Holidays

What I Got for Christmas:
-Clothing
-Necklaces
-A cool new scarf
-A CD of soothing music, arranged by my uncle
-An awesome book about my grandparents
-Money
-A calendar
-Candy
-Post-it notes
-A flashlight
-Bobby pins
-CNN season three

Creative History

Just A Few Things The Vikings Invented That Most People Aren't Aware Of
-the first recorded use of the music was in njalssaga
- the world's first synthesizers and music recording technology
-internet
-cell phones
-ipods
-the industrial revolution
-movable type
-assembly lines
-ipads
-existentialism (cf. Gunnar)
-nihilism
-science
-fireworks
-paper
-the english language
-the electric keyboard
-lamination
-modern map making
-GPS
-brussels sprouts
-pagination
-tables of content
-the concept of an index at the back of a book
-the automobile
-the submarine
-blogs

Finals Week

The Things I Brought With Me to Study in the Library This Last Week:
-Books (yes, I brought my own in addition to taking out half a shelf of the library at a time)
-Speculoos
-Granny Smith apples
-Hanukkah chocolate gold coins
-Giant bottle of water (that I keep forgetting I left in my locker....)
-Lined paper to take notes on
-My laptop
-My ipod
-My car (because walking home at 2 am is scary, even though it's like three blocks and in Provo)
-Cell phone (but not my charger... which is why my phone died Friday night)

Studying Playlist

Music I Think Everyone Should Hear At Some Point In Their Life:

-The Smiths (especially "The more you ignore me" and "Some girls are bigger than others.")

-Fats Waller (especially "You're not the only oyster in the sea" and "Ain't misbehavin'.")

-Sigur Ros (who doesn't like "Hoppipolla?")

-Tété

-Cloclo (Claude François... especially "Alexandra Alexandrie" and "Belles belles belles."  But don't forget "Le téléphone pleure" and "Chaque jour c'est la meme chose.")

-Mum

-"Gibraltar" by Abd al Malik

-"Minuet Chrétien" (... because the English version sucks and the French version is possibly the greatest Christmas song ever written.  Ever.)

-Basix (especially "Simarik" and "Treat her like a lady.")

-Charlotte Gainsbourg, "The Songs that We Sing."

-Serge Gainsbourg (especially "Bonnie & Clyde," "Requiem pour un con," "Elisa," "Comic Strip," and only "Je t'aime... moi non plus" or "Lemon inceste" if you're not creeped/grossed out easily by sexually implicit french music.)

-Georges Brassens ("La Mauvaise réputation," "Les copains de bord," "Je me suis fait tout petit," and "Chanson pour l'auvergnat.")

-Jacques Brel (see also: "Quand on a que l'amour," "Ne me quitte pas," "Madeleine," "Les bonbons," "Le Plat pays," "Jef," "Le Diable, ça va" and "Les bourgeois.")

-Edith Piaf (we've all seen "Inception."  Now go listen to "Non, je ne regrette rien" and contemplate her intense uvular fricative trills.  See also, "La Vie en rose" and "L'hymne de l'amour.")

-Blur, "When the cows come home."

-"Belle" from the French musical "Notre-Dame de Paris"

-Christophe Maé

-"Adulte et Sexy" by Emmanuel Moire.  Then watch "Le Sourire" or "Ca me fait du bien" to see a good contrast.

-Any Serge Gainsbourg songs written for France Gall ("Annie," "Laisse tomber les filles," "Poupée de cire")

-Françoise Hardy

-Leonard Cohen (the early stuff, before he gets all creepy-chanty on us-- see especially "Suzanne," "The Stranger Song," "Sisters of Mercy," and "Bird on the Wire.")

-K'naan ("Fatima," "ABCs," "Dreamer," "TIA," Soobax.")

-"New Workout Plan Part 2" by Kanye West

-MC Solaar ("La Vie est Belle," "L'hemoglobine de la concubine," "RMI," "Carpe Diem," "DaVinci Claude," Bouge de La" and "La belle et le bad boy.")

-Kenan Dogulu ("Cakkidi" and "Patron")

-Tarkan ("Kuzu kuzu," "Vay anem vay" and "Hup." But mostly, just watch the music videos and see a man belly dance.  Hilarity.)

-Yelle ("Ce jeu," "A cause des garçons" and "Je veux te voir."  The last one comes with a strong warning of sexually explicit lyrics, but it's for a funny purpose...)

-Johnny Cash ("Boy named Sue," anything about drugs/prison/crimes)

-"Le Diner" by Benebar

-"Je t'emmene jusqu'au vent" by Louise Attack

-"La Tribu de Dana" by Manau

-Renan Luce

-"Les Marchands des reves," "C'est avec classe," and "Sur la tombe de mes gens" by Corneille

-"Killing a Stranger" by the Cure.  (Don't even bother reading Camus afterward.)

-"Der Computer No. 3" by France Gall (yes, it is indeed a song from the 60s by a French pop singer, sung in German, about computer dating.  It doesn't get much better than that.)

Probably not actually the BBC top 100 book list, since it wasn't well formed

The Ones I've Read (Bold) and Started but Never Finished (Italicized):

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien

3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling 

5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

6 The Bible (Yup, I'm a heathen-- I've never finished it from cover to cover, but it's kind of like my history homework-- I haven't read it but I know the content pretty dang well)

7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell

9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens 

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott

12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller (I think... I can't remember for sure, but I think I've read it)

14 Complete Works of Shakespeare

15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien

17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk

18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger

19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

20 Middlemarch - George Eliot

21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell (I have an anti-goal never to read or watch this.  For no real reason other than I don't feel like it)

22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald

24 War and Peace -Tolstoy

25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis

34 Emma -Jane Austen

35 Persuasion - Jane Austen

36 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis

37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres

39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

40 Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Milne

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell

42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving

45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery

47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood

49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding

50 Atonement - Ian McEwan

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel

52 Dune - Frank Herbert

53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth

56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens (I started it once in, like, third grade.  Never got past the second page, even in attempts since then)

