climate they came from, next week. 

I caught a gecko on my lanai.

He's been rehomed to the front of the house. 

He's not too big, as I've gotten bigger ones in this cup. 

But he's also the second one I've caught this week. They're coming in to warm up, but we attempt to get them before they run around our house and hide forever. We take them to another part of the yard and see what happens. 

I'm not mean, I'm just rehoming him. Might do them good to meet the neighbors better. 

I couldn't stand the Bath & Body Works "Eddie's Leather Jacket" soap, so my mother is using it in the kitchen. In its place, I opened the "Demogorgon" soap. 

Which, like all the Stranger Things x Bath & Body Works products, is no longer selling on any website. 

Unless you're looking to buy from third party vendors (on all sites). 

Amazon only has the candle from other vendors, so I can't speak of the quality of the products being sold. I can only speak of the soap I bought at a physical B&BW store. 

The soap smells so much better than the other one. I'm not biased because of the patchouli aspect, but this soap smells cleaner, 100%. 

It makes me excited to try the candle when I have opportunity. 

It's the first night of Chanuka and it's also Christmas Eve. 

I went to the gym this morning while my mother went to the pool. We had lunch and then went to CVS and Publix because both were open and we needed some things (we have company, and they are leaving tomorrow, to go back north). Tonight for supper, it'll be a mix of things but not any type of take away. Nor will we do that tomorrow, because we will be busy making sure the company has everything they need and packed to go home. 

I really don't know what's planned. Maybe catch up on some streaming that we missed this week. If not, I started the next chapters in the Conjuring universe, so I know I have the Annabelle and Nun series to finish up. I've been slow on the uptake with a lot of the movies, but at least I have them on DVD. 

I did watch The First Omen recently. As a stand alone movie, it was okay. But to be hovering around the Omen universe, it was all right. Not the best. I mean, I could see where the directors and writers tried to make it jive to the 1970s movies, but it wasn't completely gelling. Much like the remake Julia Stiles was in, 18 years ago. It wasn't a complete reboot but it wasn't a stand alone either. 

Beggars can't be choosers. It's interesting to see these old movies get remade or continued, but at what point do we say "stop; create something new and inspiring"? 

That is a future question meant solely to be answered when we find it, I suppose. 

At any rate, whatever your holiday flavor is, enjoy it and don't try anything stupid. You're still being watched by those who believe in outer worldly magic and if you haven't gotten your wrapped gifts yet, they're on the way.

Be as happy as Buddy the Elf.

Cheers;

Minty fresh?

The other day when I wrote about the Aura Cacia "Calm" oil, I didn't talk about the Peppermint "Cooling" oil. 

As with the other version, I had a free sample. 

When I opened it, I knew better than to get it everywhere, so I poured it all into a two ounce cup with a cover and took it from there. 

The oil smells amazingly pepperminty. It's sharp enough to wake you up and know that you're sterile for a minute. 

However, my smelly challenge at the moment is... I've got Bath & Body Works' "Eddie's Leather Jacket" foaming hand soap in my bathroom and the scent of that collaboration doesn't jive well with the mentha piperita. At all. In fact, I feel like this particular B&BW Stranger Things fragrance sucks on its own. I'm sorry for all the things that the retailer does with it's brand management, but hopping on the nostalgia train with the sci fi show about kids in the 1980s, I'm not totally sold on it. 

The "Fragrance notes" are: "black leather, soft musk and smoked suede". It's currently discontinued from the B&BW site and Amazon seems to be out of it too. Some third party vendor was distributing it at one point, and another vendor has the candle version for $41.90 because they're including a charcoal scrub bar soap with it (which probably is not Bath and Body Works approved). 

