I've got a bunch of BPAL newbies / non-forumites on my friendslist, but I just thought I'd give a general PSA.

Do not buy from (or sell to) Kris / wolfgrrl / BPAL forumite "wolfgrrl" / eBay seller "cemkmr" & "jakieboyone".

She's a reseller who makes a living buying bottles, then decanting them out (and possibly diluting them) at outrageous, inflated prices. What's more, she has repeatedly disrespected Beth and the BPAL community, and is currently keyword spamming eBay, as well as ignoring Beth's polite emails to cease and desist using Lab images and trademarks without permission.

Plus, in my personal opinion, she's a nasty bitch.

Read all about it:

http://www.bpal.org/index.php?showtopic=25724&st=0

http://community.livejournal.com/sinandsalvation/485311.html

Virgo:: Philosopher George Gurdjieff declared that most of us are essentially asleep, even as we walk around in broad daylight. We're ignorant about the higher levels of awareness we're capable of; we're blind to the continuous flow of life's miraculous blessings. He said that in order to wake up and stay awake we need regular shocks. Some of these are uncomfortable, forcing us to face our own stupidity. But other shocks are delightful. They're doses of sacred medicine that entice us to shake off our sleepiness and come to attention in pleasurable ways. I believe that in the coming weeks you'll be offered a steady supply of the latter.

Today, my friends, is Friday. Which means that tomorrow is Saturday. Which means tomorrow, I get to go to the Renaissance Festival! I'm so excited that I'm positively bouncing.

I started going to Faire when I was a little girl. My father would take me about once a year. Growing up, my family had very little money, so I never got dressed up-- though when I was eight or so, he bought me a wreath of dried flowers for my hair that I still have to this day. But I would look around at the costumes and say, "when I grow up..."

After renting garb for two years, I bought my first set of garb last year. A nice bodice, a plain skirt and chemise. Nothing too fancy. But it's mine. And I'm kind of addicted to the idea of getting a second set-- do I want to be a gypsy or a pirate? This is the eternal question.

I think it's strange to me how I feel more comfortable in a tightly-laced bodice than I do in a camisole top. I think that's because my chest is a little too large to pull of most cutesy, girly fashions, but at Faire, an abundance of breast is actually quite nice to have. I don't feel top-heavy and self-conscious in a bodice.

Anyway, I'm going with Abby / tamnonlinear, and Flissy / marinatempest may be meeting us there. We plan to be at the White Hart Tavern roughly at about 11:00am / 11:30am. From there, we're going to meet up with Toni / sunflwgal for some garb shopping, then we're going to wander about. I'm thinking, if I don't spend too much on garb pieces, that I might get some henna done on my upper back. I like henna quite a lot, but have only ever had it done once. I loved it.

And, then I'm seeing Karyn / belladonnastrap on Sunday, followed by the BPAL Halloween update on Monday. It's going to be a good weekend.

Oh! And just as soon as I convert the .wma tracks to .mp3, I have a few more selections from my college madrigal group to post. I might've had more, but our tenors kind of made the baby Jesus cry.

I just got an email from Livejournal.com stating that someone requested to reset my password. It certainly wasn't me. The IP of the person who requested the password reset was 71.125.166.7. (ETA: Which is a Maryland IP.)

Regardless, because I am paranoid, I just changed both my email and my livejournal passwords. I've had my journal and email violated before, and I'm not taking any chances. It's just that knowing that the password reset would've been sent to my email address makes me worry that someone has my email password, so I reset both.

That makes me nervous.

And dammit, I liked my old password.

Driving Diary-- today, I braved the wilds of 695 in Friday afternoon stop-and-go gridlock traffic. I sort of cut off one guy a little because I didn't accelerate quickly enough, even though he was letting me go, and I had my turn signal on. He beeped, but it wasn't a big deal. Stop-and-go traffic is scary. Conversely, 695 on the way back from Towson was easy-peasy, even at night. Tomorrow, I drive to Faire, in a corset. Thank you to Agnes, for guiding me and letting me use your car.

And now, a meme:

How many times has someone on your friends list posted about something and you were really confused, but you didn't want to ask because you knew you SHOULD know? How many times have you felt guilty asking a close LJ friend a question that should be obvious?

Well, here's your chance.

If you've missed a few things, missed an entry and are confused, ask me anything. Even something EXTREMELY basic. I'm not allowed to get even slightly irritated at any of the questions - we've all missed things before. And I promise to answer everything.

Have at it!