Welcome to the office.

Well, I suppose I could have given myself some sort of angst-wrought name involving words such as "dark," "black," "shadow," or "raven," but I'm afraid I go simply by "Dave" around where I live. I'm not dead, as far as I can determine, nor am I a vampire; the only time I suck blood is from an unintentional cut. Those that insist on trying to convey that they are such things need a pointy boot up the arse. See the Gothic Offramp Musings Page for more of that particular tirade.

I'm a Web graphic designer and Flash animator by day, and happily enjoying a well-paying in-house position which allows me to wax creative and develop my meager skills yet remain the oblivious daydreamer.

My wife, Bianca, and I have seven exquisitely-rendered tattoos between us, and naturally we're jonesing for more. Mine are drawn myself, and once I get brave enough, I'll post pictures of them. Then again, maybe I won't.

Speaking of Bianca, she's rather maniacally Leo, and I'm spectacularly Libran, and we balance out admirably. We both are completely enamored of Death (the hip gothette with the ankh and the friendly smile, that is), and enjoy the occasional jaunt out to goth clubs, swing dancing, quiet evenings with good food and high quality cigars, and perhaps either some Bauhaus or Tito Puente in the background. Yeah, we're eclectic as hell.

With what else can I bore you to tears?

We also happen to possess a cat. Naginata is her name. She used to be half of a pair: the other was her older brother Fujasu, and together they were evil, a couple of stinky punks who continually pummeled each other. They remained alive due to having a near-infinite supply of cute. However, Fujasu has just left us, and we're still dealing with that.

So why did I undertake this unusual project? Why mix goth and lounge into an oddly satisfying and strangely compatible witch's brew? I believe I just might be one of the first to do so, and I'm glad to see that there weren't already myriad gothic lounges dotted about the Internet before I got here.

To answer these questions, I'm not entirely sure. I've been into gothic and morbid subjects since childhood, really, and I suppose my parents' parties had something to do with my fascination with lounge. They were probably more lounge than they would admit, and damn, do I wish I'd gotten ahold of some of the paraphernalia they used to have. I'd have had a shaker and Hampton strainer and some really slick black-tipped swizzle sticks before now....

Well! Now that you've taken a break from the mingling, the drifting smoke, and the cocktails of the Lounge, get back to it!

Where did I put that snifter....