How To Dance Goth (Oh My Goth!)

Folks, at some point I plan on a posting some very basic information for you on what it is to be Goth, the origins of Goth, the reason Goths are called Goths, and how the modern Goth gets on in the 21st century, etc.

This is not that time.

Instead, I'd like to share with you this (delightfully tongue-in-cheek) video, "How To Dance Goth," which will, by itself, give you a taste of what today's Goth is like. Sort of.

Prendre plaisir! (Enjoy!)

PS: If any of you are wondering, Balthazar arrived safely in Russia and, last I read, was having a fabulous time.

Writerly Things ~ Time Management

This past week I noticed that many of my fellow bloggers (those who are also writers) lamented their difficulties with time management. Dudes, I am so there with y'all...

For maybe a year, I've been optimistically saying that I'd figure out a system by which I could work full time, regularly read all my fave blogs (of which there are really a LOT), compose two blogs a week, keep up with Facebook and Twitter, and also write.

Well, I haven't. So, rather than flagellate myself for what I can't do, I'm scaling back on my blogging: after this week, I'm moving to a one-blog-a-week posting schedule. I have to focus on my publishing goals and cutting back on blogging is the only way I can see that happening. Mind you, I may periodically post more than once a week, should something tickle my fancy (or someone tickle my libido—y'all know what a shameless hussy I am).

I admire those of you who can juggle all of the above and more. Kudos, peeps. I can't swing it, not at this point in my life. Maybe in future I'll have more head space/energy to tackle more frequent blogging and whatnot (though I have to admit, I'm so burnt out from A to Z that I've totally passed on a bunch of fun blog hops over the past month or so). But for now, I gots editing to do for a book I want to release this fall and a slew of WIPs that have been bitching for my attention for months. Months, people! And I must answer. For Destiny awaits, and I'm tired of awaiting it.

Have y'all scaled back on anything so you could better manage the achievement of your goals?

Streaming Consciousness: The Kid

...So many responses to my most recent post center around the essential "Holy fuck, not Putin?!" theme, yet no one commented on the fact that my Kid's due to go to Russia next week, for a month-long stay. Perhaps y'all were so tightly clutched in the grip of horror at my taste in man-candy that this salient fact escaped you. Never mind. I've nerves of steel and feel perfectly blasé about the fact that it'd take me 10 hours and over a thousand bucks to get to Balthazar in the event of an emergency, from June 12 to Bastille Day.

...I'm clearly lying about that last bit. I plan to tipple steadily throughout the day this coming Wednesday, the day the Kid embarks on his trip, so I can just not give a shit that he's flying an airline I've never heard of before and will be almost completely out of reach till mid-July.

...Balthazar's girlie and some of her fam were in Europe themselves recently and had a brief layover in Manhattan yesterday on their way home, so he and I went downtown to say howdy. When Balthy and his gal reunited, I was struck by how much love for him poured out of her eyes. My next thought, which haunted me for the rest of the day, was how painfully vulnerable we become when we love and how easily our beloveds can destroy us. (What the Kid's initial response was to her I can't quite tell you, as I deliberately turned away so they could suck face in relative privacy.)

...The Kid finished his first year of college! Holy shit! I'm happy to report that I'm over the devastation of Empty Nest Syndrome and have come to enjoy the freedom of not having to rush home from work every day to care for my not-so-little birdling. I'm enjoying the weird journey from Goth Mom to Goth Mom Lite and rediscovering myself as just a chick again.

...Balthy's got way more clothes than I do. Waaaaay moooooooore. And that pic doesn't show even half of his crap. Who the hell's got time for that much laundry, ain't nobody got time for that! (The Kid obviously doesn't, else his threads wouldn't be in a mound on the floor, awaiting the tender mercies of Tide.)

Vladimir Putin is Now Russia's Hottest Bachelor!!!

Vladimir Putin and his wife are divorcing! Yes, the man will soon be a free agent!

Well, HOT DAMN!!!*

UH...I MEAN, divorce is never easy, whether you're doing the leaving or being left, what with all the messy emotions and whatnot. And Putin's a sensitive fella, you know...

So, as one who's seen more than her fair share of heartache, I'm more than willing to help him put things in...perspective.

"Why Putin?" you may ask.

Here's why:

Also, he's super romantical...

W00F!

And I don't think I've mentioned this before, but The Kid's due to fly out to Mother Russia next week for a month-long language immersion course, run by his college. It almost seems like kismet, doesn't it? All I've got to do is use my womanly wiles and my way with words to pen Putin a love note that's sure to capture his attention. On his layover in Moscow, Balthy just has to pop by the Kremlin, slip Vlad the note, and soon he'll be saying:

Yes. Of course. This was our destiny. It always has been.

I can't front, though: I'm a little nervous. I mean, that much awesome in just one dude...well, it's been a while since I've had the chance to play with fire. And yet...

...and yet...

::swoons::

*But seriously folks: whatever you may (legitimately) say about the man, Putin's HAWT.

What is love...?

"...love is desire sustained by unfulfillment." ~ Angela Carter


“Love is a fiend, a fire, a heaven, a hell, where pleasure, pain, and sad repentance dwell.” ~ Richard Barnfield


"Love is a grave mental disease." ~ Plato


Baby, don't hurt me...


"Love isn't a battlefield, it's a genocide." ~ Balthzar, The Kid


"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come." ~ Matt Groening


"To love is to suffer. To avoid suffering one must not love. But then one suffers from not loving. Therefore to love is to suffer, not to love is to suffer. To suffer is to suffer. To be happy is to love. To be happy then is to suffer. But suffering makes one unhappy. Therefore, to be unhappy one must love, or love to suffer, or suffer from too much happiness. I hope you're getting this down." ~ Woody Allen


...don't hurt me...


"Love is so short, forgetting is so long." ~ Pablo Neruda


“A mighty pain to love it is, and 'tis a pain that pain to miss; but of all pains, the greatest pain, it is to love, but love in vain.” ~ Abraham Cowley


"...love don't make things nice - it ruins everything. It breaks your heart. It makes things a mess. We aren't here to make things perfect. The snowflakes are perfect. The stars are perfect. Not us. Not us! We are here to ruin ourselves and to break our hearts and love the wrong people and *die*." ~ Ronny Cammareri, Moonstruck


...no more.

"Someone, tell a joke..." ~ Old Man, Moonstruck