oh no, free time
Aug. 7th, 2022 10:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kindkit1) This will be the first weekend* in three months when I'm not working on the fic. (*Sunday-Monday is my weekend.)
It feels weird. I kind of wish I had a new fic to work on. I don't have any ideas yet, though, apart from maybe a short and massively depressing fic about Ed's mother, because when I was writing the big story I acquired head-canon about her life. Or, alternatively, I've found myself strongly tempted to take certain tropes I see a lot in the fandom and write something better than what I've seen elsewhere. But what I really want is another huge, hugely absorbing monster of a story, because while it was enormously hard work, it was so much fun!!
. . . Izzy? Izzy Hands, and how he got that way, and what happened next? He's the character who interests me most after Ed and Stede, and I definitely have ideas/thoughts about him. But, damn, my Ed fic is plenty dark already. An Izzy story would be like "yeah, let's wander down to the pit of despair and STAY THERE FOREVER, tormented and tormenting others. 'This is hell, nor am I out of it.'"
Stuff to contemplate, I guess. Meanwhile, my plans for the weekend involve further re-reading of the Aubrey & Maturin novels, and reading Alison Bechdel's Fun Home which I picked up a couple of weeks ago, and maybe re-watching OFMD again, and maybe trying out the Sandman series. I'm a bit nervous about that, because I think the comics were mostly great, sometimes transcendent, and I worry that the show will be less wild and weird, all tamed down a bit to be comprehensible to a mainstream TV audience.
2) I've rewarded myself for finishing the story with stuff. This ring, and some teas from Tea Source, whose shop I used to frequent when I lived in Minneapolis/St. Paul. (I got gyokuro, genmaicha, and some otsuka saemidori, which I've never had but which sounds intriguing--I love the brothy quality of some Japanese green teas.)
3) Still on the subject of buying myself treats, I've been wanting to try scents again. I thought about buying more BPAL stuff, and actually had a virtual cart full of samples (including some I've tried before that I wanted to see what they were like fresh--a lot of my old BPAL stuff came secondhand from other people--and how they would work on me now that my body chemistry has changed due to testosterone). But I couldn't get past the fact that I feel like BPAL is over-rated. The company's aesthetic, their general fan-friendliness in several senses, tends to overwhelm what I feel is the mediocrity of their fragrances. (By "mediocrity" I don't mean in any objective sense--I have no knowledge of perfumery whatsoever. I just mean that I've tried 30-50 of their scents, and while I liked some of them quite a bit, not one has ever made me go "wow." I've never loved a BPAL scent as much as, say, I loved Chanel No. 19 back in the long-ago day. Actually I've thought about re-trying Chanel No. 19, which is widely considered a unisex scent, but apparently it's been reformulated a lot since ca. 1988 when I wore it.) Also, my experience with BPAL has been that almost all their stuff skews very sweet and feminine, even when the promo text claims it's masculine/fresh/herbal/whatever.
Anyway, I ended up checking out Luckyscent and discovered that a lot of their samples of serious high-end fragrances are about the same price as BPAL imps. So yesterday I ordered some stuff, despite the fact that the 10% off coupon code I was promised in exchange for giving them my email address never arrived. When my samples arrive and I start trying them out, I'll post about it.
4) In vastly less self-indulgent news, I've been called for jury duty. It starts at the end of this month and could potentially last until mid-November. I am not delighted. It won't cause any financial hardship--my job actually makes up the pay differential for any normal working hours you spent on jury duty--but I will have to use my legal name, which I haven't used voluntarily in years. I don't want to out myself at trans to the whole goddamn court, so I'll have to go "girl mode," which will be interesting considering I don't own any women's clothes, my haircut is very masc, etc. I tend to be seen, correctly, as male these days at least until I speak, so the bathroom situation is likely to be interesting.
Plus, if I actually get placed on a jury, it'll likely mean working 6 days a week, since court days are M-F and Saturday is a working day for me.
No love for this. I guess it's a kick in the pants to finally get my legal name change?
It feels weird. I kind of wish I had a new fic to work on. I don't have any ideas yet, though, apart from maybe a short and massively depressing fic about Ed's mother, because when I was writing the big story I acquired head-canon about her life. Or, alternatively, I've found myself strongly tempted to take certain tropes I see a lot in the fandom and write something better than what I've seen elsewhere. But what I really want is another huge, hugely absorbing monster of a story, because while it was enormously hard work, it was so much fun!!
