The Omikuji Project

Reading Borges in Buenos Aires is certainly my favorite Omikuji story so far.

Just sayin.

Oh! To sort through the unassuming pile of mail, and find something addressed to me! There is no happiness like receiving something in the mail, I am convinced. Christmas presents come in the mail, birthday presents, wedding announcements, graduation announcements, cards for diverse occasions... and now, literary quickies that have all the fire of lovers who have been separated for a month. I should have known, from the first moment my eyes slid over the curves of my name and address, her name and address. Together, with the stamp-king blowing love at us both, we had a fine time getting here. To think! My first menage-a-trois, on the front of a letter. I'll tell the postman, and he'll surely be titillated.

But enough of that. I ripped the envelope open once it clicked that yes, yes, she was offering herself to me, my name and location on her flat belly an indisputable invitation, not thinking to preserve the wrapping in my pent-up passion. And then, and then... the red wax, I had heard about the red wax, but to see it! The C, for her first name, informality superimposed upon the formal seal in a seductive combination that beckoned with closeness as it wore brocade corsets and satin skirts.

I cracked the seal gently, carefully, as if opening a fine wine which might vanish if rushed. The red wax left marks behind, not unlike that left by raven-haired mistresses on their lovers white collars. Everyone who saw them would know, the way your mother knows when you come home with a hickey. Wicked thing went on in that envelope.

Finally, the story. Jorge was a coincidence (the blue eyes, too, but never mind those. Names have more power). I hope mine doesn't leave me for a medievalist. I have heard they prosecute for sodomy, and then where would he be? (Certainly not enjoying his beloved alfajores.)

Hello fellow Omikuji readers! I recently moved, and when I did my Omikuji stories got out of order. I know this may seem kind of silly. I am putting them into sheet protectors and into a binder now, and I find that it bothers me. Not that the stores themselves are out of order, but Cat's little letters at the end. If only I had kept them in their envelopes!

So I was wondering, has anyone here kept theirs in order, and if so, would they be willing to write down that order by story title? I would so appreciate it!

I am utterly disgusted with myself. I have just managed to ruin one of my omikuji mailings. My favorite one, of course -- which is why it was on my bedside table, for ease of constant re-readings.

If this were a decent story, it would have at least gotten drenched in honey-wine, and I could have lapped up the words as they melted from the paper, and become drunk thereof. Because it is my life, I only knocked over a glass of slightly musty tap-water. *sighs*

Currently open for debate is whether I keep the rumpled mess of paper as is (this is fabulous paper, Cat -- it may be pleated like a smocked christening gown, but I can still read it! Well, with smishing. The ink is all still there, is my point) and deal with being slightly cranky in the back of me whenever I read it, or whether I try to do. . . something with it.

Has anyone made art with an omikuji mailing? I'm not at all sure what I'd make, but I do know I simply can't bear to throw it away.

(and has anyone else had a mailing ruined?)

If you have signed up for a monthly mailing subscription to Omikuji in the past month--I do not have your address. Paypal does not provide it. Please email me so I can get your mailing out this weekend. If you signed up for a yearly sub, no worries, Paypal includes it there.

Also, we are still trying to deal with the database of people who's yearly sub was up in March, April, May, or June. You can help by letting us know if you decided not to re-subscribe in the comments, or re-upping before this month's mailing goes out.

I'm in love with this story about rime giants and maiden aunts. I frequently think this with each new omikuji, but I think "The Wedding" is my favourite yet, if only for this paragraph:

It's important to marry someone, she said. Not because you need them to complete you or because you ought to be someone's wife by hook or by crook. It's just that worlds want to combine, they want to marry, and they use people to do it, the way you mix medicine in with something sweet, so it's easy to swallow. That's why we have to have all those silly things: a frilly dress and something blue and a bachelor party and a priest. Just so that a boy and a girl can live together and make babies? Posh. Because the big worlds inside us are mating, and they need the pomp.

