Oh my goodness...

...winter has hit. We got about a foot of snow yesterday and it was 0 degrees Fahrenheit all day today. But before that...

I went to the Christkindlsmarkt in Chicago on Tuesday. It was a bit cold, but so gorgeous and the food was great. We walked around and shopped for a few hours, and I brought back a ton of German chocolate. Sieh mal!

Hedgehogs!

And squirrels.

After returning from the market, I spent the night in bed procrastinating on my homework. We had a snow day on Wednesday, as I had hoped for. It was lovely; I slept until 10:00, met some friends for coffee, and spent the day lazing around and gazing at the snow outside. I got a bit more studying done too, which was great; we had our regional AcDec essay today, and I've been struggling to get through A Tale of Two Cities. (I don't hate it, but I'm just not a Dickens fan.) The essay wasn't that bad, and despite the cold, today was gorgeous. It was really sunny, and the snow formed a tiny layer of ice, so everything glittered. I spent most of school staring out the window. Now I'm waiting for it to warm up so I can actually go outside...

If only one essay I read sticks with me my whole life, this will be it. It's disturbing, eye-opening, and enlightening; and it highlights some huge flaws in our culture's views on rape.

ART VS. CRAFT

I went to this today, and it was insanely awesome. The Scottish Rite Masonic Temple was weird and beautiful, and it was filled with amazing handmade items and fashionable people. I bought an awesome "loot" bag from Sweetie Pie Press and a gorgeous bird headband from Megan Lee Designs. I'm also feeling really inspired by the hand-sewn items. I may have to get my hands on a sewing machine (it's the only thing on my Christmas list right now) and go over to Fashion Ninja to take some classes. I also really need to knit again too; I've done a couple scarves in the past, but I just want to take it on. Ah, school; why must you get in the way of my crafting?

Snow!

IT'S SNOWING RIGHT NOW. And it's sticking and everything. I am so incredibly happy about this.

The snow started right at the end of my craziest shift ever. Apparently a lot of people save buying turkeys until the night before Thanksgiving. At least it went quickly, and was kind of fun.

Also, what exactly are Swedish Fish supposed to taste like? I'm trying to figure it out.

Just some thoughts.

Smart Girls At The Party

Just a quick link. Smart Girls At The Party is a show hosted by Amy Poehler, Meredith Walker, and Amy Miles that showcases smart young girls. I just watched Ruby's episode and I love her so much. I wish I (consciously) knew that much about feminism when I was her age.

I see a sea anemone the enemy see a sea anemone and that'll be the end of me.

I'm having major "stuff" love right now. I go a few weeks without much attachment to any of my possessions, and then it suddenly returns. I think this bag started it.

It's a Le Sportsac; it has well-dressed, world-traveling bunnies on it; and it is amazing. My mom's friend brought it back for me from Hong Kong and I appreciate it so much. :)

I also went to ReThreads today after our children's orchestra concert. (It's essentially the first week of Christmas, so we do a Christmas sing-along/arts and crafts/Santa/cookies kind of thing.) I scored this little hat...

...and this jacket. Look!




I'm in love with it. It's absolutely tiny, and I found it in the men's section. I imagine Rudy as being about 5'1". He smokes all the time, is really thin, and is tough. I love this jacket so much. Thank you, Rudy, whoever you are.
These jeans fit perfectly and are kind of dressy, which I like.
Okay, these aren't from ReThreads (I wish I could find patterned Doc Martens around); I've actually had them since seventh grade. I just wanted to share them with you because it's getting to be Doc Martens season again and I'm looking forward to wearing them.

(Oh, and the weird post title is Andrew Bird. Witty alliteration, whistling, and violin playing; YES.)

Likes and Dislikes

(In the style of Facebook. Also in the style of lazy bloggers that make lists instead of well thought-out paragraphs.)

