Fever 103
Sylvia Plath

For the none Shakespeare lover reading this, my journal has a Hamlet theme. Shakespeare uses the language of flowers extensively in this play. With the exception of a couple, most of the "flowers" I use as my links appear in the play.

• Rosemary "for remembrance".
• Violets "the perfume and suppliance of a minute".
• Daisies mean "I will think of it" or "unhappy love".
• Pansies stem from the French "pense de may" or "think of it", hence it means "thoughts".
• "To keep under the rose," means to take a vow of silence.
• Ophelia tells Laertes about the "primrose path of dalliance". Primroses mean "youth" or "inconstancy".
• Eglantines mean "poetry" in the language of flowers.
• Wild orchis praise a lady as being the belle.
• Nettles and their stinging properties connotes slander.
• Fennel means "worthy of praise" or in Gertrude's case, "infidelity".
• Irises are "messages".
• Nosegays are gallant gestures, or "gallantry" in the language of flowers.

For more information go to The Language of Flowers.

When I began my journal, its title was "Document in Madness", the title it bears now. Invariably, as the state of my mind became more optimistic and stable, I decided to change the journal title.

It became "Portrait of a girl", with the following description:

"I am baby powder and jasmine flowers. I am lavender and green tea. I am neroli and milk. I am musk and blood. I breathe turquoise ink and dusty paper. I drift in rose-pink dreams and drown in scarlet despair."

The journal continued in this vein for a while, changing designs in tune to my moods. It was almost delirious in its effect as the reader could come back twice a week and notice a new layout each time.

It morphed for a very short period of time to become "Mirrored Images". The theme was trying to capture the shadow of the world while it changes. That lasted for all of 10 days, before I changed it again to a pale, watery, lavender layout.

That was the layout before the current one you see.

"A collage of a 21 year old trying not to be 14 or horrors! 6. Fully embellished, heavily embroidered, sparkly, tacky accounts of my life. With the occasional gem sewn into it. On gray silk cloth I might add."

It has become a matter of pride to keep my designs free of clutter. This includes pictures of any sort. Initially this was because I had no access to a credit card whatsoever, and thus could not apply for a Gold membership account. Moreover, I run things on a 300 MMX, which isn't terrific for graphics programs. Additionally, my internet provider (for much of the year) charges by the megabyte, so graphics are very expensive to upkeep. And now it has become a sort of internal competition to churn out pretty layouts without the need for embellishment.