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?