What's "Goth"?

It wasn't that long ago when I was searching for the exact same answer. Thankfully, I finally found it, and now I know what I have gotten myself into (and love it). Therefore, I think that this little blog has gone on long enough without me explaining myself to the Internet world.

Since just about the dawn of civilization (I'm sure), there have always been people who, for the most part, are strange. These weirdos like different things from you; they're not scared of what you're scared of; they aren't attracted to what you're attracted to . . . . All in all, they're just plain weird. Despite a person's view of them, however, they do make up a large portion of the world, with their capes and make-up and corsets and shit-load of black clothing. Ah yes. Those people. So where did those people come from? Are they spawns from demons? Maybe even Satan himself? Probably.

Heh. I'm just kidding.

Throughout the years, however, there really have been people who think differently from others. The ones that I am talking about like deep and dark things. They have a much more artistic side than others do. They want answers. And they like black. But never ever before had there been an actual culture for these "lost souls" to identify with . . . until the late 70s/early 80s.

Around the 70s, there was the Punk subculture. But then some followers from that music genre sort of dispersed. Bands started forming a "new music genre" (my words, no one elses; correct me if I'm wrong, by all means), and the four bands, The Cure, Bauhaus, Siouxie and the Banshees, and Joy Division, became the original Goth music groups.

This music that we all know and love usually has very dark lyrics and sounds (you know Emilie Autumn? Like that. By the way, Emilie Autumn's status is kind of hard to identify, because she's always changing her style. That doesn't mean that we don't love her, though) that "connect" with the fans. Our fashion, as I'm sure everyone knows, contains mostly black. However, like I have said before, there are many different "types" out there. Which, by the way, means that we don't all dress the same . . . regardless of what the South Park goth kids believe (by the way, I love those brats! Especially the little one). And our "mindset"? Perhaps it's made up of things that others find morbid and dodgy (I suppose the biggest example I can think of is death. However, that is not me saying that we're all obsessed with death, just that its an example. Nothing more).

Lady Amarath, Goth model
Source:  Lady Aramath's website

People in the scene argue a lot over which is more important:  the fashion, the music, or the common "worldview". However, I believe that that subject is good enough to have its very own post . . . perhaps I'll do it next.

I'm not very satisfied with this post, to be honest, because I know that if I didn't already know what Goth is, then I wouldn't know what I'm talking about. So let me try to recap:

A Goth person is one who follows the music (which is usually dark), dresses the fashion (mostly black, but lots of other colors too, which include other dark colors, and some bright), and has the overall common beliefs (like dark things are better).

Hey . . . I think that summary was better than the post itself. Man, I'm horrible. I guess I should give myself a break, because I was still unsure with myself when I first read about the subculture. Ah well.

Again, tell me if I screwed anything up or whatever.

"New" Baby Bat Definition!

After taking my usual morning showers, I signed in to Blogger to see if anyone I follow had updated their blogs. Lucky for me, my Goth Guide addiction had been fed, and I learned something new:

Ever since . . . March, I believe . . . I have been thinking that once I have become more knowledgeable in our lovely subculture and have also discovered a wide variety of Goth music, then I would no longer be a Baby Bat.

BEHOLD, THE ULTIMATE BABY BAT!!!
Source:  Google images

The Ultimate Goth Guide's creator has recently discovered, however, that a Baby Bat is defined by their age  rather than anything else (if you want to know where she found that, then here is the reliable source). Usually, Goths define a Baby Bat as a person who is over the age of eighteen years old (and the creator of Gothic Charm School says it's twenty-one, personally, for her). I go for the eighteen mark -- not because if it's then they I have a shorter time to wait or anything, but because . . . well . . . that's the age people in around here become legally adults, I suppose, and I'm applying it to Gothdome.

Am I angered or upset by this revelation? No, not at all. I suppose that the reason I am not is because this gives me many years to sit back in front of the fire place, relax, and try to gain as much experience within the subculture as I possibly can before I am eighteen.

Until then, here's to being a Baby Bat!

