books books books

mall book sale left me with these four beauties (all for $8 i might add! bargain!)

-European Paintings in German Art Galleries (lol it sounds like the most random book ever. i bought this one because i needed to use the debit machine and i could only use it if i spent more than $5, so i grabbed it caz it was $1 [i'd bought the Guinness one, earlier])
-Guinness Book of World Records 2003, $3
-Art Masterpieces from the Renaissance to the Present Day, $2 (when i opened this one a second ago to take the webcam pic, a bunch of dusty crud fell out...hmmm)
-Life Smiles Back, $2 (a collection of classic pictures from life magazine)

hurray books. i don't understand when people tell me they don't read. i get it if you don't have time during the school year or something, or if you work ridiculous amounts, but still. for me as soon as summer hits, the first thing i do is go to the library.

book update:
distant star by roberto bolano, i'd give it a 3/5.
An unnamed narrator attempts to piece together the life and works of an enigmatic would-be poet turned military assassin during Pinochet's regime in Chile. In the early 1970s Alberto Ruiz-Tagle was a little-known poet living in southern Chile. After the military coup of 1973 that brought in the dictatorship of General Pinochet, he embarked upon a new career that involved him in committing murder and other brutalities, and subsequently led to his emergence as a lieutenant in the Chilean air force under his actual name, Carlos Wieder. Some time later the narrator, now held in a prison camp, looks up and sees a World War II airplane writing the first words of the "Book of Genesis" in smoke in the sky. The aviator is none other Carlos Wieder, launching his own version of the New Chilean Poetry. Roberto Bolano's novel is a chilling investigation of the fascist mentality and the limits of evil, as seen in its effects on a literary sensibility, as well as a gripping intellectual thriller. It shows a great writer at the height of his powers.
it was pretty anticlimatic, but i still happened to like it. i'm not sure if i would reccommend this book or not, it depends on who was interested. ya, i liked it.

right now i'm in the midst of the picture of dorian gray by oscar wilde. so far it's ok. one thing i dislike about stories based in the 18th (or 19th?) century is that everyone meets and then says they're in love. someone just got engaged to an actres he spoke to once. oh the good ol' days. bascally the story is about this young handsome man who has his picture painted, he sees his beauty in the picture and wishes that the picture would age instead of him and that he would stay young and beautiful forever. and so that happens i guess (i haven't gotten there yet). we'll see.

update on free chocolate on my no chocoalte month:
i saw half of a chocolate bar lying on the sidewalk. i guess the chocolate gods think i must be desperate.


p.s: i bought a lomo camera off ebay for under $20 (^ that one actualy). kinda pumped. and i got time off for folk fest so tickets will be bought asap. cool.

i know it's kind of old news...

...but, i think andrew vanwyngarden is a major babe. i know two guys who, if you molded the guys together, the result would look like andrew.

bacon land?

i don't know when signed up for bacon lover websites, but stumbleupon has taken it upon themselves to constantly show me bacon and barbecuing websites. i hit a bacon of BBQ website at least once a day now if i'm using stumble upon. i've never even been that big of a fan of bacon...

bacon website of the day.

:)

-i've been sneezing like mad all morning (interesting i know)
-i heard two stories yesterday about people puking so much they broke blood vessels (one person all over their face so it looked like they were constantly blushing, and another person in their eyes so it looked like they were...very scary?)
-only 15 days left as being part of frockstar, 10 more shifts
-last night i was so tired i went to bed at 9:30, after napping from 8 until 9. i think that was the first time in years (besides when i've been sick or jetlagged) that i went to bed before my mom.

i'm still thinking what i would like for a second tattoo. everything i think of though, i can see myself thinking it was silly and regretting it when i got older. i still love hemingway, my first tattoo. the only other tattoos i can think of that i would like, have to do with birds still. i'll hold off. i'll turn into a crazy bird tattoo lady if i'm not careful. i was going to get a verse or a line from one of my favorite poems, but i couldn't pick just one, and it's not a short poem. by the time i'd chosen a phrase, it was half the poem. or i would like a tiny little picture. no bigger than a toonie. but i don't know of what, so that's silly. i shall just be patient and wait. tattoos are permanent and i have to remember that they will be there forever, so no rush.


eek. this is really well done. i hate spiders. if this girl was my friend i'd probably always forget it was a tattoo and scream girlishly every time i saw it. iiick.

