Another Thing I Learnd and my Fat Face

I forgot to mention something else I learned from War and Peace.

Here it is:

• Apparently, the Russian term for Germans is "nemetz" which literally means "deaf mute." Hence, the Russian do/did not like the Germans. Also, uneducated Russians would apply that term to everyone who didn't speak Russian. Because Russian is the only language worth speaking.

Isn't that just a little bit...hilarious?

So I got my wisdom teeth extracted. It hurts. My cheeks have also swollen, but it's actually not huge. At least not worthy of calling them chipmunk cheeks. Have you ever seen a picture of Luke Wilson? Yeah-my face is a toad face like his.

So sad. :'(

What I have learned from *War and Peace*

War and Peace is a pretty good book. It's super slow, though. It's like...a climb up a very steep hill. Once I reach the top, I'm going to slide down the mountain without using any breaks. Although, I have no idea what I would [metaphorically] crash into....

In reading this huge book by Tolstoy, I have learned many things, namely:

• Everyone and their grandma loved their snuff. No joke. Everyone has a snuff box. This one character even has her son's miniature in the top of her snuff box that she kisses because she misses him.
• Everyone spoke French. After 3/4 of the dialog in that book, it says "Natasha/Andrey/Pierre/Denisov/Nikolay/etc. said, in French." I guess Europe was still stuck in their whole "We love France!" stage. But what I want to know is-during Austerlitz and other battles-how did the two sides, France and Russia, tell their comrades from their enemies? Perhaps it was the beards and furry hats that distinguished the Russians from the French...
• Some people are really selfish/obsessive. Andrey Bolkonsky talks about how he would give up his wife, family, and friends simply to have a moment to impress the tsar. Wow...OK.
• Tolstoy loves his details. We are talking about "what they ate for dinner, what they wore to dinner, why they wore it to dinner, what other people think of what they wore to dinner, what they fantasized about wearing to dinner, and did they sleep that night?" kind of details. Not kidding.
• The Russians like having multiple nicknames for one person. For example, Nikolay could be "Nikolushka" and "Nik" among others. For Natasha I've come across "Nitashka," "Nitrushka," and "Natalia." This makes it rather confusing as these nicknames for one person sound like multiple people when really there isn't.

But overall, War and Peace is a good book. Ish.

It's a love hate relationship.

The Loot

This Christmas was actually really good. I got, in bullet point form:

• Purple glasses
• Sims 3: World Adventures!
• Earrings
• Necklace
• Purple mascara
• A pretty shirt
• Threadless shirt
• Pride and Prejudice, the 5 hour version!

And I gave my brother Rielly some X-Box keyboard thing and a scarf. Needless to say, he loved it.

Analysis of "Mr. and Mrs. Clark and Percy"

So there's not much about this painting. I Googled it and the results had to be the most disappointing I've ever gotten. However some good did come of it.

The source that had the most information? Wikipedia. Every other source was about Ossie Clark and not so much about the painting. Maybe I should just e-mail David Hockney. He's still alive, which I find really cool. But enough of my inner-art geekiness...

This is a wedding portrait of fashion designer Ossie Clark and his wife, textile designer, Celia Birtwell. This painting is not only aesthetic, but it's deeply symbolic. Hockney draws on William Hogarth's A Rake's Progress as well as Jan van Eyck's Arnolfini Wedding. Once I read this, it suddenly made sense. The central message of this painting is the same as Hogarth's in Rake's. Don't marry for money or to simply climb up the social ladder. Social positions don't really matter. The only reason Ossie and Birtwell were getting married in this painting is because Birtwell was pregnant. Fertility is symbolized with the flowers-lilies- on the table. Hockney's interpretation of Hogarth's A Rake's Progres is seen on the wall although it's not really that clear. If you've ever seen van Eyck's Arnolfini piece, you'll notice that the position of the man and woman are reversed, suggesting that Birtwell is the dominant partner in this marriage. Both Ossie Clark's position and the white cat, whose real name is Blanche and not Percy, symbolize Ossie's infidelity and envy. Both of these aspects led to the eventual breakdown of the marriage in 1974.

Gotta love art history.