Book Spoilers: To Kill a Mockingbird

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING:  SPOILERS ABOUND AND INCREDIBLE RAMBLING TO SELF. DO NOT ENTER IF YOU HAVE NOT READ TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD AND WANT TO. SERIOUSLY. ONLY READ THIS IF YOU HAVE READ THE BOOK BEFORE, OR YOU DON'T WANT TO READ IT BUT YOU'RE READING THIS POST ANYWAY. WHATEVER. YOU GET THE POINT. PROBABLY. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!





Well well well! I am now officially done with all of my "ENTER" posts -- at least for now. You know, until I feel the need to write an entry dedicated to some person that I am most likely going to be writing about. But anyway, now that I'm finished with those, I have apparently decided to make my fourth post a simple book review. Seriously, people. I'm just goin' with the flow here.

To Kill a Mockingbird cover.
Source:  Google images

In the 1960s, one of the main things that was going on in America was the Civil Rights Movement, with Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr., and all of the other people that we read about in those literature books at school and stuff. Well, the author Harper Lee wrote a Gothic novel that centered around the 30s, when the main goal of the white man was to kill every black man they come across -- you know, that sort of righteous thing.

Riiight.

Scout and Jem's father, Atticus Finch, serves as the moral backbone of the story. He's a widowed, middle-aged man practicing law in Maycomb, Alabama, and trying to teach his young children the rights and wrongs of the world. Unlike most of the other people in Maycomb, Atticus' character does not serve to be a racist of any form. Not that we readers can see, anyway. But while Atticus is defending his defendants, his two children are off meeting Charles Baker Harris (who proclaims, "Folks call me Dill."), who has no father and claims that Scout is the only girl he will ever love, and playing "Boo Radley".

Mayella Ewell as seen in the movie.
Source:  Google images

Meanwhile, Atticus is trying his best to save Tom Robinson, a black man who has been charged of raping Mayella Ewell. But did this happen? Well, no, of course it didn't. There was so much evidence in the courtroom that Atticus presented to the jury that it was overwhelming. For example, the sheriff, Heck, said that she was choked and punched and all that sort of stuff, but yet, Tom Robinson cannot use the arm that would have had to have been used in order to do any of those things.

Thomas Robinson as seen in the movie.
Source:  Google image

The truth is is that Mayella jumped on poor Tom first -- not the other way around. She had called him in so that he would help her with a few chores that her father wanted her to do. But when he had come in, she jumped on him! Told him that she wanted a real man to do something to her. Not like what her her daddy did to her.

Not like what her daddy did to her . . . hmm . . . interesting. Okay, so that's proof right there in the making that her father was the one who raped her, not the innocent man you see towards the upper-right of this paragraph. But to really, fully understand things about Bob Ewell, you have to know a bit more about dysfunctional families when it comes to alcoholism.

Bob Ewell's destiny had already been picked out for him even before he was born. His family was known as the trash of Maycomb, and therefore, the only people who were "below him", so to speak, were women and people of other races. While of us most of us today know that sexism and racism isn't right, it was pretty popular back in those days. These are, after all, the 30s.

Bob Ewell as seen in the movie.
Source:  Google images

Kids who grow up with an alcoholic and/or alcohol abuser in their immediate family tend to be alcoholics when they grow up. That's not a stereotype, either; it's a cold, hard, fact. So if the Ewells were well known for their alcoholism, well, Robert E. Lee Ewell didn't have a chance in the first place. Well, yes he did:  he made his own decisions, there isn't any doubt about that. However, the emotional (and physical) trauma that comes along with being a child of an alcoholic can certainly take it's tole on a person, and Bob Ewell was just one of the many victims.

Child abuse and domestic violence are very common in alcoholic families, so when Bob Ewell rapes and beats Mayella (and probably his younger children, too), it's not all that uncommon. You may be wondering, if this is true, then why did Mayella or someone else ever interfere? The answer is actually quite simple:  abused children and rape victims often put the blame on themselves and attempt to keep on chuckin'. As for the other people, well, it wasn't exactly culture-friendly to intervene in things and situations such as these, so they wouldn't have either. I understand that that seems terrible, but it is what things were like. And in some places, are like.

"But, Anastasia!" you might be saying, "I still don't understand; if all of this has been happening like you say, then why is there suddenly a trial where the defendant never did anything?"

