Wet Specimens

So this weeks blog post is going to be about a new addition to my bedroom. I'm gonna give you a clue, it's an animal, it's not living and it's pretty disgusting.

No you filthy bastard, not that. Actually it's a few animals, four to be exact. Well, three whole animals and one small section of an animal. They're my new wet specimens, animals injected with formaldehyde and then put into jars with 70% isopropyl (rubbing alcohol) to preserve their bodies. Their bodies never decay and will live on in their little jars for the rest of eternity.
Pretty morbid right? Actually. To me, it's the complete opposite.

I have recently purchased some new little fellas to start off hopefully my ever budding wet specimen collection; a mouse,an exotic duckling, a beaver's paw and a snail. All pictured below:

I hadn't known about wet specimens for very long before I decided I had to get my grubby little mitts on a few pieces. I'd known about taxidermy for a long time, and know a few people that actually have taxidermy in their houses, but had always thought that dead things in jars were only seen on horror movies. I actually don't even remember how I stumbled across the first one but after I had, I spent practically every waking moment after either looking at them online or thinking about looking at them online.

I am not opposed to taxidermy in any way, and once my weird and wonderful collection starts to grow I'm sure I will obtain some. For now though I thought I would start off small. I have had many people ask me firstly, whether I'm clinically insane and secondly, why I would want dead things floating about in jars around my room. The answers to these are firstly, yes more than likely (but anyone that knows me, even for a short period of time grows accustomed to my madness) and secondly, what is more inspiring than a legacy? Why should things stop being enjoyed after they die? I am an animal lover and anyone that tells me I'm not because I keep preserved animals are wrong (there were previously profanities in this sentence but I want to keep things PG). All animals die of natural causes, none are killed to be preserved and I carry on to enjoy the animal even after they have passed, so how is that not utilising my love for animals?

I don't know what it is that I like about them in all honesty, they just fascinate me. When I was younger I wanted to work in autopsy, I think it's just that I'm not afraid of death or the dead and a lot of people are and that's why they don't get it. I've always been pretty strange, but this is the start of my weird and wonderful collection of oddities and I love them☺️

If anyone is interested in buying any wet specimens or other oddities then I highly recommend Ryan Biracree. His communication is exceptional and his products are not only top quality but very reasonably priced. I have linked his online Etsy shop below:

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/BlackBearBathSalts?ref=l2-shop-header-avatar

Till next time,
Beth x

Writing about writing.

Well I suppose if I'm going to try and make this blog anything but a one hit wonder I should probably try and post at least once a week. I've actually been struggling quite a lot with what my next topic should be on. Before I started writing I thought of about 100 different things I could write about and since I wrote my first post on the shortcomings of eBay it has become apparent that I have used all my annual words up and now have permanent writer's block.

I don't want to bore you guys by going into depth about me or what I've been doing because it's boring to other people, unless they value it or it enriches them then they really don't care. (Unless they are your friends and then they have to care, or at least pretend).

So my amazing master plan this week is to write about... writing!, imaginative eh? But I thought, what is a common interest of people on blogger? (For my Facebook friends that I have forced to come and read this, it's the website through which this blog is posted on) and the only common denominator that jumped out at me was the written word.

I personally, am at my most thoughtful when I'm walking my dogs. I know most people's imaginative juices often flow when they are in the shower or lying in bed at night, when there are more important activities to be doing like actually sleeping or keeping up with personal hygiene. For me though, it's when I'm walking through the woods by my house with my two adorable pooches and I have over an hour to kill, my mind often starts to wonder.

As I'm writing this into the notes of my iPhone I am watching my chocolate Labrador, who much resembles a walrus, wallow in what I can only describe as a cesspool, and my lurcher bound around in the tall grass like a baby deer. I don't know what it is about walking that makes me feel as though I have to put my thoughts into the world to be scrutinised. I suppose I've always been a bit of a country bumpkin, feeling happiest when I'm out and about surrounded by the tranquillity of nature and when I'm happiest is when I feel the urge to write. A lot of people write when they have pent up emotions that they don't know how to deal with, it seems to be a form of release for some people, for others it's an avenue to channel their positive energies. For me I feel writing is the latter. I've always enjoyed the written word, at a young age I excelled at literacy and spelling. As I've grown older I have certainly picked up some bad habits but my interest has not wavered.

I have learned that it's not grammar or punctuation that's important, no matter what academics or teachers tell you, it's the content of the message. If a piece touches you, as for example John Green's work (my favourite author) touches me, I'm sure you don't care about the sentence structure or whether the apostrophe goes before or after the 's'. If someone can write something that effects you on a different level; that really speaks to you, changes your view or opinion on something or even just makes you sit back and think, then to me that's all that matters. Something doesn't have to be perfectly written to be enjoyed, it just has to be legible.

Not only do I enjoy the written word but a couple years ago I was introduced to a clip on Youtube of the spoken word which has remained to be my favourite piece to date, It really did and carries on to touch and inspire me to this day. I will leave a clip below (as well as a few pictures from today's walk), Let me know what you think :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnKZ4pdSU-s

Till next time,
Beth x

eBay

Okay, so. This is my first ever blog post, hi all!

I thought my first blog post should be dedicated to something that plays a huge part in my life. 'What is that?' You ask. 'Ebay' I reply.
eBay is something that was created by the gods as a temptation to us mere mortals and it almost always wins. The only things better and even more irresistible than buying pointless crap on eBay is Bradley Cooper's butt and John Legend's voice.
I almost feel as though I'm in a relationship with eBay; periodically feeling concerning amounts of love for it, then hating it's guts and deleting the app off my phone after a payday splurge (that has not unusually come before payday this month).
The thing about eBay is that it exposes you to some weird ass stuff. I mean the stuff you've never even heard about before that you feast your eyes on and suddenly not only want it but need it, even though it's completely unusable to you and costs 5x more than your annual salary. - 'Oh sure eBay, I'll take that life size model of Ryan seacrest for £72 even though I have no idea of who he is or what he does. Thanks for suggesting that!' (It had free post and packaging though so how could I resist).
There is a danger with eBay though. Even though it opens you up to this vast, plethora of online crap that intrigues and excites you, it is SO easy to blow every penny you have. In my opinion it's because you don't see the cash being physically handed over, it's just a series of 0's and 1's on a screen that have no semantics to you, so you end up thinking for the brief second that you click 'place order' that money is indispensable. We all know this is not the case. Even though I seem to end up spending all the money I have on eBay (it's not a lot) there are some little gems that you can find, and often things that you actually want and intended on buying anyway can be found for much cheaper on auctions, which is a god send.

The one thing about auctions that really grinds my gears is snipers. If you frequent eBay, you have all been the victim of a sniper. (Raise your hand if you've been victimised by Regina George). If you don't often use eBay, snipers are people that shatter your hopes and dreams and throw you into a depressive spiral. They strike at the last second, literally, and place a bid on the item that you've been the top bidder on for four days now and you were just about to win that super cute cowgirl outfit for your cat, when you don't even have a cat but now some bitch from Atlanta just outbid you and her imaginary cat wouldn't look half as good as yours in it. (I'm not speaking from personal experience here, I promise).

Anyway, that's some of my ramblings about eBay that none of you care about, I'm gonna go buy a cat.

Till next time,
Beth x