I'm still aching over the gorgeous truth of this. What a beautiful way of seeing the world. I love it completely.

I've also fallen dreadfully behind with compiling a year's worth of omikuji music, having dropped the last few stories (I stopped at "That Which Lets the Light In" -- England and thesis got in the way of keeping up), but I wanted to share a song that I also associated with the very first Omikuji story, called "The Frozen World," by Emilie Simon.

won't you open for me
the door to your ice world
the young, white desert

I just want to stare
out of these snow fields
until we're warm again
we'll belong to the frozen world

when the ice
begins to thaw
becomes the sea
O, you will see
how beautiful it can be

Will link to later, but for now, just needed to squee.

It went as these things always seem to go. I received my story (there really is no better envelope to draw out of one's mailbox after a terrible day at work) and I also received a strange, small padded envelope. I thought to myself, "Perhaps someone has sent me a present." In a way, this was true. The Lottery Prize from this month is a very beautiful necklace. I will take a picture tomorrow and post. (no camera at home)

There is now an Omikuji Facebook Group! Join up!

A new bit of awesome to add to the Omikuji Project...

This month's lottery prize was made by pretendpeterpan, of Treasure Gnome Artisan Jewelry! Please post pics when you receive it so everyone can see!

If any of you are artists and would like to provide one of the monthly prizes, please do let me know--you get to see the story early and get lovely promotion to this wonderful group of people. It doesn't have to be jewelry--it can be anything that can be mailed.

I'll still be making a lot of these, but my skills only go so far.

The round robin was great--I hope you guys like my version!

Hey everyone,

Hark! Yesterday, yuki_onna sent out the June story -- which means that it's time to bring our first Omikuji Round-Robin to a close.

Here is the result of everyone in the above link posting one sentence each to the tune of Last summer, my aunt married a rime giant, with paragraph breaks where I've deemed them apt. I had fun reading each sentence as it came up, and would love to get some feedback from you guys -- both those who took part and those reading the result.

Without further ado... Our exquisite corpse of a Story for Cat!

~*~

Last summer, my aunt married a rime giant.

As they took their vows, he as white as she, I wondered how she would bear his icy touch and the unrelenting cold of Niflheim. The vestments they wore, hers white as fresh snow, his the blue of long-buried glacial ice, seemed a world apart form the heat of the sun that watched over their ceremony. But she had always been hotblooded, my aunt; just maybe she'd have enough heat to last her.

What strange alchemy had filled the cup they drank from, his hand dwarfing hers on the wooden bowl as their lips kissed the brim in turn? I watched as their eyes met; truly, it was no struggle on either part to submit to their vows, such tender and kind regard as his was rare in our experience. Hot tempers run in our family -- perhaps he chose her for the fire in her heart or her eyes -- I suspect she chose him for his cool head as much as for his broad, strong body, which steamed in the summer heat.

Or perhaps it was purely monstrosity which had drawn them together: the obvious monstrosity of his size and his chill; her deeper, secret, marvelous deformity, of which I knew well enough but the main of the family, behind their white paper fans and their small feet folded in fragile silk and linen shoes, refused to admit. They refused to admit, too, that in the monstrousness was great beauty and a terrible, terrible power; and in the moment before the nuptial kiss made every vow a sacred one, I wondered if the groom knew just how deep my aunt's strength went.

My aunt had a flame inside her, a wild streak of it--lava that would bubble up from the black rock of her heart, spitting love, hate sorrow like plumes of magma, rearranging, changing and cooling back to stone, no sulfur perfume now, only the scent of plumeria clinging to her skin, drowning the scent of her bridal bouquet. The mingling of their breath, hot and cold, settled white dewdrops onto the roses she carried each time they kissed.

When they turned to face their assembled families and friends together as husband and wife, a thundering cheer went up on the groom's side of the room, but most of the bride's side was silent. In that brief moment of one-sided silence, I watched my aunt's face harden into a carefully blank mask; not for the first time, I was ashamed of my family, unwilling to put aside their squabbles and prejudices even for these few hours. But as I watched her expression softened and her eyes became brighter still; one who burns so hot cannot remain frozen for long.