Well, what you have to understand is that, during the 1930s, if you were black and on trial against a white, then you were going to lose. A black against a black? I'm not completely sure, but I'm pretty sure that there never was such a thing back then -- not in a real, professional court house, anyway. Why? Racism, my dear friends! Racism. That's what happens when people think that they're better than others based on something as petty as race.

Atticus on the trial.
Source:  Google images

Bob Ewell was angry at Mayella because he loved her. Not just as a father and daughter, you see, but just as a man loves a woman (etc.). So when he actually caught her kissing Tom, willingly, he was so angry that he beat and raped her. Then he ran over to the sheriff and told him that Tom had been the one to rape his daughter. Thus, the trial began, and Atticus was chosen to defend Robinson.

Despite his innocence and Atticus's speech, Tom is convicted of Mayella's rape. They took him off somewhere and shot him, but the story goes that he tried to make a run for it. That wasn't true at all, of course, but it is what the officials were trying to say. Atticus was notified, and he had to ride out to the black community with Calpurnia and Jem to tell them that Tom had joined the afterlife.

Despite his victory, Bob is so angry at Atticus. The man feels that the lawyer completely ruined his reputation (not that he had a very good one), and the alcoholic tells him that he'll get him somehow.

And, he nearly does.

Scout played the role of a ham in her county's Halloween play (which did take place on the thirty-first of October). When she and her older brother were walking home under the full moon, they were attacked by a drunken man. Jem was mostly hurt (his arm was broken horribly, but he could still play football after it), and Scout just got a bump on her head -- not too much harm done.

I know that that may not sound so much, but Bob wasn't playing around; he had a knife with him. He was serious about murdering the main character and her brother. But what stopped him, then?

Boo Radley as seen in the movie.
By the way, under his name says, "He's a ninja"
Source:  Google images

Yep! Arthur "Boo" Radley comes out to join the party. But first, who is he?

Boo is known by the fine people of Maycomb county as the insane man who cut his father's leg with scissors and then resumed slicing up the newspaper. His father would not let him go to any asylum, saying that no Radley would go to such a place. Once he and his wife died, the son took care of him. Arthur constantly stayed inside and became very anti-social (after all, no one ever ever came over). Yes, he was insane. Evil, however, like what everyone believed? Nope.

Earlier in the book, Boo started leaving things like toys in a tree in his yard for Scout and Jem and Dill to have. This excited them to no end (throughout the book, they always wanted to see Boo), as they were sure it was him (and they were right).

So when he comes out and fights Bob and saves the children, it's quite ironic in the story line. Who would have thought? I suppose, if you really think about it, he's the only possible one to save them. Atticus couldn't, because he wouldn't have heard. Besides that, I'm not even sure what he would have done in a situation like that. I suppose he would have fought to save his kids, but Atticus' character just isn't very violent at all. Heck Tate, the sheriff? Maybe, but he definitely wasn't anywhere around . . . hmm.

Anyway, Bob accidentally kills himself by falling on his own knife, and Arthur runs off with Jem in his arms (for at this time the boy is unconscious) to the Finch house. Heck's called, and so is the doctor, and Scout manages to find her way home . . . even though she can barely see a thing with her ham costume on.

Jem and Scout Finch, in the forest,
about to be attacked by Robert. E. Lee. Ewell
Source:  Google images

All in all, everyone gets home safely. No one, except for perhaps the doctor and his brother, sees Boo Radley again. Scout and Jem grow up. Life goes on.

My view of the book? Well, it's okay. I don't think it's anything to get over-excited about -- but that's just me. However, that doesn't mean I wouldn't suggest it! No, it is pretty dang good.

Charles Baker Harris
Dill
Source:  Google images

Jeremy Finch
Jem
Source:  Google images

Jean Louise Finch
Scout
Source:  Google images

Finch family
Left to right:
Scout; Atticus; Jem

ENTER: Elise

Elise was first Scarlet's "friend" on Facebook. I suppose that they had hit it off fairly well (though not well enough to try to become very close or anything). We had virtually "met" through one of Scarlet's statuses, and from there just started talking about whatever and whenever.

She and I have been talking for a few months now, and although we sometimes annoy each other, I still have to say that she's pretty cool. Her personality is completely different from mine, so it's almost surprising that we've become sort of close. But hey! She's Elise.

