More Things I've Learned at Home

Even when you're at home, out of school, you learn some things.  And seeing as I'm going to be leaving home for a job in Nebraska, it seems fitting to post this now.

1.  The people who go to free library or community events are typically the same age as your grandmother.
2.  If you knit for long periods of time, your fingers can seize up.
3.  Marshall Field's will always be Marshall Field's.  The walking tour guide said so, so it has to be true.
4.  You may follow your stomach down Epic Lane, and find yourself on an Epic adventure you didn't expect.
5.  Go to the House on the Rock in the summer.  Or go in the winter, freeze your toes off, and get a personalized tour.
6.  The creepy people will find you.  And they will talk to you.
7.  "Oh, you must have a teen at home.  Oh--oh, you just like reading...well keep reading..."
8.  The day you want to go to the library to get a movie, they will be closed.
9.  Sometimes you need to bring a bodyguard.
10.  There are significantly more interesting things to do around the city that aren't necessarily advertised or Google-able.
11.  Storytelling is beautiful.
12.  Pre-screening interview?
13.  They're your parents, so they're going to ask you where you're going and when you're going to get back.  You'll be lucky  if they don't ask who you're going with so you don't have to say, "Well...no one..."
14.  The days when you write a to do list and accomplish all of your tasks will be your more fulfilling days.  Make more of those.
15.  The cheese curds are good.  The service, not so great.
16.  "Don't mess with her, she doesn't have a pancreas!"
17.  Right hand turns on red lights are more important than the life of a pedestrian (she says after basically being hit by a car, thanks lady!).
18.  You've been to this building multiple times, you know that the elevator goes to the 8th floor, and yet you still insist on taking the stairs up to a locked door and getting lost.
19.  Not all people will understand your sense of humor and you need to be okay with this.
20.  Sugar does not alleviate caffeine jitters.
21.  Keep on writing your e-mails the way you do, because it's awesome.
22.  Sometimes being 22 is rough.  Other times it's great.  Find the in between.
23.  Demon wine.  Never again.
24.  Irrationality.  All over the place.  All the time.  And that's okay.
25.  I can't remember what I did for fun when I was 12, and I guess that's going to have to be okay.
26.  Trekking up and down all the stairs in my house is an ordeal.
27.  Interesting people are few and far between.
28.  If you bring someone to a party with you and share a drink with them, chances are the people around you will assume you're "together."
29.  NaPoWriMo exposes you to interesting poets and poetry sites if you're inclined to take a gander.
30.  Always be prepared to cry during a Doctor Who episode.
31.  Okay, so insufferable and cruel characters can turn out to be endearing and clever.  Thanks for proving me wrong, Logan Echolls.
32.  When given a number of songs to include in a playlist, you may exceed this number.  By a lot.
33.  Make change.  Yeah.  That's a pun.
34.  Carry cash.
35.  The El is awesome.  The end.
36.  Chances are there is parking where you're going.  Although 95% of the time it will be permit only parking or you'll have to pay.
37.  You'll remember the knot when you get there.
38.  You may expect to see a lot of slave Leias at the comic con, but chances are you'll only see one, and her boyfriend will be dressed as...himself.  Disappointing.
39.  Be careful who you're talking to when you joke about stealing something off a person's table.  That person just might be the writer.  Oops.
40.  Stairwells.
41.  Honesty and a lack of secrets bring you closer to a person you didn't think that was possible for.  If that makes any sense at all.
42.  "We deserve to be more than 'just' anything."
43.  Painting yellow over gray takes far more coats of paint than you originally anticipated.
44.  The thing you will miss most about college is the community.  Specifically the creative community, but also the school family.
45.  When you come home, you'll realize that having a roommate was really kinda nice.
46.  Sometimes there is an unspoken deadline.
47.  Poems sold from a gumball/vending machine are the best poems.  Well, best poems for the fifty cents you pay for them.
48.  That person you met once is now following you on all social media outlets, and you just want them to go away.
49.  There are some people who you really want to be friends with, so when you finally do make friends, this is a huge and worthwhile accomplishment.
50.  The opinions of some people matter more than the opinions of other people.
51.  Poetry readings in an apartment or a bookstore, infinitely better than poetry readings in large spaces.
52.  The poet recognized your face too, you don't have to feel dumb for not recognizing him at first.  Oops.
53.  "Are you sure you can live in a small town?  I mean, you are from Chicago..."
54.  My room will always get significantly worse before it's even close to being clean and straightened.
55.  Sometimes doing the right thing is more difficult and hurts more than doing what's easy, but in the long run, it'll all be okay.

"Puttin' on a cowboy hat and a pair of boots doesn't make you country; Like puttin' on a ball gown and heels won't make me Cinderella."

- Kellie Elmore

What Can I Do?!

Today I'm trying to clean my room and bring the rest of my things down into the dungeon, and I found this list folded up in one of my desk drawers.  This is the exact order of this list, and I haven't changed anything past the title.  I may have been on to something here...

What can I do?!
- actor
- writer
- librarian
- stage manager
- set designer (scale...)
- lighting designer (possibly science...)
- director (stage/screen)
- historical consultant
- dramaturg (I don't know what this is...)
- mime
- French translator
- teacher (eh?)
- playwright/screenplay writer
- pirate/sailor
- something GS related
- Creative Writing Teacher
- professor
- speech writer
- waitress
- book shop owner
- Disney worker (imagineer?)
- worker at the Renaissance Fair
- governess
- nanny (like Mary Poppins!)
- professional turtle tosser/letter writer/ (galactic) hitchhiker
- journalist (or not...)
- zoo keeper

Things I've Learned and Some Things I'm Grateful for...

There's a lot that's been going on in my life right now, which would be a pretty good reason why I haven't written a blog post in about a week.  I'd say that it was because I got a job, but unfortunately that would be a falsehood.  But really, lots of good things and lots of just things have been going on, and so it feels about time for another list.  I have a list of things I've learned at home...but I'm thinking I'll post that after I've been here for six months.  One more month to go.  Well, half a month.

Anyway.  Here's a list of things that I've learned recently, and a couple of things that I'm grateful for.