She took a few bold steps towards the assembled gathering of friends and relations and tossed a flaming bouquet of roses into the air as if launching a bird into flight. Her new husband's cousin caught it, and though the stems burnt his hands he smiled as brightly as if he were a bride himself. Though, if any among the wedding party had thought to turn and look into his eyes at that moment, they would have seen the one, ice tear, still glistening in the corner of his eye.

Taking the tear into his hand, cupping it in the palm where it shone like a diamond, he held it out to the shabbily dressed poor relation seeking invisibility at the edge of the throng. The man on the edge reached out shyly, his beak snapping with bashful pleasure as he accepted the shining tear - touching it made his feathers heavy and damp.

No one saw but I, and -- just perhaps --my smiling aunt, when the man opened his beak and blew, and the breath of fire from the poor relation’s mouth transmuted the tear to a flash of boiling steam.

~*~

My own thoughts:

a) I think I had my logic the wrong way 'round. I thought that the more people played, the fewer sentences each we should have, but now I think that a small group should have a sentence each, whereas a large group should have more, since there's less chance of it going around and around. I think it should be the more rounds there are likely to be, the fewer sentences each there should be.

b) I'll need to ask those of you with privacy settings on LJ if you're cool with letting me message you when it's your turn, since I get notifications on the post, but have to send them to you manually, and can't do that unless I'm able to LJ-message you. I wasn't able to reach a few people as quickly as I would've liked.

c) Next time I'll ask people posting to quote the previous sentences up until that point into their comment, so that the story's accumulating as we go along. I think it'd be cool for each person to have a sense of how it's growing -- and will also make it easier for me to wrap everything up in the end and post it.

Thanks so much to everyone who participated -- I hope you guys had fun! I look forward to doing it next month, and to see what story of yuki_onna's follows that awesome first line.

Just bumping up the Round-Robin post! Go there to deposit your line. Currently the next up is stormdog.

This post has been brought to you from Terminal 3 of Heathrow airport. Whoo!

Here we go, guys!

The first sentence of the next Omikuji story is as follows:

Last summer, my aunt married a rime giant.


Each of you will add a sentence to this story by commenting on this post in the following order:

dulcinbradbury

stormdog

woodburner

dormouse_in_tea

kyburg

amazon_syren

caudelac

naahmah_darling

shinysayyadina

richenza

isyche

sibylla

bauhausfrau

shawnalenore

hokuton_punch

ravenedgewalker

oursin

antsswarm

rymenhild

So, to recap, here's how it will work: dulcinbradbury will be the first to add a sentence to the story. shellefly will add a sentence to follow dulcinbradbury's. So on shall it go.

Remember who you follow, and let's see how we do racing alongside yuki_onna!

Hey guys,

Just bumping up this post to remind you about the round-robin that will begin tomorrow! Please post in it -- not in this one! -- if you want to take part.

bauhausfrau pointed out that this kind of game is also called an Exquisite Corpse, but because of key passages read to me from a Poppy Z. Brite novel of the same name when I was in highschool, I will cheerfully continue to refer to it as a round-robin until something better comes along. Feel free to suggest names for the game!

Look for a post specifying the completed order tomorrow afternoon, EST; dulcinbradbury, you'll be first up. I won't be taking part in it this time around, because I'll be travelling from Cornwall to Reading to London to Ottawa over the next few days, but I'll keep an eye on it and bump up posts as they need it.

I'm excited about this! Eee!

Hello, fellows,

In response to Cat's post asking for what we'd like to see in this second year of Omikuji, kyburg offered up the idea of a round-robin storytelling. Modified somewhat from her idea, I offer the following: based on the first line of Cat's story, we write her one back, one sentence at a time.