Likes:

1. The New Devendra Banhart CD. I received it as a late birthday present today, and it's awesome. I have an uncle and aunt with really good music tastes, so I always look forward to getting music recommendations from them.
2. DIY Ideas. I also got a cool DIY photo/craft book for my birthday, and I've already looked through and found the projects that I want to do. These include: a photo messenger bag, a photo lamp, a water bottle cap tripod, and a fisheye lens. I've always really wanted a fisheye lens, but they're super expensive. The one in this book is made with a peephole, which can be bought at a hardware store for a few dollars. I'm so excited to make one and try it out.
3. Le Sportsac Bags. My mom's friend went on a shopping trip to Hong Kong and brought back purses for everyone. (It's been such a fantastic weekend for gifts! Thanks, everyone!) I got a Le Sportsac messenger bag with chic little world-traveling bunnies on it. All their patterns are seriously adorable.
4. Clean sheets.
5. Lemon 4-layer cake.
6. Academic Decathlon. We're doing really awesome so far, and I'm learning tons about the French Revolution. Good stuff.
7. Honors Pre-Calc. I went from a D to a B in that class in one week, and I feel so awesome.
8. Second Quarter. I needed a fresh start.

Dislikes:

1. Work. It's not that bad, but I'm really dreading having to do carts in a slushy parking lot. You'd think Pick 'n Save would find some way to make it easier for us, since they're a Milwaukee-based company and pretty much all the stores experience snow. Target has a electric cart pushers, and their carts are plastic now. Sigh.

I apparently don't have anything else for the "dislikes" list. I guess it's just been a good day. The only thing that could bring me down would be getting sick (sicker than my normal 3-month cold), so I really hope that doesn't happen. Super-immunity, please don't fail me this year.

Can has pictures?

I finally got a new camera. It's a Canon PowerShot, so it's just a little point-and-shoot, but that's all I really need for a digital camera. I got excited and ran around the house taking uncreative macro pictures. (It's like starting over. My lack of a digital camera and having independent study during a Photo 1 class is killing my creativity.)

Before a real post...

...I would like to briefly comment on how much I love this book. I'm only a few chapters in, but it's so charming and beautifully written. It's an interesting look at "re-education" in China, but also hilarious at times. "Mozart Is Thinking Of Chairman Mao!" has to be my favorite line so far. (Also, I love the picture on the cover, and the book is small & smooth & feels lovely. Because I just enjoy things like that, apparently.)

I'll talk about my crazily happy and stressful week later. I really just need to get to bed. I work a pretty long shift tomorrow, and then I'm going to go see my school's production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream"! The drama department hasn't taken on Shakespeare for a while, if ever, so I'm curious to see it. Also, I get to see a friend who just spent the last two months in Germany; catching up is always fun.

And I'll catch up with this blog soon, I swear. :)

November already?!?

My, how the time flies. It's been a busy week, and I didn't even go out on Halloween!

We only had a three day school week this week. It would seem nice, but that usually means teachers pack five days' work into three days. Also, first quarter ends next Friday, which means the homework, tests, and projects are getting piled on. I did get through the three days, barely; we did "taste tests" for our Sensation & Perception unit in AP Psych, and I almost didn't make it through the rotten egg flavored jelly bean. (Yes, it was totally as bad as you'd think.)

After the school week, I went on an overnight visit at Beloit College. It's my top choice, so I had a great time. This was the first visit I've done where we've had an unstructured kind of day, so it was fun to hang out with my host at night. We went to her FCA meeting, did a "ghost tour" of campus (there was hot cider!), saw a humorously tacky cover band called The Karls, and just hung out with the other people in her dorm. The next day was spent at presentations about the school, as well as visiting classes (which I didn't have time for, unfortunately). It was a great couple of days, and I know Beloit is definitely the school for me. It's really diverse, everyone is into social activism there, and it's a college of learning rather than competition. It's such a refreshing difference from both high school and the UW colleges that many of my peers are applying to, and I'm ready for that.

Currently, I'm in Chicago. We did the Art Institute today, which was amazing. More about that later. I'm just blogging quickly while trying to write my Chinese-style poems for English class. Doing homework while on vacation stinks, and so does not having a digital camera to take tons of pictures of yourself at the Bean.

What a fantastic couple of days. :)

I had a fantastic birthday on Friday. I made time to enjoy toast with lemon curd before going to AP Psychology. After that, we were excused from class to go to the rehearsal for our Halloween "Wizards and Witches" concert. I wore a Snow White costume and every six-year-old in that auditorium thought I was actually Snow White. It was adorable. The concert itself went really well, too.

After the concert, we were excused from classes for quite a bit longer, so I went and picked up my paycheck. I then headed home with my friend Stephanie to make some amazing sweet and sour chicken we got at the grocery store. I then had to hop back up to school for pre-calc and gym, which would've been bad if I had been at school all day, but I was refreshed enough to get through my quiz. We ended up having a free day in gym, which meant not having to change, but I was disappointed that we have to wait until next week for "progressive relaxation", which sounds right up my alley.

