I am amazingly stylish!

(but not this stylish.)

[Hi everyone! First, thanks so much for all your kind wishes and words. It really means a lot. Shiloh is doing well and didn't have any more nose bleeds yesterday or any difficulty moving around. Whew, for now. Thanks again for your warmth. Shiloh thanks you too, even though she is kind of snippy and not really into attention, unlike Leroy, who is fondly known as the "Black Hole of Affection" -- no matter how much you give, he never fills up!]

Now, for something light and fluffy, a little tag from [A}ma who kind of makes me remember what it was like being 16, only she is smarter and cooler than I was, and she is 16 in Saudia Arabia (I think), which is surely very different from being 16 in 1987 in Huntington Beach, California, which, in case you don't know, is in "the O.C." (and no one calls it that). The tag is:

10 things that define my style:

1. Mismatching fleece things, such as baggy polka-dot pajama pants, pink socks, etc, as seen in previous post photo. This is my winter house-uniform (Jim goes in more for plaid, himself) and it is very stylish. In fact, I only showed my feet in the last picture because the rest is so incredibly chic I was embarrassed and didn't want you to see the decadent elegance of my daily life.

2. Tall shoes. Platformy ones, not "heels." Nothing dainty. The kind of shoes that make the earth tremble a little when you walk. I like to sound like Godzilla when I go down stairs. Mainly I like to pretend to be tall.

3. Too-long trousers to pair up with my too-tall shoes. So long they puddle on the floor when I'm barefoot. Combined with the shoes, this gives the effect of long legs. Yay.

4. Color! On clothes and jewelry, on walls outside and in, on table cloths and sofa cushions, on journal covers. I love the names paint companies give their colors, too. They remind me of the names of flower varieties like tulips, so fanciful and gorgeous-sounding: Starfighter and Swan Wings, Rococo Parrot and Kingsblood, Blue Amiable and Mata Hari and Daydream.

5. Not much makeup, and almost never lipstick, weirdly. I can never remember to put it on, and if I do it seems like it's gone in 3 seconds. Oh, and NEVER EVER EVER nail polish. That only lasts 1.5 seconds before it's chipped like I had to dig myself out of a grave. I'm not sure how I do it.

6. Dangerous pets on diamond leashes. Sometimes I take my alligator, other times my snow leopard or my wolverine. A real conversation starter!

7. Live butterflies as barettes. This takes some doing. Honestly, I spend about half my life maintaining my butterfly house so that I have a constant supply of living barettes. I also like to wear scarab beetles as lapel pins, and the occasional Madagascar hissing cockroach, depending on my mood.

8. Entourage of ghosts. Some people never leave home without a book, in case they get stuck in line at the post office or something. I prefer to take ghosts so I always have someone to talk to. They tend to have a lot to talk about, like who murdered them, and what's the devil's favorite perfume, and which angels talk in their sleep.

9. Tail jewelry. Nothing says "I'm special" like sparkly bangles on my long prehensile tail!

10. Lastly: long coats and very tall top hats -- for concealing things in, like pizzas and scimitars and bird cages full of vampire bats.

As you might have guessed, I had to make up numbers 6 through 10 because in fact I have no style. I like that [A}ma stuck to more life-y real stuff, like Islam and writing, but like I said, she's a very smart and cool 16-year-old. And I will take any opportunity to pretend to have a tail and a pet wolverine so this was perfect. Thanks, [A}ma!

P.S. this awesome photo is one Jim took of an artist model at the Gothic Art Circus last month.