Tagged

25 Random Things About Me:

1. I can never remember how to spell chief.
2. I really don't like it when people ask me why France hates America. Especially since they don't listen to my response, and obviously don't actually care.
3. I don't really like explaining my name to people, mostly because I'm not completely clear on the story myself.
4. I frequently hold opinions purely for the sake of arguing. I like to argue with people.
5. I hate going public places alone. The only exception to this is grocery shopping, which I actually prefer to do alone.
6. I don't function well if I don't have time to do nothing everyday. This is probably the most significant trait I've inherited from my Dad. I like to relax, and I actually schedule time to relax into my day.
7. I probably know a little too much about popular culture. The storage space it takes up in my brain could be put to much better use.
8. I've cried in every movie I've seen about animals (read: dogs) except Old Yeller. And that's probably because I had to watch Old Yeller in my 7th grade english class, and there was no way I was going to cry in front of all my classmates. And yes, this does include movies like Bolt. And sometimes even commercials (read: the commercial about Polar Bear extinction).
9. I watched School of Rock while going to sleep every night for almost a month straight. I still haven't gotten tired of it.
10. I get upset when people tell me I'm blond. Or even strawberry blond sometimes. My hair is red. Just because it's not a bright, fiery red doesn't mean it's not red.
11. I am partially tone-deaf. There are certain tones that I haven't been able to hear since third grade. Apparently, this is one of the possible side effects of tubes.
12. No one ever told me, until I was 18, that I had my adenoids removed in kindergarten. You'd think someone would have told me at the time...
13. I have anti-goals (things I want to never do). Hiking the Y and reading Twilight are on this list.
14. I don't like talking to people that I don't already know in most social settings. In fact, I am likely to think you're super creepy if you talk to me in a social setting as if you did know me. This is why I have adopted the motto of "stranger danger".
15. I am 1/8 German, 1/8 Latvian. The rest is a mix of various British and then a little Danish thrown in, with a pinch of Cherokee. Also: Norman, which just means more Danish, really (french speaking Danes...).
16. I don't want to go to law school simply so that I don't develop my argumentativeness. I truly believe law school would make me a much meaner person. And really good at it, too.
17. However, law school is still one of the options I'm considering if I don't do graduate school in french.
18. I take it extremely personally if anyone belittles my intelligence.
19. I hate performing.
20. Actually, I just don't really like being the center of attention. If I do perform, though, I expect some kind of praise in the end.
21. Until recently, I refused to talk about my dating life with pretty much anyone. There are still large categories of people I refuse to discuss this with, and I rarely will divulge details unless I'm comfortable and trust the other person.
22. I'm aware that I'm hard to read. Another issue on top of this is that I don't explain myself to the people who deserve it the most.
23. I very rarely buy meat when I grocery shop, and I rarely eat pork products out of principle.
24. I have a hard time remembering what the people I care about most look like if they're not around.
25. I have an irrational love for German Shepherds.

Dove

Messages from Dove Chocolate from Christmas Stocking:
-Whisper in the dark (x2)
-Sing along with the elevator music
-You know what? You look good in red.
-Smile at yourself in the mirror
-Make a list of your dreams
-Don't think about it so much

Things Without Explanation:
-most of what my brother-in-law says (impossible to explain)
-my fake pheasant (no need to explain)
-my love for Hello Kitty, Europe, Socialism and critical theory
-my love/hate relationship with consumerism and capitalism
-my life (until I write my memoirs...)
-quantum physics/mechanics (no explanation to date satisfies me)
-mysteries
-the tree joke

multicultural day

Activities Of the Day (so far, soon to pass):
-latin test
-transcribe middle french manuscripts for three hours
-german 103
-research irridentism in Somalia
-go to International Cinema to see Blue Gardenia (by Fritz Lang after he moved to Hollywood)
-ate Potstickers for the main meal