Little Bit

The name of this post comes from the song I'm listening to right now: "Little Bit," by Lykke Li.

So I love Christmas shopping. I don't love not having more money to spend. But that's OK. I drew my brother Rielly for Christmas this year. I rather like the gift I bought him. At least I think it's pretty good. We'll see.

Break is finally here. I have a whole list of movies to watch, a psych project to start, and quiz bowl operas to finish studying. How much of it will get done? Well, seeing as how I'm getting my stupid wisdom (could that be considered an oxymoron??) teeth pulled three days after Christmas, not much.

I still have Christmas shopping to do.

Any requests?

Checking Out

I don't know if you guys have seen this video or not, but I love it. It's hilarious. You should watch it. Like...now.

I think after tomorrow-first block-I'm checking out. Forget my song quiz in German, any work in Psychology, or the seventh movie we've started in AP Lang. I'm checking out and will not be back until after the New Year.

Consider this my two weeks notice.

Good-bye.

This is our annual lesson on education, but really....

So in seminary we had our annual lesson on education. It's part of the Church's curriculum. We get the same packet every year that talks about salaries with a college degree vs. no college degree, investing early, and college tuition/ACT scores. Our teacher was sitting there telling us how expensive college is and the importance of our test scores. Then she just has to throw in the fact that BYU is only $4,000 a semester for tuition and it's just as hard to get in as University of Michigan where tuition is $11,000 a semester. She proceeds to discuss how this might be a better choice, especially if you have many siblings.

What?

What?

Why does everyone assume that my parents will be paying for my tuition? I am definitely either: working my butt off to pay for college or getting into a lot of debt. Probably a combination of both.

BYU is not as hard to get into as the University of Michigan. They also try to sell you that you have to graduate from seminary in order to get into BYU (if you're a Church member). Bull crap.

The whole point of this lesson is get an education, it's important.

So why did I get the feeling it that is was just our teacher trying to convince us to go to BYU because it's so cheap...This is what I gathered from this lesson and somehow, I don't think that's how it was supposed to go over.

I'm taking my road test tomorrow. Yikes.

Do you like silly string?

Deutsch Assignment

So for German we had to write a paragraph describing a scene. We're learning adjective endings right now (which is SUPER tedious and annoying) so we had to use at least 15 adjectives.

I thought I would share my paragraph with you. It doesn't really make sense and the language/wording is really simple... but it was supposed to be creative. I try.

Here 'tis:

There is a tall, skinny house. Many people live in this house. There are green plants all over the house. There are no stairs in, only a rickety, gold elevator. On the first floor, there is a round swimming pool. A girl wearing a pink bathing suit is diving into it. A boy with bright, orange hair is eating purple carrots (Macy, Samantha) in the kitchen. On the second floor, there is a unicorn with a curly fro. (It's pink in my drawing.) On the third floor, an old man is sleeping in a repulsive bed. On the fourth floor, a rich woman is wearing an elegant dress. The sun is shining outside.

It's actually pretty bad. I wanted to rewrite it but figured I didn't have time since it's kind of due tomorrow...oh well.

This One Goes Out to Esh

Eshwar reads my blog.

Just thought I'd tell you.

And I don't have a thing for Peter, regardless of what Eshwar may say.

Peter is simply on my mind a lot right now because of several different things.

And for the record-how do you spell "several?" I have no idea! Is it "sevaral" or "several?" Why have I seen it spelled both ways in professional situations?? Google is telling me that "sevaral" is spelled wrong...hmmm...

Speaking of grammatical errors...I went to an art gallery today and noticed some in the "About the Artist" paragraphs they had next to the paintings. They used its/it's, their/they're, and you're/your incorrectly more than once. Shocking? Yes. I felt like saying something to the receptionist lady up front but decided not to because she was so nice.

Thanksgiving was Thursday. What am I thankful for? (Because you all were wondering)

• A father who has a career
• My tutoring
• Quiz Bowl
• Art!
• Literature, specifically my Austen, de Maurier, Orczy, Doyle, Hawthorne, Carol, Tolstoy, and Ibsen. Without them, reading would be a lot less exciting.
• My family
• My church
• The color purple (and not the book by Alice Walker)
• Friends
• Google
• Wikipedia!