Here's how I see it working:

- People sign up beforehand into an established order.
- Cat posts the first sentence of the story, with or without a title.
- Running in the order pre-established, each person adds one to three sentences, depending on how many people have signed up (say, if we have ten or less interested, 3 lines; 11-15, 2 lines; 16+, 1 line)
- We go 'round and 'round, building the story until Cat sends the story out
- We stop once she says omikuji's gone out! Then I'll gather the sentences all together and we'll see what story we've wrought alongside hers.

What do you think? If you're interested in taking part, answer in comments to this post. I'll bump it up again on Monday, and I'll post the determined order on Tuesday. Then I'll figure out with Cat when we want to begin our shenanigans.

My husband's cat has a tendency to tear about at odd hours, bouncing off of walls and pouncing on shadows in a mad stop-and-go frenzy. He was doing it this morning, bounding back and forth between the bedroom and the bathroom with moments of silence punctuated by running feet, as my husband was getting ready for work and I was trying to catch a few last minutes of sleep before getting up, and he asked me something (I forget quite what) that made me explain that Loqui (short for Loquacious, as he is a talkative creature) was clearly charting out spells on our floors, and one day his necromantic powers would cause the house to rise up and start chasing birds.

My husband asked how the cat had become a necromancer, and (with the fascinatingly complex concept of "you are what you eat" fresh in my mind from this month's story) I explained that clearly all cats are necromancers, since as predators, they collect the souls of the creatures they eat and can summon little ghostly mice and birds and things to do their bidding. (This of course lead to the question of what the soul of purina kitty chow looks like, but so it goes...)

I don't know if anyone else is interested in my tangential mental associations, but I tend to be fascinated by little bits of concepts and where they end up and how they get there, so I thought I'd try sharing this one and see if it prompted any discussion. I liked the concept of becoming everything & everywhere your food has ever been almost as much as the metaphor of life as a big Katamari game from last month's letter. Sometimes you read things that stop you in your tracks and make you say, "Oh! I never thought of it that way before!" and sometimes an image you didn't really take much note of at the time makes its way into your life or your personal mythology, and this community seems like the sort of place where one ought to share things like that.

Omikuji went out a few days back, further delayed by justbeast  making with the awesome and designing a whole new database so that many fewer mistakes will be made and everyone can be a lot more organized. Hooray for justbeast ! (this also means we'll be able to sort out who has lapsed from their original yearlong membership, so now is a good time to renew if you haven't. Last month will be your last Omikuji if you signed up in March last year and did not renew.)

I promise it will never be this late again, gah.

A couple of things, now that I'm home. We're now in Year Two of the Omikuji Project. I want to see how we can evolve this thing.

What would you like to see? Guest artists instead of my Photoshoppery to illustrate the stories? Monthly vote on what story it will be? Easter eggs?

What would get you to post more in this community? It was quite active in the beginning but have fallen off a bit.

Would you like me to post announcing the lottery winners? I usually want it to be a surprise, but lately folk haven't been able to take pictures or post.

Anything else that would thrill you?

I hate doing this. It makes me feel awful. But getting the Omikuji out on the road has been a brutal undertaking which requires other people's printers, patience, and help. The fact that so many mistakes have been made should tell you how difficult it is to be a mobile Omikuji.

I have literally not a moment to spare between now and home on May 11th, and while I promise the story will go out on May 12th, that is just unconscionably late. I'm sorry--this is the last time it will be late like that. Back to normal, in all ways, soon.

Thank you for bearing with me.

"A Minotaur Hoof," the message read, "to be worn on wrist or ankle in times when one needs strength." It is a paraphrase, since the note is upstairs and I am downstairs. I am fonder of the basement these days than I used to be. I can almost ignore the odor of the catbox if I don't think about it, and there are these boxes of books to tear through, to read and re-read. Sometimes my greasy hair leaves stains on the pages. The stains look like leaf veins or maze walls. I trace them with a ragged fingernail.