58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley (I like this better than 1984)

59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon

60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov

63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt

64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas

66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac (I got bored with this book when it turned out just to be about doing drugs and having sex and not really caring about much of anything at all)

67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy

68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding

69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie

70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

72 Dracula - Bram Stoker

73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson

75 Ulysses - James Joyce

76 The Inferno - Dante

77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome

78 Germinal - Emile Zola

79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

80 Possession - AS Byatt

81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker

84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert

86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

87 Charlotte’s Web - E.B. White

88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom

89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery

93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks

94 Watership Down - Richard Adams

95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute

97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas

98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare

99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

My Own List of Books I Have Read and Really Quite Enjoyed that Never Show Up on These Lists:

-Anything by Haruki Murakami (most especially Kafka on the Shore and The Wind-up Bird Chronicles, though you should also read Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World).

-Hoffman, especially Der Sandmann, which I actually didn't read but I read Freud's description of it in his essay on Unheimliche

-Notre-Dame de Paris, which I've started four times now and never finished.  One of these days, I will conquer Victor Hugo.  Mark my words.  Your endless paragraphs on architecture will not stop me.  I get where you're going with that, Hugo.

-Ender's Game, which is one of the few Sci-fi books I've ever even touched, let alone read

-Persepolis.  Let's forget that it's a graphic novel for now, and put Maus on the list, too, even though I haven't read it.

-Silence by Shusaku Endo-- it's about a Portuguese priest in Japan after they've outlawed Westerners there (except the capitalist Dutch traders)

-In Praise of Shadows

-Prisoner of Mao.  Even if you know nothing about China or communism (both of which are likely if you live in the US), this book will blow your mind.  Except it's out of print in English (the original language), so good luck finding it.  BYU has a copy, and it's still being printed in French (the author's second native language, along with Chinese.  English was his third, I believe).

-Anything by Chrétien de Troyes, because it's crazy awesome.  Seriously.  Let me tell you some stories about King Arthur's court, and you will probably think I made it all up.  But no, Chrétien is the crazy one.

-La Cantatrice Chauve by Ionesco.  Or anything by him.  

-L'étranger.  Or skip reading this, and just listen to "Killing an Arab" by the Cure.

-Gargantua, or anything by Rabelais.  It's crazy, it's hilarious, it's actually pretty poignant through that bawdy humor.  Also, giants are funny, and so are promiscuous monks who create utopias.

-Discourse on a Republic by Machiavelli.  Because The Prince is a poor reflection of his real thoughts.  Or, for a laugh, read Mandragola or Belfagor, the Devil who Took a Wife.  Classic renaissance humor.

-Defying Hitler.  It raises the question of what resistance is in situations like the Third Reich.  Also, it's a compelling memoir.

-Maupassant.  SO AWESOME.  I once totally plagiarized Le Horla, but made it about breadboxes.  It was awkward and hilarious.

Top ten lists from study abroad, transcribed with one hand while whisking something on the stove

Top Ten Clues that Liel is an FBI Agent:
10. Dark suit.  Dark glasses.  Head mics.
9. Dark hair.
8. Perfect disguise: LDS international student.
7. Accidentally tried to put her rifle in her holster and had to pretend she was being a cowboy for Halloween.
6. Says random words out loud- don't worry; it's how she remembers things.
5. In her notes she draws pictures of likely suspects, should she be captured.
4. Views Utopia as the Ancient Roman Empire.
3. She OWNS Portugal
2. Never too young to be an ESPION!
1. IS a 14 year old English boy.

Top Ten Things Liel Has In Common with France
10. She's smaller than Texas
9. She loves to read Tintin
8. Her read hair is a majestic beacon of baguettes
7. It's like she's trying to SPEAK to me, I know it!
6. She was invaded and easily subdued
5. Only eats on egg because one egg's "enough."
4. Her skirt is white and I like it.
3. People come from all around the world to see her.
2. She has an emperor problem
1. She speaks French... well, sort of.

Top Ten Things Liel has in common with Religious Characters:
10. Her middle name is Mohammed
9. She has 6 arms and is made out of bronze
8. She is a fat China man
7. She wears veils... amazing, technicolor DREAM veils
6. She keeps turning her pencils into worms
5. She almost got burned with Joan of Arc b/c of her hair
4. She is tight like unto a dish
3. She thinks she's the only one who has been chosen to be saved.
2. She stands on the streets wearing a barrel and preaching about the "fin du monde"
1. Corporeal mortification is high on her "to do" list.

Goupil (Renard)

Animals I feel a particular bond with:

-Foxes

-Cats

-Dogs

-Wolves

-Sparrowhawks

-Peacocks

-Polar bears

-Horses

-Humans, occasionally, but mostly of the child or naive varieties

-Cheetahs

Why I love Dogs:

-They are awesome

-They are so cute

-They are so loyal

-They are so smart

-They are so loving

-They are so fluffy (the good kinds of dogs are)

-They intimidate strangers

-They are so funny

-They are so warm and cuddly

-They make funny facial expressions when trying to figure out what you are eating and whether or not they will also be eating it with you

-They get so excited about things that seem so basic (food, walking outside, when you come home, when you go into the closet to get a coat and not their leash)

-They are so good at empathizing with humans

-When trained well, they are so obedient

-They have such individual personalities manifest in everything they do

-They sometimes slobber and drool all over the place

-They react really funny if you make animal noises and pretend you didn't to tease them

-They learn quickly when food is involved

-They start their lives as puppies, which are also known as one of the cutest creatures in the animal kingdom, as well as one of the fluffiest

Why I think I am similar to the fox:

-Red hair (don't even dare think that I'm not a redhead)

-Clever

-Looks better in winter for some reason

-Quiet

-Sarcastic (because foxes totally would be sarcastic if they told jokes)

-Loyal (Cf. Le Petit Prince)

-Known for lying (Cf. Le Roman de Renart)

-Trickster

-Ancestor to the chihuahua?