i've said it before that i write in code sometimes. in the sense that i say something that sounds very random, but it really isn't. i'm just seeing if anyone picks up on it i guess. it's like..the only way someone would pick up on the code (for lack of a better term), would be if they listened very closely to me in person, and then used what they heard me say to pick up the hidden meaning in my writing. i know that is really...odd, and makes no sense. i'm so confusing. my brain works in mysterious ways. i'm so so curious if people pick up on it. i don't think they do. most people just think i'm being odd when i say certain things. i'm alright with that. i can wait.

hmm, funny. i just looked down at a paper beside my desk where i'd written "come find me" and "stop waiting". they seem kind of contradictory.

in other news. i quit my job, and start my new one on tuesday. my last day of now old job is may 10th. it was so sad to quit, i almost started crying when i handed in my notice, like i actually choked up for a sec.

i'm going to go to folk fest this year. i still need to buy tickets though. i'm just waiting to make sure i can get the days off from new job now. if the weather is lovely, it will be a guaranteed amazing time.


hey here's a song i just heard a few minutes ago. shhh by denora. like it or not, it's up to you.

weirrrd

i watched the wacknes today (decent movie) and the whole time i was trying to figure out where i knew the actor from who played luke. i realised after a while that he looked like an actor who used to be on the amanda show and nickelodeon way back when (he was also in mean creek ) , but then i thought, nah, it can't be him, he looks so different. turns out it was him! WEIRD.

farewell

two good chill days in a row.

yesterday i biked to the mall to do some errands, pick up some mags, etc. came home and crash napped for two hours. woke up and realised i needed to hop on a bus asap and head down to osborne to meet up with the work girls for dinner. got to os really early (surprise surprise, i'm always early). ran into pat who i hadn't seen since new years. he was just jammin on the street with some people. this drunk guy came by and told me three times about how he got mugged and he kept getting really close to me and was icky so i bolted to go meet up with my friends. then we went to carlos and murphy's and had a really good time. then back to the store for cake and more drinks. i don't drink very much at all, so i was a little tipsy by the end of the work fun. ran into pat again while i waited for my ride and sat with him for a while. even though it was early i couldn't head out anywhere after i got home because i couldn't drive, so i did the next best (or worst) thing and went for a bike ride. for whatever reason i was so scared the whole time. i was talking to craig via text then later phone, and i was completely out of it, i don't even know why. it was a really nice day though. just lazy and accomplished feeling all at the same time.

today i bused down to os again to drop off my 2 weeks at frockstar. i got choked up handing it in caz i didn't want to quit at all, but i needed a new job that paid more and could dish out more hours, and the new job doesn't want me workin at fstar too because it's technically competition (both clothing stores). i'll still see all the girls though when we hang out, but it still makes me sad to quit. then i just chilled in starbucks for two hours reading and drawing. then my dad picked me up and we went out for sushi :)
this is what i drew:


the image is originally by miniature mini mouse, i just felt like drawing it.

some words

all via icanread.

p.s:
i saw 17 again...and i finally get why people think zac efrom is hot. he's still way too pretty for me, but i can apperciate it. lol that sounds really lame. the movie was cute though, i laughed out loud a bunch. zac efron played the character pretty well.

the building with all the answers

could be cute. i think it will be.
since it's a mocumentry, i'm assuming it wont sound super scripted like juno. therefore i will be more prone to liking it.
the end.

update on no chocolate month thus getting free chocolate everywhere i go:
last night after dinner, my sister's ex-bf who was our server gave us a free white chocolate brownie that i'd been saying on the drive over to my sis that i wish i could eat because it would taste sooooo good. honestly, the chocolate gods miss my support and are trying to make me fail.


"This crossword puzzle can be found on the wall of a building in the city of Lvov, Ukraine. Although it’s blank during the daylight, at night when special lights are switched on the puzzle, the answers become visible. Questions for this crossword puzzle are scattered around in different parts of the city, such as monuments, theaters, fountains, etc. So, while touring the city during the day, you can answer the questions. Then at night, check the accuracy of your answers!"
what the heck! that's the most interesting idea ever. i really like that. good tourist ploy too. tour the city for the questions, then visit the building for the answers. i'm impressed.

i'm wasting so much time today

if seizures could be transformed into music, i would imagine this is what they would sound like:


ddiamondd - battles


something by matt and kim, i don't even know, it's just very fast and i enjoy it (it's kinda poor vid quality but it's the best i could fiiind)


the bike ride i went for earlier was unsatisfying, i needed mittens and i was without, so it was a short one.
now i'm off to vanessa's place to build a table then either go out for dinner, or go to a metric show with craig, ness and tim if craig's uncle can get us all in. the end. have a lovely day, i hope it's energetic.