Elise does enjoy writing, though she has many self-esteem issues and doesn't think that she's very good at it. Of course, she does need to improve; and so does the rest of the world.

Recently she became rather depressed, but she seems to be out of it now -- which makes me happy!

Elise's choice.
Source:  Google images

 

Listening to:  "Opheliac" by Emilie Autumn

ENTER: Scarlet

Awhile back ago, Neji started dating a girl who is a grade below me in school. After awhile they broke up, and then he started dating her friend, Scarlet.

I had seen Scarlet several times at school. It was hard to miss her, really, because she wore large amounts of black every day. Very rarely did she wear anything that was purple or green or anything else (in fact, those are the only colors I recall her wearing that weren't black), and she also had a Rolling Stones coat (heh). So yes, I definitely could pick this girl out in the crowd. But when they -- she and Neji -- started dating, we started talking and hanging out, usually in fourth period, which was P.E.

I found out a few things about her during our fourth period class. She did drugs, she was raped, she was emo, she cut herself, she acted tough, and underneath all that was a girl who I had an urge to protect, like I do all of my "real friends".

When she first told me that she was a cutter, I did not fully understand what that meant, so I responded with, "Cool." There was no reason to tell anyone (and, if I had been in the same spot once again with the knowledge I have now, I probably still wouldn't tell anyone, although I would try to help her as best I could), as far as I was concerned. I only could comprehend that it meant depression. And while I had been through that before, that didn't mean I didn't understand . . . oh never mind . . . I think you get it by now.

It was actually around this time when Neji and I had first started calling each other -- and also when I first started having the "random Goth" thoughts in my head and thinking that I may be that (which has obviously turned out to be quite true). I asked her, once, what the difference between Emo and Goth was, and she responded, "Emos cut themselves and Goths don't." I honestly thought that that wasn't much of a wonderful explanation, but I trusted her judgement all the same.

I now know that it's misguided, which is sad for her, but ah well; it is what it is, you know?

Scarlet herself has a lot of problems, especially recently, but I in no way am a fan of documenting them all here. Although I'm pretty sure she wouldn't care if I did, I don't have her full permission. Usually I don't care what I have and what I don't have in these things, but I have moved up from M-D (and yes, I still write there) to Blogger, which is such a big difference in typing down things for all to see. Therefore, I will not post too many of her woes and things in here, and I would put a picture of her here, but I have a bad feeling about doing that . . . so I'll just put something on here of which she has in one of her Facebook albums.

From Scarlet's Facebook album.
Source:  Google images, most likely

ENTER: Perseus

I met Perseus a few months ago when I first started going to the school I'm going to now. I knew that he lived in the same trailer park as myself -- just up the hill -- but I had never bothered in talking to him. Such a thing seemed to be, at least for me, unimportant and unnecessary. So for him, his brother, and two nephews, I never payed too much mind to.
However, there was an older boy in the back of the bus who often got on my nerves. He would cuss everyone out, including the bus driver, and it was quite annoying. Really, it was. Even if pretty much none of it was aimed directly at me, that doesn't mean that I can't get fed up of someone's ignorant crap. How childish . . . but hey, I don't know what he goes through. It wouldn't surprise me that much if one -- or both -- of his parents were alcoholics. Nope, not at all. Trouble-making is a common personality trait for children who grow up with alcoholics and/or alcohol abusers. But I'll get into those details later on.

I had expressed my annoyance with another neighbor, Ashley L. and her friend, Amber, one day in fifth period. They told me his name and all that stuff, and on the afternoon, a random girl by the name of Courtney sat by me for  a total of .30 seconds and said, "So, I hear you don't like Daniel?"

[Laughs] "Yeah."

"Girl, let me tell you, you've got good tastes."

After she left, Perseus, who had been sitting behind me, asked my name and that kinda thing, and we started talking, and blah blah blah. I found out that he and I had many similarities, including the love of fantasy stories, awesome (aka lots of dark clothing) old music tastes (like Guns N' Roses and stuff), and so on. I had a feeling that he had gone through a gothy phase before, and if he hadn't, then I could introduce him into the subculture to see if he likes it.