-Known for eating lots of chicken

-On average, consumes 1 kilo of food every day

-Cache excess food for later consumption

-Ruined the Australian wildlife system by driving certain animals to distinction

-Smells different when domesticated

-Sometimes considered to have magical powers in folklore

-Hunted mostly only in Anglo-Saxon countries, but also Italy, France and Russia

-Occasionally catches awful diseases, like Rabies or Mono

-Typically lives in small family groups

Sunday Crafternoon- the list!

Martha Stewart based ideas for crafts that I find interesting/compelling/ accessible:

-Leather Day Planner

-Shimmering Stacked Trees

-Paper-Doily Wreath

-Needle-Felted Handmade Pillows

-No-Knit Floral Sweater Flourish

-Silk Scarf Pillows

-Suede No-Sew Skirt

-Woolen Beret

My Kind of Adventure

Places I want to eat at before I move away from Provo:

-Gloria's Little Italy

-The Vietnamese place on Center Street

-Sam Hawk's (again)

-The Korean place on University, right by Center Street

-Pizzaria 712

-Communal (again)

-Shabu Shabu

-The Parlor

-Four seasons hot pot and dumplings

-The China buffet place that's next to that crazy intersection down seventh east. I think.

-That one place called "@5" or something like that

-Taco-n-tento

-La Dolce Vita

-O'Falafel

-Ali Baba's (for the fourth time this semester... hahaha)

-Brugges waffles and frites (for the third time)

-Saigon's Cafe (or, as I call it, Ming's, which used to be a regular part of my diet)

-The chinese place that used to be the Mongolian place called "cooking taste right." Except I don't know if I really want to go now that it's not "cooking taste right."

-Diego's (I just really like that place)

-El Gallo Giro (ditto to the above)

-Se Llama Peru

-That one Peruvian place that's by University Mall

-Yamato's

-La Brioche (technically, it's just a bakery and not a restaurant)

-That one place by Timp high that's in that one mormon movie

-India palace

-Sammy's (I just like their cup shakes and the grilled cheese isn't bad)

-Einstein's (I just really like the lox, and that they're about the only place to get real bagels around here)

-Probably more places I can't think of

Procrastination: Listed

Things to Do When Procrastinating:
-blogging
-cooking/baking
-reading something for fun
-food blogs
-facebook
-hulu
-TV
-housework
-running errands
-making lists
-spacing out
-txtmsging
-international cinema
-going to the gym/working out
-planning out what to do tomorrow/this evening
-planning out future meals
-reading other blogs
-reading cookbooks
-homework
-calling people
-writing in my journal
-starting new projects
-shopping, especially when done online
-going to movies
-eating
-sleeping
-going to parties
-more or less anything I do on a daily basis

Places I've Eaten the Past Week:

-jamba juice

-terriyaki stix (gross... why did I do that?)

-Ali Baba (Pakistani in Sugar House-- so good!)

-Spicy Thai

-Sammy's

-Marley's

-Elian's patisserie

-my house

-Sariah's house

-the library (shhh....)

What's Up, Doc?

Recent Happenings in my Life, in Case I Haven't Told You, or If You Were Curious, or if You're Just Bored/Voyeuristic:

-I got a job in Music and Dance special collections, so I now work for the HBLL... again

-I eat peaches a lot

-I eat a lot of cabbage

-My stomach is really loud lately (maybe all the cabbage?)

-I took my first (and only...) midterm of the semester this week!

-I have most of my time scheduled away, even though I'm still up to my procrastinating and unproductive ways!

-I'm figuring out my Halloween costume still, but it's more or less between Liz Lemon (soul twin #4) and the counselor from Glee (soul twin #2)

-I've started PhD applications... but haven't gotten far

-I'm planning to finish my prospectus this week! I CAN do it! Si se puede! (I don't speak Spanish.... is that how you say it?)

-I ignore my blogs when I'm legitimately busy... who knew?

-I keep realizing that I just want to be in school forever and learn everything! Who wants to teach me something?

-I still hate calling strangers... and people I know... except my Mom. She may be the only person I am comfortable talking with on the phone.

-I may be addicted to texting, in part because of the above. I might make a goal to change that. Maybe....

-Sometimes I'm emotional, but I'll still swear to you that emotions are for the weak! Because they are.

-My soul twin is Liz Lemon. For reals.

The Art of Courtly Love

Andreas Capellanus' Rules Of Love, as Learned from the King of Love:

I. Marriage is no real excuse for not loving.

II. He who is not jealous cannot love.

III. No one can be bound by a double love.

IV. It is well known that love is always increasing or decreasing.

V. That which a lover takes against the will of his beloved has no relish.

VI. Boys do not love until they arrive at the age of maturity.

VII. When one lover dies, a widowhood of two years is required of the survivor.

VIII. No one should be deprived of love without the very best of reasons.

IX. No one can love unless he is impelled by the persuasion of love.

X. Love is always a stranger in the home of avarice.

XI. It is not proper to love any woman whom one would be ashamed to seek to marry.

XII. A true lover does not desire to embrace in love anyone except his beloved.

XIII. When made public love rarely endures.

XIV. The easy attainment of love makes it of little value; difficulty of attainment makes it prized.

XV. Every lover regularly turns pale in the presence of his beloved.

XVI. When a lover suddenly catches sight of his beloved his heart palpitates.

XVII. A new love puts to flight an old one.

XVIII. Good character alone makes any man worthy of love.

XIX. If love diminishes, it quickly fails and rarely revives.

XX. A man in love is always apprehensive.

XXI. Real jealousy always increases the feeling of love.

XXII. Jealousy, and therefore love, are increased when one suspects his beloved.

XXIII. He whom the thought of love vexes eats and sleeps very little.

XXIV. Every act of a lover ends in the thought of his beloved.

XXV. A true lover considers nothing good except what he thinks will please his beloved.

XXVI. Love can deny nothing to love.

XXVII. A lover can never have enough of the solaces of his beloved.

XXVIII. A slight presumption causes a lover to suspect his beloved.

XXIX. A man who is vexed by too much passion usually does not love.

XXX. A true lover is constantly and without intermission possessed by the thought of his beloved.

XXXI. Nothing forbids one woman being loved by two men or one man by two women.

On the wings of desire

What I want Right Now:

-Attention Span (for homework purposes, mostly)

-Tomato tart

-Simultaneously more and less energy

-Willingness to socialize

-More time in the day

-Scapegoat for laziness

-Better GRE scores...