Confusion

Sometimes, things can be confusing.

Scratch that. Always. (Rhetoric strategy)

Life in general, really.

For example, why is this certain thing the way it is?

Don't you love ambiguousness?

Don't you love how "ambiguousity" is not a word?

Well, I don't.

And now there's this quiz bowl drama. How's THEM apples??

Why do certain aspects of me have to be socially inept?

Is this natural?

Who even knows.

What a horrible blog post.

Sorry.

I'm getting a negative/terrible vibe from this post.

I'll post something better. Later. Because it's late. And I'm writing in fragments. (Up until just then.) Sorry. Again.

Bye.

Rene

Happy Birthday, Rene Magritte.

Do his paintings challenge your preconditioned perceptions of reality and force you to become hypersensitive to your surroundings, as was his intended effect?

Starry Night

Starry, starry night.

Flaming flowers that brightly blaze,

Swirling clouds in violet haze,

Reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue.

Colors changing hue, morning field of amber grain,

Weathered faces lined in pain,

Are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand.

-Don McLean's song "Starry, Starry Night"

As I was searching quiz bowl packets today, I read a question about this painting. Apparently it's the view from Van Gogh's window at the asylum. He had sent this painting-along with a package of other paintings-to his brother and in the included letter he wrote that he didn't care much for this painting. Ironically enough it's considered Van Gogh's magnum opus.

Poor Vincent, victim of mental instability and lack of success in his chosen career.

Hmm...

Certain things make me wonder.

For example. What exactly defines a friend? For me, it's actually quite a bit. Someone I can talk to easily (because we've already established that I'm a horrible conversationalist), someone I know well, someone whom I can predict what their thoughts/reactions will be, someone who doesn't make me feel inferior, someone whose faults I've come to overlook and maybe even love. This then begs the question, "Is Peter my friend?" Well, he meets most of the criteria, oddly/sadly enough. Except the whole "make me feel inferior" part. Just in case you didn't know, Peter is kinda consuming my [somewhat obsessive] thoughts. Followed closely by another person, who will go unnamed because I am NOT obsessed with them, whose question of "friendship" one tends to wonder about. It just confuses me.

Another thing that makes me wonder: How can artists be so subtle? Do they plan out every single, allegoric part of their piece before actually painting it. Or are they like Willem de Kooning who reworks his pieces time after time, trying to get it just right? So much planning, interpretation, and discussion goes into one painting. Did Leonardo da Vinci realize the impact he would have on the world when he simply painted Mona Lisa, the peasant wife of a friend? Did Piet Mondrien realize that in painting rectangles of different sizes in primary colors would become so famous? Did Rembrandt see how psychological his The Night Watch is or has become? Art is a form of protest and self-expression. I think it would be true for artists to incorporate symbols but I don't think that artists recognized the impact their paintings would have on the world and on the generations to come. It's the same thing with authors. Did Poe see how his "The Raven" and the mystery of his repetitive "Nevermore" be interpreted? Did Fitzgerald realize that The Great Gatsby would be read and begrudgingly analyzed by high school students across the world?

I think: yes. Authors and painters mean to include symbols and underlying messages to convey warnings, chastisement, or to simply share with the world a beautiful talent. I don't think that they realized the unmeasurable impact their works would have; I believe they only hoped that people would catch on. But the meanings they intended are open to interpretation; there is seldom a wrong answer.

So, after deviating off course from my first paragraph, I will try to answer my own question. Is Peter my friend? Well...yeah. Is that sad? Well...not really.

One down, one more to go.

Why, Hello Blog!

It's been a long time. I've been thinking I should name my blog... preferably an "A" name. Elisabeth?

I really want to write an allegorical piece on the hypocrisy surrounding human existence. I want it to be dense with allusions and wittily hidden meanings; something that Johnathan Swift would have written, such as his A Modest Proposal. I'm just not capable of doing this. Either that or it would take me a ridiculously long time and multiple drafts/editing sessions to accomplish.

Hmmm...maybe.

It hit me today as I was in Laurels, actually.

I started jotting down notes but then I accidentally threw the paper away because it contained a list of what I considered to be my faults/errors. (Yes, it did include my nose.)