1.  Everyone in the Chicago artists community knows one another.  I'm convinced that if I mention the name of somebody artistic and based in Chicago, my boss at Here's the Story will know them.  (See: Robbie Q. Telfer)
2.  You really should drink that super tall glass of water and swallow some sort of painkiller after a night of drinking, and then your hangover will magically either not exist or be manageable.
3.  Superior is the name of an ambulance company and they like putting their name on the backs of their EMTs.
4.  You shouldn't be surprised if you make someone feel/look awkward if you ask them if you can write a poem about them.  This is not a normal question!
5.  The most actively energetic booth at a street festival will be the one that performs literary related things rather than the people selling books.  Go figure.
6.  "Where are all the college aged people?"  Oh wait.  It's summer.
7.  Knowing that someone (for example, your boss) appreciates your writing abilities is really awesome.
8.  Apparently Tuesday evening is a popular time for traveling by train.
9.  It doesn't matter what it's for, being asked for an autograph will always make me feel like a rock star.
10.  Oh, you want me to read the poem I wrote aloud?  Why yes, I will do that for you.
11.  Poetry dispensed from a gumball/vending machine will be the most popular poetry.
12.  "I read your poem yesterday, and it was the most beautiful thing I've ever read.  And I'm a librarian!"
13.  You will get hugs when your poetry is deemed good.
14.  The most terrifying experience is watching someone read your poem while you're standing right there.  ("Do I watch their face for a reaction?  Do I pretend I'm not here?  Do I ask them about it when they're done?")
15.  There are some people that you make friends with and you just want to punch your fist into the air over your head in triumph when you succeed.
16.  Third party outsiders are usually the best for relationship advice.  Even better when the asking for this advice or the venting doesn't make them feel awkward.
17.  Spontaneity.
18.  You have no idea how many different interpretations can result from the instructions of "eat lunch with a stranger."
19.  I am not hitting on you if I ask how old you are.
20.  When you manage to pack three days worth of clothes in your purse that can apparently eat the world...this will be a gigantic accomplishment, and you have full rights to gloat.

So Saturday and Sunday I participated in the Printers Row Lit Fest where I stood at the Here's the Story table and sold poems from my Poem-A-Day Project out of this gumball/vending machine that I'll have pictures of soon.  It was a really neat experience because so many people walked by and commented about how cute the idea was, and a TON of people stopped to buy poems.  Some of them asked me to read them aloud, so the performer in my obliged, and some asked me to sign them in case I ever get famous.  I was overwhelmed by the people who told me they were good or beautiful or fun or funny because, well, for some reason I didn't expect to get much except a couple quarters.  I set my expectations low so I don't get disappointed.  Another thing that came out of Lit Fest was the experience of hanging out with other people from Here's the Story, and talking to them really made me feel more a part of the Here's the Story family.  Strange how hours under the sun out on the street can bring you closer to people.  Shared experiences for the win.

One thing that disappointed me was a father tugging on his son's hand at Lit Fest and telling the little boy, "No, those aren't candy, they're poems.  You don't want those."  I'm not saying that because I wanted to sell a poem to a small child, I mean to say that I was disappointed because to me, being at a lit fest means exploring new literature, new ways of reading, or creating written work.  If an 8-year old kid wants to buy a poem out of a gumball machine, he should.  If he wants to read a poem at all, he should.  It's stuff like that comment, that tugging arm, that make me sad.  I was surrounded all weekend by people who love the written word and who love writing or reading, and so to stop someone from reading something feels like one of the worst and most violent actions you can take towards a person.  We're not really talking literally, so we're ignoring maim and torture.  I just kept thinking that if that kid had bought a poem, what would have happened?  Maybe he would have thrown it out at the next trash can (though I would hope he would recycle).  Maybe he would tear it up and use it as confetti.  But maybe he would have read it and it would have inspired him to write something, whether it be a poem, an essay, a story, or a grocery list.  Maybe, just maybe, that little kid was a writer in the making but he had a father telling him that he "doesn't want those" poems.

"My hour for tea is half-past five, and my buttered toast waits for nobody."

- Wilkie Collins

2 Truths...and...Just Kidding

One of my friends, Elizabeth, is an English teacher.  As part of her teaching magic, she has her students write blog posts.  So, she shared these prompts with me, and I am very excited to be stealing one of them for today's post.  It's based on the game 2 Truths and a Lie, but I've decided to dispense with the lie (for now) and tell you three truths about me.

And note to self, write something fictional soon.  Preferably good and fictional, but I know how you can get...

1.  I can juggle.

I'm not saying I can juggle well, but I can, indeed, juggle.  My first May Term through my university, I went to a juggling workshop.  I believe that was my first May Term, at least.  I spent the majority of the workshop tossing two balls into the air until the person running the thing had me pick up the third.  At that point, I spent a long time tossing two balls and holding the third because I was terrified of tossing it.  Until I just did.  So I can do the very basic juggling pattern of three balls.  That's about it.  My brother taught himself how to juggle by using YouTube, that magical place, and he can do a number of tricks, and in my attempt to be more like my brother, I'm planning on learning how to do some myself.

2.  My favorite game is Bananagrams.  Though I'm not particularly good at it.

I was only introduced to Banagrams a couple years ago and played it in Steak 'n Shake and/or the lounge of my residence hall.  And it was awesome.  But the reason I'm not particularly good is because I'm not usually very quick about putting together my words.  I have a bad habit of seeing a word I really want to use and then rearranging my entire collection of letters so I can use it.  I did this for "quixotic," and "wizard," and those are the two I can remember.  To be fair, "quixotic" uses two really annoying letters, so strategically it was a good move.  Point being, I usually sacrifice speed for interesting words.

3.  I collect fortune cookie fortunes.

Not on purpose.  Though I'm not really sure how you can accidentally collect something.  It's more that every time I eat a fortune cookie, I pin the fortune to my bulletin board in my room.  Last summer I actually took all my fortunes, compiled them into a Word document, and tossed out the little slips of paper.  So now I'm starting from scratch.  I think I like being able to look back at the fortunes and see if any of them still apply later in my life?  Or maybe I think that I can use them for a writing prompt of some sort.  My friend, Katie, actually talked about writing something based on fortune cookie fortunes, and I think that that's a brilliant idea.  And using fortunes that have already been written would eliminate the headache of having to write your own fortunes.  Hm.