-Motivation to write my prospectus

-Around my French Table, coming in 4-6 weeks by USPS, free to me

What I want, eventually:

-Get into the history PhD program at Toronto University

-Finish my thesis

-A career, or at least some kind of money to live off of

-Fluency in French (more than what I've got right now...)

-A year (or more) in Europe

-Rest

Le parfait du paon?

Birds in Le Bestiaire d'Amour:

-Rooster

-Swan

-Crow

-Caladrius

-Turtledove

-Partridge

-Ostrich

-Blackbird

-Siren

-Crane

-Peacock

-Swallow

-Pelican

-Eagle

-Dove

-Magpie

-Vulture

Baking as Procrastination

Things I like to bake:

-Cookies

-molasses chocolate chip cookies

-PB&J cookies, w/o J, w/chocolate

-David Lebovitz's chocolate chip cookies

-molasses cookies (haven't made them in years now)

-Crepes

-peach shortbread bars

-breads

-rye bread

-white bread

-french bread

-dinner rolls

-focaccia

-banana bread

-banana oat bread

-cakes

-avocado pound cake

-honey whole wheat pound cake

-brownies

-muffins

-Nancy Silverton's Bran muffins

-banana oat muffins

-blueberry muffins

-Israeli-Palestinian conflict muffins

-tortillas

Things I want to cook/bake of late:

-mayonnaise

-challah

-rice cakes (who knows why)

-cookies

-bran muffins

-quinoa

-Israeli couscous

-Moroccan couscous

-corn tortillas

-flour tortillas

-crepes

Labor Day (AKA the official end of summer)

Summer Check List:

-Road Trip to California

-Manti Temple Pageant

-Found a job

-Passed my comps (hurrah!)

-Hiked Squaw Peak

-Read some books (mostly Hunger Games)

-Baked a moderate amount

-World Cup!

-Invented a diet based on a summer movie

-Road Trip to California, Again

-Taught exactly one (1) Sunday School lesson

-Went to IKEA a few times

-Threw a party for the World Cup (Lionel Messi's B-day)

-Went to Lagoon (pretty much THE theme park in Utah)

-Visited Seattle area

-Procrastinated all things related to thesis!

-Changed the color of my skin (aka got a tan, even if it doesn't look like much, it's still there)

-Procrastinated a hair cut

-Moved! At the beginning... (it threw me off to move in April instead of August, actually)

-Learned about The Wonder Girls

-Got lost in Midway

-Went camping with friends

-Provo Freedom Festival (three different days...)

-Camped out for 4th of July parade

-Watched a season and a half of '30 Rock'

-Went to Thanksgiving Point (Farm country)

-Went to my nephew's B-day party (he was visiting Utah right before moving to Tennessee)

-Went to a concert in Salt Lake and forgot my wallet (money AND ID)

-Went to a FREE concert in Salt Lake

-Went to a British Tea House in Salt Lake, then the British Store next door

-Ate Liege waffles once (1) and Belgian style fries once (1)! It's like being in Heaven, guys.

-Went to the Timpanogos temple (while Provo was closed)

-Played mustache badminton

-Provo farmer's market

-Bought a bike

-Discovered Sen. Orrin Hatch's (R) musical talents

-Helped some friends out with their mix tape release

-Attended said mix tape release party

-Never once (0) washed my car... gross

Riddles

Things that are absolutely true about me:

-I have red hair

-I absolutely love dogs

-I really, really, really like runny yolks

-I enjoy talking about several subjects without getting tired of them: Europe, France, French music, food, socialism, pop culture

-I am lazy and enjoy procrastinating

-I tend to blame other people for things (ie if someone is insulted by my sense of humor, it's because they're too sensitive, have a bad sense of humor, or something along those lines)

-I hate mingling

-I like people, for the most part

-I stare at strangers too much and don't particularly like eye contact when I'm talking, ironically

-I generally prefer the ridiculous to the serious

Recipe checklist

Recipes (on my notecards) that I have made:

-Avocado pound cake

-Texas flour tortillas

-Honey Whole Wheat Pound Cake

-Lemon Risotto

-Nancy Silverton's Bran Muffins

-Flourless PB&J cookies

-Bacon and tomato guacamole

-Hummus (two recipes; one on each side-- Simply Recipes and Ina Garten)

-White batter bread

-Lowfat oatmeal banana bread

-Avocado shakes

-Peanut Butter brownies

-David Lebovitz's chocolate chip cookies

-Almost flourless peanut butter cookie

-Zucchini pancakes

Recipes on my notecards that I haven't yet made:

-Chocolate nut bread (pain aux noix et au chocolat)

-Babaganouzh or Moutabal

-Falafel

-Tehina

-Rick Bayless' dairy-free avocado ice cream

-Hummus bi tehina

-Vanilla ice cream w/o the machine

Nous sommes ce que nous sommes: des hommes

Musical Songs I've Thought of/ Sung/ Referenced Recently:

-"Nous sommes ce que nous sommes" from Dracula: Entre l'Amour et la Mort

-"Master of the house" from Les Mis

-"Who am I?" from Les Mis

-"I Like Rice" from Home Movies episode "Writer's Block"

-"Stop Looking at his Particles" from a musical my friends and I wrote that I don't think ever even had a working title outside of "the musical."

