Yup, very similar! Embalming actually makes me incredibly hungry, and while the work has turned at least one of my colleagues into a vegetarian, I myself tend to crave steak when I'm working on autopsied bodies. I'm not so much a psychopath as someone with iron deficiency anemia, so to be honest, a lot of things…

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater is due in September. It's the sequel to The Raven Boys, which was an engaging read, and I'm eager to see where Maggie takes the characters the Raven Cycle series.

Ha, I like that you specify dinner conversation because I actually have to be very careful and censor myself when I'm eating dinner in public. I could very easily rob the tables next to mine of their appetites (unintentionally, of course! My fascinations aren't really shared by the world at large).

Oh, this week. It was a wonderful week, starting with absolutely killing a tough embalming exam, stealing the show at the college's student life celebration by helping my fellow funeral club representatives carry a casket in the club parade, then attending a lovely convocation at which I received a prestigious award,…

Maybe it's because the drawings and handwritten text remind me so much of my childhood in West Germany, but I rather like the illustrations. There's nothing lewd about the pictures themselves, and I especially like the soft squishy normalness of the cartoon bodies.

Being the kind of dork who replies to her own post so that I can highlight the fact that those chops are sexy enough to completely cancel out the tragic bodysuit. Granted, they look better with worn out jeans, scuffed up cowboy boots, and a leather jacket, but this is one of my favorite images from the neck up. …

I'll see your scruff and raise you some mutton chops:

I have a very complicated love-resentment relationship with red pandas (not for any good reason, really. As adorable and delightful as they are, seeing one always inspires the same bewildered disappointment I felt when a zoo guide who, when I asked if they had any red foxes afoot, replied, "No, but we have red…

Your musing reminded me of a weird incident I had last month that got me wondering if there's a phantom cat in my house. I mean, other than my actual solid living kitty. I have a neat old Victorian row home with a very narrow, angled hallway on the second floor. One night I was walking down that hall, and the only…

I also adore cemeteries. So fun to run into other taphophiles! One of my top 5 requirements when I was house hunting was that the house HAD to be in close proximity to a boneyard. They actually make me feel very much at peace and very calm, so I prefer to live near them. The older monuments are gorgeous— so fun…

Gerard Way. Except I'm weird and neurotic and feel guilty crushing on someone in a relationship, so my lame little fantasies involve us being best friends and geeking out over music and comics and coffee.

Thanks for the link! I hadn't seen anything about that prior to today, so it's interesting in a creepy kind of way to see how more and more crazy shit keeps getting linked to that date. I didn't even notice just how many horrible events have happened in mid-April until today's discussions. While having distinct…

Thank you for linking to this. I was having a conversation about this with a friend while we were sharing info about the latest Boston updates, and I was trying to convey the "humanity and history has always been like this, but we're still here because people need to believe in good instead of surrendering to evil"…

I thought Timothy McVeigh chose 19 April because it was the anniversary of Waco and he was striking against the government for what they did at Waco and Ruby Ridge. Not that it's all that relevant to this fresh hideousness, just remarking because I never heard of a Patriot Day connection to OKC and I'm intrigued.

Yay, you're going for your dream career! Formal education isn't always necessary (old school apprenticeships should make a comeback!), but finding a mentor would be invaluable as you get started. If nothing else, a good mentor will clue you in as far as what kind of education is needed and the best way to go about…

Runecasting and scrying are some old favorites of mine.

Ole Henriksen has a lovely line to which I am fully devoted. I used to switch around to whatever cleanser and moisturizer was on sale at Walgreen's, but after hitting my 30s and experiencing a lengthy stretch of various plagues and mega stresses, my skin started to demand something better. The OH regimen (god, I…

I second the cake vodka rec. I love the Three Olives Cake mixed with Dr. Pepper. It's just like drinking a fizzy vanilla cake with cherry icing!

This is why I love driving the hearse at work— no one tailgates, cuts me off, or tries to flirt. It's glorious and I experience far less rageyness and harassment from other drivers than when I'm in my own car (even though I'm more likely to be an asshole driver in the hearse since it's got bigger blind spots and…

My disinterest in weddings is so strong that this tag has completely claimed my attention each time I try to look at the header pic. I want to tug at that errant thread and remove the label for this poor groom.