Ruminations and Celebrations

I'm beginning to come to terms with my inner Goth.
Not sure i really dare applying the label to myself yet, because i tend to be pretty anti-label, and so few of them fit well- and this one is no exception in that it fits as poorly as most.
I do like music that's generally associated with goth-dom. Goth, industrial, darkwave, trance and so on are all part of my regular listening rotation. Even more gothly, contemporary pop and country are not. Manuufactured boy bands; Britney Spears; and people singing songs about getting drunk in their pickup trucks on the trip to pick up mom, who just got out of prison all make me nauseous. I'm also not a rap fan in general, although suburban white gangsta-wannabe kids amuse the hell outta me as long as i have the luxury of watching them from a distance and don't have to actually interact with them- which tends to make me wish i could forget i'm basically a pacifist and shove their teeth down their throats. Eminem? Grow the fuck up and learn to respect people. Punk ass bastich.
I am a huge Sandman fan. I even have some Sandman t-shirts, and, yes, they're black.
I wear combat boots almost year-round (except for when i'm wearing Birkenstocks, which are a little cooler to wear during that other Seattle season- namely the one that wouldn't be improved by the residents generating gills. Cold, wet socks are just icky).
I'm working on a post-apocalyptic novella
What the hell is "goth" anyway?
It's kinda like "alternative" in musical senses. What the hell is "alternative music?" Alternative to what? In that it's not top-40, r&b, easy listening, everything i listen to is alternative, but much of it is alternative to the rest of it. It's weird to listen to stuff that vacillates from Celtic-inspired folk like Great Big Sea to darkwave stuff like Frontline Assembly or Switchblade Symphony, and just as odd to go from either to Dead Can Dance, Siouxie and the Banshees, the Ramones, or the Tragically Hip. Everything goes well with Irish rebel music, so i should probably edit my playlists to include My Little Armalite or Come Out, You Black and Tans (contingent on genres) between every two songs.
I own clothing that isn't black or greyscale. Course, most of it is hockey jerseys or jeans.
I guess what it comes right down to is that as infrequently as i get to hang out with real people (as opposed to the electronic personality constructs I know on line but not [or not yet] in person), although there are several areas where interests overlap, it's easiest to get out and go places, and clubs with goth music are usually common denominators.
That, and either i'm in a mindset on those occasions to drink to extremes or one where i don't give a rat's ass how silly i look attempting to dance. (sometimes even both simultaneously).
Either way, i don't object to watching cute goth girls, sober or otherwise ;-) <---my obligatory shallow bit for this post. Eventually i'll get over my innate disabling shyness and actually try to have a conversation with one. <---my obligatory self-deprecating goth/emo bit for this post. Both in the same 'graph even.
Well, i'm looking forward to my pre-birthday celebration. Since no one's chipped in suggestions yet, here's what i'm thinking- starting at the Aurafice (which i've heard about, but haven't ever been to), and adjourning around 10-ish to the Vogue (unless someone who's a member at the Mercury wants to sponsor me as a new member and i can actually afford to become one). Still open to suggestions and modifications, though. One way or another, i'm going to try to check my brooding self (my inner emo boy?) at the door and have lots of fun, and i'm committed to the mindset where i don't care how damn goofy i'm gonna look.

No animals or electronic constructs thereof were harmed during the rambling and subsequent editing of this post.

(no subject)

On frequent occasions, i'll see a vehicle with bumper stickers particularly advocating some cause or other. Rarely, i won't be able to tell what's being advocated. Today was one of those oddities.
Vehicle: reasonably new Dodge Durango pickup with extended cab.
Bumper sticker on left rear: Hunter orange, black inscription: "Guns don't kill people. People kill people."
Bumper sticker on right rear: Hunter orange, black inscription: "The Second Amendment Ain't About Duck Hunting."

I'm still wondering if the owner of the vehicle was advocating gun control, or a member of one of those fringe militia groups. If the truck had had Montana or Idaho plates, i'd have been reasonably sure of the latter, but since it was registered in Washington, i'm not so sure.