-"Rum Tum Tugger" from Cats

-"Memories" from Cats

-"The Way We Were" from The Way We Were

-"A Little Fall of Rain" from Les Mis

-"Un peu de sang qui pleur" from Les Miserables

-"The Legend of the Rent" from School of Rock

-"Math is a wonderful thing" from School of Rock

-"Teacher's Pet" from School of Rock

-The Franz Kafka rock opera from Home Movies, episode "Director's Cut"

ROTFLOL

Reasons Why I Laugh So Much:

-Feeling awkward

-Finding things funny

-Having fun

-Giddiness

-Good ab workout

-Fond (and funny) memories

-Witticisms

-Good sarcasm

-Silly children

-Inside jokes

-Smug satisfaction

-A really good plan or scheme (more like evil laughter)

Nature vs Nurture

Things Lots of Other People Do Naturally That I Just Don't:

-get excited

-compliment people

-socialize whenever, where ever

-talk to people in the morning

-take initiative

-pay attention in engaging conversations

-smile at strangers

-show a full range of emotions

-say nice things to people

-ask questions that are practical

-like breaks from classes or graduating

-care about others' feelings in conversations

Things I Do Naturally That Lots of Other People Don't Seem to:

-talk to myself, pretty much constantly and about anything

-keep calm, or at least a stiff upper-lip

-keep my thoughts to myself in public

-enjoy silence

-enjoy solitude

-research everything ever just to know more about it

-accidentally scowl instead of smile

-space out, constantly

-giggle at seemingly nothing, pretty much everyday

-expect everyone to be independent and ask for favors

-expect things to be done for me (I've decided this is because I'm the youngest, so everything was always done for me growing up and it's hard for me to remember that I have to do certain things)

The Things that Take Up My Time Lately

My World Cup Teams That Have Lost:

-Argentina

-USA

-Cote d'Ivoire

-Brazil

-Portugal

-France (miserably)

Things I Mean to Read But Never Quite Get Around to:

-Notre-Dame de Paris

-Joe's novel

-In Defense of Food

-La Dame aux Camelias

-Any number of things I should be researching for my thesis

All I Really Want to Do of Late:

-Road trip to New Orleans

-Lay out in the sun

-Ride my bike random places

-Sleep

-Bake/cook random recipes and give them away to anyone willing to eat them

-Shop

-Go home

-Visit Seattle for a week

-Go to festivals/concerts

-Chat

In Honor of Lionel Messi (whose birthday is the 24th of June)

Reasons Lionel Messi and I are practically identical twins:

-He is only a year younger than I am

-He is half an inch taller than I am

-He is only four or five pounds heavier than I am

-We both have awkward haircuts

-We both are from the Americas

-We both have lived in Europe

-We both have been accused of hating our homelands because of living in Europe

-His name is Lionel (pronounced Lee-own-el). Take out the "on" and it's exactly my name

-We're both loved by many soccer fans

-We're both in a love-hate relationship with someone who has committed a handball that saved the game

-We both have parents

-We both are following the World Cup 2010 in South Africa

-We both could have been taller if things worked out better genetically (I swear my poor diet in middle school stunted my growth.... Messi's explanation is more rational)

-We both had birthdays this last year

-We both like the color powder blue (well, maybe he doesn't like the color, but it's in the best version of the Argentina national football team)

-We are both cute, like a puppy or a fluffy kitten, or a baby duck

-Neither of us resemble a baby pigeon

-Neither of us is married, yet

-Both of us appreciate the health care in Europe

-Both of us know someone who looks like an Argentine pirate

-Sometimes my room is messy (get it? it's a pun)

-Both of us have pretty much GREAT senses of humor

-Both of us entered our chosen careers at the age of 5 (he did soccer, I became a student)

-Both of us have known people from Rosario, Argentina

-Both of us have last names that end with vowels

-Both of us are awesome

Midsummer Check

Things Accomplished So Far This Summer:

-two road trips, both to California (one to Riverside, one to Santa Cruz)

-return back home (once)

-Manti temple pageant (the Mormon Miracle Pageant)

-found a job

-passed my comps

-go dancing (once)

-hiked Squaw Peak

-started Notre-Dame de Paris and gotten farther than all previous attempts

-some baking (and cooking, as well)

-watched World Cup games and NBA final games, too

-invented a crazy diet

-visited the beach

-taught a Sunday School lesson (actually, it's tomorrow, and it's the Preach My Gospel class, not Gospel Doctrine...)

Three Day Weekends

Things I Have Done Recently that Were Not a Waste of Time:

-Go to California and stay an extra week

-Study for Comp exams

-Go to the gym

-Sleep in most days

-Hike to Squaw Peak

-Watch Prince of Persia

-Start Notre-Dame de Paris by Hugo... for the fifth time

-Visit with old friends

-Make new friends

-Bake things, especially tortillas and peanut butter bars with chocolate ganache frosting

-Catch up on the latest Eurovision results (Turkey got #2! That makes me happy)

-Pass my comp exams (making the past year good instead of a huge waste of time)

-Laundry and cleaning

-LOST season finale (I liked it overall, but then I have no problem with questions going unanswered. Quite the reverse, actually)

-Bathing (apparently this is also the secret to Jake Gyllenhaal's work out for Prince of Persia)

-Sharing jokes with an old friend

-Chatting

100th Post

Top ten things about Grandpa Hayman:

-Corny sense of humour (really, he tells the cheesiest jokes I have ever heard in my life). There's this one he told quite a few times these past couple years about a little boy who went to a wedding that's really chuckle-worthy.

-His stories about his childhood.

-He's pretty prescriptivist in his language. It's easy to appreciate grammar and proper language when you're exposed to it regularly.

-Rhetoric. I always think of him when I think of people who know how to use their words effectively.

-His love of dogs. Mom says that he used to always say that, if you want to know how dogs should be treated, you should spell "dog" backward.

-His can-do attitude. One's limitations were usually self-imposed. It's a pretty rare attitude for his generation, from what I've seen.

-His devotion to his wife and family.