p.s: i'm wearing knee highs and i'm not sure how i feel about it.

sorry for the mega posts, but i have nothing to do today, everyone's in exams/working. speaking of: interview is tomorrow! i think i've figured out an outfit so...bonus!

these made me laugh:




this made me smile:
All of the people of the world, I mean everybody. No matter how dull and boring they are on the outside, inside them they’ve all got unimaginable, magnificent, wonderful, stupid, amazing worlds. Not just one world. Hundreds of them. Thousands maybe.
-Neil Gaiman

five ideas can swallow a man

"Sometimes you wake up. Sometimes the fall kills you. And sometimes, when you fall, you fly."— Neil Gaiman

"The past is never there when you try to go back. It exists, but only in memory. To pretend otherwise is to invite a mess. "

"There are things that we don’t want to happen but have to accept, things we don’t want to know but have to learn, and people we can’t live without but have to let go."
(all above via itsonlythewind)

am was. are leaves few this. is these a or
scratchily over which of earth dragged once
-ful leaf. & were who skies clutch an of poor
how colding hereless. air theres what immense
live without every dancing. singless on-
ly a child's eyes float silently down
more than two those that and that noing our
gone snow gone
yours mine
. We're
alive and shall be:cities may overflow(am
was)assassinating whole grassblades,five
ideas can swallow a man;three words im
-prison a woman for all her now:but we've
such freedom such intense digestion so
much greenness only dying makes us grow
-am was by e.e. cummings


i'm going for a bike ride and bringing my polaroid cam with me.

things i have learned during the chocolate ban...

1. everyone gives away the best chocolate when you can't eat it
-example a) when i went to pick up my art history paper, the art office was handing out ferrerah roches! (sp?)
-example b) today the guy at the coffee shop gave me a bonus (aka free) cookie. i was pumped. until i found out it was hazelnut shortbread dipped in chocolate. ugh.

2. if you go out for ice cream, you pretty much can't get anything except vanilla. everything delicious has chocolate in it.
-example a/b/c/etc) hot fudge sundae, skor blizzard, pretty much any blizzard, chocolate dip, twist ice cream, chocolate chip cookie dough, cherry garcia..etc.

19 more days to go. i can do it!

p.s: why is it that everything i get extras of are always food things? like my bonus cookie, or the other day i ordered one timbit and the guy gave me 7 for 19c, or whenever the guys at tims or starbucks upgrade the size of my drink for free... why doesn't that ever happen when i'm buying jeans or dresses? that would be wicked. here have 7 for the price of one!

exploring

today was a good day.

after not really sleeping in, i drove downtown to meet up with my mom for lunch. she paraded me around her office a bit, which always makes me ridiculously shy. we went to a sandwich place and it was nice. we departed and i went to the downtown library. on my way i passed a good looking guy playing a surbahar (i had to google this). as i wandered into the library i noticed a sign saying "today at 12:10!" looking closer, i read the sign and it said debora digivani was doing a free show in the library! there's a wpg comedy festival going on and i'd wanted to go but it was too much money and the only person i wanted to see was her. i lucked out and ran into her for free. :)

i picked up three books, brave new world by aldous huxley, one pill makes you smaller by lisa dierbeck, and the picture of dorian gray by oscar wilde. then last night erik lent me distant star by roberto bolano. i'll read erik's first or after the picture of dorian gray, i don't like keeping people's things for too long. i'm really excited to be able to read books that are not associated with school. it's actually almost embarrassing how excited i am.
i also applied for jobs at two places closer to home. one said he'd call me in a month for the next group interview, and the other called me two hours later and i have an interview on tuesday. i don't want to leave my work right now, i love the people and the area and everything, i just need a job that pays me more than minimum wage. wish me luck. i hope i'm making a good choice.

i'm still hunting for crumpets. people told me i could find them in safeway. they are liars. i think they're thinking english muffins. not the same. one girl told me superstore. so that's my next search location.

last exam tomorrow. excited. YEAR TWO WILL BE COMPLETED. heck yes.

i think this summer will be wonderful. i have good feelings.

i love when mirrors do this. infinity reflections. please excuse my essence of creepiness. p.s: that's my mom hiding in the corner.

debora doing her thing. the girl in the bottom left corner is proof that she was good.


huge art exhibit thing on the wall of the library. each painting is just smaller than a postcard. i really, really liked this.