After school, I just kind of bummed around. I made really good pork tacos, went to the library, and watched Amelie, which is all I really wanted to do. :)

Saturday was great, too. I slept in for the first time in quite a while, and then spent the afternoon completing my college essays at the Steaming Cup. It was "Live Clue" weekend, so watching the people/characters run around all day was pretty entertaining. It's also totally fascinating talking to people in character, too; I had a totally serious conversation with Shaggy, Velma, and Daphne from Scooby Doo. I love playing along like that.

Anyway, I ended up finishing my main Common App essay on Saturday, and the Beloit supplement essay today, so I have my Beloit and Lawrence apps fully in, and I just need to finish my supplement section for Knox. I'm pretty excited; the UW apps should be easier,

After submitting the stuff that night, I went out for Thai food with the family. We came back, had an amazing, homemade, mint chocolate ice cream cake, and then my mom gave me the most amazing pair of cowboy boots! I'm really looking forward to wearing them, and hopefully I'll somehow find a way to get a picture of them. I really wish I had a camera...

Overall, a great weekend. :) Now I need to get through these three days before the five-day teacher's convention weekend; I'm visiting Beloit, coming home for Halloween, and then going to Chicago for a night! It's going to be another good weekend, provided that I can push through this week...

achoo.

(I'm not actually sick, luckily. Just a little cold.)

So...that big post I promised last week? About that...

School has been crazy. (Work too.) I spent the rest of last week writing a comparative analysis paper for AP English about two Flannery O'Connor stories. Her stories all have extremely gory endings that contain religious messages conveyed through symbolism and allegory. It's really interesting, but I hit a few walls while trying to write the essay, which wasn't too great.

I'm also trying to finish writing my college application essays; who knew it would be so hard to get into college? I'm trying to submit all my private school applications by Sunday...we'll see how that goes. I need to do early applications so I can get scholarships.

We had our first orchestra concert last night, and it went so well. We got a ton of compliments, which doesn't always happen. We're playing for elementary school students during school on Friday, and we get to be in costume! I'm borrowing this adorable Snow White dress from my mom's friend...I'll try and have someone else take some pictures. I would love to show you both that and the auditorium; lots of stories about that another time. It's also my birthday; I'm looking forward to missing classes, performing in costume, and getting a 70 minute lunch period.

More later, seriously!

Good Morning

I am currently sitting on my couch in my pajamas, typing on my laptop, eating lemon curd, drinking milk, and listening to 88.9. It's "academic focus" day, which means seniors get to stay home and work on college apps or visit schools. I'm planning on camping out at the Steaming Cup all day to get college essays and my AP English essay done. I'm just really happy about today and I had to share that with you. There'll be a larger post soon; I have some photography I found that I would love to share with you.

Dear America.

(More like "Dear Ignorant Portion of the U.S. Population." But you know.)

Almost a year ago, we had a presidential election. People came out and voted, the votes were tallied, and Barack Obama received the majority according to the electoral college. In January, he was inaugurated, and he's served as President for the past nine months. He hasn't started another unnecessary war, created a national youth group named after himself, or sent the police to kill racially impure citizens of our country. So, why do you keep acting like he is?

I've seen President Obama compared to Hitler in many different ways, and I don't understand this at all. Most who claim this argue that he's asking the whole country/world to worship him, when he in fact is simply doing his job. Those who write songs about him (sorry for posting a Fox News clip here), claim he should stay president forever, and praise him are doing it because they like him, plain and simple. He's not asking people to worship him, he's just promoting the changes he talked about in his campaign and people like what he's doing. I know, especially for those who are my age or younger, it's hard to remember a time when our president wasn't a complete moron. It may seem strange to many of you that we could actually elect a president who can present himself with intelligence and be liked by other countries, but it's happening again.

