Me, unpacking the impulsively-ordered African turquoise from a recent shipment of beads: huh, turquoise that doesn’t make me hiss like an angry cat!

Also me, looking it up: ...oh it’s not actually turquoise at all, it’s a jasper, that explains why I don’t hate it. 

Turns out that “African turquoise” is in fact a jasper that has a dark matrix very similar to that of turquoise, so you get the effect of turquoise without the price tag or whatever it is about real turquoise that sets my teeth on edge. Works for me! Also, it’s pretty.