ahoyhoy

i'm really down to do two things right now...make that three...
one thing i want to do is dance.

i always get intrigued by unavailable people. also, it seems that i get a lot of friend crushes. as in someone who i think is wicked and want to make them my friend. i don't often get normal crushes. hmmm. i'm workin on it.

two exams out of the way. two more to go. one's tomorrow and i was supposed to read a 344 page book for it. i read about 100 pages, then the intro and end paragraphs for each remaining chapter and the conclusion chapter. lol we'll see how that goes. i'll be so excited to be done this term. i want to have an adventurous summer.

technology is really awesome. i'm pleased with it. yesterday i got a call from england to listen to dizzee rascal live in concert singing fix up look sharp. i stay sweet as a nut, sweet like tropicana, when the hammer hits, your head splits like banana!

i rented monster's ball last tuesday, but haven't had time to watch it slash haven't gotten the guts to watch it. aka i haven't been in the mood to watch anything not happy.

speaking of happy...i went for my first bike ride of the season today! in shorts! why is it 16c right now?! i don't know, but i will not be complaining if mother nature wants to keep it coming.

p.s: going to the library on thursday. ANY BOOK SUGGESTIONS?

kelsey didn't want to join in a previous group hug, so we attacked. feel the love!

i forgot that at the party when some of us were in the hot tub, some guy asked me what my tattoo symbolized. i really don't like explaining it if i don't know people very well because it sounds lame and i don't know how to word it. either way, after i say whatever, the guy's like "ya i got this one last summer" (he shows me his some tribal tattoo on his arm) "it's for, like, strength. you know, gotta stay strong!"..i guess it could have been worse, he cold of had a barbed wire armband. either way, it just further proves that when explaining tattoos, sometimes it's better left unsaid. from now on, i'll just say i like birds.

kelsey and i might be getting another tattoo soon. i've been thinking about getting either a few lines from my favorite poem, or a feather on my hip. we'll see, i'm not one for making rash decisions..

so i'm still doing that no chocolate all month thing...why did no one remind me that april is one of the worst months to ban chocolate seeing as how it's EASTER and there's chocolate EVERYWHERE. temptation on every corner i tell ya! my folks even bought my favorite kind of easter eggs and i can't have one. i remember the year my lactose intolerance kicked into high gear and i couldn't each chocolate then either. i got a bag of popcorn for easter...as i did this year. sweet.

last night was weird.

-a bunch of us met and tim/brett/linda's place pre-party
-the girls were in one car following the boys in another when the realization came that all four of us gals had to use the washroom asap
-we pulled into a boston pizza trying to signal the guys to follow us, but it didn't work
-we got a hold of them and they told us where to meet them
-i some how took a wrong turn that led to a 15 minute detour, oops
-got to the party and into the hot tubs
-danced in the sand filled basement in our bathing suits under a red light (and by we i mean tim rebecca and i lol)
-kelsey started to feel ill
-linda and i took care of her for the majority of the time we were at the party then had to drive her home
-the 15 minute drive took an hour caz we had to keep pulling over
-we got hot chocolate at tims (horton not redford)
-after droppin of linda we head to kelseys apartment
-there are cops blocking her street
-i go ask the cops whats up, they say there'd been a fire
-where? kelsey's apartment block
-what floor? hers
-what suite? 1605, kels is 1604
-the cop said there was only fire damage to the suite and some water damage to the others
-i tell kels and she freaks caz her cats in the apartment
-we're allowed into the building and have to climb 16 flights of stairs (now i don't feel so guilty about not going to yoga yesterday)
-her apartment/cat are fine. hurray!
-we talk to the cops in the hallway and some guy (still not sure what he was there for...he said he's the guy who nails the windows close and changes the locks or something
-he was joking around with us and such telling us about his night and his friends
-he brought kelsey a fan and an air freshener, saying he'd be back on monday to get the fan with a bottle of champagne

i guess that's the end. that wasn't really a great story, but it was an odd night, it doesn't need to be told well.

i might post party pictures/videos once tim uploads them. we'll see. my shoes are filled with sand.

things i like

once I understood each word the caterpillar said
once I smiled in secret at the gossip of the starlings
and shared a conversation with the housefly in my bed.
Once I heard and answered all the questions of the crickets
and joined the crying of each falling dying flake of snow
once I spoke the language of the flowers…
How did it go?
How did it go?
-shel silverstein




by ryan schude

i normally don't like much on the radio, but lately i've found myself liking a ton of hits and not even caring that much that they're overplayed. such as:

sometime around midnight - the airborne toxic event

i listened to a few of their other tunes and wasn't as big of a fan. but that's okay if i only like the singles. they kind of sound like the national and the style of the song reminds me of lazy eye by silversun pickups..