. . . Izzy? Izzy Hands, and how he got that way, and what happened next? He's the character who interests me most after Ed and Stede, and I definitely have ideas/thoughts about him. But, damn, my Ed fic is plenty dark already. An Izzy story would be like "yeah, let's wander down to the pit of despair and STAY THERE FOREVER, tormented and tormenting others. 'This is hell, nor am I out of it.'"
Stuff to contemplate, I guess. Meanwhile, my plans for the weekend involve further re-reading of the Aubrey & Maturin novels, and reading Alison Bechdel's Fun Home which I picked up a couple of weeks ago, and maybe re-watching OFMD again, and maybe trying out the Sandman series. I'm a bit nervous about that, because I think the comics were mostly great, sometimes transcendent, and I worry that the show will be less wild and weird, all tamed down a bit to be comprehensible to a mainstream TV audience.
2) I've rewarded myself for finishing the story with stuff. This ring, and some teas from Tea Source, whose shop I used to frequent when I lived in Minneapolis/St. Paul. (I got gyokuro, genmaicha, and some otsuka saemidori, which I've never had but which sounds intriguing--I love the brothy quality of some Japanese green teas.)
3) Still on the subject of buying myself treats, I've been wanting to try scents again. I thought about buying more BPAL stuff, and actually had a virtual cart full of samples (including some I've tried before that I wanted to see what they were like fresh--a lot of my old BPAL stuff came secondhand from other people--and how they would work on me now that my body chemistry has changed due to testosterone). But I couldn't get past the fact that I feel like BPAL is over-rated. The company's aesthetic, their general fan-friendliness in several senses, tends to overwhelm what I feel is the mediocrity of their fragrances. (By "mediocrity" I don't mean in any objective sense--I have no knowledge of perfumery whatsoever. I just mean that I've tried 30-50 of their scents, and while I liked some of them quite a bit, not one has ever made me go "wow." I've never loved a BPAL scent as much as, say, I loved Chanel No. 19 back in the long-ago day. Actually I've thought about re-trying Chanel No. 19, which is widely considered a unisex scent, but apparently it's been reformulated a lot since ca. 1988 when I wore it.) Also, my experience with BPAL has been that almost all their stuff skews very sweet and feminine, even when the promo text claims it's masculine/fresh/herbal/whatever.
Anyway, I ended up checking out Luckyscent and discovered that a lot of their samples of serious high-end fragrances are about the same price as BPAL imps. So yesterday I ordered some stuff, despite the fact that the 10% off coupon code I was promised in exchange for giving them my email address never arrived. When my samples arrive and I start trying them out, I'll post about it.
4) In vastly less self-indulgent news, I've been called for jury duty. It starts at the end of this month and could potentially last until mid-November. I am not delighted. It won't cause any financial hardship--my job actually makes up the pay differential for any normal working hours you spent on jury duty--but I will have to use my legal name, which I haven't used voluntarily in years. I don't want to out myself at trans to the whole goddamn court, so I'll have to go "girl mode," which will be interesting considering I don't own any women's clothes, my haircut is very masc, etc. I tend to be seen, correctly, as male these days at least until I speak, so the bathroom situation is likely to be interesting.
Plus, if I actually get placed on a jury, it'll likely mean working 6 days a week, since court days are M-F and Saturday is a working day for me.
No love for this. I guess it's a kick in the pants to finally get my legal name change?
no subject
Date: 2022-08-07 07:10 pm (UTC)*over-excited bouncing*
but apparently it's been reformulated a lot since ca. 1988 when I wore it.
Yeah, a lot of older scents have been, partly because of IFRA regulations on the exact percentage you're allowed to use of certain fragrance components which can cause rare contact sensitization skin reactions, like oakmoss.
OTOH, Google says it's still very cold and green:
https://www.fragrantica.com/perfume/Chanel/Chanel-No-19-Eau-de-Parfum-12345.html
I'm sorry to hear about the jury duty thing; that really sucks.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-08 04:16 pm (UTC)IFRA regulations on the exact percentage you're allowed to use of certain fragrance components which can cause rare contact sensitization skin reactions, like oakmoss.
I've read a little bit about this on the Kafkaesque blog and elsewhere. I wonder about the science behind it, because in my own experience, almost anything can cause a skin reaction in somebody. (This year I've managed to have skin reactions to nitrile gloves and quat sanitizer, both of which are specifically not supposed to do that. And I used to have constant trouble with earrings, regardless of what metals they were made of.) I've never had a reaction to perfume, though, and hopefully won't start! Anyway, it seems a bit sad if ingredients are being restricted without a genuine need.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-08 04:59 pm (UTC)I can also rec Surrender To Chance as a source of decants, btw (they also have vintage samples).