"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened."

- Winston Churchill 

Bored? Never!

This morning the radio told me, "If you're bored then you're boring."  And because being boring has got to be the worst and most terrible insult that I could ever receive...and it would probably make me cry if someone called me boring...I remembered that I'm doing lots of things, and therefore not bored!  Step one!  When I say that I'm doing a lot of things, I mean that I'm working on revising poetry, I'm reading a lot of novels, I'm watching a lot of movies, and I'm knitting.  A lot.  Part of me suspects this is in preparation of my becoming a grandmother one day.  I need to learn how to knit sweaters...

It also astounds me that anyone could ever be bored.  There are about a million and one things that you can do whether you stay at home or go out and have adventures.  I know this because I've found and done the majority of these things with my new found free time.  And I have plans to add more things.  But right now I'm just compiling a list of things I can/would like to do solo so the next time I get into my "I have no friends" funk, I'll do something exciting and make friends through telling people about it!  Ready?  GO!

Things I Want To Do While At Home:

-  make 5 Pinterest crafts, otherwise I'm just talk
-  learn how to make 5 Pinterest dishes, so I don't starve)
-  learn how to do a card trick (or multiple card tricks...)
-  learn new juggling techniques and/or tricks
-  finish moving pictures from the old computer onto CDs for my father
-  read a wider variety of books (genres I need to try: biography, horror, and possibly western)
-  experiment with make-up and see if I can learn how to do fancy things, just for fun
-  see a movie on my own because I hear it's a totally different experience
-  Random Acts of Kindness
-  go to a public place and people watch shamelessly
-  learn how to knit something that's not flat and square
-  memorize Hamlet's "To be or not to be" speech because I've got the first five lines and I might as well
-  memorize my nerd poem because that's going to be useful one of these days
-  revise poetry!  Lots of poetry revisions!
-  send snail mail
-  go forth and do tourist-y things because I can
-  write something that's fiction and prose, preferably a short story!
-  use the "bored?  don't be!" deck of cards
-  clean the entire house
-  organize my personal library
-  play dress up

"She refused to be bored chiefly because she wasn't boring."

- Zelda Fitzgerald

Things I'm Bad At

Well, that was a very near thing.  The thing to which I'm referring being nearly forgetting to write a blog post for today.  I was all tucked up in my reading corner to read a book (V Is for Vengeance, my grandpa lent it to me), and I suddenly had a light bulb moment and I was reminded that I hadn't written a post yet for today, and I was doing so well with my Lenten promise, I couldn't quite get myself to slack.  Darn.

So without further ado...things I'm bad at, inspired by Jenna Marbles' video that my friend posted on my Facebook this morning!  Whoohoo!

1.  Remembering things -- I'm notorious for forgetting things, which is the number one reason I use Post-Its as if my life depends on them because let's face it.  My life depends on those little paper squares.

2.  Speaking -- Too many thoughts, not enough coherence to get them out into the air.  Practice, I guess?

3.  Sports --  All of them.  Typically things that require physical exertion of any kind...I'm bad at.  Take my fencing class for instance, I was the class punching bag.  Basically.  I helped boost the ego of every one of my classmates by losing every bout.  Except for that one...and I'm very disappointed that I've forgotten who I beat.

4.  Backing my car down the driveway -- My brother and my mom just zip down the driveway no problem, but swinging into the driveway and then inching along that length of concrete is just plain difficult for me.

5.  Making popcorn -- Although this is a matter of opinion.  I'm perfectly good at making popcorn for myself...because I like it slightly burnt.

6.  Small talk -- I'm not really a fan of small talk, so I think my lack of enthusiasm may show through here.  Again, practice, that would help...

7.  Hearing -- I'm good at listening, but I occasionally mishear things.

8.  Using my desk for what it's actually meant for -- I tend to use my desk as a storage space.  I like stacking things on top of my desk.

9.  Wearing ugly socks -- The end.

10.  Finishing creative projects -- I start these grandiose projects or have these great ideas, but the follow-through...need more follow-through.

"It is absurd to divide people into good and bad.  People are either charming or tedious."

- Oscar Wilde

30 Day Creative Writing Challenge

Alright, so I'm thinking I'm going to do a 30 Day Creative Writing Challenge that I stole from HERE.  I need some regular writing of things, possibly fiction, possibly poetry, possibly a little bit of both as well as some stream of consciousness-ish things.  So we'll see what happens.  These will start on January 1st.  Ready, set, GO!

Day 1: Re-write a classic fairy tale

Day 2: Write a fanfiction

Day 3: A story that takes place pre-1950

Day 4: A poem using the words: blue, mistrust, half, twang

Day 5: A story revolving around an object in your room

Day 6: Start your story with: “He glanced at his watch impatiently…”

Day 7: Create a superhero. Have he/she save the day.

Day 8: Write a prequel to that Superhero. Pre-Superhero life. Maybe their childhood.

Day 9: A story in 250 words or less about your favorite city

Day 10: Start story with: “She touched the little box in her pocket and smiled…”

Day 11: A story where the characters go without power for a day.

Day 12: Find 10 random words and create your own definitions.

Day 13: Begin with “I thought I saw…”

Day 14: randomly find someone in your yearbook. Create a story about their life today.

Day 15: Write about a stranger you see. Either their back-story or what they are thinking in the moment you see them.

Day 16: Go to iTunes, put your music on random. Write a story about the first song that comes up. (250 words or less)

Day 17: Use time travel in a story

Day 18: A story set in a ghost town.

Day 19: Write an obituary for a historical figure

Day 20: Use these words in a story: grandfather, photo album, post office, and folder

Day 21: He or she sees their crush in a library. describe the incident.

Day 22: Write a story based on a dream you had

Day 23: Describe/fictionalize a childhood memory

Day 24: Write a story that takes place 100 years in the future

Day 25: Write a story about a mythical creature.

Day 26: Write about the 30th picture on your phone or computer. Write about the story behind it, or make up the story behind it.

Day 27: Story taking place during a sporting event (any sport)

Day 28: Story on a ship. Past, present, or future.