Any thoughts?

I Blame AP Stats

Yeah, I blame AP Stats.

I blame it for my headache, my stomach ache, my sore throat, the pain in the back of my eyes and my exhaustion.

Actually, I should probably be blaming blogger. I mean, I have no one to blame for my horrible grade in that class but myself. And yet what am I doing other than studying for my 4 chapter test tomorrow?

Blogging.

LAME. I just want it to be Thanksgiving break. Or next Tuesday. I'm going to Addicted to Drugs, not....err, Addicted to Movies not, Drugs. (My bad.) I'm totally excited.

(Thanks, Amy!)

And the picture of Cha? I just liked it. There's really no relevance to the post. At all.

I have a lot of fragment-like sentences in this post. Just sayin'.

2700

See that title post? Yeah, it's the number of books Herr Baldwin owns.

OH MAN.

Who do I want to be when I grew up, if I had to pick a teacher from the high school? Psh. Herr Baldwin/Ms. Bryen. The best of both, you know?

So many books. So little time. I don't think I even own a hundred books...Maybe fifty at the most. But seriously!? 2,700 books! I don't think I'd get a job. I'd be sucked into these things, away in a world like Don Quixote's. I just hope that my life wouldn't turn out to be necessarily like his....not that it isn't entertaining.

On a side note, I'm 95% that Volanksy doesn't like me very much. I feel as if she's scrutinizing me in class, watching me and analyzing what I do. I've had two "after-class" discussions about her now due to my body language. WOW. And it's only October. This is only going downhill.

Everyone is blogging about NaNoWriMo. Well, I might as well just say it. I'm not doing it this year. Every time I try, I just fail. I lose my steam after the first paragraph. Literally. I hope you guys have fun with it-keep me updated!

I've been toying with this idea for a while. What do you think: no dessert-type foods for a year.

And Yet Another Conversation. With Myself. (Is anyone else worried??)

So....how's it goin'?

Gut...Und du?

Gut. I have a Stats test tomorrow.

Oh yeah?

Yeah. I'm not really prepared though.

Why?

Because I'm blogging when I should probably be studying.

Bianka!!

I know. It's terribly unlike me.

Yes. Yes, it is. It's horribly disappointing.

Well, you know, life is just tiring right now.

I know what you mean.

I can only imagine.

No, you have no idea what it's like.

Fine. Be that way.

I will.

Hmm....so how's psychology?

Ridiculous. I sit in the back and listen to Dan's raffish language and his escapades concerning contraband materials. It's very exciting. We had to fill out another Scantron because apparently the machine was being stupid. Even after we finished the sheets, I still got twelve more points added to my score due to errors made by Bonner and the machine.

Really?

Yeah, it took my grade from a B- to an A-. I'm OK with that.

Well you should be...

I know. I would be a bit worried if I wasn't. Someone mentioned at lunch that it would be better to not have a 4.0 when taking hard classes, such as AP's. I agree-it takes off the pressure.

Yeah. It'd be great.

Right??? Today Volanksy told me my essay started out great but then got worse towards the end. I know it's true and yet it still made me a teensy bit sad. It happens with almost everything I write except for short, descriptive stories. Why is that?

I'm not sure.

I just suck at writing. I've come to accept the fact that I'm solidly mediocre. I'm OK with it-never been one extreme or the other. I hate it when other people edit my writing. I can't help but think, "I know it stinks. Just tell me that and let's be over." I mean, before she even finished the whole thing she told me I was a great writer. Once she was done she was like, "Uhh, could I take that back?" Sure, Mrs. Volanksy, sure. No problem!

Well. I'm sorry.

Yeah, you should be.

Don't you just hate how life is full of gaucheries?

Yes. And you know what else I hate? The fact that I haven't received my word of the day from dictionary.com in three days. It makes me sad. My inbox is so empty anymore.

I know!

And did you notice what was in there a few days ago?

Yeah....weird. Totally unexpected.

And you were coping so well.

Whatever. That's all I have to say.

Why does that bother you so much?

I DECAY. It bothers me that it bothers me. Did that make sense?

No.

Why am I asking you?

Who knows?

This should probably stop.

Yes. Probably.