( more )

This is a bit of a hasty job and on the late side, for which I apologize (I'm at t-17 days to getting married, so spare time hasn't been exactly plentiful recently) but I had this doll, and I couldn't resist:



( three more, and a brief explanation )

Omikuji on the road is a challenge, as you might imagine. With a little luck, it'll go out in the morning, as our driving and first show are now over. Postmarked from Seattle!

Since so many of you are in the PNW, we should have an Omikuji party while I'm here! Who's up for it?

I have not had time to go through and remove those who have not renewed for 2009 from the database, so you all are getting two months of Omikuji free, as a thank you for sticking with me for so long. If you plan on renewing, now is the time, or even reverting to a monthly membership (which helps a lot in the long run, as monthly income is pretty damn scarce around here).

This month's story is The Economy of Clouds, a Jack and the Beanstalk Economic Treatise.

Love and hugs, and hello to new people! Y'all should introduce yourselves to the community.

I saw a post earlier in which someone was wondering if this month's Omikuji were out in the world yet.

My Omikuji came today and I won the Sacred Lottery!

As I just opened the mail, I don't have pictures or story glee to share yet, but it was a great mail day here in Media!

So you'll be seeing yours in the mail soon if you haven't seen it.

So happy!

 Has anyone else received their omikuji in the mail for this month? I haven't gotten anything so I'm starting to worry . . .

March Omikujis are safely winging their way towards everyone tomorrow. Several of you have asked about renewing your year-long memberships, so here's the info.

The majority of the year long memberships expire this month. If you want to keep receiving Omikuji, or want to convert to a yearlong membership, or want to start up a new one, go to the site and click the shiny button. Or click them at the bottom of this entry. Same as before. Everything will keep right on arriving at your door in sweet little envelopes. I hope you guys have enjoyed the stories and will renew--I have loved writing them. Thank you all for supporting me and being part of a wonderful experiment and small family. I think the Omikuji is special, and I have never been so glad I did something odd "just in case."

Omikuji has saved us, time and time again, and I am so terribly grateful to all of you who have been a part of it. You are my heroes. I see your names every month and lick your envelopes and feel such warmth and love for you all.

Please keep in mind that as of the great Lay Off, Omikuji has been our only regular income. I sell short stories and articles when I can, but this has been keeping us going. It sucks to admit that, to be in need, but there it is. We hope this changes soon, but know that you, my Omikuji family, quite literally keep us fed and warm.

Thank you, thank you, all my loves.

Also, think about whether or not you guys want to do something to celebrate the first year of Omikuji--OMG can you believe it? Shall we have a net-party? Since I expect this to keep going for a long while, I thought of doing a best-of anthology every two years with Lulu, only purchasable by Omikujites. What do you think?

 

And I prove Amal wrong.

Due to touring, not being at home, printer failure, desktop failure, and justbeast  leaving for Cleveland and taking all computers with the necessary software on them with him, Omikuji will go out on Tuesday. I am sorry...again. Grrrr.

The story is called How to Raise a Minotaur. It was wicked girl-children in it.

AND I'm sick again. And trying desperately not to lose my voice before this weekend. *hides*

Hello, sweet fellows,

This is just a note from your friendly neighbourhood maintainer to say that the March omikuji will not be significantly delayed by yuki_onna's Palimpsest book tour; it will be going out in the post tomorrow. Rejoice!

But how do I know if I should sign up again?  I think February was my last on my subscription and I don't want to miss the next one.

Should I just do so again?  Help, please help...

First of all, thank you for the magnificent story this month. I'm with justbeast; I think it's my favorite yet.

As I was reading it, a picture I love that I took many years ago came to my mind, and I wanted to share it with you. (I love it so much, in fact, that I have an icon of it.) And looking through the set, I found another that seemed appropriate. Here they are behind the cut: I hope you like them. ( Read more... )

Well, I just got my first Omikuji in the mail yesterday and read the story last night. I've been trying to come up with possible ideas to suggest for stories, but the only thing I could come up with was a retelling of Snow White because that is and always has been my favorite fairy tale and strangely pertinent to my life, as well. Needless to say I was thrilled to find my request answered before I could even ask. I love apple imagery. I write about apples way too much. And I loved how all of this imagery converged into one lone apple tree at the end of the world. So thank you for this story. It's very beautiful, rather like a warm fire on a cold winter's day. I guess now I'm going to have to come up with some other suggestions. ;)

Again, everyone is welcome to help themselves to these photographs. Turn them into icons, whatever you like.