... I really need to get some more Guerlain Vetiver; that might be my favourite vetiver yet.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-08 05:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-08-08 06:11 pm (UTC)Seriously, that's a pretty good approach. Get a broad range of random data points, leave room to be surprised by things. Then you'll find out more about what you like and don't like (and how your skin chemistry has changed, and which perfume reviewers you agree with, etc.), and then you can pursue what might interest you in a more targeted way. But having some random in there is good.
Also you already know you like vetiver and Chanel no. 19 (at least pre-reformulation) and you're reading perfume bloggers like Kafkaesque, so that puts you way ahead of many people.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-10 11:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-08-10 03:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-08-10 03:58 pm (UTC)Trying to come up with custom recs for people is something I really enjoy.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-11 01:40 am (UTC)In general, I'm drawn towards the traditionally "masculine" spectrum: citrus, herbs, wood, spices, leather, tobacco, dark boozy things like rum. I'm not a huge fan of anything heavily floral (especially roses), gourmand (though I have liked non-gourmand scents with cacao as a note), or sweet, and in the past my skin has tended to amplify the sweetness in things like amber. (Second caveat: this is drawn from my experience with BPAL perfumes, and I don't know how genuine/accurate their supposed notes were. A lot of the time, my experience with them was "what the hell am I smelling, this doesn't seem anything like the description or the listed notes?".)
I do like some florals, especially lavender and lilac. Other individual notes I like include vetiver as already mentioned, and for some reason myrrh. I'm hesitant to name any other individual notes due to caveats previously noted.
I very much do not like patchouli. I can handle it if it's discreet among more prominent scents, but anything that smells noticeably patchouli-like makes me feel queasy. (I wore BPAL's Mary Read sometimes, in very small amounts, and sometimes I loved it and sometimes I had to wash it off again.)
I'm very curious about oud, which Kafkaesque has been posting a lot about lately, so if you have recommendations for anything oud-centric that won't break the bank just for a sample, I'd love it!
And I will shamefacedly confess that I do like a fannish connection sometimes, so if you have recs for anything nautical/piratey, I would also love that. *slinks away*
no subject
Date: 2022-08-11 06:28 am (UTC)Ha, I was actually already wondering if I should rec Beaufort London in your direction even though I haven't tried any (yet):
https://bloomperfume.co.uk/collections/beaufort
And it sounds like it's all pretty heavily in the "citrus, herbs, wood, spices, leather, tobacco, dark boozy things like rum" range, and all marketed as either masculine or unisex.
Linking to Bloom because they have the best descriptions/notes breakdowns, but you can definitely get samples in the US.
Tonnerre sounds like it's aiming to be Black Sails: The Perfume (though if there's too much amber in the base that might not work for you), Iron Duke and Vi et Armis are oud-heavy, and Fathom V actually has multiple reviews invoking pirate ships ...
I personally want to check out Terror & Magnificence, because if it even half lives up to the description I'll love it. Rake & Ruin could also be a good time.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-15 12:57 am (UTC)My Luckyscent samples arrived a couple of days ago and I'm planning to post tomorrow about what I've tried so far. Not having great luck, alas. It's starting to seem like my new skin chemistry just eats perfume, especially all the fun light delicate top notes.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-11 06:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-08-11 01:07 pm (UTC)smoky smells?
musk? other "animalic"/dirty smells?
incense? old church smells?
Guessing from your other purchase that tea notes in perfume might be of interest?
no subject
Date: 2022-08-11 01:46 pm (UTC)I'm not sure about animalic--it's not something I've tried--but it's definitely something I'd prefer to start carefully on.
Incense is probably a no for me. I hate the smell of real incense, and when I've tried perfumes with frankincense notes I haven't liked them. If it was very very faint and the rest was old church (like, stone and old wood) that might be interesting, though.
And tea notes are great!
Would it be helpful if I link to some specific BPALs I've liked?
no subject
Date: 2022-08-11 01:49 pm (UTC)Absolutely! I've never got into BPAL stuff myself, but their listing of notes and the general vibe of each scent might help spark ideas.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-11 02:20 pm (UTC)Thanks so much for doing this!
no subject
Date: 2022-08-15 01:35 am (UTC)Chimera: Quite sweet, but redeemed for me by the myrrh and cinnamon. I didn't find it as gourmand as a lot of the reviews claim, but my sample was pretty well aged by the time it got to me.
Dracul
Golden Priapus: Very sweet on me given the vanilla and amber, but something about the combination with the juniper, pine, and rosewood worked. I genuinely don't like super sweet notes as such, but they do tend to work on my skin, or at least they used to.