Maybe this titivated your blog, if even just a little bit.

You know what I just thought of?

What?!?

An Autumn/Halloween theme blog layout. (Andrea?) :D

That would spruce things up.

Frazzled

I have millions of questions in my head right now, shooting quickly across my mind regardless of whether I know the answer or not.

It's mostly, "Why?"

Why me?

Why you?

Why are you doing this?

But you just can't ask.

I don't understand it. At all.

I have a feeling it really shouldn't be bothering me this much.

((And yes this was equivocate.))

Is it Really that Hard?

Really, John Edwards, really?

Is it that hard?

You just have to have an extra-marital affair during your run for the presidency, then deny it?

Then you admit to it later and consider announcing yourself the father of her child?

Just to name a few... Mark Sanford? John Ensign? Bill Clinton? Eliot Spitzer? What's your excuse, I mean really?

What are we going to do with these politicians? Don't they think about the reparations their affair will have on their family? Their career? Their overall credibility?

Don't they realize they're in a legally binding relationship?
Don't they have feelings for others?

Whether it's extra marital affairs in Argentina, prostitution scandals, or a stunt like Roman Polanski...Someone isn't thinking....

Reason #16

Reason #16 why Iceland continues to be the best:

Emiliana Torrini.

First off, her name is stellar.

Secondly, she has good music (if you're not Andrea :)

Thirdly, she's from Iceland. How many other Icelandic music artists do you know of? Yeah. That's right.

None.

The Swim Team

OK so I'm not really sure why I did swim team this year. I really enjoy it but it cuts in on my time for other school related things, such as QUIZ BOWL. This is NOT good.

But seriously.

I'm not even that great of a swimmer. But lately on the swim team, some girls have been...not the nicest, to say the least.

I hate girl-drama. It's ridiculous and totally blown out of the water. But seriously?

So these girls have been... competing to be captains next year. They're just being ridiculous. They plan things without the other juniors and they don't include me, a lowly JV swimmer, in on what's going on. This concerns me, too. The least you could do is tell me what's going on. They just take charge. (Is it just me? I don't know.)

It's so stupid. I really dislike how some of the varsity swimmers talk down to me. Because I'm a JV swimmer? I'm quiet at practice and to be honest, I think some of the swimmers associate my quietness with a lack of intelligence.

But in the end, who cares? Is it really going to matter that you were swim captain? No. So let them compete and be petty about a superfluous detail in their transient high school career.

Question:

So on my next birthday I'm turning the same age as the day I celebrate my birthday.

I figure, this only happens once in a person's life.

Should I have a party-type thing?

I was considering murder mystery or something like that.

Please place input in the comment section.

*Just because you comment does NOT guarantee an invitation to my party-type thing.

:P Just kidding!

Yeah

So it's been a long time.
But that's OK. It's not like much has happened.
It's not like I took on another tutoring student which makes three for me now.
It's not that I'm captain of the Varsity A quiz bowl team.
It's not like Capuano is ticked at all the JV swimmers who come to practice more to socialize as opposed to actually swimming.
It's not like I'm failing AP Stats.
It's not like I found out some hilarious news a few days ago.
It's not like I'm almost regretting doing swim this year.
It's not like I've decided that I want to become quiz bowl president next year. (Bring it, Peter!)
It's not like AP Lang is taking over my blog.
It's not like this is an extreme usage of anaphora.

But yeah, not much has happened.

Schule

Ja, Schule war gut.

I'm in a German mood. Today in Deutsch class, we learned tongue twisters-or tongue breakers as they're called in German. Herr Baldwin was asking who should say them out loud for the whole class to hear and this German exchange student in class started yelling, "Bianka! Bianka!" I'm not sure why. He wasn't even looking at me when he said it. Bottom line: I had to read the tongue twister auf Deutsch. It was something like, "Fritz fischt frische Fisch, frische Fische fischt Fritz." So basically Fritz is fishing for fresh fish. It reminded me of the Dr. Seuss' tongue-twister book.

I'm liking German right now. It's fun and Herr Baldwin is my favorite teacher. Ever. Second only to Madame Bryant. She's hard to top. Like our last year AP Euro class. Bryen won't admit it, but she knows we are her favorite/best AP Euro class. Ever.