It was not my idea to get Eddie's Leather Jacket soap or anything else. It was gifted to me by someone because they thought I'd like it, due to the fact I was watching Stranger Things. I didn't like the smell of it when I saw it in the store, so I didn't buy it when I had the opportunity. I felt like it was something that I'd want to immediately scrub off my hands because I didn't feel clean with it. I don't feel clean with it as I type this. However, when I had the opportunity to buy a B&BW x ST product, I did buy the The Demogorgon Candle in the store, because it was the only one I thought smelled good. Yes, it has "Black Orchids, Spicy Cedarwood, and Dark Patchouli" as its "fragrance notes", so I'm going to be filling the air with patchouli again. Guess everything comes back to that? LOL. No, I haven't burned it yet because I'm working on the Flannel candle. Now that's sharp and clean scent too, but it gives me a headache after a while, honestly. 

I know.. I've been (negatively) circling the aroma post with everything.

TL;DR: the hand soap I use in my bathroom doesn't jive with the Peppermint oil I put on my arms and legs. The mix of the two (very different) products is horrible. I want to take a shower because of this, but if it's just to wash off the hand soap, I don't want to waste a warm shower (considering it's 67° out right now and will drop another 10-15 degrees over night. I'm already in my long pajamas and ready for bed (at almost 6pm. Dude, I'm so old). 

It's sad, really. I think the peppermint oil would be nice, but also, I'm thinking as it's sitting on me, it's not so great. I mean, there's no residue on my arms or legs so it has done its job by keeping me feeling clean (although rubbing my arms, I feel a bit staticy, which isn't the best feeling), but my room smells like a mix of things and I don't like that. I probably should have waited to open the oil when I was finished with the hand soap, but I just opened that the other day. 

Since I have the cup marked, I think I'm going to wait it out. I'm going to finish the hand soap and not use the oil. I'll just keep using regular lotion to heal my hands and feet, and see how long it lasts me before I totally throw out the soap and start new with something else. I hate to be that type of greedy waster, but there's only so much you can take of a product, when you didn't buy it yourself. It's a nice gesture, sure, but I wish I was asked first. I buy the soaps all the time, but I am very particular about which ones I get. Everyone has their preferences, and I sometimes walk out of that store with a headache, but I know I've gotten things that I can stand and use. 

Hopefully no one will send me to the Upside Down for this post... 

Cheers; 

I miss Halloween

... so much, that I haven't taken the skeleton tongs out of my car yet. 

Yes, I have skeleton arms in my car, and I don't remember the packaging saying they're salad tongs, when I had bought them. 

They glow in the dark and I guess by looking at them, they appear to be for salads. 

Who cares what they're for? I wanted Halloween decorations for my car this year and just haven't been bothered to take them out yet. So they're going to stay where the are until further notice. 

Just don't mind the dirt on my windshield and the cracking Autism Awareness Heart Puzzle Car Window Decal Sticker. It's another one of those decals that are getting beat on by the Florida sun all year round. Another picture proving how rough this state is for outside stuff. 

My blog post title is an art piece by a gothic guy named Ludwig Van Bacon. He has a piece on his website that is a Christmas tree outfitted with spooky decor. Unfortunately, it's not on Amazon for me to link to, but the A → Z shop has a lot of his other works (which I find oddly fascinating. But readers beware, a lot of his work is Not Safe For Work, but other pieces are totally retro for those who want to relive 1980s, 1990s and very early 2000s gems). 

As I was on Amazon to link to the stuff above, my front page had "stuff you may like" / "keep searching for". It's all the alcohol holders I was talking about the other day. 

There are two that caught my eye, both guitar based liquid holders. 

The first one is listed as Champagne Wall Holder Champagne Wine Metal Cup Holder Guitar Shaped LED Champagne Wine Cup Holder with 12 Slots Liquor Bottle Display Rack for Party Club, KTV, Bar, Birthday, Wedding, Anniversary. It has LED uplights on the glasses and looks so fricking cool. If I were still a drinker and having routine parties, for $102.99, I'd probably think about this. It's totally a conversation piece and looks solid (not because it's iron material, but it looks really cool).