Day 29: Story about space

Day 30: Story or poem about ice

More Little Things that Make Me Happy

At about this moment, I thought it was about time for another blog post.  It's been a while, so it's time for a continued list of little things that make me happy.  Some may be repeats because I'm not reading the original list, so you're just going to have to deal with it.

• brightly colored socks
• hot tea and honey
• comfy, holey hoodies
• Post-It notes
• ice cream
• going for walks
• feeling my waistband a little looser than usual
• chocolate milkshakes
• knowing I'm wearing new shoes
• dressing up and looking pretty for no particular reason
• rolling around on the floor
• decorating my bulletin board
• cuddling with gigantic stuffed animals
• curling up with a blanket
• starting a new notebook
• bicycle bells and bicycles with baskets
• getting a seat on the bus
• poetry
• when Pandora plays music with words
• washing dishes with a lot of soap so I can see the bubbles run over
• pulling my knees up to my chin
• handwritten letters
• chalk
• Chinese food
• pizza
• being able to say "I lifted weights this morning" even if they weren't very heavy and I didn't do it for very long
• colored pens
• writing in books
• using recycled paper (because I am a supreme nerd)
• finishing a month of Poem-A-Days and being able to look back and read them all
• holding hands
• kisses (chocolate and otherwise)
• toothless little kid grins

And...that's all I've got for now.

Things I've Learned at Home

As a recent college graduate, I figured that my learning would end once I left the beautiful campus of the place I'd called home for the past four years.  How very, very wrong I was.

1. The day you really want to go to the library, it'll be closed for a library institute day.  You'll try going at 9 the next day, only to realize it doesn't open until noon.
2. Old people will glare at you if you drive across parking spaces in the parking lot.  They will also glare at you when you start driving across the intersection when they're crossing the street NOT at the corner!
3. Small children will attack when you're innocently trying to recycle paper.
4. Your 5 books are only worth $2.  All together.
5. The local Barnes and Noble doesn't have a poetry section, though it does have an entire set of shelves devoted to "teen paranormal romance."
6. It has to get worse before it'll start looking better.
7. No, I don't need a copy of the script from a show I wasn't actually in, I just stage managed...because I'm never going to need to call those light cues again.
8. Don't worry if it looks like you've made zero progress with cleaning your room...that's just a sign that you have a lot of stuff to sift through.
9. If you ask your dad really nicely, he'll fill up the bike's tires with air before you even get home.
10. The alternative music radio station will resurrect itself just in time for you to listen to it on a bike ride.
11. The radio in your car will never work again.  Ever.  Because you're home and you want to listen to it.
12. That car sitting next to the school bus that almost hit you?  She wasn't watching the school bus.  She will also almost hit you.
13. If you're helping your dad with the balcony, make sure those unsecure boards you sit on are out of his reach, or he'll try messing with you.
14. Spiders can drown in the washer.
15. Cookie sheets can burn you.
16. You might be judged based on the titles of the books you take out from the library.
17. If you start one romance novel in a series, you will have to read the rest of the series just to find out what happens to the rest of the characters.
18. Most Parisians are kind and helpful and genuinely don't want to see you wandering around sad and lost in their city.
19. Your boyfriend will remember this:  http://xkcd.com/201/ and it'll be awesome.
20. If you're standing next to someone nice in the line for the Amtrak, they'll give you the window seat because you talked about it.  On your return trip, you will meet Ben, and he will be awkward.
21. People are stupid.  Sometimes they're related to you.
22. You will see Fifty Shades of Gray everywhere.  Yes.  Even Kroger.  Though not at Menard's.
23. You will get a "nod" at Menard's.  Possibly because you're wearing a zombie bandana.
24. Time moves really oddly over the summer.
25. You will be in every picture/video of the front row at a concert for a band you only know 3 songs for (though you will be surrounded by people who have attended (collectively) over 200 of their concerts).
26. Ekphrasis is haaaaard....  And you will be thankful when the Pinterest poems are over.
27. You are a reading machine.
28. It doesn't matter when you go to the library, even if you vary the days and time of day, you will never bump into the librarian you want to bump into.
29. "That's a lot of watermelons."
30. The dog you're sitting doesn't know how to play fetch, but he's exceptionally good at playing "keep away."
31. Everyone will have a job, or something to do during the summer.  Everyone but you.  So pick up a book.  Or three.
32. "Where do you wait for the buses?"  "Over where it's labelled 'buses.'"  Thanks, I can read, I was testing you under these unusual circumstances.
33. Coffee Hound espresso is infinitely better than any other espresso and you will be reminded every time you buy a coffee drink from anywhere else.
34. After a couple ciders, always be careful when you choose to turn your head to kiss your boyfriend.  That head in the way does not belong to him.
35. Yes, you can quote "The Doctor's Wife," but that doesn't mean you should.
36. Be careful how enthusiastically you twist your neck.
37. Never make promises you don't intend to keep.
38. New things come out on Tuesdays.
39. You will visit Barnes and Noble WAY too many times during the summer, but you will buy too few books (a.k.a. none).
40. A complete stranger will hear your conversation and assure you and your friends that he "can do the tongue thing."

Things I Learned in Paris

From May 18th until yesterday, I was in Paris, France with my mother and my grandmother.  It was a kind of graduation gift from Grandma, and let me tell you right now that it was a dream come true.  Ever since I started taking French classes in 7th grade, I've wanted to visit Paris.  It's one of those things you have to do if you're learning French.  And even now, I haven't stopped learning.

1. Taking luggage on the Metro or RER is one of the worst decisions you can make if only because there will be complain-y people.  Haha, sure you're speaking French, but I can still understand you...
2. Ask the server for wine suggestions.
3. Tip is always included.
4. More people than you might think know and are willing to speak English, but they'll apologize for it.  I'm sorry my French isn't better, your English is infinitely better than my French and I'm in your country!
   
   

   

   La Tour Eiffel!

   
   
5. The Eiffel Tower is brown.
6. Never ever wear your un-broken-in character shoes on the first day of a walking-heavy vacation.
7. Band-Aids are pretty much the best things ever.  :^)
8. Croque-Madame and quiche Lorraine.  Yes please!
9. Steak burgers are infinitely better than regular burgers.
10. Timhotel is lackluster.
    
