Warmth.

I am really, really obsessed with fall. I can't imagine living in an area of the world without the season. With that being said, happy first day of October! Go out and treat yourself to a pumpkin spice latte!

There are just a few things I'd like to discuss here today. First of all, did any of you see this article on Yahoo's homepage for a few days about a week ago titled Secrets Starbucks Doesn't Want You To Know? Most of it talks about tips and ideas that aren't even that helpful or are just common sense. However, there's part that caught my attention:

'Poor man's latte'

If you want an iced latte but don't have latte cash on hand, "You can order the espresso over ice in a big cup," suggests our barista. "Then you can walk right over to our condiment bar and use our carafes of whole milk, half and half, and nonfat."

"It's way, way cheaper. You'll save a lot of money." In general, she says, only about "one customer every couple hours" has figured out how to buy straight coffee and espresso and use the free condiments to mix their own beverages -- and they never get called on it. "We can't do anything about," she says.

Now, I'll admit I can count on one hand how many times I order iced lattes, as I am a faithful consumer of warm beverages regardless of the current weather conditions. However, this sounds like a trick worth the try. Except, I still can't decide if I would be bold enough to do it. It'd have to be a busy Starbucks in a big city, I think. Would you do it?

Right now I'm pulsing through a little over four hours of sleep. I could definitely benefit from a nap. My mind is starting to beg for one. However, it's October 1st, a beautiful day, I can make coffee, I am about to clean, read, and make pumpkin bread, and I just don't want to take one! Afternoon power-naps turn into afternoon large hunks of sleep time. Then, after waking up and realizing 2 to 3 hours of my afternoon is gone, it take me a good half hour to become mentally aligned and content with the fact that I woke my body up unnaturally at a random time. Plus, I just have the weirdest dreams during naps. Weirdest. How do you feel about these kind of naps?

Now, because I have frequent media quizzes in my media writing class, I have to keep up with news stories like when segways drive off cliffs and Katy Perry is too inappropriate for Sesame Street (You think?!) Since keeping up with the media and pop culture is kind of fun, I haven't been doing too poorly on these quizzes. However, one the other day was bad news. I guessed Britney Spears was banned from Japan instead of Paris Hilton, and Lady Gaga was the one 'popping out' on Sesame Street instead of Katy Perry (it was a good guess though, right?) Turns out Michael Douglas has throat cancer, and Lil Wayne hasn't recently flunked a drug test. I find it ironic that one of the few quizzes that has more to do with pop culture than relevant world news stories and politics is the one that I fail. I knew Bristol Palin was on Dancing With the Stars, though! Hooray for retaining the most useless of information!

Anyway, one question on the quiz today had to do with Stephen Colbert's appearance in congress to talk about immigration. Okay, folks, I've read a few news articles on this, I just don't get it. They knew he was going to be in character. They knew they were asking a comedian to speak in a congress meeting. Yet, they all are upset now because they felt he made light of a serious situation?! I asked my professor why Zoe Lofgren (the D-rep from Cali) even invited him to testify. He just laughed and said, "Apparently she thought it would be a nice, light break from a serious meeting, and he had worked alongside illegal immigrants at a farm one time." If this is all it takes for a person to be qualified to speak in congress, I am scared for this country. Props, Colbert. Props.

I've been trying to put my finger on good music for fall. A Fine Frenzy seems to fit today for so many reasons. I feel like she would be a lover of fall, as well. He covers, photography, clothing, hair color, and music videos all seem to just suggest a feeling of warmth and autumn.The perfect fall music video: Come On, Come Out by A Fine Frenzy

Reading: Their Eyes Were Watching God

Listening: A Fine Frenzy

Watching: Marcel the Shell With Shoes On (SO cute. Watch this. Please!)

AUTUMN.

"She got two sibilants, no bilabial plosives."

-Saskia Hamiton, Ben Folds

Let me begin by saying that I am drinking delicious peppermint tea on a beautifully chilly Midwestern fall day.

Okay, now we can begin. In response to the wonderful Lexi....

1) Sometimes I feel like I'm the craziest person person in the world...So you have to tell me something that makes you a little insane so I can feel better about myself.

Erm... For a significant number of my childhood years I legitimately thought country music killed your brain cells, because my sister told me it did. My best friend loved country music. I was concerned for her but didn't say anything, because I didn't want to offend her.

2) Would you rather kiss Voldemort or Susan Boyle?

Voldemort, on the cheek, before he knew he was a wizard. Aka: This Kid.

3) What is one impossible thing you wish was possible?

