Melting Pot

This school year has been particularly exciting for several different reasons. The most obvious is that it is my last one before college. Following in second place is all the 18th birthday parties happening. It is so strange to be officially considered an adult. Personally, I still feel like I'm thirteen years old. The concept of being able to buy lottery tickets (among other things) seems completely out of place for me; however, I will admit that I have exercised my newfound right to go and get piercings. Much to my father's dismay, my nose now has a shiny new stud.

Today is a friend's birthday. Last night we all went out to celebrate at this restaurant chain called The Melting Pot. It was a bit pricey for us teens (about 25 bucks a head!), but I would have to say that the experience was definitely worth the money. The Melting Pot is a fondue place, and up until last night I had never really had a fondue experience. It was awesome! The atmosphere of the place is really cool, although it was a bit dark inside. Ten of us squeezed around one table, and we got to enjoy three different types of cheese fondue.

The waiter comes around and mixes the cheeses in front of you, and then they bring out platters of goodies (apples, breads, vegetables, chips, etc). Everyone has their own fondue forks and off you go! We finished all three pots of cheese within about fifteen minutes tops, and then the chocolate was brought out. Needless to say, the chocolate went even faster. Mmmm, it was soooo good.

The Other Boleyn Girl

I have always enjoyed learning about European history. Don't get me wrong, American history is equally fascinating, but it just doesn't date back as far as I wish it did. One of my favorite topics has always Tudor England. For Christmas I received this necklace. Look familiar? If so, it's probably because you've seen it here.


Ugly Betty sports the same necklace. Whenever I wear mine, I always get the same remark: "Oh my gosh! Where did you get Ugly Betty's necklace?" I have to hold back laughter because, little do they know, my necklace (and Betty's!) are replicas of someone else's jewels. Who, you ask? Anne Boleyn.
The Other Boleyn Girl (a wonderful read, by the way) has been made into a movie that is going to come out this February. Needless to say, I can't wait. Anne Boleyn is one of the most intriguing women in history. Anne was one of Henry VIII's mistresses. Somehow, she managed to convince him to seek a divorce from his Spanish queen, Catherine of Arragon. She single handedly helped tear England away from the Catholic Church, and it was her daughter Elizabeth I that lead the country into its golden age. Unfortunately for Anne, she never gave birth to the son she promised Henry. She was executed for witchcraft. The whole story is quite fascinating.

Life After People

No new pictures as of the moment, but this post is going off of my last. History Channel is coming out with a show called "Life After People." It depicts what might happen to the planet if humans disappeared. For example which buildings would crumble the fastest, which animals would thrive, etc. It looks really interesting, and I guess a lot of the footage was filmed in Chernobyl, Ukraine. It premieres on Monday, January 21 at 8 PM central.

Here's the website: Life After People

Apocalypse?

A full view is probably best for this, otherwise the text is kind of hard to read. This image is a part of my final project for my Photo III class. Our teacher let us take pictures of whatever we wanted, and so I decided to continue with the abandoned places theme. To add a personal twist, I wanted to see if I could manipulate my photos to depict what the world may look like after some sort of apocalypse... It's in the spirit of The Road which is a truly haunting book. Pick it up, if you get a chance. :) The Farmer's Wife introduced me to this location-- it's a beautiful house, despite its advanced stage of decay. The writing on the wall was added in photoshop. I do find the graffiti on abandoned places to be a fascinating subject in itself, but this house didn't have any to display. I didn't have the heart to really deface it, so I had to go to the computer to do my dirty work. I think it came out quite nicely!

Evening Hawk

"Evening Hawk" by Robert Penn Warren

From plane of light to plane, wings dipping through
Geometries and orchids that the sunset builds,
Out of the peak's black angularity of shadow, riding
The last tumultuous avalanche of
Light above pines and the guttural gorge,
The hawk comes.

              His wing
Scythes down another day, his motion
Is that of the honed steel-edge, we hear
The crashless fall of stalks of Time.

The head of each stalk is heavy with the gold of our error.

Look!  Look!  he is climbing the last light
Who knows neither Time nor error, and under
Whose eye, unforgiving, the world, unforgiven, swings
Into shadow.



         Long now,

The last thrush is still, the last bat
Now cruises in his sharp hieroglyphics.  His wisdom
Is ancient, too, and immense.  The star
Is steady, like Plato, over the mountain.



If there were no wind we might, we think, hear
The earth grind on its axis, or history
Drip in darkness like a leaking pipe in the cellar.

2008?

How is it already 2008? Ever since elementary school, I've used the numbers 08 as a part of my login ID to get on the computers since it is the year that I graduate from high school. In this way logging onto the school computers has almost been like a countdown of the time I have left here. Amazing. June will be here before I know it, and then no more high school. Off to college I go. Scary!

Anyway, I know I've been horrible at updating this blog. One of my goals this year is to do a better job. So check back often!

Paris

It's been a good few days since I've posted anything. This is an older picture, taken in Paris. I enjoy playing with the hues in photoshop :)