After the third or fourth day of talking, he told me that he had been a goth once. Yet, he didn't know anything about the types or the music or anything like that, so I had to re-introduce him. I drug him over to my house and showed him the UGG blog, and so he told me that he wanted to be Goth -- with a big "G". Like I knew he would.

So now we're both Baby Bats and don't know what to do with ourselves. Well, actually we do. Listen to music and make a large collection of awesome fashion. He wants to be a Deathrocker when he moves out of his grandmother's place. Mmm. Though I don't have a problem with Deathrockers themselves, I am no fan of the fashion. Deathhawks and stuff like that just instantly remind me of someone trying to be a bad ass. I need to get out of that thought . . . .

There is no real picture I can show you of Perseus, except for this Photoshopped one:

Perseus
Source:  His phone

ENTER: Neji Hyuga (Urien Thorne)

In October of 2008, I met a boy by the name of Neji Hyuga. Of course, that isn't his real name. Neji is a fictional character in the manga and anime series, Naruto created by Kishimoto Masashi (Note:  surnames come before given in Japan, so his first name is Masashi). Neji and I had quite a few things in common, including our religion, political views, sense of humor, and favorites.

Right:  Young Neji Hyuga; left:  old Neji Hyuga.
Source:  Google images

During this time, I was in the fifth grade. I often argued with my favorite teacher, a Conservative Republican, about politics. Of course I always lost . . . . He -- has -- had much more experience than I in the world of the "P word". Plus, I am much younger than he is. My father gave me ammunition in the afternoons, but it was usually too late then. But that's not important. What is important is that President Obama became President Obama, which made Neji and I skip around on the roads screaming things like, "WE WON, WE WON!", which was much different from what the neighbors were doing, I'm sure.

We live in a Red State.

2008 gave way to 2009, and our friendship improved drastically. I started hanging around him much more, to the point where we were able to start spending the night with each other (and, before you ask, no, nothing went "on" between us during those times -- though, naturally, there were plenty of rumors that there were). We rode three wheelers and wrecked several times; we sung Queen songs and hung out with his on-again off-again girlfriend; we walked the highway at night with the full moon ahead just to prove that we totally OWNED that town.

In the late months of 2009, he, his girlfriend and I started attending a non-denominated church, Hang Out 4 Jesus, which we all got saved at. The congregation, as well as the building, was quite a mystery; no pues or chandeliers here! No, just regular seats. Sit on the carpet if you want! There's no harm in it. And the people? Well, they themselves weren't strange; it was the amount of people! Such a small number for such a small building.

Unfortunately, we had a bit of a rough patch on January 15th, 2010, and stopped being friends for a total of fifteen months -- until earlier this year! I honestly thought that we would never be able to see each other again, which sent me spiraling down a swirly depression time for just over a year. Luckily, though, I had friends to help me -- although they definitely didn't know they were doing it.

In December of 2010, however, Neji contacted me via Facebook asking for my forgiveness. Like me, he had blamed himself for our "dead" friendship. We still were not able to talk (my family's phone wasn't even working at this time), but at least we could communicate a little bit through "the social site", which was something.

I believe it was in February when I told Dalton that I had become Goth. Thankfully, this was after the three or so days I believe I spent as an uneducated Mall Goth, so I could at least try to explain to him what it was. Like a large portion of the world, he believed that Goths existed to worship the Devil, hated pink, and all the other common stereotypes that we face. At the weekend when I came over, he told me that he was thinking about joining the subculture as well, because if his coat was pink, he would burn it (he and I have many many similarities, so it was kind of natural for him to think that that's what it was about). Kind of silly, I know, but I tried to explain it to him.

I also knew that he was an annoying Mall Goth, and there was absolutely nothing I could possibly do to help him. I gave him sheets and sheets of things from The Ultimate Goth Guide that I thought would help, and I told him some Goth and Deathrock bands, but he couldn't listen to him. Eventually he told me that I was acting strange because I "was trying to act goth." That made me strongly reconsider our friendship (we're been on a rocky road recently), but I forgave him.

Yesterday, I spent the night with Neji. It was pretty fun. He now has a Goth name, by the way:  Urien Thorne.