    
    
    Source: budgetsavvydiva.com via Brandy on Pinterest
11. Chocolate croissants.  Miam, miam, miam...
12. L'Arc de Triomphe is in the center of a star of streets and yet un-findable when tired.
13. The only public toilets are the shifty ones on the street.
14. When you really need to go to the bathroom and think, "Hey!  I'll just use this free museum pass to use a museum bathroom," none of the six nearby museums will be on the list of museums it can be used for.
15. At some intersections you have to take your life into your own hands because there are no "walk" signals.
    
    

    

    I'm going to miss these little walky guys...

    
    
16. "Don't walk" signals don't have feet.
17. Shakespeare and Co. is beautiful.
18. Gelato is absolutely delicious and eaten with little bitty plastic shovels.
19. Orangina, chocolat chaud, and wine.
20. Oh, it seems you bought your wares on Oriental Trading..."May I have 1000 chintzy plastic Eiffel Towers for $0.05?  Thanks!"
    
    

    

    Why thank you sir, I definitely wanted you and your elbow in my picture...

    
    
21. The Venus de Milo initially looks like a hologram.
22. The Mona Lisa is bigger than I originally thought it would be.
23. Sometimes the view from Sacre-Coeur or the Musee d'Orsay can suffice.
24. Little old ladies enjoy standing outside famous Gothic cathedrals and gesturing at the facade.
    
    

    

    "You see there's a tall bit, a not-so-tall bit, and another tall bit..."

    
    
25. There's a tall bit, then a not-so-tall bit, and another tall bit on Notre Dame.
26. Hausmann regulated building in Paris: carve the front out of stone, each apartment must have a balcony, the top floor needs to have one balcony all the way around, and windows in the roof.
27. Everyone in Louis XVI's family was vaccinated.
28. Never ever, ever take something being handed to you (paper silhouettes or clay pottery especially).
    
    
    
    Source: tumblr.com via Lexi on Pinterest
29. Scarves.  Leather jackets.  Big glasses.  Boots.  Lacey dresses.  Shorts and tights.  Converse.
30. 23 times.
31. Wild poodles only come out at night, and your mother will continuously insist that it wasn't real.
32. "First thing...and another thing..."
33. The line's not as long as it seems, especially when you have a pass that lets you skip it.
34. You need stamps to send postcards.  Wait, really?
    
    

    

    Ca c'est jolie!!!  C'est une maison a Montmartre!

    
    
35. Montmartre's a beautiful climb.
36. Not all Indiana Cafes are created equal.
37. "We're just going to give you drinks and we're going to ask you to pay first.  No, you may not have menus, because we refuse to feed you." (Bad day.)
38. Sleeping on a pallet at my mother's feet isn't that bad.
39. I am Marilyn Monroe in Paris.
40. Confirmed: my pajama pants and blanket make a laser light show in the dark.
41. Tour buses are imaginary.  Unless you don't have a reservation.  In other words...your tour?  It doesn't exist.
    
    

    

    The view from the cafe Le Dome.

    
    
42. Sitting at a cafe in the rain = :^D
43. French keyboards are insanely difficult to type on.
44. AltGr for @
45. Jury duty?
46. Walking crepes are delicious, and it's fascinating to watch them made.
47. Craft fairs may be deceiving...
48. You may be exhausted, but your RER train will stop the stop before your's and not move, forcing you to take a Metro back into the city to get to where you need to go outside of the center.
49. Daytime television is vastly more interesting than evening news programs.
    
    
    
    Source: google.com via Bonnie on Pinterest
50. "We'll always have Paris."
    
    
    "If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast."
    - Ernest Hemingway

Prompts

In cleaning my room, I found a couple Post-Its stuck to my desk.  They had writing prompts on them.  So I'm posting them here.

From "A Brief Lecture on Door Closers" by Clemens Starck

1.  "How does it work?"

2.  Write about a process or a history.

3.  Acknowledge a metaphor.  As a metaphor.

4.  How do people interact with mechanisms?

From "Why I Take Good Care of My Macintosh" by Gary Snyder

1.  Write the answers to a "why" question.  Multiple answers.

2.  Use repetition and the line variation that Snyder uses in his poem.

From "What's in My Journal" by William Stafford

1.  What's in your journal?

2.  How do these line breaks work?  See what you can do to replicate them.

3.  What's the pacing of the list?  Is it good or not?

4.  Mix in concrete imagery with the abstract.

4 Things

(in no particular order…)

Four dreams I’ve had about my life:

1. Be happy.

2. Be able to write whenever I want.  Read as much as I want.

3. Become fluent in French.

4. Open a café/book shop where all the drink names are literary references.

Four careers I have wanted:

1. Teacher

2. Broadway actress/director/playwright

3. Veterinarian

4. Writer (particularly a novelist, but I’m branching out into “poet” as well)

Four favorite animals:

1. PENGUIN!  (Because of the family penguin joke)

2. Flamingo

3. Unicorn

4. Phoenix

Four movies I’ve watched more than once:

1. The Princess Bride

2. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

3. The Star Wars trilogy

4. Love Actually

Four TV shows I watch:

1. Doctor Who

2. Glee

3. Once Upon a Time

4. Castle/House/Bones (occasionally)

Four places I have lived:

1. Des Plaines, IL

2. Chicago, IL

3. Bloomington, IL

4. London/Edinburgh (while on a school trip?)

Four places I’ve been:

1. Disneyland

2. The Globe Theatre

3. London Bridge (not in London)

4. The Grand Canyon

Four favorite drinks:

1. Lemonade

2. Chocolate milk

3. Grape Kool Aid

4. Orange juice

Four of my favorite foods:

1. French toast

2. Pizza

3. Macaroni and cheese

4. Green bean casserole

Four of my least favorite foods:

1. Carrots

2. Lima beans

3. Mango

4. Papaya

Four places I would like to be:

1. Home (amongst family)

2. IWU (amongst friends)

3. Scotland (amongst history)

4. In a library (amongst literature)

Four things I’m looking forward to this year:

1. Going to Disney World to participate in the Disney College Program.

2. Being able to read whenever I want.

3. Continuing the Poem-a-Day Project at least into September.

4. The Summer (Paris, house-sitting, and camping!)

Four favorite hobbies:

1. Reading (anything, but I draw the line at street signs)

2. Writing snippets of things and poetry

3. Knitting square flat things

4. Crafting

Four favorite quotes:

1. “Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate, it is that we are powerful beyond measure…” – Marianne Williamson

2. “The knack of flying is learning to throw yourself at the ground and miss.” – Douglas Adams

3. “It’s not my job to be right.  It’s my job to be wrong in new and exciting ways.” – James Kennedy

4. “Life moves pretty fast.  If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” – Ferris Bueller

To Do over Spring Break

Spring Break starts this Friday.  Because it's a break in the middle of the semester and professors don't generally take pity on us, I'm not foreseeing a lot of free time because I'll probably have school work to do, but I can dream, right?  What follows is a list of all the things I want to do over Spring Break if there's time.

