Summer 2014

Long update.
This has been my most busy summer ever. I spent the entire summer working in a laboratory. Six days a week. I'm exhausted. And rich.
Good thing is that I could avoid both the sun and all the summer heat by chilling out under the air conditioning system while secretly reading books on my phone.

The only week I was able to take off, I went to my favourite two summer festivals: Amphi and Castlefest. What better way to explain than showing some pictures?

A cute snapshot of my boyfriend, me, and an empty bottle of coke.

 And me with the friend who took the picture.

 How they serve wine at a goth festival.

Wardruna. They sound like you just stepped into a dark fairytale.

How you treat your little sister at a medieval festival: BATTLE TO DEATH!

And tomorrow I'm starting an internship at an environmental laboratory. 

No rest for me.

World Goth Day

Every day is Halloween, except today. Today is World Goth Day. Despite the fact that there are no special events in my country (-sad face-), I woke up to the sound of the Cure, went to school in full zombie mode, went back in to let my neighbours enjoy Bauhaus, went out again in full goth gear, blood red lipstick, perfect Siouxsie eyebrows (okay, a bit toned down ones) (okay, extremely toned down ones), my favourite bird skull rosary, one hundred percent ready to meet fellow monochrome beings.

But there weren't any. Not even anything remotely goth has been seen today.

Except that Facebook status from an semi-stranger from an online forum.
You give me hope.

Maybe it just was too sunny outside.

Lucky shopping (My Docs obsession)

Remember those shoes I posted before? Those platform doc Martens?
The expensive €180 ones?

Yes, those.

They were on sale and only my size was left.
For €60.

I was brave enough to ask if the student discount also applied to sale items.

Yes.

I got them.
For €54.
Instead of  €180.

So after almost 100 days I called my shopping ban to an end. Saving €126 on a pair of shoes that I was going to get anyway at some point in my life is a good excuse.
Breaking them in feels like walking trough hell though. Especially because of the platform.

Naturally, I already have a next big obsession.

 

These!

On the website I suddenly saw these beauties. Doc Martens with the "Hell" panel from The Garden of Earthly Delights (±1500, painted by Hieronymus Bosch) printed on them. 

A few years ago when I was writing a huge essay about surrealism I came across this painter. I went back into the history of art to search for surrealism in art. Before the 20th century it was very uncommon to portray things the eye could not see, so some consider these paintings the first surrealistic paintings.

 The Garden of Earthly Delights

I'm pretty surprised that of all of the paintings in the world they picked one of my favourites.
Next, please make Dalí or Magritte shoes. My holy trinity will be complete.

Pinterest.

When I woke up, I decided not to go outside today because I couldn't remember the last day I stayed inside all day long. I spent the whole day on my laptop.

A few days ago a friend introduced me to Pinterest. She swore that I would become addicted immediately. And she was right!

I created a board for personal style inspiration.
All that fancy stuff to pin... makes me a bit greedy.
I want to go on a killer goth shopping spree.

I have exams coming up, so instead of browsing it all day, I used it to get some studying done.  - How, you ask?
For every subject I summarized I allowed myself to look up and pin one pretty picture.
Worked out pretty well.

82 days.

It has been 82 days since I challenged myself not to buy clothes. 

The first few weeks were the hardest part. I went shopping with a friend. Twice. We went into a certain shop where I usually can't leave without buying a new bandshirt. The worst part was that they just received a bunch of new Sisters of Mercy shirts. However, I'm probably just going to buy one (ALL OF THEM) at the concert.

But after about two months I became more and more critical about every item I see while shopping with friends. I have always been picky about quality, but it feels like that has gotten worse. Somehow I start to notice all the loose threads on clothing, and I'm even more critical about fabrics. This might just be my inner shop-a-holic-defence-system that prevents me from buying anything.

But the weirdest part is that I'm starting to get grossed out by watching certain people shop for clothes. Most of them aren't picky at all, they just buy anything cheap. Of course this could possibly be because they have not much money to spend, but I doubt that if they are walking around with more bags then they can carry.

The good part is that I have started to explore my long-lost treasures in my closet. I'm a bit ashamed that I found pieces of clothing that I have never worn, for example two long chiffon skirts. A year ago I bought two skirts that are almost exactly the same because I love the aestethics of a flowy see-through skirt, but I never worn them because I can't find a top that looks good with them.

I'm very proud of myself that I got this far. I also saved a lot of money, that is the best part!

Tomorrow I'm going shopping with a friend. I hope I can hang tough.

Have you ever tried a similar challenge? x

Sisters Of Mercy!

