⊹⊱✠♥ Die Blume von Österreich ♥✠⊰⊹

Enough griping about the Royal Wedding, people.
I mean really.

You call it a 'distraction' and a waste of time...
There are other more important things to worry about.
Well YES, there are, and what gets people through all those bad and even horrific times we've had over the centuries?...Can you guess?...it's pretty obvious....

ENTERTAINMENT!

It's good for morale. It's why Ninja not only train to kill, but also learn the art of flower arrangement.Balance.

Additionally, while the wedding may not be your cup of tea, or even part of your own global location, mindset or family, it offers us not only a nice distraction from the shit that is hitting and about to hit our fan...but a REMINDER that we need to 'Keep calm, and carry on'.
A reminder that no matter how horrible our world and how distracted we may become, never to "forget ourselves", our traditions, our MANNERS, our ability to conduct ourselves with intelligence, composure, and fairness...even though life is by no means fair.

And come on, it's the first royal wedding where the bride and groom got married because they loved each other. Not because they had to out of duty.
Duty is important, however this is a nice case of both.
Love and duty can coexist.

And on another note;
*IF* one is so distracted as some say, by this wedding and all it's pomp and bunting from other important events occurring in this world, then let the bomb drop on their houses for their own ignorance.

My favorite so far:
"Didn't we fight a war 200 years ago so we didn't need to pay attention this crap?"
....yeah...so then why are you PAYING ATTENTION TO IT AND COMPLAINING ABOUT IT??
Pull the stick out or your butt and get over it....oh holy crap, look over there it's Osama Bin Laden's body!!

...You catch my drift?

http://www.wardruna.com/



Me: OMG they did a show with the Ship.
Anders: Where?
Me: The one in Oslo (shows him photos)
Anders: ....you would get impregnated if you and I ever saw that show.
Me: Ja, your viking sperm would likely just blow past the birth control from all the magic!

http://www.wardruna.com/pictures/vikingskipshuset-2010/

Hmm, an alternative to LJ?
Well let's see if I decide to use this one instead.
Couldn't hurt to at least have an account here, just in case LJ folds.
xox

You know what has always confused me?
So often I overhear these women in the shop talking about how they picked out their engagement ring, and then the guy goes to buy it, then "surprises" their spouse to be with said ring. Complete with a fake, "OMG, I'm so taken by surprise, yes I'll marry you!"

Or even worse, giving them cash to go buy it! That's just bad mojo, lol!
WTF?

To me, it's all pretty back-asswards.
It's not even about the ring for me, it's the thought and the emotion that is involved with deciding to ask the person you love to be with you forever. The ring is just a nice icing on the cake, but it also needs to come from the heart, if one chooses to present a ring at all.
It is a symbol, after all.

Having her 'shop' for ring she wants prior to the big question just smacks of materialism, and a simple need for jewelry they can flaunt in front of their girlfriends, not a partner.
Call me traditional, but it's like telling a sweetheart to bring you flowers; that's just coercion. It lacks the thoughtful spontaneity behind giving/receiving flowers, nor does it inspire the same in the person you want them from.
I guess people have just gotten lazy and go with what they are told by general media.
Behaving like people on TV, and mimicking their manners, has become acceptable...which would be fine, if it were 1950 :-\

Of course, slyly *Looking* at rings with a sweetheart to get a better idea is another story.
Anders and I have done that on occasion while rummaging through antique shops.
(We are both nuts for the Arts & Crafts period and 1930s deco era jewelry, fashion and architecture).

I guess my point is that you should know the person you want to marry well enough that you can pick out the ring yourself, and ACTUALLY pop that question.
That show of confidence in how well you know them is more impressive and heart-melting than the ring itself!
I just can't understand why people don't get this concept any longer.

The current news on the friend-turned-stalker front is; there is no news.
Which is good!
I haven't heard a peep, so I assume Eric gave him his books and he no longer has any reason to contact me.
I think by not speaking to him, and having Eric as a sort of moderator in this, he's gotten the hint...finally.
At least I can hope so, and I'm grateful to have had a friend help me out with this.

Otherwise, life is pretty good.
The job is boring right now, yet still stressful, which is a bad combination.
July is always one of the slowest months of the year.
I can't improve sales if there are no customers coming in.
At least I no longer get harassed on a daily basis from 3 different bosses, as was the 'mode de rigueur' at the previous employer.
And now I can have my laptop with me to fill the dead hours, within reason.