Free Teleportation. Hands down.

4) What type of dinosaur would you be? I want you to research extensively and match yourself up with one that has similar personality traits =P

Oh, I definitely took this question seriously. GUYS. There's a species named after HOGWARTS because it looks like a DRAGON. I cannot bring myself to choose any other but this: Dracorex Hogwarsia. Check it out.

5) If you could move anywhere in the universe, where would you move? (Notice how I say "universe" which means if you would like to reside on Mars, or set up camp in a black hole, that's perfectly fine.)

Asteroid B612.

6) Theme song of your life?

Oh, how I despise loaded questions like this! You force me to classify myself, therefore providing me no other option than to cop out! I am squirming with discomfort!

...actually, on second thought, I think this is easier than I thought: The King of Love My Shepherd Is.

Yes! I just dominated this question!

7) Gallbladder or liver?

Well, I choose living... so liver. (Haha, this is ironic because the word live is in liver. In fact, it's like 4/5 of the word. See that?! See what I did there?!)

Randoms:

- Guys, Emma Watson is in the talks for Sam in The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I feel like... I feel like... I'm unsure about this. Obviously, I love and adore her... but... I don't know. How do you feel about this?

Logan Lerman is Charlie. This is good, I think. Although he may be a tad too beautiful for the part. I pictured Charlie to be much more quirky cute than that. We'll see!

- Ingrid Michaelson's new UK single is addicting. I can play it on my ukulele now, even though the strumming pattern she uses is ridiculously frustrating. It's even quite in my vocal range. There are two versions: [Acoustic] and [Single]

- Yesterday the guy who was making my sandwich for dinner was singing the Bed Intruder song. It made me smile.

- Ben Folds' entire new album is streaming on his Myspace. New Bed Folds music is enough to make my entire month a prettier state to live in. He wrote a song about how he is in love with Saskia Hamilton and her poetry. It's so hilarious and adorable at the same time. Oh, to have Ben Folds write a song about you.

Okay. This blog was mostly just to respond to Lexi quickly, before I put it off any longer. Hope you all are enjoying this wonderful Friday!

Friends!

I don't usually talk about my day to day happenings, but Saturday was such a great day that I feel it needs to be documented. In photos.

Well, Saturday I spent the day at a college where several of my friends go. Fifteen of us from camp staff met up for the afternoon.

I'm still not sure how this worked out so well, it was very spur of the moment. However, I know many of greatly needed this reunion of sorts. I know I did.

First, I stopped at the football game, and hung out with some of my most favorite friends from high school. Especially this beautiful creature. She just got the lead in Oklahoma! I'm kinda extremely proud of her. Imma buy her flowers.

Next! I headed of to the soccer game to watch the funniest boy I know dominate in a sport I once played against him in. Ah, playing on teams for sports that involve balls. What distant memories. Anyway, turns out he wasn't playing because his team was up 3 - 0. This, however, was convenient for him, because he was very eager to leave the sidelines to show me his blister as soon as he saw me arrive. Win - Win situation, I guess.

I spent much time with this particular camp friend, Clare. I love her more than I can even express in words. She's beyond wonderful, and one of the most beautiful people I am blessed to know.

After this, we went to Pizza Ranch, even though I clearly expressed my objection due to price. I was overruled. This is okay. It is delicious, I know, I am just not a $9 eater. There are pictures of this, but she has yet to upload those pictures. This is okay. Picture people sitting at a booth. Alright. Wonderful. Do any of you have Pizza Ranches around you?

When we came back, we saw a lot of dorms, smelled a lot of boys living quarters, took a lot of pictures, caught up like crazy, and ate a lot of dumdums.

What are you supposed to do in a dumdum picture? I was not quite sure. Clare wasn't either. She carries around a bag of dumdums with her. This is why I love her.

One boy we met was talking to us for a little while before I got up to head to my other friend's room. When I came back, he saw me in the hall and said something to me I didn't quite understand. I asked him to repeat himself and he said, as if surprised, "You're a little person!" Friends, how do you respond to this? I am already a socially awkward person, so trying to respond to a socially awkward comment is particularly difficult for me. I think I just mumbled some sort of a protest on how I wasn't that short and walked away.

Oh, it was a fun day. Leaving that night was a very hard thing to do. I needed to see all those familiar faces. Big colleges can become exhausting.

Now, a few matters of business:

As Paige commented for the last blog, the painter's name is Leonid Afremov. You should check him out, they're gorgeous!

Lex, I'm excited that you tagged me, and I'll answer the questions in my next blog!