another song i'm liking: phoenix 1901

i've become impatient

spring/summer...where are you? it's me, lauren! come here!

i've got two dresses here and two pairs of shoes...never worn...i'm waiting on you warm weather!!




p.s: i usually don't wear heels because all my girl friends are barely over 5 ft tall, but i figure since most of my guy pals are 6 ft or taller, i'll be okay in those wedges, i'm about 5'10 or 5'11 in them lol yikes.

it took me probably about 30 or more tries to do this. i couldn't use my flash, and had to stay very very very still, which apparently i'm pretty much incapable of. but somehow i managed to stay still enough for it not to blur! i don't know how i want to frame this yet, like keep the moon in the center of the frame as it is now, or move it around in there. any suggestions?



p.s: so i get told A LOT that i look like taylor swift. and i mean A LOT. i don't really see it, i think it's mostly the hair. my mom's always telling me i should go on that look-a-like show, etc. well after getting told yet again that i look like t. swift, i checked out the look-a-like show's website and they're doing open casting calls in tornonto on may 2nd and 3rd. i'm thinkin about it now lol, it would be fun. even if i didn't make it through the auditions, a little trip to toronto never hurt anyone!

this i like

art by mini miniature mouse

so i talked to a student advisor today about switching my major. i'll still be able to graduate when i thought i would which is great. i may do a double major. with art history as my major now, i'll be going on the minneapolis and chicago field trips. one next year, and one the year after, or possibly the same year, depending on money and such! :)

cutlery set

It's just like the movies, i eat from the trees
If i do not open the curtains then i cannot see
All the people run by...

My heart eats beats...
My heart eats love...

You are mistaken cause i do not bite
Over the williamsburg bridge on a bike
And if he loves me then why does he leave...

Don't say goodbye like you're burying him
Cause the world is round and he might return...

But if he loves me then why does he leave...

regina spektor - just like the movies. i forgot about that song. hmm. :)

things are lookin up. i feel like i'm kind of heading somewhere. i think i may be switching my major to art history. i'm meeting really great people who i have things in common with. i'm diggin it.

right now i'm listening to owl city. kind of remind me of hellogoodbye. kind of liking it i think. but it feels like it should be a guilty pleasure. also sort of reminds me of the bands bands grade niners listen to...

hello seatle - owl city

this song makes me wanna dance or cuddle in bed with the lights off with a group of friends or even just cool party strangers and a strobe light. yes.

we share our mother's health - the knife

last night craig had a bunch of people over. it was tons of fun. i had been drinking and texting. i reread some of my texts this morning...what silly things come out of my mouth.

example a:
"no but there's a lot of dance dance love dance"

example b:
"do it up man. it will be a trip. i'm on a cuddle fest mission right now. so many spoons"

these two pictures some how sum up my night.




p.s: i broke my chocolate ban on the 3rd, but it was an accident! i'd been really good all day, i had been tempted and didn't buy any chocolate at all! after dinner kels and i went out and got some blizzards. half way through my blizzard, i realised some thing awful. i was eating a SKOR blizzard. i was eating a chocolate bar! on day 3 of no chocolate! UGH. so i had to restart yesterday. silly silly.

they're baaaack

why is it that all the boys i don't care for are the ones who are the most persistent. i have two text message creepers.

one, texts me randomly here and there. it's always small talk. i usually just stop replying after one or two texts. and that's if i respond at all. i haven't talked to the guy in real life for probably a year or more.

the second, is this guy i met on halloween. i talked to him for maybe ten minutes and he tried to kiss me. i pulled away because i wasn't looking for anything or into him AT ALL. he asked for my number and i always panic and just give it to them, thinking i'll just ignore them if they call/text and they'll get the hint. so this fella stared texting me that night (like an hour after i left him), and i would respond but just small talk kind of, and every time he asked me to hang out or anything i would say no, or just stop texting. after maybe two weeks i just decided to stop replying back all together. he texted me for three months straight every weekend (on friday AND saturday) asking me to hang out, i wouldn't respond. after three months i thought he finally got the hint because he left me alone. now, he's back. i haven't seen him or talked to him since he stopped texting before, so i don't know why he's still texting me 6 months later! what. the. heck.