Ich liebe meinen mann.
*sigh*
Last month we celebrated our 2nd anniversary, and we are looking forward to our wedding day.
Originally we'd planned on November, but if we end up at an outdoor location, Springtime might be a better bet. We are in Northern California, after all.
It will be an intimate affair. Not the kind with doves that fly out of the cake and poop on the guests, or invitations that match the napkins ;->
Perhaps a short ceremony, sharing vows, then enjoying a party with friends.
Food will most likely be potluck style and people can bring what they like.
The only thing I will probably obsess over slightly, will be my wedding dress, of course.
I keep dreaming of an ice blue, or rich ivory, slinky satin gown from the 1930s.
There are a few sewing patterns in my collection I might be able to make this gown from.
I just have to decide on the cut. I want a look that says '1936 wedding in Berlin, filmed in an old Hollywood studio'.
;-)
Regardless, I'd marry him right now, at the justice of the peace. Wedding dress or not.

Pictures taken this past weekend with fellow WWII reenactors.

Click on images to see larger size.







( More behind the cut )

One thing I forgot to mention that I found intriguing.
Human behavior has always been a fascinating subject to me, so in my line of work (both retail and burlesque), I have seen some pretty interesting stuff.
Namely in how people treat merchandise when they shop.
Call it nit-picky, but have you ever noticed when a customer picks something up and how they put it back?
3 out of 5 customers that walk into my shop on a daily basis seem to not be able to put things back as they found them, not even close. It's as if their brain can't compute it.
Instead of returning a shoe even remotely to the way they found it, they will set it down backwards, on its side, on the floor beneath the waist high shelf it was on, even upside down with the sole facing up o_O
Very odd.
Or when they try on a display shoe. They literally drop or even throw a $300 black suede heel on the floor, then shove a foot into it without using their hands.
Perhaps they assume it's 'just the display' model, while in reality, that shoe is part of a pair for sale.

The latter is more common with people who were never taught manners, but what interested me was in how people placed items back on the shelf in ways opposite of how they found them.
I was discussing the subject with a regular customer of mine who worked in shoe sales for 15 years, and happens to now be a psychologist.
She verified that my suspicions were correct;
Among many theories, people exhibit their consideration for other people and their own self worth, through how they treat objects that are arranged in a specific pattern, like a shoe shop or things in a boutique setting.
It's also like they can't stand a balanced and symmetrical arrangement, and have to fuck it up somehow.
That's a whole other mental can of worms.
I like to *think* they do this subconsciously, but I have had people in the past do crap like this just to be a shitheel.

but you want to know what really offends me?
Crap like this, for obvious reasons:



Save it for Halloween ladies.
Each time I see some bimbo at Oktoberfest events in one of these, I want to punch her in the face.
If you're going to wear a fetish-ized dirndl dress, you must either be:
A. an actual fetish model
B. at said themed fetish event/shoot.
C. kumimonster ;->

Hey, I'll admit I want a latex dirndl dress. That would be awesome!
But I'm not going to wear it outside photo shoots and fetish club events. And I'm already German, so that helps ;->
My performer pal Shanghai Pearl takes her own Asian heritage and makes light of it all the time, because she can. She plays up the whole Suzie Wong character expertly.
But she's not going to wear her mini tear away cheongsam to grandmother's birthday.

While I know those cheap Leg Avenue "sexy costumes" are marketed toward the male douche-bags out there, they aren't any less insulting to me when worn to the more traditional European cultural events.
It's like inviting a friend to dinner with your family, and they show up in their underwear with the words "Dinner" and "Let's Eat!" scrawled across front of their bra/panties.

Sad thing is, Oktoberfest in the US has become not much more than a drunken frat Burning Man party. Just look at St. Patrick's day. Or better yet "Renaissance" festivals; fairy wings, polyester 'gowns' and dragon mugs everywhere.
Not as culturally specific as Oktoberfest, but the same issue.
That's not to say you shouldn't have fun. Go ahead, get shitfaced.
Polka til you puke.
Just don't shop amazon.com for something to wear.
Stick with the jeans and t-shirt that says "I heart beer."

While I know some that do it, and do it well, I'm personally not going to run around a Japanese art festival in kimono. Mainly because I'm not Japanese.
Some might say "oh who cares, the world is a village and there are no borders in fashion, blah, blah, blah..."
No, but there is that thing called *cultural appropriation* and respect when it comes to other cultures' traditions. That also applies to the clothing associated with said cultures.
Don't throw on a Halloween costume dirndl of any kind because it happens to be Oktoberfest, it makes your tit's look bigger, and you want to be German for a day.
Fuck you. I will shove the damn "costume" and that salted pretzel down your throat...while the douche-bags cheer on.
Hot girl on girl action....beer flying everywhere. Either way, I win.

And if you show up in a "sexy geisha" costume to the Japanese event mentioned earlier, I hope a panda disembowels you on the spot.

At least my dress for the Deco Society Ball is working out wonderfully.
So ethereal and sparkly blue, and just the right amount of 'slink'.
;-)
Photos later, maybe.

A backstage shot at the last Hubba Hubba Review "Oktoberfest!" show.