I almost shat my bloomers when I saw that THE Sisters Of Mercy are going to play in my country! People who know me or have read my blog before know that they are definitaly one of my favourite bands. I have seen them before at a festival in 2011, but it was so crowded that we could not see anything (, except that Edward has lost his hair... I was a bit shocked since I only had seen the older pictures and videos back then... I said: "Who is that bald guy").

Everybody looking fancy in the 80's with their sunglasses on.

So I immediately bought tickets. Luckily the buy-no-new-clothes challenge has permitted to let me do so without making my wallet cry. Even my wallet was telling me to get those tickets.

I'm so happy!

Einstürzende Neubauten - The Garden

At least it is raining so I won't find creepy guys with hats in my garden.

Their music is very experimental and their videos are nicely weird. Still I can't decide if I like this band, but I can't hate them either.
Apparently, they are the reason why we can't take plastic bottles to concerts, because people disliked their music (when they were supporting an other band) and started to throw plastic bottles filled with liquid at them. Ouch.
On the other hand they have inspired many other bands that I like, such as Depeche Mode (<3) and the Blue man group.

  

And I like the band logo.

2014 challenges.

Happy New Year! / Best wishes!

I never had any new years resolutions, and neither will I have this year. Instead, I have challenges. Because one can fail resolutions but one can never fail challenges. 

Fireworks~!

In 2013 I challenged myself to be more assertive and to be able stand up for myself. Due to a psychichal condition I have a state of mind in which others are far more important than me.Whenever someone needed my help, I'd do anything to help them, even if I had to sacrifice myself.

This year I made some tough decisions, even one which involved breaking a friendship, but I feel much better now. My mind is much more relaxed. Even though I probably let down a lot of people, I feel much less responsible for their misery.

One of my other challenges was to buy a skirt with strawberries on it, which I also achieved! :) However I still haven't found a top that looks good with it. 

An other challenge was to wear my brand new over-the-top New Rock shoes in public (meaning, not to a festival or other goth party). When I was a young babybat, I had no problems with wearing whatever I wanted, until someday I got beaten because of the way I looked.

Back in 2009, when I believed that bondage pants were the best-thing-ever.

However I achieved the challenge with some help of the gods. I was wearing them while travelling, planning to change them when I got to my student room. Firstly I missed the bus, then my train was delayed, and I was forced to go to college before I could dump my suitcases in my student room. Luckily, my friends said they liked them. It's funny how just some words can boost one's confidence.

2013, when I had already learned that less can be more, regarding to pants.

For 2014, I have many new challenges.

Things to do with my boyfriend

[ ] Buy no clothes.
I don't remember whose idea this was, but we have a challenge in which I am not allowed to buy new clothes (including shoes) (excluding jewelry) and he is not allowed to buy any new CDs DVDs or videogames. The winner will get a prize. 
[ ] Do a matched cosplay
We're thinking about Dante en Nero from Devil may Cry. Or Hansel and Gretel; the witch hunters.
[ ] Road trip of the gods.
Using a dice to determine the road we take. 1=North, 2=South, 3=East, 4=West, 5=I Choose, and 6=You Choose.

Literature

[ ] Read all (or at least a big part of) my unread books.
I have a lot of books that I haven't read yet. A lot.
[ ] Write (read: finish) a novel. 
 I once started a novel called "Old Books", fully based on dreams I had. It still haunts my hard drive somewhere. I already have inspiration for a sequel called "New Dreams".

Health

[ ] Try interesting food recipes.
I own lots of vegetarian cookbooks, but I usually end up cooking the usual mac and cheese or shoving a pizza in the oven.
[ ] Get my BMI back to 22
All those fancy christmas dinners made me gain some weight, but also being a student and moving to an other town has contributed to that. My BMI was 21,2 before I went to college. I used to cycle to school everyday (over 1 hour back and forth), but now I just have to travel 10 minutes. Right now my BMI is 24,3. I'm not unhappy with my body, but I have an increased risk of getting type two diabetus and I'm already starting to feel weak when I eat too much or too little.
[ ] Try Tai Chi.
I just got a Tai Chi DVD from my mother. Why not try it?

Music

[ ] Play trumpet
I have the most awesome black trumpet, which I used to play a lot. I even played in a brass band.
[ ] Play ukelele
Because it's a funny instrument and easy to play, I should buy an ukelele.

Spending money

[ ] Join the "Buy Nothing New Month" this October.
And this time for real.
[ ] Buy something expensive.
I'm thinking about getting a nice camera.