( the photographs )

Hello everyone!

I moved into my first house in October 2008, and fell behind in taking photographs for each Omikuji Project short story I received. In fact, it was four months before I had time to catch up. Life bookends itself weirdly: the last story that I read, I read in a hospital. I was sick and waiting to be examined. (I'm fine, thanks.) There was a lonely woman across the hall from me in emerg. She was cold and miserable and sick and anxious and had been there for a long time, so I kept sneaking into her room to talk to her. I stole some blankets for her, and made her more comfortable. The nurses didn't mind at all. :) I read her a little bit of the latest letter I had and she was totally confused. A tiger? He shot himself? They were on an artic ice flow? What are you READING to me?! We laughed a lot as I tried to explain AND read.

I picked the letters up again when I was back in the hospital, this time waiting for my father to get out of surgery. (He's fine too, thanks!) I got an idea for some photographs, but nothing could be done until my father recovered.

I was sorry to hear that Catherynne had lost her publicist at Bantam Books (was the person replaced?) and then I was even more annoyed to see that Galapagos can given her and sooj an unrepetant shafting.

And I got to work.

A friend of mine worked with me for 8 hours on a Saturday to create some photographs related to the stories and to Palimpsest. I wasn't planning on putting them up on in the community until I had completed some more, but since yuki_onna asked for photographs today, I thought I'd provide.

The pictures are under the cut: one is slightly NSFW due to... well... breasts. The photographs should be considered Creative Commons photographs. Attribute them to my flickr account if you can, share them freely, use them to promote the Project and Palimpsest, and have fun. Do what you like with them.

The pictures don't represent something that happened in the stories exactly, and I blame my model. I wanted to cut off her arms for the Clerestory photograph and she wouldn't let me. I said "Hey, this is your big chance to experiment with morphine for reals!" and she said no. And I said "It's all the rage this season, being armless." and she said no. And I said "You will learn to truly sympathize with the disabled" and she said no. And I said "I will pay you $100 if you let me cut off just one arm, just to try" and she said no.

So they're not too literal, is what I'm saying.

( the photographs )

More to follow, eventually, with more skin writing.

But I got an unexpected bonus in the mail today regardless. . . TWO envelopes from Our Cat! Both pristine copies of 'Postcard'.

Cat, is this possibly a glitch with the subscription software? Am I maybe in there twice after renewing?

Anyone else getting duplicates? Sound off if you are...materials costs really go up quick if you're double-shipping.

And now to read it!

Omikuji went out today without incident--I apologize for the lateness, but being sick has made being upright mostly impossible.

If you do not get your Omikuji this month, it is imperative that you tell me--we have a lot of new people and some software growlings, so I want to make sure everyone's in the system.

February's Omikuji is called A Postcard from the End of the World--and I love it with a great, sticky, obscene love. I hope you do too!

Psst! Lottery winner! Where be ye? Some of us are curious and eager to gaze at swag!

I've always loved (strangely enough) armless maiden tales. I hated that she was a victim, but I felt that her journey needed to be told. So many stories end with marriage and a supposed happily-ever-after. The armless maiden's quest isn't even close to over when she marries.

How lovingly and yes bittersweet this telling of it is. There are no miraculous arms regrown, instead there is that most miraculous of creations...a child to take their place. I loved this gift. I loved how it was told...with the song and an unraveling strand by strand.

I read the first stanza as soon as I got the seal open (lovely gray-silver wax), and put the letter back down. I've been looking at the folded pages like they'd bite me for nearly a week.