• Write a poem about a stripper cannon (not-so-long story, but it's a "you had to be there" story...so I'm just going to let that one lie.  No pun intended.)
• Learn how to cook something that isn't cereal and milk, toast, French toast, oven pizza, any type of pasta, or things that Brianna already knows how to "cook"
• Visit Chicago Zinefest with David, even though I have no idea what to expect from this extravaganza
• Blog daily (naturally)
• Read for fun (any number of the books that I own that I should read mostly because I own them and they're lonely having not been read, but probably Good Omens if I can remember to bring it home with me)
• Re-write my stories for my fiction class (because they need to be re-written for class, and perhaps the home environment will help inspire me)
• Adventure through Chicago with Katie (there's a list of things that Katie wants to see while she's in Chicago, so we're going to see if we can do that)
• Continue the Poem-A-Day Project and give the March poems I have already to my March Poem Keeper, Claire
• Watch Disney movies with my little brother, because he asked if I wanted to watch movies, eat popcorn, drink pop, and pretend that we're little kids again, and how could I possibly refuse an invitation like that?!
• Work on door decs for my RAs (because they're going to be due soon, and I should probably have them done at some point)
• Work on my April bulletin board(s) (I'm thinking I'm going to do a board on Poisson d'avril and also for National Poetry Month)
• Think of active program ideas revolving around National Poetry Month because my residents are going to be educated if it's the last thing that I do, Poem In Your Pocket Day may have to happen...
• Figure out something for Talk Like Shakespeare Day:  http://www.talklikeshakespeare.org/
• Figure out Disney College Program things (roommate matching, employment forms, etc.  Things like that because I keep forgetting to right now...)

"I like to do all the talking myself.  It saves time, and prevents arguments."

- Oscar Wilde

Little Things that Make Me Happy

So (SPOILERS!) I'm making a bulletin board for February on Random Acts of Kindness.  I'm doing a lot of looking into things that make people happy and little bits of kindness and all that jazz, and I found a list of lists of things that make people happy.  Little things.  So I thought I'd follow suit and write up my own list of little things that make me happy.  In no particular order...

• Folded over potato chips
• Burnt popcorn
• Hugs
• Warm socks
• Cuddly old man sweaters
• Cuddling in general
• The smell of books
• Writing with a new pen in a new notebook
• Shopping for school supplies, even if I'm not actually purchasing anything
• Wind farms
• Black and white photographs
• Ruffles (not the potato chips)
• Getting in the car and turning on the radio to a song I know
• Dancing in the aisles at the grocery store
• Wax seals
• Stamps
• Finding change on the ground
• Walking in the fire lane
• Sitting at a campfire when it's just cold enough that the side of me facing away from the fire gets cold
• A good hair day
• Sudoku
• Baby animals
• When someone recognizes one of my references
• Opening the door before someone knocks on it
• Clean laundry smell
• E-mails or messages from a friend I was just thinking about
• Sunrises
• Being able to read the French on random labels
• Snail mail
• Riding a bike down the gigantic hill on the bike trail through the forest preserve
• Typewriters (the romantic old kind)
• Those bells that you can ring on the front counter of certain stores
• Fortune cookies

Things I've Learned About Family

This holiday season I've gotten a chance to learn about my family and family in general.  I mean, the holidays means that you spend a lot of time with your family, so it only follows that I'll learn some little tidbits.  So here are just a few things I've learned so far this break and holiday season:

• "I got this already!" is only a cute reaction when it comes from a 5 year old.  You will find this irritating regardless of how old the kid is.
• Small children and dogs are similar in the sense that they know that you don't want to have anything to do with them...and they will attach themselves to you.
• Always read the author's note.  If you don't, your book group will spend the majority of your group time talking about it.  Because no one read the book itself.
• "Going on an adventure" includes disputing the distance to the library, driving there and making circles around the parking lot, searching for a movie, and then losing the car in the parking garage leading to a walk around the parking garage accompanied by whines of "Where's my caaaaaarrrrrr?!"
• Seeing your cousins three days before Christmas means you get a ton of ideas for riddle tags.
• "I don't know if I should eat mac and cheese."  "Then don't."  "But I kinda want some."  "Then eat it."  "But I..."
• Cousin: The highest note I can hit on the trumpet is a high C.  Me: I can hit that with my voice... Cousin: Do it!  Me: *cough* I'm not warmed up...
• Someone thought it was a good idea to stick their branding iron into dough and then into boiling oil and then my mother thought it was a good idea to replicate.
• Make the protein powder optional.
• Hanukkah pajamas are better than regular pajamas.  You don't celebrate Hanukkah.
• Dish rags are better than paper towels.  This is a family dispute.
• "At least it wasn't Snuggies this year."
• Your uncle and your grandmother care about your feelings.  They too were scandalized by the questions you were asked at Thanksgiving.
• Angel food cake = glorious
• You will wake up when your parents start talking about how you're "out."
• Your brother cares about you and your student debt.  He also knows you better than you think he does.
• Your grandma is better at the "giving fire engine ornament gifts" game than your uncle is.
• No, Grandpa, you can't have the angel food cake.
• Your uncle gives the best book marks...
• You're in college, but Santa will give you an inflatable lightsaber.

Favorite Lines

Q:  So what's your favorite movie quote?

A:  Um.  My favorite?  Of all time?  Do I have to pick one?

Q:  You mean you have more than one?  How do you know more than one movie quote?

A:  I watch a lot of movies...?

Q:  Fine...write a list...

A:  Awesome!  In no particular order...