Jolly Roger: Just very salt-and-leather-and-water. I wouldn't call it special, but I wore it a lot.
Plunder: Saved from being too gourmand by the strong tobacco note.
The Apothecary: loved the tea notes in this.
Whitechapel: BPAL's prose description is silly. It's a very clean, sharp scent, and the lime has amazing staying power.
I also really liked Tree of Life, a limited-edition scent with some descriptions at the link. On my skin it wasn't very orangey, mostly cacao and woods and herbs, and it worked well.
Hope these are interesting and/or useful. Thanks again!
no subject
Date: 2022-08-19 11:19 am (UTC)https://www.luckyscent.com/product/54510/myrrhiad-by-pierre-guillaume-paris-black-collection
I wrote up my take on it here:
https://rydra-wong.dreamwidth.org/383738.html#cutid1
Myrrhiad (Huitieme Art) opens dark and chilly with myrrh and licorice; the vanilla comes through behind but stays clean and sharp, with black tea adding a smoky and leathery note. This smells like a cold breeze ticking your nostrils, and I know this because it actually produced a wonderful moment of hallucination; I'd sprayed some on one arm before going to bed, and kept being unable to work out where the cold air was creeping in under my duvet; I was convinced there must be a gap in my cocoon.
This is very simple, and very original.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-13 07:39 am (UTC)Kafkaesque defines: "Fougères are perhaps the oldest fragrance family, and are traditionally aromatic in nature with lavender, herbs, vetiver, coumarin, bergamot, oakmoss, and sometimes geranium." Though now, like the chypres, they're often doing a complicated dance to compensate for oakmoss restrictions.
As a fragrance style, it's coded VERY strongly as "masculine".
Poential disadvantage: a lot of the blockbuster men's scents of the '70s and '80s are fougeres (think "Drakkar Noir"), but I think it's now been long enough that they've probably gone from "dated" to "retro cool". Not to mention that there are plenty of modern spins. "Invasion Barbare" in your sample pack is supposed to be an amazing modern fougere; I think some of the others too.
Other potential disadvantage: some of them go heavy on the patchouli for that woods/rootsy feel, so you may have to watch out for that.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-15 08:01 am (UTC)Not specifically pirate-y, but Kenzo Pour Homme (the 1991 one) is an interesting marine scent that might fit some of your other specs too:
https://www.fragrantica.com/perfume/Kenzo/Kenzo-pour-Homme-77.html
It's the sea but in a dank mineral seaweedy way. Properly marine, where a most "aquatic" scents are hyper-clean and a lot of "salty" scents go for "summer and sunscreen".
no subject
Date: 2022-08-19 11:12 am (UTC)It's iris/cacao/leather (this thought was partly sparked by thinking about Chanel No. 19 being iris-y):
https://surrendertochance.com/dior-homme-original/
Possible downside: some people find the iris in it too "lipstick-y"/powdery.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-08 05:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-08-08 04:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-08-08 04:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-08-08 05:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-08-08 11:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-08-08 06:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-08-08 05:06 pm (UTC)Probably, if I just answer the screening questions with what I really think (like, defund the police and abolish capitalism) that should get me dismissed!
no subject
Date: 2022-08-08 05:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-08-08 05:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-08-08 05:08 pm (UTC)https://queeraspirates.tumblr.com/post/691877589050146817/no-thoughts-but-this
no subject
Date: 2022-08-08 05:35 pm (UTC)I don't ship Izzy/Lucius at all, but I love Con and Nathan being silly/flirty.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-09 12:01 am (UTC)Anyway, despite my feelings about the police and the criminal justice system, I answered every question honestly and felt satisfied about how things turned out. (I was the seventh person struck.)
Good luck on embarking on the name change, if you decide to take on that mountain of bureaucracy at this time.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-09 05:56 am (UTC)As for the name change, go for it! I changed mine years ago as a teenager because I didn't see the point of going through life with a name I hated, even though I shortened it to a neutral name as a kid.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-10 01:51 am (UTC)I've just written and deleted a couple of paragraphs on why this whole situation is deeply unpleasant and potentially unsafe for me. Not likely to be unsafe, but potentially. Just trust me that it is. It's different from androgyny and it's also different from being a woman in a t-shirt and jeans. I presented/was seen as a not-very-feminine woman for years before I came out as trans and started doing my best to present as a man. The two things are really not comparable. (And anyway, given the transphobic panic in my country, actual gender-noncomforming women are increasingly unsafe too.)
no subject
Date: 2022-08-10 02:19 am (UTC)