(no subject)

Went to Towson this afternoon. Went to Yankee Candle because my big cypress jar candle that I've been burning for Apollo is just about down to its last...found out that the cypress candles have been discontinued. They had no more jar candles.

This bums me out. In addition to burning them for Apollo...I love their smell.

I bought up what they had in votives- a whopping dozen. Oddly enough, they never had them in votives before whn I went there. I suppose I will go back when I have more money at the end of the week and buy whatever wax tarts they have left- once I got the votives, they were down to only wax tarts. I shall have to see what I can snap up on ebay.

Sad, sad....

2012...'Cause 2000 is so 1999

Okay...so one of the Mayan calendars rolls over and starts new in 2012. Why is this some massive apocalyptic thing? Why am I seeing an ever-increasing number of "OMG World's Gonna End!!!!" posts on various places all over teh intarnetz?*** And when is Prince gonna start singing about partying like it's 2011? Granted it doesn't roll off the tongue quite so nicely as "party like it's 1999" but, ya know...there's gotta be a way to make it work.




***This is rhetorical. Yes, I am aware of the many theories based on the "Mayan calendar coming to an end"...like I said, it starts over. It's cyclical.

Temple Dream continues....

Dream, last night as I was drifting off...

walking up to the same temple again, this time wearing the same pale yellow robe that I was given to wear at the end of the last dream, as well as the gold bracelet from a few dreams earlier.. The grapevine cuts on my wrists and ankles were scabbed and still sore. I walked up the steps, the temple doors were closed. They swung silently open in front of me (opening outwards this time instead of inwards in previous dreams) and I walked in.

This time, there were no basins of water for hand washing. I walked to the far end of the temple and stood there, contemplating the altar- which instead of being laden with wine, statuary, fruit, incense and other offerings, was empty. I had brought no offerings this time either.

The woman who had greeted me in a few of the previous dreams came out this time. She said something to me, I don't remember what anymore. Then she removed the gold bracelet from her wrist and slid it onto mine, on the same wrist as I was already wearing my own bracelet. Then she was gone.

I was left there contemplating the fact that I'd brought no offerings, and then I was kneeling instead of standing. Then there was a cut like when a part was edited from a movie and the robe was gone, and I was laying on the table...being cut again. Though instead of just the surface of my skin being cut, the cuts were much deeper this time, all over my body. I was not restrained as I was last time, and again, I couldn't see who was doing the cutting.

It may have ended there with cutting in progress, or it may have continued, I don't remember.

Tattoo Meme...

Seen it around...

1. Have you ever cried during a tattoo? No, but I was in some serious pain during the session when the tree was being finished. I flinched pretty badly a number of times, in addition to making a lot of little involuntary noises. On the other hand, I was half delirious when I was having the outline done.

2. When did you get your first tattoo? November 23rd 1999

3. What was your first tattoo? The Chinese character for "fire" on my left shoulder blade, in a red/orange/yellow gradient (I plan to get it filled in solid red with some little flames on top.

4. Which tattoo is closest to your heart? They are all important to me, but while the fire tattoo is very significant, the hymn and the tree hold much more significance to me.

5. Do you have a matching tattoo with someone? Eww, no.

6. Do you have a tattoo that someone messed up on? There were some slightly messed outlines on the fire tattoo, but they were minor and I've since had them fixed.

7. Do you have anyone’s name tattooed on you? No.

8. What one was the most painful? The tree, especially the session when I had it finished- two hours with a needle on my spine, after being awake for nearly 24 hours, and having maybe five hours of sleep in the 48 hours before getting the work done.

9. How many tattoos do you have? 3- the fire tattoo I already described, the 21st Homeric Hymn to Apollo across my shoulders in Greek, and a cypress tree down my spine

10. Do you plan on being heavily or moderately tattooed? I have no particular plans. Tattoos will happen as they do.

11. Do you have a tattoo that you constantly have to explain? Heh...yeah. I spent the summer explaining the hymn 5-6 times a day.

12. Have you ever gotten an infection from a tattoo? No, eek.

13. Which one took the longest? The tree took about 3 1/2 hours altogether. The hymn, which most people guess to have taken several hours, only took 45 minutes and the fire took less than ten minutes (plus about an additional minute or two to fix the line)

14. What is the biggest tattoo that you have and how long did it take? Ummm....It's kinda hard to compare the tree and the hymn, one is text, the other is a solid design, but I've already commented on the time they took

15. Did you tell your parents? Yes...showed my mom the fire a few days later. Told her about the other tattoos at some point just before I started having the work done on them.

16. Do you regret having gotten any of your tattoos? no.

17. Would you consider ever getting any of your tattoos removed? no.

18. What are you going to get for your next tattoo? A sunflower, in memory of Alex...it was going to be my first tattoo, but that changed at the last minute. I've been working on another idea for another one past that, but I'm going to give that idea some time to solidify and make sure it doesn't become something else and be sure that the symbolism is going to retain its significance, though I am about 99% sure that that one is going to stick also.

19. Do you think members of the opposite / same sex with a lot of tattoos are hot? depends on the individual and the tattoos.

20. Are you unfortunate enough to have an arm band tattoo? I have not. Why would this be unfortunate?

21. How many people have tattooed you? 2

22. Do any of your tattoos have color? The tree and the fire.