What is Gothic?

There seems to be a bit of controversy amongst people that hardly know me as to what kind of a genre of stereotype to place me in.  Most mainstream vanilla folks don't quite understand what that is (then again, nor do some poser people that I know of who think that is is strictly black, and if it is not black it is not goth).

I tend to be a bit... androgynous, harking back to the old greek definition of the word, back when it didn't mean "no gender" but instead meant "both male and female mixed." I have had long hair since when I was in high school, and I tend to paint my fingernails and toenails (usually with black, crimson, silver, silver-sparkles, purple, or some matching combination of those).

Growing up I was involved in both Boy Scouts and Camp Fire, and most of my friends tended to be female. I have had about 36-40 pen pals throughout my live and only about 4 of them have been male. Why? Because I don't have the same interests as most males do. When you grow up in Camp Fire (regardless of also doing Boy Scouts mind you), you tend to learn how to do lots of "girly" things such as beading (both loom and free-hand), braiding, stitching, sewing, and lots of other stuff. Now in Boy Scouts you learn a little bit of that too, but it's mostly more "manly" things like woodcarving and leatherworking or braiding with gimp (see: plastic lace).

I also got into reading epic fantasy novles espousing chivalry as a virtue and as being common rather than unusual. That on its own made me go anti-social back in 3rd grade. Combine that with the "extra-curricular activies" of doing Camp Fire and Cub Scouts (followed by Boy Scouts when I was old enough).

Back in the days of my youth I usually could be found wearing my black leather trench, sunglasses, and a worn-out black Oakley baseball cap. In my government class in high school I worked on a tiger cross-stitch sitting front-row, dead-center in the classroom. When I had to take notes I would put down the stitchery, write, than pick it back up. I did good on the test and everything so the teacher didn't care (wouldn't have cared even if I did bad, but that's beside the point). Two girls in that class were commenting on how "non-psychotic" I was for being a goth, and I got them to write down what they said out loud and sign it. They said: From Holly: "Charlie would never kill someone because he walks around with a smile on his face, and an oakley hat. He's a well-dressed goth." From Shelly: "He would never do anything to harm anyone because he cross-stitches."

Ah, the innocence of youth... in the masses anyhows!!

The fact that 90% of the time I can be found wearing black slacks and a silk, satin, polyester or rayon "club shirt" (as most would deem them) doesn't help me any. What can I say, but I like the feel of silk against my skin, so wear it quite often :) I have always enjoyed giving massages, and so I have a tendency to collect various scents of lotion (if you're wondering my favourite scents are both by Victoria's Secret and are 'Love Spell' and 'Vanilla Lace'). 

Beyond that, I have involved myself into the study of religion, philosophy (earning a B.S. in Philosophy from Western Oregon University cira June 2003), computers (earning a B.S. in Computer Science also from Western Oregon University cira June 2003), and things Japanese.