1.  "I love this plan!  I'm excited to be a part of it!" - Dr. Venkman (Ghostbusters)

A big reason I love this quote is because it's so applicable to my real life.  I use it all the time.  It's always really great to see who gets the reference.  Luckily my boyfriend gets this one every time.  I get the feeling it's because we've seen Ghostbusters far too many times.

2. "Life moves pretty fast.  If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." - Ferris Bueller (Ferris Bueller's Day Off)

This is a really good sign off for a yearbook.  I know this because I spent a good four years signing yearbooks with this quote.  Mostly because it's one of my favorite movies of all time, and also because it's insightful yet simple.  Besides, my uncle looks like Matthew Broderick.  Something I'll explain at a later date.

3. "But you know the thing about romance is people only get together right at the very end." - Love Actually

So this isn't one of my favorite quotes because I use it like the first two quotes, but I do quite enjoy this quote because it's so true.  It's said by the eleven year old adorableness who learns how to play the drums so the girl he loves will know he exists.  I adore that character and so there's really no reason not to like this quote...

4. "Inconceivable!" - Vizzini (The Princess Bride)

Classic.  This one shows up in casual conversation for me all the time, as do other quotes from this movie, but I couldn't quite bring myself to write "The Princess Bride in its entirety" as one of my favorite quotes.  This is my favorite movie of all time, and I can definitely quote it.  LOVE so much.

5. "She's safe just like I promised.  And she's all set to marry Norrington just like SHE promised, and you get to die for her just like YOU promised.  So we're all men of our word, really, except for Elizabeth who is, in fact, a woman." - Captain Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl)

I love this quote.  I love this character.  So much.  So I have a friend named Elizabeth, and I was just dying for someone to ask me where she was so I could answer with this quote.  One day in Best Buy, someone finally asked me, and I may have made a scene as I was replying with this quote.  Elizabeth's reaction was also priceless.

6. "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." - Rhett Butler (Gone with the Wind)

I really wish this would come up in casual conversation more often, because then I would be as cool as Rhett Butler who really had a lot on his plate when it came to Scarlet.  Scarlette?  However you spell her name.  Yeah.  Famous line, really wish I could use it more often.  I think I may have used it properly once.  Hm.

7. "She doesn't even go here!" and "Four for you, Glenn Coco!  You go, Glenn Coco!" - Mean Girls

This movie is so quotable, which I never would have thought going in to watch it in the theatre back in the day.  But no, this movie is a lot more awesome than I thought it was back then, and these are definitely the two quotes I hear used/use myself the most often.  Or variations of these.

8. "It's just a flesh wound!" - The Black Knight (Monty Python and the Holy Grail)

Love.  So much love.  There's really nothing to explain here.

9. "It's 106 miles to Chicago, we've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark out, and we're wearing sunglasses." "Hit it." - The Blues Brothers

This is one of the few movies that my father will watch with me and my brother, so by default I love it.  I also frequently use this quote regardless of how far from Chicago I am.  Yup.  Used all the time.

10. "You stuck up, half-witted, scruffy looking Nerf herder!" - Princess Leia (Empire Strikes Back)

I couldn't resist.  I can't say that I use this quote, but I love it.  It's a fantastic insult, up there with the insults from The Princess Bride insults at the end of the movie, and if I ever get the chance to use this insult, I may do a happy dance.

Even More Things I've Learned

Today is a good day.  It's also a spectacularly good day for writing a list.  So here we go!

More Things I've Learned:

• Carry a fork.  It's good for eating ice cream, pudding, and eggs.  All in the same day.
• The Kool-Aid jammers (or whatever they're called) will not tell you where they're made/manufactured.  You will be convinced they come from China.
• Do not kid about buying alcohol for the underage resident of the underage RA who's with you at the time...
• There will be a question of coincidence versus fate when you pick up that trashy romance novel to find the name of a person you know in the synopsis.
• The cashier at Target will question your intelligence.  You will resent this because you go to the better school in town.
• The answer is always "pretend you like someone else" if someone's creeping on you.
• Ukulele on a porch swing?  Always yes.
• I've got the moves like Jagger.  Sometimes.
• My favorite fall jacket is eerily similar to my boyfriend's.  Although his probably doesn't have a hole in the pocket.
• Nothing in "Go Getter Greg" was planned...naaaah....
• Kyle just wants to dance.
• I am only semi-cliche.  (Teddy bear with a butter knife.)
• Hugs in parking lots.  That's it.
• Drinks that are neon-colored are delicious.  And taste like Kool-Aid.
• "I'll have a shot if she does."  Challenge accepted!
• Some contacts are frightening.
• Yes, you can make a scene in Target.  And Kroger.  And Jewel.
• Bats don't like being woken up and will not "glide" if you drop them in the bushes.
• Seize every "loppertunity" and push down dead trees.
• Hang out in the kitchen and you will get fed cookies.
• The Brat Stop is terrifying.
• River Song is only slightly better than I thought she was.
• Notes are always better and more educational if you write them in pretty pen.
• The first time you use your disappearing TARDIS mug, you will use it to eat vanilla ice cream (from goodness only knows how long ago) with a fork.
• You will wake up after a night on the town with a strange craving for greasy food.
• I have written over 40 poems as part of my poem-a-day project (and I have just realized that this can be made into the PAD project.  I'm not sure how I feel about this.)
• It doesn't matter how determined you are to "work" on Fall Break Day, you will spend the majority of your time travelling around town, ranting to your friend in a sorority house, and worrying about the work you need to get done.

That's all I've got for now, we'll see if I can learn more things before the end of this weekend!

"Personally, I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught."

- Winston Churchill

Shuffle shuffle shuffle...

Q:  So it seems you've abandoned your question and answer blog format-ish.

A:  Oh, you noticed?  Hm.  Well, it was unintentional, there were just days when it didn't really seem to fit so....

Q:  Yeah, well, I understand, it's not a big deal.  What are you going to do today?

A:  Today I'm going to cheat by using itunes.  I found these surveys on Google while I was looking for something to write about, and it reminded me of all those itunes survey thingys where you use your itunes to answer the questions.  So I'm going to do that!

Q:  Hooray?

