Challenge Update 2: Good Goth Keeping, Summer Reading, Better Health

It is that time again: a quick challenge update to usher in the month of June.

Fernard Toussaint

Good Goth Keeping

Rather than focus on these in order, I'll post as complete a list as I have complied and annotate each of them.

1. Assess your physical baggage and the psychological will follow.

My room is progressing slowly. In the past month I've:

~ Put away all my winter cloths and switched fully to my summer wardrobe

~ Organized my tea shelf and drank some of the remaining tea. 

~ Cleaned off the back of my closet door (ie, hung winter coats in the closet)

~ Put far more new projects in the project bin than taken them out. (Hopefully this will inverse itself this month. At last: two free weekends!)

Conclusion: I'm slowly working my way though the clutter. It's pleasant to be in my room now and I am keeping it pretty clean and organized. 

Goals: Clean out the bottom of my closet to rescue the desperately needed AC unit. Work through more projects in my project bin. Keep the room clean.

2. Write something everyday

This will be my biggest goal this next month. My pile of unanswered correspondence is piling up on my desk and in my email. I didn't realize the psychic strain it had on me until two days ago I sat down and ran through a few emails that had been hanging about my head. Once they were finished, I felt so free and light. 

This month, I will write a little bit on a letter every day until I can cut through my stack of correspondence. 

3. Self-forgiveness

I'll discuss this in the Summer Reading.

4. Read your label.

This is being mulled over. Expect a post on labels at some point.

5. Ask for Help

I actually have been using this tip a bit in the past month. Without going into the details, Eco is completely correct. Asking for help, frankly, helps. People are far more willing to lend aid than I believed. If I could add one thing to this idea it is:

Don't think that your problems don't deserve being helped. 

6. Go and do something

I'm lucky enough to be in a place in my life where I am doing everything I want to be. 

7. Sleep, Eat, Rest

Check, check, check!

Thomas Wilmer Dewing "Before the Mirror"

Summer Reading Challenge

And here is where the forgiveness portion comes in. 

Technically, I have been reading far in excess of 30 hours a week. However, nearly all of that reading has been of the school variety. Which means a greater number of all those lovely books I checked out from the library are still sitting by my bed begging to be read. 

In an attempt to inspire myself to read more, I joined beeminder (this will be a blog post in itself) and promptly failed little more than two weeks later.

Rather than beat myself up about this though, I let it go and forgave myself.  I am not reading as much as I hoped to be, c'est la vie. I've still found some very good authors. I've been busy and school has been difficult. It is Ok if I don't stay directly on a self appointed goal. 

It was a very freeing experience.

Annie Rosie Laing "A Helesburg Breakfast"

 An Aristocrat's Health

This is a new challenge, inspired by Underground for Tea's Goth on a Diet goal and a chance for me to discuss my views on health, fitness and more. The actual Challenge will be to lose five pounds by October. Less through any strict diet and more through portion control, eating healthier and, most importantly, getting up and exercising more.

How are other people's challenges going?

Challenge Update 1: Summer Reading and Good Goth Keeping

Frederick Judd Waugh "Chess Players"

I dislike it when blogs degenerate into nothing more than a series of updates on various goals. What once was a series of interesting and useful articles and posts, then become how many crossfit challenges you did a week or how many books were read that month.

On the other hand, it is pleasant to see the progression of a project or hear general results of a challenge. Especially, it is a challenge others proposed. Here is a promise: any challenge updates will be grouped together, not occur more than once a fortnight, and try to be a bit more insightful than just a list of numbers.

Edward John Poynter "Evening at Home"

Summer Reading Challenge:

~ A week and a half into the challenge and I'm not reading 30 hours a week. Not close. Maybe closer to 15-20. However, now that school has began again and I am counting school reading, that number will sky rocket.

~ I've taken to reading for an hour in the morning. It is lovely. To just lay in bed, with the sun rising over the horizon and learn about Cicero's advice on how to win an election, French parenting skills, or travels in Afghanistan is a great way to begin the day.

~ My reading, as seen above, has become more eclectic. Last week I checked out 20 books from the library ranging from science fiction to political theory to a history of garlic and its uses. It was incredibly freeing knowing I neither had to finish the book if it bored me but knowing I had to fill up four hours a day- even if I don't quite manage.

~ Overall, a good success and I can't wait to see what else I'll come across this summer.

Does this room seem comforting to anyone else?

Good Goth Keeping Challenge 1

What started off as a simple tidying of the room turned into a major re-arrangement of all the furniture for spring. The result? A much more open and cleaner looking room.

I was able to also tackle two of the items on my list:

~ All my various craft ideas have been separated  wrapped into neat bundles with tissue paper, and stored much more neatly in their bin. Every time I get the urge to be crafty, I'll reach into the bin, pull out a craft and work on it. Hopefully, the bin will be empty by the end of the summer.

~ The papers have been organized. Clearing out a shelf on my bookshelf revealed a good storage container for all of my to-do papers and letters. They are much more neatly stored on my desk now.

I'm still looking for the psychic decluttering, but I am happier with how the room is set up now.

How are your challenges going?

The Kawaii Ganger Guide

Today, Katherine at Sun is in our Hands posted a wonderful interview between an Anthropologist and two members of alternative fashion 'gangs.'  In addition to being very well spoken, one of the girls, Charlotte, made a very clear connection between your attitude and your aesthetic. Fashion decisions can be just as revolutionary and rebellious as any protests. They take just as much courage and may even require greater dedication.

Read the article and let me know what you think.

A Fond Farewell

Angle of Death Victorious
http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/angels?before=1339651469

On November 20th 2012, the world for all those who love alternative fashions and lifestyles suffered a loss. Miss Lumpy of the wonderful blog "Her Lumpiness" hung up her hat and bid adieu to the Lolita lifestyle. In a beautiful final post, she made her farewells, explained her reasoning and introduced us to her new blog.

Her decision to move on has my complete support and understanding. But since this blog was so important to my own developing interest in alternative Aesthetics, I want to take a moment to reflect on her work.

Miss Lumpy's writing on the Lolita lifestyle is some of the best I have ever seen. This blog was inspired by her own. In addition to covering the basics of Lolita fashion, she explained how she was applying Lolita to her daily lifestyle as well: book recommendations  etsy shop reviews, daily outfit posts. But what set her blog apart is her willingness to tackle some of the deeper and more painful topics. Her posts covered the gambit from relationship abuse to bullying to self esteem. I follow a lot of blogs for alternative fashion, but Miss Lumpy's was the only one that covered such a range of ideas. She blended the profound and the beautiful together seamlessly. 

   

I will miss her posts. Her writing was clear and nuanced. Her topics inspired me to find beauty in my day to day life despite being from a different aesthetic. Her presence will be missed in my RSS feeds.

However, her goodbye to the lolita aesthetic brings up another interesting idea: we evolve. The ideas we held sacred seven years ago may have no relevance to our current life. As new ideas and information enter our minds, as new experiences shape our memories, it is a greater crime to cling to the past and stagnate rather than embrace the change. There should be no shame in putting old, fond ideas to rest if it means clearing your life for a new  inspiration. 

But, as Chinese Medicine teaches, grief accompanies every change in life- even the changes for the good. Miss Lumpy will be missed, but I look forward to reading Ally Button's new work.