I also think that many people are turning President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize into something larger than it is. Not to say that a Nobel Prize isn't a big deal, but they award them every year, and for many different reasons. He actually seemed a bit confused when he was awarded the prize, along with a lot of Americans. ("To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve it.") However, I feel we need to look at this from a European (Norwegian, specifically) perspective, because that's the perspective the committee had. While President Bush was in office, most of Europe looked down upon the United States. Our president and vice president were both children of big corporations, which made us a more strongly capitalistic nation than when President Clinton was in office. Though capitalism is alive, kicking, and socially acceptable here, it's not that way in Europe, or at least not to that extent. To Europeans, the switch from President's Bush's big oil-promoting capitalism to President Obama's focus on the working class was quite a contrast. Obama has also done a lot of promoting peace in the Middle East, advocating for women's rights, and raising the minimum wage, among other things. From a European perspective, I can definitely see how the Bush to Obama transition makes the U.S. a much more peaceful player in international affairs, and would be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize based on that.

Essentially: stop drinking Haterade for breakfast and look at the facts. You'll be surprised at how much of what you hear from the media/pop culture is actually false, especially when it comes to politics.

Peace,

Renée

Spirited

It's been a crazy week, as homecoming/spirit week always is. Monday started off with impromptu chants of "Toga, toga, toga..." on White Out day, and everything got crazier from there. Wednesday was Decade Day; I had been waiting to wear my 80s dress for four years. (It's kind of unfortunate that everyone thinks 80s=Flashdance though, because nobody dressed like that.) Anyway, it's pretty much been a full week of not paying attention in class due to the weird energy that homecoming week brings.

I'm not going to the game (our team never wins and it's always so cold out!) or the dance, but I have really enjoyed this week. It's an opportunity to dress up; I'm wearing red tights, black flats with white polka dots, and a beaded beret right now (school colors are red and black), and I'm loving it. The pep rally is this afternoon, and though I'm not a huge "OMG SCHOOL SPIRIT WOO SENIORS" kind of person, it's always fun to watch the dance-off, the pie toss, and the football team's cheer/poms routine.

I'm also seriously looking forward to the homecoming court. One of the senior boys is gay, and decided to wear a dress, makeup, and hair extensions for today and tomorrow. A lot of people are really angry, but we voted him in, and I'm so proud of the senior class for doing that. Not too many people have the guts to be who they truly want to be in high school, especially when what they are is gay, and I really admire him for that.

An added bonus: classes are shortened from 47 minutes to 38 (apparently we can't do round numbers?), so I'm off to AP English already!

Broken

So I went to the Oriental Theatre this weekend to see Capitalism: A Love Story. The theatre was beautiful and the movie was fantastic. (More on that later. Moore on that later? haha.) Before the movie, I was standing in the lounge next to the bathroom, planning to take an outfit picture and some pictures of the theater. I turned my camera on, however, and the screen looked like it got smashed. I don't know what happened, but I don't have a real viewfinder, so there's almost no way I can use it. I feel like I had ten times more things to take pictures of this weekend, and no digital camera. I'm pretty frustrated. I'll probably end up using the camera my family is going to buy for a while, and then saving job/birthday/Christmas money to buy a Canon Rebel, which isn't that bad. I'm just really frustrated. It wasn't an overly expensive camera, but we went to Germany together, and I took good care of it...R.I.P.

Irony, Among Other Things

The senior class's votes for the "most likelies" were counted today, and I apparently was voted "Female Next Bill Gates"? I'm a bit confused by this. I'm not particularly good with money, and I'm not really popular. Also, I'm (possibly notoriously) not a huge fan of capitalism, which is what made me find this to be so hilarious. I've come to terms with it, though, due mostly to the fact that Bill Gates is a really awesome philanthropist. I'm probably thinking into this too much...

Anyway, school is going really well. I'm loving my English class, though the teacher is "spoon feeding" symbols and themes to us in every story we read. We're in an introduction/short story unit right now, so I'll accept it; I know not everyone is as up to speed on their literary terms as I am. We read "Hills Like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway earlier in the week and I really enjoyed it. Hemingway doesn't get flowery with things; rather than going on for pages about a character's emotions, he will just say "She smiled brightly at the woman." and let the reader actually think about the meaning. It's really refreshing. We also read "Rape Fantasies" by Margaret Atwood, which is actually a hilarious story that's barely even about rape. It explores the balance of reality/fantasy, men/women, and sex/rape. It was really good.

I also got asked to be on the school newspaper. There are only four or five people on it (for now) and we're going to do it online. I'll be sure to post a link!

This is the contact print for my first photography project. (There was water on the glass; the negatives aren't actually that scratched up.) I'm really excited to work with these in the darkroom. I love medium format film.