My Neji!
Source:  His phone

ENTER: Anastasia

Listening to:  "Another Brick in the Wall, Part Three" by Pink Floyd

Hello there, everyone. How are we today?

I myself am doing pretty good. Neutral, I suppose you could say. This is my first post (yet again), and I hope that I actually stick with this blog. Y'know, for once. Basically, this is just a really quick introduction to yours truly and nothing more. After this, I might do a few more posts to introduce y'all to some other people who may (or may not) appear in this blog. I'm sure that they will . . . heh. Perseus especially, since I'm attempting to lead him into the Goth subculture. It's nearly a case of "the blind guide the blind", though, because I'm a Baby Bat (yes, I capitalize my Goth types -- what? I want to!) myself. But at least I have the world's greatest blog to guide me through things, so just about every time he comes over I shove it in his face . . . .

BUT, before I go on a long-winded explanation of my buddies, I might want to write what this post was intentionally made for:  an introduction to the blogger.

Vocab lesson anyone?

Goth - (1) a music-based subculture; (2) a person who follows a type of music.
Baby Bat - a person who is new to the Goth scene.
Goth types - there are many different "types" of Goths. Like the Ice Goth, for example. An Ice Goth is simply a Goth who wears large portions of white as an alternative to black. And you've also got the Perky Goth, which, to an extent, could be considered more of a mood rather than a type -- thought I don't agree.
Casual Goth - a Goth who dresses very, very casual. You could even say that my style hasn't changed that much since I switched from the "unnoticeable quiet girl" to the "unnoticeable quiet girl who now wears quite a bit of black" a few months ago.
goth - though many people don't capitalize the word "Goth", I do it in a different way. If I say, "They're goth," then I'm actually saying "They're a Mall Goth."
Mall Goth - a person who is sadly misinformed about our subculture and believe that they have to sacrifice virgins on the full moon to be a REAL Goth. Okay okay, that's just a bit exaggerated, but you get the point. I think? Wait, let me reword that:  they fall victim to the godforsaken stereotypes! Yeah, I think that's better.
Emo - this is a completely different subculture from Goth, and I must say that I don't know nearly as much about it as I do my own. However, I will say this, for the fashion:  most of the time, you can identify an Emo if they wear skinny jeans, Converse, lots of bracelets and/or long sleeves, and have bangs that cover one eye.
emo - scroll back up there to the goth definition and sort of apply it to this one. When I say someone is emo rather than Emo, I'm saying that they probably think that Goth and Emo are the exact same thing, think that they have to cut themselves to be Emo . . . yeah that sorta thing.
Christian - a person of the Christian religion who actually lives by the laws of our God (ya know, that stuff about PEACE and LOVE for ALL).
christian - a person who, while may be Christian, need to learn some things. I'm not saying that I know everything in the world -- far from it! -- but I at least know that just because someone is different is no need to target them relentlessly.

Okay, so there's going to be a test later on (I'm just kidding . . . OR AM I?!).

Now, a few things about me.

I am a Christian. I believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. I believe that it's a relationship, not just a religion. I believe that Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead to save us all. And I believe that He loves each and everyone of us.

I am a Christian, and I don't hate homosexuals/bisexuals/transsexuals/etc.

I am a non-homophobic Christian who is highly interested in things that are before my time . . . like the best band that has ever walked the face of the Earth, Pink Floyd, (yes, I said it; my favorite band isn't a Goth band. So bite me) perhaps? Yes, exactly! I can particularly connect with the album The Wall . . . .

I am a non-homophobic Christian Floydian who is a Baby Bat still exploring the scene. It was only earlier this year when one of my old classmates started asking me if I was Goth. And -- hush, Anastasia! Your testimony comes later.

I am a non-homophobic Christian Floydian Goth who is probably long-since insane. But that's just me.

You know the name up there:  Anastasia? That's not my real name. I strongly dislike my real name for personal reasons that I doubt I am going to cover in this blog. So I'm trying to get Perseus to start calling me Anastasia. Why? I like the meaning of it. What's the meaning? Read the title above:  "she who will rise again". It's inspirational.

I am now in like the eleventh week of high school. Big whoop. What's the big deal? There's not much of a difference between it and middle school from what I can see. But then again, I transferred schools; that may have a lot to do with it. You never know.