Sitting at home, I finally braved the words again.

The feeling that I didn't quite know what was was going (had gone) on, was quickly replaced by a kind of helpless horror toward the end. What I feared would cause pain didn't (as much), but the moment with the stream made up for that entirely.

So much happening in so few words.

The cream-coloured envelope cheered my day. I picked it up, brought it to my room, and then spent about an hour labouring in its name, thinking "okay, I need to clean up, first, do some laundry, yes, make sure everything's out of the way so I can sit and read this and be utterly immersed, without nagging things waiting while I do."

It's hard to pick favourites when each story is its own jewelled thing, but this is one of my favourites. It's aching and gorgeous and misted my eyes.

There's a song you need to know, if you don't already. Here it is:

"Come and I Will Sing You," as done by Great Big Sea on The Hard and the Easy. It's the happiest of songs, the most joyful and misfortune-banishing of songs, and the alchemy by which yuki_onna turns it to a lament is a powerful one.

Finally, it is out, on the wings of the post, with a last minute assist from passionandsoul  and a beleaguered postal worker. Out post closes at THREE. This is exceedingly lame. Hugs to everyone!

And a message from our furry overmistress:



Alternate text:

In ur Omikuji, reedin by ozmoziz.
In ur Omikuji, keepin it warm foar u.
Y ur Omikuji late? Stuk in custumz: 2 manni stripez, dey say.

We have just totally failed at getting this printed at our hosts' house. Their printer doesn't work and we can't get access to one that does. Begging all of your forgiveness, I will mail them on Saturday when we get home. If there is anything I can offer as repayment for this inconvenience, let me know. The email version will be going out tonight.

Again, I'm very sorry. We've just been flummoxed at every turn.

Again I beg your apologies. Since we are attempting Omikuji in Cleveland, things are predictably wacky, as we don't have our own printer or software. Stand by. We hope to have it out on Monday.

The story is That Which Lets the Light In, and it is an Armless Maiden retelling.

Almost four hours of discussion at work about goals for 2009 destroyed my brain for the day, so it was with a quiet delight that I found a small package on my desk when I got home.

It is a beautiful thing that Cat made. (Click for bigger.)



And here it is, on me:



It is exactly the kind of necklace I would choose for myself, in colour and style. I love it.

The blueberry-like stones are freshwater pearls.

As for "Mullein": so strange and remarkable, the intersection of story and life. (And here I am, wearing another part of that intersection.)


I don't think any of my music has the right feel for this story. To me it needs something that feels cold, somehow crisp and soft-edged at once: music like frost on a blueberry, and with lovers nearby.

I want to know your songs that are like frost on a blueberry with lovers nearby, everyone.

Omikuji safely went out yesterday! It's a love story set in Maine called Mullein.

I thought it would be fun for you to see a bit of the assembly process--you share your awesome pictures, here are some of mine.

Warning: girl in pajamas ahead. Also a slightly blurry shot, something is strange with our camera.



The Omikuji table, every month. View the massive coffee cup: a vital ingredient.



This is the part where I severely injure myself at least bimonthly, and take off portions of my fingerprints. Soon I will be a secret assassin, and no one shall find me.



North American Domesticated HouseCat. With PG Tips in the background. I don't think I've ever done Omikuji while dressed in anything but pajamas.



I find the waxsmush to be an intensely satisfying thing. It is fun, and the color is so rich. And then it burns me.



(I am actually tending to a moderately severe burn on my pinky in this one.) Our kitchen, Omikuji assemblage in progess, cat assistance provided by the stripey slug who has colonized the pizza box and hisses when we try to take it away. Can you spot the golden retriever?



Ready to go to the wee island post office! The letters on top are the Canadian and European ones, separated so they can get proper postage.

And that is what your island-bound Cat looks like around the 30th of every month!

Well, we are discovering the hiccups involved in the first Omikuji assembled on the island. The post office closes at 3, if we run out of supplies there is no way to get more without a 24 hour delay, and not everything survived the move.