The second is listed as Guitar Whiskey & Wine Decanter & Mahogany Base - The Wine Savant 1000 ML Glass Decanter with 2 10oz Glasses 14" For Whiskey Music Lover & Guitar Player Gifts Musician Music Lovers. I know a few whiskey people that would adore this, especially since there's an electric guitar version (and their house is full of plugged in instruments). This one too, is a conversation piece, but not necessarily something I feel I need to obtain for my own drinking. It would male a neat gift, but I don't know if I would spend over $115 for someone, not knowing if they would use it more than once. 

This is what happens during season. You see one thing online and all of a sudden you're getting links to everything else. 

It is also why I haven't felt the need to take out the skeleton hands from my car. I guess I can always start singing "Gimme your hands 'cos you're wonderful" and throw on David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (of which track 11 is Rock 'N' Roll Suicide has the lyric quoted). I am not immune to random blasting, as I used to turn on track 21 (Hang On To Yourself) from Bowie at the Beeb (The Best of the BBC Sessions 1968-1972) while I zipped down Route 24 when I was commuting back and forth to school. I'd always get to the point in my drive where I'd hit a landmark on the drive and that song would pop up. So I'd turn it up, turn down the windows (if it was nice), and just sing to myself. Wild out. I'm crazy like that, but we all have our moments. 

Which also means my time is up for today's post. We have some plans over the next couple hours and I have taken too long at my computer today. 

So be well, be safe. Don't get caught in any snow drifts or tunnel flooding. Take your sugar high and wrap all your presents. Last day for USPS Ground Advantage shipping is December 18, so you have four (4) more days to get your stuff together if you expect your people to open it on the 25th or 26th, depending on holiday.

Until then;

Cheers;

Another "[...] of the month" club

 I was perusing Amazon earlier and on the app feed, there's a link for the Vinyl of the Month Club: The Golden Era. It's a $24.99 a month subscription and you get "an essential album every month". This box includes music between the 1960s and 1970s. It's "handpicked by the experts at Amazon Music" and features the likes of "Pink Floyd, Aretha Franklin, ABBA, and more".

Although you can skip a month, I don't know if I can justify spending $300 a year to expand my record collection. Especially since I don't have my turntable hooked up. Moreover, If the comments / reviews are correct, some of the albums can be purchased cheaper through Amazon than in this subscription. Who needs to pay more to be a VIP when you can just order what you want, when you want, and not worry about unnecessary charges? 

I know one day I'll have the opportunity (and space) to unload all my packed music, but until that happens, is a club membership really worth the hype? Especially, if like people are saying, the vinyl comes in poor packaging? Although I don't want to jinx myself, I have found the orders I've made through the website, came to me quickly and without problem. No bent corners, no scratched covers. I haven't opened them because I'm not playing them at the moment, so the plastic wrap is still untouched. I'm taking a gamble by not checking them, however, I trust the fact that if the outside was damage free, the inside would be too. 

Quite the conundrum I'm in, I suppose. I'd like to listen to my collection, but with them all in a hallway storage closet, packed, I can't. 

So until I get a better opportunity to jam out.. choose your own adventure and listen wisely. 

Cheers;

Eat it. But don't choke on it.

Due to the overwhelming possibilities of people buying me random things for holiday or birthday presents, Hanukkah 2018 was no different.


I have to say, what I got this year was nothing short of interesting; I think the decisions were made to just throw ideas in the air to see if it stuck. Primarily from people who think I need more electronic chazerai (outside of wanting a new DSLR with some accouterments).

What made the list this past week?

A cable bites from a cousin, along with an essential oils disc for the car (which the holder I don't own, so this disc can't be used. I have mirror air fresheners that I happen to like, thankyouverymuch).

So... what does this cable thingy do, that I seem to sound like I am not favorable over?

It's supposed to prevent your cable from fraying. As in, every time you plug your phone in and then unplug it, you're loosening all the internal wires to the cable. The more you keep playing with it, the more it can lead to exterior fraying. The biters help prevent fraying, because only you can prevent forest fires.