AP Stats is pretty good. Dinkelmann is an old guy trying to act like a teenager and I really don't like him. Payton is OK but it's his first year teaching AP Stats so he's not very good at it at the moment.

Volanksky is a nut. I have this really odd sensation that every time she talks, I'm reminded of someone I know/knew but I can't quite put my thumb on it. It's annoying me so much.

Psychology is interesting, to say the least. I like Bonner but the people in the class are not the best. I'll survive though.

On a side-note, I hate 200 IM's.

My Lunchbox

Do you guys like my new lunchbox?

So Yeah

Summer is almost over and I feel like everyone is blogging about school, their schedules, nostalgic summer feelings, etc. But I don't even have my schedule and I'm not feeling very nostalgic.

I'm excited for school to start. The part I'm most excited about? Quiz Bowl (duh).

Time for a ridiculous, eye-rolling-worthy story about a fond memory:

Once upon a time, I was a freshman. We had a seminar about different school clubs that were available. So I go and I visit the "quiz bowl" booth. I had read about quiz bowl in this great book called The View from Saturday and it sparked my interest. That was the first time I saw him.

Robert.

He's a legend, something any quiz bowler would aspire to. Even though he's gone, we still remember him. Even Peter isn't that good.

Anyway.

So I talked to Robert and considered joining quiz bowl. My friend Samantha went to the first meeting but I didn't. I think I was afraid. Quiz bowl is pretty intimidating. (Psh.) She told me she wasn't sure if she was going to do it for sure so then I doubted my interest. Silly me, I wanted a friend to join with me. But I went to the second meeting and I liked it. Mr. Baker was/is great. It was everything and more I had hoped it would be. So I joined.

To be quite honest, quiz bowl is probably one of the best decisions I ever made. It opened up new dimensions for me. It was quite the eye-opening occasion and being the nerdy geek I am, I love every minute of quiz bowl.

Ich war in Deutschland...

Like the title says, I was in Germany.

It was great! Fantastisch! Toll! Gut! Bombardisch! Yeah. ...

My favorite part? It's hard to pick.

We went to Berg Nanstein, Heidelberg, Rottenburg, a Barefoot Path, Berlin, Sanssouci Park in Potsdam, citadel in Bitch, France, and the citadel gardens. I loved Sanssouci palace and Berlin was a cool, yet somewhat sad, city. The gardens in Bitch were beautiful and it was just my luck that my camera died on me when taking pictures! Rottenburg was a cute old town and Heidelberg had interesting ruins. I think I loved the historical aspects of everything in Germany. I also appreciated the cleanliness of its big cities. I liked the fact that there was no speed limit on the Autobahn (for the most part) and the sidewalks that were everywhere. The bike tour was fabulous and if you ever find yourself in Barcelona, Berlin, London, Paris, or Tuscany take a Fat Tire city Bike Tour. It was great.

Enjoy the pictures!

Citadel Gardens in Bitch, France

At the Citadel...

The Hohenzollern Cathedral in Berlin

Hangin' with Karl Marx and Friedrich Engles; Berlin

The Reichstag

Brandenburg Tor

Memorial to Murdered Jews in the Holocaust

A picture hung over a building to make it look like a building...only in Berlin

An East German watch tower.

Remnants of THE WALL

Checkpoint Charlie

University in Berlin where Karl Marx studied and Albert Einstein taught. Pretty much the coolest building. Ever.

It was a really good book...

In Sanssouci Park...

The Orangery where Frederick the Great entertained guests and grew most of his produce

The back of Sanssouci Schloss

Sansscouci Schloss: the palace built by Frederick the Great

On the Barfusspfad: Barefoot Path

It's kind of like a playground but for adults :)

Crossing the Nahe River

In the mud!

Cask in the cellar of Heidelberg; holds 55,000 gallons of wine

Fountain at Heidelberg

Heidelberg Ruins!

Rottenburg

The most photographed place in Germany

He smiled for the picture even though I didn't tip him

Aren't my shoes so photogenic?

Bergnanstein

For more pictures, see my album on facebook. That is, if you have one. (CoughAndreacough)