-----------------------------------------Itunes Shuffle Experiment----------------------------------------

1.  Put your itunes on shuffle.
2.  For each question, press the "next" button to get your answer.
3.  You MUST write that song name down no matter how silly it sounds!
4.  Tag friends...on your blog...sure...

If someone says "Is this okay?" you say...
A New World -- Shakespeare in Love soundtrack

What would best describe your personality?
Revolution Now -- Josh Woodward

What do you like in a guy/girl?
No Good Deed -- Wicked soundtrack

How do you feel today?
Any Moment/Moments in the Woods -- Into the Woods soundtrack

What is your life's purpose?
A Night to Remember -- HSM 3 soundtrack

What is your motto?
Crushcrushcrush -- Paramore

What do your friends think of you?
Vanilla Twilight -- Owl City

What do you think about very often?
Each Coming Night -- Iron & Wine

What is 2 + 2?
Three Little Birds -- Bob Marley

What do you think of your best friend?
Skyway Avenue -- We The Kings

What do you think of the person you like?
Vegas -- Sara Bareilles

What is your life story?
Absolutely Zero -- Jason Mraz

What do you want to be when you grow up?
So Nice So Smart -- Kimya Dawson

What do you think when you see the person you like?
I Really Want You -- Plain White T's

What do your parents think of you?
The End. -- My Chemical Romance

What will you dance to at your wedding?
How Can You Mend a Broken Heart -- Michael Buble

What will they play at your funeral?
I Guess This Is Goodbye/Maybe They're Magic -- Into the Woods soundtrack [Yay!]

What is your hobby/interest?
Cruising Together -- Huey Lewis (in Duets)

What is your biggest secret?
Suspicious Minds -- Elvis Presley

What do you think of your friends?
The Phantom of the Opera -- Phantom of the Opera soundtrack

What's the worst thing that could happen?
Thriller -- Fall Out Boy

How will you die?
Everything I'm Not -- The Veronicas

What is the one thing you regret?
Shameful Metaphors -- Chevelle

What makes you laugh?
Sing -- She & Him

What makes you cry?
Somebody Like You -- Keith Urban

Will you ever get married?
Come Fly With Me -- Michael Buble

What scares you the most?
Goodbye L.A. -- Green River Ordinance

Does anyone like you?
Power of Love -- Huey Lewis & the News

If you could back in time, what would you change?
Someday -- Plain White T's

What hurts right now?
I Want It All -- HSM 3 soundtrack

What do you do most when you're bored?
Boycott Immorality -- Chocolat soundtrack

So thank you for playing, huzzah!

More Things I've Learned

Sure, I posted today at 12:30 AM, but I feel like I should make up for being negligent on this blog...and this is my life.  So more things I've learned.

• Spree = roofies, but first years are more observant than you might want them to be when you're "having fun" roofie-ing them...
• Acting drunk in a first year hall should be saved until second semester so you don't get handed a "What's a Drink?" pamphlet with the promise that "this is an intervention."
• If your friends are in the novel-writing class, and you offer to read their work, they'll really let you read it.  And they'll ask for feedback.  What more could I ask for?!  I love it!
• Writing a poem every day helps maintain sanity in business classes.
• Too much to do.
• Cell phone alarms will keep me on track until I forget to enter an event in my phone's calendar.
• It's possible to crank out a script for a murder mystery in 13-ish hours.  After initial outlining and preparations, of course.
• Don't Panic.
• Prostitute posture.  The end.
• "Some people find it charming."
• Late night texting makes sleepless nights infinitely better.
• If you can design flyers, people will ask you to.
• First years will let complete strangers into the building and they will camp out in the conference room to do their homework.  (Really?  Go to the library, sophomores!)
• I will always be the last one to know anything.
• If you spend enough time in a building that you don't officially live in, the residents will adopt you and let you into the building without asking questions.  (Thanks, Kemp!)
• If you want to print something in color, ask you friend for the password to his computer before breaking into his room.
• None of the printers in weird places on campus will work if you're trying to make life easier for yourself.
• My hair does weird things.
• If you ask someone "Are you a writer?" the most common responses are "Kind of..." or "I'm not very good..."
• A Pandora station based on "Rhapsody in Blue" is exactly what I needed.

On a Break, but More to Do

Today I'm on break from RA Training.  Yesterday being our last day, it was full of warm fuzzies and all sorts of happiness and joy.  I got to give a presentation about our chapter of the National Residence Hall Honorary (NRHH), and I personally thought I was awful, but a number of people I talked to said I was decent, so maybe I'm being overdramatic (Google, that has to be one word, be quiet).

We also played a game of Touch Someone Who.  Everyone sits in a gigantic circle facing outward and closes their eyes.  A handful of people gets chosen to go into the center of the circle, and the facilitator reads off these statements like "touch someone who inspires you."  The people in the center then go up to people who are still sitting and touch their shoulders if the statement applies.  Every time a statement was read, I sent out all the energy I could muster so the people I loved knew that I appreciated them for that statement.  Basically I made sure that even if I wasn't in the center, I expressed appreciation.  I may have cried when the statement "touch someone who has dreams and the ability to attain them" came up, and more people than I could count came up and tapped my shoulders.  And I had no idea how difficult it was to cry with my eyes closed until that.  So that was fun.  I also got tapped for a person people thought was patient, forgiving, a good listener, or a leader.  Walking away from that activity I always feel ten times better.

Yesterday was also when the top bananas of ORL and the president of the university walked around our halls and inspected the crafty things that we made.  So I stressed a lot on Friday night so I could finish the things I had started and then do the bulletin boards that I hadn't given a thought to.  Oh that was fun.  I finally crashed at about 2 AM and got up early so I could finish cleaning the desk and cutting paper.  Luckily I got it all done by the time I needed it done, but my bulletin boards are not as pretty as I would have liked them to be.  Which means I'll be tweaking them even now.

And there begins my to do list:

• clean my hall desk (I'm so close to being done!)
• create an inventory list and a list of things that can be rented from the desk
• create the lock out phone tree
• find a way to organize money in the cash drawer
• e-mail my desk aides and RAs
• laundry
• write my programming calendar to give to my boss
• read The Interpreter of Maladies (for the first year book discussion)
• neaten my room

And there it is.  Yay for to do lists!

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."

- Winston Churchill