That's all for now. I wish I could blog more, but school is kind of a priority, and college apps are driving me crazy...

Some quick thoughts...

1. Monsters of Folk is awesome. I totally bought it at Target, and I was so proud of myself for going out and buying a real CD. Plus it was $2 cheaper...
2. Half Price Books is awesome.
3. TJ Maxx is a much better store than you'd think.
4. It's pouring buckets here right now...perfect tea, apple pie, and book weather.
5. I had to re-do my film for Photo class...boo! At least I get to develop it tomorrow...
6. I may or may not have spilled coffee on my rather expensive, brand-new, school-owned English textbook...oops. Anyone know how to get coffee stains out of really thin, literary-looking pages?

I'm going to go do #4 for the rest of the night now. Real post soon, I promise!

Happy Wednesday...

It's a sleepy one. I've been working quite a bit. I would rather do three four-hour shifts than four three-hour shifts (I don't get a break for shifts less than four hours), but I can't complain. Grocery is surprisingly complex. Ah, Pick 'n Save.

Good things about my new job:

1. It's reliable: people always need groceries, carts always need to be put back, etc. It's completely unlikely I'll get sent home, and restaurant wasn't like that.

2. Great peoplewatching: you can tell so much about a person by looking at their groceries, and I get to stand there and observe each item as I put it in the bag.

3. Union benefits: I get overtime pay for working Sundays, breaks are regulated, etc.

4. Minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. Thank you, pseudo(American)-socialism!

Bad things about my new job:

1. People are jerks: they get angry about different things and start yelling at us. Also, I have to watch people come through and just scream at their kids the whole time. It's so frustrating. They're always the kind of people who wonder where their kids learned to swear, too...what a mystery! If you tell you kid to "sit your ass down, right there, RIGHT NOW!" they're going to start talking like that too. Also, I've seen people with six kids who were way calmer than those with two kids.

2. Pushing carts: I'm not that great at manual labor, but I do okay. It's just really tedious, and sometimes one cart will break off from the line and get away, since we don't have the magnetic things like Target.

3. Comments because I'm a girl: Especially when I'm doing carts. Traditionally, girls are always cashiers, and boys are always utility clerks. I've had a few people say "You're not supposed to be doing that, you're a girl!" I think the first guy was kidding, but the other ones seemed pretty serious. I would rather be a cashier, but I can physically be a UC, even though I'm a girl!

Well, I'm off! I wish I had more time to blog. I have a moderate amount of homework tonight, but Glee is on and reading Kate Chopin's The Story of an Hour has made me crave feminist literature, so I'm going to try and get some reading in!

Waukesha Art Fest

I'm finally uploading my pictures from Saturday. I walked downtown to the city's annual Art Fest to look around. There was some great art, but nothing I could afford, so I made my own art.

This is the Waukesha Civic Theatre. All the plays put on are open for the public to audition for, and everything they do is fantastic. It was the Pix movie theater when I was very young; apparently I went to see Pocahontas there and got my foot stuck in the seat. I have absolutely no recollection of this.

This is the "Five Points." All our streets are old, especially those right in downtown, so there are a lot of inconvenient five-way intersections. It's pretty cute, though.

Art is everywhere, and I love it.

Bam Bam and the Gigolos. They play at the Steaming Cup often and it's always a great show.

Dancing. I love that girl's outfit; not too many people can pull off skirts and tennis shoes, but she really makes it work.

I love everything about her. Her husband was dressed like a pirate and selling his photography. He had a lot of fantastically abstract, Edward Weston style photos.

People's Park. An apparently fantastic new restaurant. They display art from the teachers at my school, and above the bar is this giant "stuff" collage; it's hard to describe, but it's a bunch of toys. I'll take a picture sometime.

They built a new hotel in town and they have some fantastic fake planters on all the windows.

Herbal cranberry iced tea=love.

She owns one of the galleries downtown and has the coolest hair I've ever seen.

This is Sloppy Joe's, a 50s-style soda fountain that just opened. They also own a gelato place down the street, which I can't believe I've never mentioned before! Gelato beats regular ice cream, any day.

That's all for now. I'm going to take film pictures of my awesome flapper hat in the "mini studio" on Monday, so I'll make sure to take some digital pictures of it too, just to show you the room. Also, I have a lot to say about my new job at Pick 'n Save when I get a chance. (It's not as bad as I thought it would be, actually.) Peace!