Beth Winter

I'm quite tempted to fire off an angry e-mail or two to Glamour and Elle. They've been gushing for a year about how mid-to-high-waist skinny jeans are all the rage, with straight-leg being the other acceptable option, about how they flatter curves and should have angled pockets and thin stretch denim for best effect.

Well, someone should bloody well tell Polish jeans distributors. I've been to five shops so far that stock nothing but extreme pubic-bone-showing low-rises in the female section, with flare legs for preference. Forget angled back pockets when the fabric is so heavy and so narrowly cut that few post-pubescents are able to fit it over thighs and hips. I kind of lost hope when I held up the three pairs I got from one saleslady to try and none of them had hips any wider than the waist.

(And don't get me started on sizing. 32 inseam, have your pick of all waist sizes from 24 to 40. Girls with 34 inseam and waists/hips over 28 Do Not Exist.)

I still need to hit H&M, but it looks like I'm doomed to designer jeans :/ River Island had several lovely models, but only one in a size that fit me (for some reason they tend to have long-legs only in UK sizes 6 to 10, too), and that one doesn't have angled pockets. Then again, it's a month until I get to Berlin, and I was planning to shop there. They're sure to have a better choice of long-legged jeans.

If I have to have my jeans custom-made, I am going to be most upset.

A week without an entry, but not for any emo reason. Just busy at work.

Managed to miss imadra_blue and moodpoisoning's birthdays though - sorry girls, and my best wishes :)

( Postal rant )

First now all, a very happy birthday to isis_whit :)

I know there's a fair amount of activists on my f-list, people who take part in political demonstrations, rallies, marches and so on. Care to share a few tips on surviving one when you know there probably will be trouble from a neo-Nazi counter-demonstration?

On Saturday there's a big march in Warsaw - the Equality Parade. On the surface, it's gay rights. It's turning into something of a demonstration against the current direction of the Polish political life. Since the newspapers in the last few months made my skin crawl more often than not, I'm going. The problem is, a neo-Nazi youth organisation will be conducting a counter-demonstration on the reverse path. There might be shouts, rocks, whatever.

I've got my outfit - jeans, t-shirt, no handbag, hair up in twists (stylish femme lesbian look not entirely coincidental). I've got an escort - guy's way over 6', a black-belt and a friend since birth. Any other practical tips for keeping safe and not ticking off the cops too much? We have a show to catch that evening ;)

Some people think gay people should stay out of politics

Let's just say that all my muses hold the author in equal contempt, including historical!Dracula (not to be confused with historical!Roxula), who's as homophobic as they come, but still agrees that the bisexual sultan Mehmed II was a kickass war leader.

Meme ganked from shezan:

Name a CD you own that you think no-one else on your friendslist does:
Polish ones wouldn't be fair, so... HIM, Greatest Love Songs vol. 666. Mmm, love metal covers of pop hits :D

Name a book you own that you think no-one else on your friendslist does:
Erberto Petoia, "Werewolves and Vampires". A lovely resource on Balkan folklore, but I think it was ever only published in Italian and Polish.

Name a movie you own on DVD/VHS/whatever that you think no-one else on your friendslist does:
Kindred: The Embraced was a TV show, but I do have the DVD.

Name a place that you have visited that you think no-one else on your friendslist has:
Wetlina in the Bieszczady mountains? *looks at the Polish portion of the f-list*

Name a piece of technology or any sort of tool you own that you think no-one else on your friendslist has:
No idea, actually. I'm probably the only person with a Caran d'Ache fountain pen...