The pictures I took this morning of the biter were taken with my Canon EOS Rebel T3 camera. The same one I'm thinking of replacing upgrading. I used the Fotodiox Canon EOS Macro Extension Tube Set for Extreme Close-Ups but sadly no tripod. Or great light. So some of the photos are slightly blurred. It adds character.

Quite honestly, I didn't want to set up a whole mini studio to take a handful of pictures. I sharpened some while I auto tone / contrast/ color others. That's all the editing I did in Photoshop, outside of adding my name. The case on my iPhone 6S is an OtterBox Defender.

Due to having the Defender case, the dog can't do its job properly. The biters are supposed to act like they are biting the phone, because that's the charging piece into the phone that starts the fraying process. Or so it was explained to me that way. The more you pull at that charging piece, the more loose it becomes. I guess people throw out a lot of cables because they are too rough on their pull?

Anyway, the case is big enough that the dog can't lay on its' belly and "bite" the case. The nub covering the charging port on the phone comes up and the charger goes in. But with the dog, he barely gets his mouth on the charger and can't bite the case. So putting him upside down, he raises the case just a smidge when it's on the table. What good is that - seeing the bottom of the product? You're supposed to see how cool it looks laying on the table and how it's doing the job it's supposed to. It wasn't made with thicker cases in mind, apparently.

I do have to point out, that the biter only works on the branded / rounded cables. The flat charging  cables are too wide to fit in the tiny body of the biter, so as awkward as it is to get the normal cable in, you can't get the flat version to work. Trust me, I tried. 

Note: Amazon has the brand of cable I tried using, but it's listed as a penny with $4.99 shipping: Blackweb BWA16WI002 Flat Sync and Charge Cable 4ft-White. I picked up two different colors (purple for the house, pink for the car. How girly of me, eh? 😁😜) in one of the big box stores for roughly $8 each (maybe a little less), but this white one is the only one listed on Amazon.

I tried; what can I say?


At any rate, the pictures or I've been writing for naught.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, the box is not in English. No, I can't read it.




I guess that's it for now. I've been sitting here trying to write this post for over an hour. I'm slow. Haha.


Cheers;








See also (aka diggin' the unscented pine forest):

• Bigfoot is alive!
• I want to believe
• I want to believe vol. 2
• Wax on, wax off
• The next Magic Mike
• Be a pal, be a friend. Pay your way

See also (aka other references):

• Help prevent destruction
• Other cable bites

Chanukah, oh Hanukkah!

Come light the menorah?


Do we have a menorah? Yes; we have several. Are they lit? Technically... they're electric. Some years, we don't believe in fire in my house.

Anyway, the "don't say its' name or it responds" is all hooked up and ready to listen and secretly report to the CIA to us.

As it was a Chanukah present for my mother, what better way to try it out, then to ask it Hanukkah questions (via iPhone 6S and edited on Pinnacle Studio 18 Ultimate):

I know what you're asking - what the eff was I doing to the speaker in the first video? The mesh spandex speaker looked like it was dusty with the light on it. I thought if I "wiped off the shmootz", it would disappear. I was wrong; it's part of the package. 

*shrugs*

The second part of testing the little hockey puck: Asking for the weather (via iPhone 6S and edited on Pinnacle Studio 18 Ultimate):

Baby, it's cold outside (but hot down south)?


I guess it's a matter of time, to see what else we can do with this Echo Dot. I know my mom wants to play various music through it, but has no need to turn on or off the lights in the house. As we don't have anything else enabled for smart devices, she's limited to what she can ask or do with it. For now, we'll just let it continue to blink at us, listening for key words and questions, while we ponder what life was like with out it.


Until then...

Cheers;



See also:
A plethora of "Chanukah, oh Chanukah" tracks

Woot! Only took 15 years!

Watch, now that I say this, things will change and come Christmas, I'll get crap again.