Wanna hear some anti-stereotypes?

Question number one:  Are you in a cult of any kind? What's your religion?
Well, I've already answered this, but I'll say it again:  I am a Christian. At heart, non-denominated, but technically Baptist. Not something I'm very proud -- and that's not to say that I don't like Baptists! It's just that I don't want to conform (heh ^_^') to any denomination. No, not necessarily just because I'm a Goth (well, it is because of that but . . . wait . . . sigh. We Goths aren't a big fan of conformity, okay? There.), but also because in the Bible it says, "There are many ministries but only one God."

Question number two:  Do you have a hit list?
A little boy once asked me something like this on a bus ride home after asking me if I was Gothic. For a split second there I thought about saying, "Yeah, and you're on it!", but decided not to. Instead I just told them that I didn't.

I have never thought about killing anyone, let's make that clear. I do enjoy books (Harry Potter, anyone?) and a few movies with murder scenes in them, but never ever have I thought about actually killing someone.

Generally, Goths are peaceful. Very sarcastic and snarky, but mostly okay. Most aren't bullies at your local school. Most aren't murderers. Most aren't the ultimate antagonists of the entire novel you're reading. And most will never kill anyone.

Question number three:  Do you have a diary, and if so, do you write a bunch of angsty crap in it?
Umm . . . wellll . . . yes. And yes. I do have a journal, and I do write a bunch of angsty crap in it. But, as a HUMAN BEING, I have a right too. I wrote the same stuff even before I became interested in the Goth subculture. It's not about me not being able to get any dudes to notice me. It's not about me slicing my wrist in half (and no, I an not a cutter). It's about my own personal problems. Everyone has them, you know.


Question number four:  Do you write poetry?
Not a lot, no. I don't consider myself to be that much of a poet. I'm more of a story-teller, preferably fantasy, but some fiction.


Question number five:  Are you in love with Marilyn Manson?
No. The man is not Goth. He does shock rock. And furthermore . . . the only song I can think of that I've heard by him is "This Is Halloween". Which I honestly don't like. It's a little too repetitive for me.

Question number six:  Are you fixated on death?
Nope. I do not wear black because I love the idea of killing and/or suicide. I do not wear black because I am depressed. I do not wear black because I hate the world. I wear black because I love black. I love this fashion.


Question number seven:  You're an attention-seeker, aren't you?
No. A lot of people don't even realize that I'm Goth, and when they either ask or I say it, they can't believe it. It's because I'm a Casual Goth, I think.


Question number eight:  Are you in love with anyone? If not, have you ever been, or do you think you ever will?
What I am going to say may present some problems, but I assure you that my answer is completely different from other people. Like these two people who you may recognize:

Ah, famous Perky Goths from that show . . . what's it called . . . The Amazing Race, right?
Source:  Google Images

These two underwent a bit of pain on their own and became infamous "celebrities".
Source:  Google Images

So your answer . . . well . . . Goths can and do fall in love. But I myself am not in love, nor have I have ever been. I'm fourteen. Most people don't fall in love at this age, you know?

Question number nine:  What's your sexuality?
My sexuality is heterosexual. However, that does not mean that I hate any others!


Question number ten:  *Snickers* Are you a vampire?
No. And, to a small extent, that cliche really does get on my nerves. I'm not that into vampires as much as some of my peers are. Though they definitely are cool.


One (unfortunate) thing about me is that I have no way to buy clothes from any Goth store. As far as I know, there aren't any joints or clubs in my area, nor are there any shops. Buying things from the 'Net is out of the option, to, because my parents simply don't want me to do things like that. Money's tight, see. But one of these days . . . .

But, regardless of any lack of favorable clothing stores, I do wear clothes. From Goodys. Or Goodies. Or whatever that shop is. And Walmart. And where ever else I can buy things.

I've been in Hot Topic, but I've never bought anything from it. If I see a BVB shirt there, though, I'll probably buy it. Black Veil Brides isn't Goth, but I love that band!

Down below's a crappy picture of me. I don't actually have a camera, but I'll pull some strings in order to get one. In other words, rob my parents.

Listening to:  "The Trial" by Pink Floyd