Life

How I Spent the Last Week:
-studying the first, second and third declensions in Latin
-studying declensions in German
-studying Latin first conjugation
-studying German conjugation
-memorizing Latin vocabulary
-writing an auto-biography in German
-reading the Book of Mormon in German
-reading a book on learning German through pictures (stick figures)
-trying to understand German phonetics
-going to institute
-watching movies with my roommates
-grocery shopping (with roommates)
-writing in my journal
-napping on the luvsac in my living room
-reading about crime films and Les Vampires
-watching Les Vampires
-talking to professors
-talking to librarians about missing books
-banruko puppet theater workshop
-emailing
-internship application (finally done!)
-facebook
-making flashcards
-muttering to myself in Latin
-muttering to myself in German
-mumbling to myself in French
-looking things up in a German dictionary
-laughing about stupid things
-taking quizzes on conjugation
-class
-FHE
-devotional
-CES Fireside
-baking banana bread
-translating Latin sentences into English
-translating English sentences into Latin
-studying flashcards in the middle of conversations
-trying to be warm
-trying to do the right thing
-watching whatever is outside the front window in my house
-txtmsging
-cleaning the house
-cluttering my bedroom

A New Semester

Classes I'm Taking This Semester:
-German 103 (intensive first year)
-Latin 111 (intensive first year)
-French 453 (aesthetics of crime in french cinema-- kind of a retake)

My Plans For Next Year:
-Plan A: English teaching assistantship in France
-Plan B: Masters program in French at BYU
-Plan C: Job
-Plan D: ?

Things That Help Me De-Stress This Past Week:
-Listening to James P. Johnson, Scott Joplin, and Fats Waller
-Studying for Latin and German
-Facebook (doesn't do anything but make me forget what time it is, but it's a temporary relief)
-Pretending to clean my room, but really just moving things to different places
-Sitting in the front room of my house
-Trying to get in contact with people
-Getting things crossed off my (mostly unwritten) to-do lists

Happy (Belated) New Year!

New Year's Resolutions:
-Exercise/eat healthy (these two seem obligatory)
-Study better (aka procrastinate less)
-Sleep better
-Keep a journal
-Learn the guitar

My Favorite Books (In a Loose Sense):
-the Complete Collection of Stephen Crane's Poetry
-Lord of the Flies (Golding)
-Hamlet (Shakespeare)
-Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card)
-The Chronicles of Narnia (C.S. Lewis)
-Prisoner of Mao (Prisoniers de Mao, Jean Pasquelini/ Bao Ruo-Wang)
-Farenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)
-The Empty Pot
-A Panda Cake
-Wives and Daughters (Elizabeth Gaskell)
-The Westing Game
-The Windup Bird Chronicles (Haruki Murakami)
-Le Petit Prince (Antoine Saint-Exupery)

My Favorite Things to Play on the Piano:
-Scott Joplin (Swipesy Cakewalk and Pineapple Rag)
-Debussy (especially Golliwog's Cakewalk and Le Petit Negre)
-Sonata in C (Mozart)
-Mazurka (Chopin)
-Arrangements from ward choir performances I accompanied a couple years ago
-A selection of Michael McClean music (some from The Garden, some from The Forgotten Carols)

My Favorite Music (At the Moment, At Least):
-Tarkan (especially Karma)
-Kenan Dogulu (especially Cakkidi and Shake it up Sekerim)
-Blur
-Most of what plays on KROQ
-Renan Luce
-Tété
-Jacques Brel
-Georges Brassens
-Francoise Hardy
-Serge Gainsbourg
-Early Blues
-Eurovision (except the boring ballads; the kitschier the better)
-Beyoncé, Rihanna
-Kanye West
-Dick Annegarn

Songs Frequently Stuck in My Head:
-Paint it Black (The Rolling Stones)
-Dead Flowers (The Rolling Stones; covers by Townes Van Zandt, Poison and Guns 'n' Roses)
-Various hymns
-Various Christmas songs (no matter what time of year)
-Natascha's a capella version of Hell's Bells by AC/DC
-Most of the songs I know by Dick Annegarn
-ABBA (most especially SOS, Take a Chance on Me, Gimme Gimme Gimme and Money Money Money)
-Le Premier Bonheur du Jour, and other Francoise Hardy songs, too
-Bullet with Butterfly Wings (Smashing Pumpkins)
-Several songs by Blur (mostly the Universal and Charmless Man)
-Several songs by Nirvana