-I saw a picture of my grandparents at my parents' wedding, and Grandpa Hayman was so cute. I love pictures of him when he was younger.

-Stories about his side of the family are always great. Always. They were a bunch of true characters, Grandpa included. And Grandpa always told good stories (while his memory persevered).

-He traveled around the world, stepped on every continent, and drove on each one as well. He had visited over 100 countries (Grandma and Grandpa used to be in the Traveler's Century Club, until they stopped paying dues, I believe). How awesome is that? I hope someday to do even a fourth of the traveling he did.

Summer to-do list

Things To Do This Summer:

-Find employment

-Pass the comp exam for my program

-Go to Moab

-Go to Zion's

-Attend at least three (3) local festivals

-Road trip to another state

-Bake and cook to the X-TREME

-Go hiking, lots

-Read for FUN

-Hang out in the canyon again, or find a new cool spot

-Dancing

-Go home (California) twice (2) (can be combined with road trip)

International Cinema Winter 2010

Movies I saw at International Cinema this semester:
-Pan's Labyrinth
-Psycho
-Chinaman
-Blue
-Dear Frankie
-White
-Red
-Katyn
-Munyurangabo
-Waltz with Bashir
-The Blind Sunflowers
-The Five Obstructions
-Departures
-Man on Wire
-Slumdog Millionaire
-Downfall
-Dr Strangelove
-Barefoot Gen
-The Triplets of Belleville
-Mon Oncle

Movies I wanted to see this semester, but didn't:
-Stranded: I've Come From a Plane that Crashed on the Mountains
-The Way Home
-Sansho the Bailiff
-The Class
-The Return
-The White Balloon
-Together
-I Am Cuba
-Heima
-Kebab Connection
-To the Other Side

Movies I had already seen:
-Pan's Labyrinth
-The Way Home
-Downfall
-Dr Strangelove
-The Triplets of Belleville
-Osama

My life the past six years

Things I like about Utah Valley:

-Lots of ethnic food everywhere

-Lots of people who speak random languages and lived in random places everywhere

-Easy to make fun of

-Pretty safe

-Great spring and summer

-All four seasons (it has its pros and cons)

-People tend to be pretty smart overall

-Not having to feel weird for being a Mormon

-Cool mountains

-IKEA close-by

-Not having to worry about people getting drunk and thus fairly annoying pretty quickly
-International Cinema

-Peaches in the summer

Things I don't particularly like about Utah Valley:

-Snow. Too much. For too long.

-Everyone looks too nice; there's too much pressure to be perfect outwardly

-Lots of judging (based on outward appearances)

-No options for a nightlife

-Movies frequently and unnecessarily edited

-Far from most of my family

-Dogs aren't allowed in nearly all student housing

-Being contrary (argumentative) is considered a sin, at least socially if not morally

-Everything has significant potential to be awkward

The saddest words? What might have been.

Things I could have done tonight, but didn't:

-Gone to bed early (such a good idea)

-Homework

-Go to the gym

-Taken my car in to get fixed (I'm a little scared to drive it, actually)

-Watched one of the movies I bought at Blockbuster

-Gone to Hollywood Video and bought some of the movies they're selling now that they're going out of business

-Baked bread, or anything for that matter

-Called people just to chat (I never do this anymore)

-Read a book for the MA list

-Learned the phonetic system for Danish (or any other cool language)

-Found someone who was watching tonight's LOST episode and joined them

-Gone for a walk (who am I kidding? It's freezing out there!)

-Cleaned things

-Done my laundry (I really, really should have done that)

-Mani/pedi

-Written in my journal

-Thought of a new party idea and post it on the strange party idea blog my friends and I have

-Researched for my research paper... due in a week

-Rented the movie I'm writing my paper on

-Read Through the Looking Glass

-Write a letter to a friend

-Make one-ingredient ice cream

Countdown

Today's Itinerary:

-shower

-fill out "formulaire"

-class

-international cinema

-dinner

-pack

-leave for SLC international airport

-sleep as much as possible whenever I can

photo shoot

Photographs I didn't take today:

-the three dogs keeping watch in the driveway of a home in south-eastern Provo

-the dog peeing on the corner of a road in the foothills of Provo

-the same dog running out right as I was (very slowly) passing him, seeming to want to smell my car

-the ducks at the gym this morning, and the woman who didn't want to run them over (they wouldn't move even under threat of being crushed by SUV)

-the two boys who walked past me, didn't ever really seem to look at me, but then took pictures of the exact same house that I did shortly after me

-several houses with pretty cool yards

-several houses that are ridiculously expensive

-girl sitting on fire hydrant (okay, so this picture was yesterday)

-people reacting to the seriously bipolar weather today (rain-sunny-rain-snow-blizzard-cloudy-clear-rain-snow-rain-clear-etc)

Where to eat?

Restaurants in Provo/Orem I like:

-Diego's

-Ming's (formally called 'Saigon Cafe.')

-Four Seasons Hot Pot and Dumplings

-Spicy Thai (even though I haven't been there, I'm pretty sure I like it)

-Bangkok Grill

-Communal

-Tucano's (but in more moderation than any other restaurant I like)

-Joe's Cafe (I haven't had their food, but the people are worth it regardless)

-In N Out

-Five Guys and Fries

-Stumpy Burger

-Sammy's

-El Gallo Giro

-Costa Vida

-Sweet Tooth Fairy

-That one Mexican place across from the Boxing gym on State Street. Caporales? Something like that.

-Eliane's bakery

I'm too shy to be publicly funny

Jokes I didn't tell anyone today:

-That bear weighs almost as much as I do!

-The worst movie I ever saw was the Testaments. Kidding!

-I'm glad that he's not my age, too.

-I was accidentally ordained a deacon once... (I've told this one almost too many times now, anyway. Although sometimes I substitute in other priesthood callings, like bishop)

-The bishop said to go to Sunday School and Priesthood, but left out Relief Society because everyone knows it's a useless meeting anyway. All you do is talk about emotions and homemaking.

-Heavyweights would be better with Zac Effron as Jerry.