Our desktop, with all the Omikuji-related software on it, died. We are installing the software on the other desktop now. Everything is ready to go, just waiting for the computer to be ready.

I will try very hard to have it out today. However, see post office hours. At worst it will go out in the morning.

Unless we run out of ink. *pulls hair out*

Hey guys,

I hereby bump up the soundtrack post, the better to gather your suggestions. Please feel free to recommend music to accompany the previous stories if inspiration strikes.

"The Legend of Good Women" made me think, kind of perversely, of the Cell Block Tango from Chicago, and then, more ironically, of "Pretty Women" from Sweeney Todd. But hey, it's a rewriting of Chaucer -- where else should irony live? And then, just to round it off... "Not a Pretty Girl," by Ani DiFranco.

I share them here, with the usual caveat that the links are good for seven days.

The Cell Block Tango

Pretty Women

Not A Pretty Girl

Enjoy!

I'm a person who can lose anything (including a set of 2 fat books and 18CDs!) and I've somehow managed to misplace 1-3 of the Omikuji stories.  :^(   I thought I had them in a notebook (that I can't find), but I just found one story lying on my bookshelf in only the plastic page savers I use. Is there a list of all the story titles, so I can check to see if it was only the one missing story, or if I need to keep looking? Maybe this is something that could be kept on the profile page - just the date and story title.

I have this month's story in hand now, and am off to place it and the found story in the notebook I can find... And read it, too!!

Those envelopes are treasures brought by goblin post!  Ah, what sights, what feelings! Another good one (somehow I don't think there will be a time when I don't truly enjoy Cat's words).  Yet I still have a deep and abiding longing for more Orphan's tales, a lost volume or something, I'm sure Mike Kaluta would like something to do. . . . Huzzah!

Today was a beautiful day to begin with - still warm in the glow from the election, lovely Latin to translate and slightly less lovely Thucydides (oh, I like him, don't get me wrong, but argh argh argh those endless clauses!), the promise of a sushi dinner to look forward to...

And when I reached home? The beloved cream envelope awaited me. ♥

I'm an impatient soul, especially when it comes to words; I have already read the story and, most wonderful of yuki_onnas, it is my favorite, even surpassing the first (which, as first, has held a special place in my heart). Who needs length when brevity is so passionate and beautiful?

... besides, I'm a Medea fangirl.

Omikuji went out this morning, slightly delayed by a 1,000 mile drive in my passenger seat, from a small post office on a wee island in the Atlantic.

Administrative note: I've been going through older posts and tagging stuff, particularly the Lottery winners' posts for ease of lusting after pretties. Could I trouble you to please use the "lottery" tag when you post about your spoils, and "music" when you make a soundtrack recommendation? Thanks! /Administrative note

I've recently moved to Penryn, Cornwall, for school, and received this month's omikuji story here. I live in a flat two floors above a wine bar, and we get our mail delivered on the first floor, so I usually either catch it as I'm leaving or coming back inside. In the case of the story, I caught it on the way out, and skipped merrily along, fully intending to read it while I walked to campus.

The walk to campus is more of a hike, and it's incredible: there are conifers mixing with bamboo, there are palm trees covered in ivy. As I read it I kept pausing, glancing around, mouthing the rhyming bits to myself, going back and trying to read them all as one poem.

Did anyone think of music with this one? I found it hard because I kept wanting to come up with music for it, something to match the rhythm of the words.

But some witchy songs to share with you, meantime! I used to have a playlist called Laydies an' Witches, but alas, it is long gone, along with Winamp. Does anyone even remember Winamp, or still have it?

- "Alison Cross," Malinky
- "Dimna Juda," Malinky

The links expire in seven days, so get 'em while they're hot!

I'm also still keeping a running soundtrack tally in this post, and some stories need love, dear hearts! Go forth and post your recommendations!

Have you seen this?

I immediately thought of you, yuki_onna, as soon as I saw it.