As mentioned previously, I have gotten the odd gifts from family members. Whether that be a watch that's too fruity for me (and one I can't tell time on), or just a note card saying "Happy Birthday!", I finally get something I can use: a check!

Since my birthday is in 2 days, I've been getting the "what do you want for your birthday" questions. I reply I want nothing, but sometimes, someone's mail slips in with an unwanted item. This current round of gifts surprised me. The part of the family famous for re-gifting, actually sent money. Now, I have two choices: bank it, or use it to buy the last book in the Crepsley saga. Odds are, I'll cash it and book it. I did have to laugh, though. The card says "Congratulations!" on the front, and the inside reads "So happy for you!". Handwritten side note = "On your birthday - almost 30 - 1 more year." Uhm... yea. I need to be congratulated because I survived 28 years (29 come Sunday) with this family, and come next year, I can say I survived 30 with them!

Who knows. Could be a positively negative way on wishing me a happy birthday, or just a friendly way to say hello. Either situation could work, but I'm just glad I finally get something I can use.

Cheers,

Leave me out of your regifting

Have you ever gotten so many useless items for the holidays, that nothing surprises you anymore? Me, I'm tired of the constant re-gift. The trash one person doesn't want, but thinks you'd consider it 24 karat gold; cherishing it always, never once imagining hocking it.

I've people that think I'm this technophile, wham, bam, thank you m'am, all around geek for anything that deals with spare parts.

I've made it known, quite a few times, that I don't own anything more technical than my Canon Rebel SLR camera and a portable CD player. I don't want an iPod, iPad, iWhatever. I have no use for them because I choose to use materials that are still in good standing. I.e. my camera, although one can barely find 35mm film anymore, works wonders. I've got clearer pictures from that 6 year old contraption, than the new Nikon Coolpix my mother purchased for herself two years ago. She took her camera to Spain and Italy, I took mine to England. Guess who came home with top quality snapshots. Me. I choose not to monkey over a screen. I like the element of a surprised "oops" photo op sometimes. I walk around with a tape player. Yes, I have cassette tapes. I have a portable CD player that was hooked up to my previous car. My current has a tape and CD player. I like my vinyl records because it's much more softer and enjoyable a sound. Not that I find the means of music circa 1990 and beyond terribly bad, but wax is more homey. I don't use public transportation to warrant the iCrap. My laptop stays home and I've no need to be on anything electronical for more than a few minutes at a time when I'm outside. My mobile is 5 years old, and I don't text. I read books made of paper, not pixels. In fact, I'm waiting for 24 January, so I can buy book 12 of the Cirque Du Freak manga series. In the store. Come May, I'll be back in the local to buy the fourth (and final) book of the Saga of Larten Crepsley series. I don't Nook, Kindle, e-Read or squint over letters if they're not in paperback or hardcover form. I like things the way they are. One may be so inclined to refer to me as some sort of neo-Luddite.

That being said, I received my yearly holiday present from some family members. Every year, they send me something that I surely have no use for, but they gift it based on the fact that it was free for them, and they, sure as the day is long, don't need it. One year was a gift card to a music store. Yeah, thanks, I don't have access to those machines that it's intended for. The next year, it was a docking station for the materials that they know I don't have. Okay, thanks again; I'll be sure to use it... if I ever end up buying the machine (meanwhile, I think it's in a box somewhere, deep in storage, collecting dust). This year, it was a pen and calculator set, circa 1995. No lie. I've seen this set before, and I think they sent a similar one to me in 1997. The thing comes free with a big purchase of office supplies. It cost more to mail than it did to make.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not spoiled, nor am I an ungrateful bitch. I just feel that, if you're going to take the time to give someone a "thoughtful" gift, please spend the time to get to know what they're interested in, and perhaps ask them what they'd like for the holidays. Don't just send your day old (unwanted) trash.

Happy Holidays, y'all.


Cheers,