Foods that are cool:

-sushi

-bibimbap

-cheese

-pizza

-hamburgers (good ones, at least)

-cookies

-curries

-tom ka gai

-most all mexican food

-ice cream

-most kind of cream

-tomato soup with grilled cheese

-sriracha sauce

-most anything found in Trader Joe's

-hummus

-pie

-cupshakes

-sweet potato fries

-lox

Foods that aren't so cool:

-chips and salsa with chocolate milk

-month old mashed potatoes

-homemade cake missing a cup of sugar

-grainy apples

-soggy or stale tortilla chips

-stale tortillas or bread

-the kinds of dishes that make horrible left-overs

Animals

These are the cool animals:

-dogs

-cats

-tigers

-cheetahs

-wolves

-leopards

-humans

-dolphins (the puppies of the sea)

-killer whales (when not killing)

-flying squirrels

-regular-type whales

-narwhals (the unicorns of the sea)

-horses (how else are we to measure the speed of our cars, after all?)

-owls

These are the uncool animals:

-birds

-lizards

-rodents

-geese (just uncool enough to be mentioned specially. They are mean)

Things that make me wish I weren't a student:

-having no time to make real, homemade meals on a regular basis

-having no down time because of homework

-never knowing what to address my professors as (professor? doctor? just their last name? by their first name if they're cool and hep?)

-having to walk to school and back home in the snow

-not having a real income, but having a career (basically... grad school is a career, right?)

-sitting in classrooms without windows for hours on end every single day

Things that make me want to never leave school:

-learning cool stuff

-being pretentious

-the feeling of accomplishment after a good paper, test, or project

-being on the same intelligence level as most of the people around me

-researching awesome stuff

-not having to start a "real" career

-access to all the amenities on campus

-discounts at grocery stores

Things on my mind recently
-photo projects
-papers
-midterms
-international cinema
-Pittsburg
-blogs
-party ideas
-Oulipo
-les bas-fonds
-mimesis and imitation
-Burgundy (place, not color)
-moving
-thesis
-5k
-LOST
-food
-etc.

I've got a lifetime of knowledge

Things that are easy:
-coming up with strange party ideas
-talking about things in the abstract
-the basic level of research
-making up things
-abstaining from bread (it's surprisingly easy)
-eating healthily

Things that are easier:
-procrastination, especially if justified
-listening to the album "Justified"
-eating poorly
-shopping
-coming up with new careers that don't require as much work

Things that are hard:
-intense, genuine research
-writing a paper in a normal amount of time
-abstaining from chocolate or sugar
-sleeping when stressed
-keeping a good manicure
-sticking to a strict schedule

Itinerary of places I have been

Airports I have flown in to/out of:

-Ontario (CA)

-Long Beach

-John Wayne

-LAX

-CDG

-Newark

-Seattle

-Minneapolis

-Boston

-Rome

-San Jose

US States I have been to:

-California

-Washington

-Arizona

-Nevada

-Utah

-Pennsylvania

-Maryland

-Massachusetts

Countries I have been to:

-United States

-France

-Italy

-Belgium

Places I have lived:

-California

-Utah

-France

Michael Pollan

Michael Pollan's Seven Rules for Food:

1. Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food. "When you pick up that box of portable yogurt tubes, or eat something with 15 ingredients you can't pronounce, ask yourself, "What are those things doing there?" Pollan says.
2. Don’t eat anything with more than five ingredients, or ingredients you can't pronounce.
3. Stay out of the middle of the supermarket; shop on the perimeter of the store. Real food tends to be on the outer edge of the store near the loading docks, where it can be replaced with fresh foods when it goes bad.
4. Don't eat anything that won't eventually rot. "There are exceptions -- honey -- but as a rule, things like Twinkies that never go bad aren't food," Pollan says.
5. It is not just what you eat but how you eat. "Always leave the table a little hungry," Pollan says. "Many cultures have rules that you stop eating before you are full. In Japan, they say eat until you are four-fifths full. Islamic culture has a similar rule, and in German culture they say, 'Tie off the sack before it's full.'"
6. Families traditionally ate together, around a table and not a TV, at regular meal times. It's a good tradition. Enjoy meals with the people you love. "Remember when eating between meals felt wrong?" Pollan asks.
7. Don't buy food where you buy your gasoline. In the U.S., 20% of food is eaten in the car

Lenten Sacrifice

Sacrifice for Lent:

-commercial bread

Ways to Abstain:

-pasta

-homemade bread

-tortillas (?)

-Just plain abstinence

Count Down to Conference:

-three days

Homework

Books/Articles I've read so far this semester:

-La Venus d'Ille by Prosper Merimee

-Rene by Chateaubriand

-Le Rouge et le Noir by Stendhal

-La Morte Amoureuse by Maupassant

-Discours sur la science et les arts by Rousseau

-Confessions (chapters 1-4) by Rousseau

-Candide by Voltaire

-Lettres Philosophiques (1-6, 8-10, 18, 23, 25) by Voltaire

-A bunch of stuff about Sophie Calle (funnest photographer... ever?)

-The Uncanny by Freud

-Something about La Venus d'Ille written by Cropper

-Extracts from Classes laborieuses, classes dangereuses by Louis Chevalier

-Extracts from Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

-Les Imaginaires Sociaux from a dictionary by Alain Courbin

-La "Monarchie d'argot" entre le mythe et l'histoire by Roger Chartier

-A bunch of stuff about Walker Evans and the FSA

-Pieces of Introduction a la litterature francaise by Tzvetan Todorov

-Pieces of La litterature fantastique by Denis Mellier

-Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

-An article about reference books for research on French literature

-Lots of random newspaper articles

-A few articles on photography

Language

What I speak:

-English

-French (kind of)

-Franglais (fluently)

-An accelerated semester's worth of German

-Random words and phrases in many more languages

-Made up Danish (a la "Danish Language" video on youtube)

English Dialects I Can At Least Imitate:

-Yiddish (the dialect in English, not the language so well)

-Valley Girl

-Surfer

-Academese

-Utahn (to a certain extent)

Languages I Want to Learn:

-German

-Latin

-Danish, then Norwegian and Swedish (in that order)

-Japanese

-Chinese

-Turkish

-Italian/Portuguese/Spanish

-Greek

-Korean

-A few variations of Creole (Cajun, Haitian)

-Saami

New Month, New Resolutions (At Least, Partially)

My Goals For This Month:

-Save Money and budget

-Sleep normally

-Do homework at a reasonable time ahead of class

-Get significant work done on work project

-Give an awesome presentation at a conference

-Take awesome photos, just for fun

-Concentrate on my health in all three areas (physical, emotional, spiritual)

Physical Health Goals:

-Cook at home more often

-Less sugar intake

-Go to gym again

Emotional Health Goals:
-Focus more on friendships

-Prioritize my activities and school work to keep everything in perspective

-Do something for someone else on a weekly basis

Spiritual Health Goals:

-Attend the temple twice this month

-Read the scriptures on the topic of Faith

-Include General Authority talks with scripture study

benal

Today's Grocery List:
-pinto beans
-bacon
-diced tomatoes
-jalapenos
-chipotles in adobo
-cilantro
-eggs
-milk
-sugar
-yogurt
-tortillas
-bread
-salsa
-PB
-jam
-butter

Because I liked the first one so much:

25 Random Things About Me:

1. I don't know how to keep a good manicure.
2. I have a soft spot for violent movies.
3. I don't actually care about the real definition of "pun." I will use it to mean whatever I want, whenever I want, and I don't need to be corrected on it.
4. I'm not competitive, but I don't like failing. If I'm going to lose a game, I'm probably not going to try to win.
5. I don't own contacts, so if I'm not wearing glasses, I'm sacrificing vision for comfort, fashion, or laziness.
6. I can't imagine having a career without a family, or a family without a dog.
7. I really, really like finding critical theory in campy and kitschy films and tv shows, like All Dogs Go To Heaven or Hello Kitty's Furry Tale Theater.
8. I sometimes wish I were asian so I could get away with bold fashion choices.
9. I'm probably not as well-read as most people think. I just know my way around wikipedia, and tend to learn about things through parodies on shows like SNL or Animaniacs.
10. I'm kind of in love with Rahm Emmanuel and Joe Biden. Nothing they do will hinder this.
11. Most days, I wish I had studied linguistics instead of settling into a single language for advanced study.
12. Few things get me more excited than a 15th Century Burgundian manuscript. Really. I'm that nerdy.
13. Tintin is one of those few things.
14. I adore every single one of those characters, but especially Milou (Snowy) and Capitaine Haddock. And Professeur Tournesol (Professor Calculus).
15. I kind of really like comic books and graphic novels. I may also consider them as good as classic literature, like the Aeneid.
16. I didn't like chick flicks until I was a senior in high school. I still prefer the more "masculine" forms of movies, and have a huge soft spot for the heist film genre. I can watch Rififi anytime, any day. And it's not even my favorite.
17. Sometimes I think that maybe, instead of becoming a professor, I should become a film critic. Then I remember that I have issues with sharing my opinions on movies with others.
18. Sometimes I read books or watch movies and think that maybe, just maybe, someday I could make something that cool. And then I realize that I haven't ever been too creative, but I'm fairly good at imitation. So, if I could do a remake...
19. I have a hard time thinking that humanity in general is good. I think it's because of this nightmare I once had after reading some Hobbes. It was kind of an awesome nightmare.
20. Another of my favorite dreams (the above being one) was about a zombie invasion at church.
21. I went to a private elementary school (Hawarden Hills Academy) where children were assigned numbers by the teachers. I never connected this before, but maybe this is why I think dystopian novels are awesome. They often contain some kind of depersonalization, akin to calling your student by a number instead of a name. I can definitely relate to that.
22. This isn't random, but I am extremely awkward in many situations. And I tend to not care enough to fix it.
23. I don't think being shy is a bad thing that needs to be changed. I think that extroverts refuse to understand the introverted way of life, and have ruined civilization for the timid human.
24. I can be extremely opinionated, but I rarely realize it until after I expose that to someone else.
25. Someone once called me "one of the most rational women [he] knows." It wasn't really compliment, and I kind of doubt it's true. I'm not that rational, but I know logic just enough to manipulate it and have the appearance of using it.

New Semester

Things That Are Fun:
-New movies at International Cinema!
-New classes!
-New books to read all day every day!
-Less snow and cold than December!
-Food!
-Seeing people I know all over!

Things That Are Not Fun:
-Reading all the time!
-Not sleeping enough two weeks into the semester already!
-Forgetting things a lot! Like flushing my transmission fluid!
-Stress!
-Forgetting to shower and work out and do laundry and all sorts of personal hygiene!
-Feeling sick!

Pros of Being Witty/Sarcastic:
-Comedic value, especially when the other party is in the dark
-Ability to take advantage of the confusion that ensues
-People who understand think I'm that much more intelligent
-It's kind of like mental exercise in a comedic style
-Practice reaction time in conversations
-I can amuse myself no matter what anyone else thinks

Cons to Being Witty/Sarcastic:
-People don't understand and I look like a crazy/stupid woman
-People do understand but think that I'm a horribly mean person
-People don't understand and the conversation takes an awkward turn towards explaining random comments
-People don't hear, and ask to repeat, which is never as funny as the original moment
-People don't think I'm as funny/smart as I am
-People think I'm funnier/smarter than I really am, and thus I have high expectations to live up to

Winter Break '09

Loot:
-clothing
-Disney's "Bolt"
-CNN Season 2
-Wooster and Jeeves complete DVD collection
-rings
-New winter coat (with hood)
-wallet
-money
-The Art of War by Sun Tsu
-Candy and an orange (from Santa)

New Year Resolutions:
-Stay on top of Reading List
-Exercise regularly
-Read books for fun