Let me leave you with a blast from the past:

(Mystery Music Video...)

See you soon!

Favorite you, Favorite me.

"You forget everything. The hours slip by.

You travel in your chair through centuries you seem to see before you, your thoughts are caught up in the story, dallying with the details or following the course of the plot, you enter into characters, so that it seems as if it were your own heart beating beneath their costumes."

- Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary

I am so picky when it comes to things I put on my wall. I fear my house will have blank walls, simply because I am afraid of committing to wall decorations. For this reason, I have a huge problem with posters. If I'm going to purchase a giant poster, I have to absolutely love it and want to stare at it quite often with immeasurable joy.

So, while the big annual poster sale here at school has quite a fun array of pictures to sort through, I can never commit. No film means enough to me to devote 36 x 24 inches of my wall to, and having actors/singers/famous figures on my wall makes me uncomfortable on a daily basis. Some photographs are quite gorgeous; however, I can find ones I like better and print them in a much less obnoxious size. Those little kids are cute when they kiss, sure, but nope... don't want them on my wall. Now, art. See, I do quite enjoy your style, Andy Warhol, but I need to be honest with you: You, as a person, kind of creep me out. I can't be seein' your face before I fall asleep.

So, after I was done searching through all the posters that resembled Giant Commitments of Personality, I found the 9 x 12 posters of actual paintings. Now, these I can handle. I purchased two. They aren't my all time favorite paintings, but I am quite happy with their addition to my humble abode. I bought this one by Claude Monet and this lovely one by Vincent Van Gogh. Both in non-threatening sizes.

Speaking of paintings, I saw this online (also pictured above) the other day and fell in love with it. I don't know who painted it, though, and I can't quite make out the signature. It's my desktop picture right now. Maybe, some day, I'll take a leap and commit to a Giant Commitment of Personality size.

Is it kind of creepy if I almost bought a (small) of of the Lady of Shallot? It's truly a creepy painting to represent an utterly depressing piece of literature, but I love that poem! I definitely geeked out senior year when we read it. I think I feel in love with it because of the part in Anne of Green Gables, when she acts it out. Because I love Anne. So much.

Okay, anyway.

I finished Interpreter of Maladies. It was a collection of really, really good short stories. Nearly every single one depressed the heck outta me, though, and they all ended with little to no resolution. But they were so wonderfully written!

Time to write. Let's talk about paintings. Do you have any favorites? Favorite artists?

See you soon. :]

I Own a Tree

If you be my star

I'll be your sky

you can hide underneath me and come out at night

when I turn jet black and you show off your light

I live to let you shine

I live to let you shine

But you can skyrocket away from me,

and never come back if you find another galaxy

far from here with more room to fly.

Just leave me your stardust to remember you by.

- Gregory and the Hawk

My roommate's method of compensation for lack of sleep is by taking a nap. My method is a handy dandy beverage called an americano. Okay, so one is probably more healthy than the other, I know. But, I've always been a make-it-through-the-day kind of gal. Usually.

When I woke up for my 8 a.m. class, it was 42 degrees outside, so I planned to spend the afternoon in the library. However, it is now a gorgeous day outside. Perfect for a t-shirt and jeans. You know what that means, Mom? I found my tree, just like Rory. When I made the executive decision that I was going to study outside and get my daily dose of vitamin D, I knew the selection of location was of utmost importance.

This was going to be the day that I picked my tree. This was going to be the moment that I chose the bark I would lean against while reading literature, writing thoughts, and while becoming a little less ignorant towards dozens of subjects.

Okay, so maybe I'm placing a little too much nostalgia on this choice, especially since during 4/5 of my time here, the temperature is too cold to even utilize this particular function of trees... but I didn't want to let my mother down. I'm no where near going to Yale, so having a tree like Rory is the closest she's going to get to having a daughter live her life vicariously through Rory Gilmore.

Anyway, I picked a strong, healthy-looking maple. I think we'll get along. Now to think of a name.

Two guys across from me are tightrope walking between two trees. Props, gentlemen, props. It's fun to see people pass time with activities that don't involve electronics. It's even more fun when they're hipsters. I would go over there and try it for myself if it wasn't for my infamous lack of balance and the fact that I just heard one of them say, "I'm usaully really good with balance, but I feel like a two year old on this thing!"

Book update:

The Late Homecomer = done.

I liked it. A lot. It was a wonderful Hmong memoir told in a very personable manner. I loved learning not only facts, but also feelings about their past and the adversity they faced in both their previous country and America.

Reading this week: Interpreter of Maladies

Randoms:

I almost bought two-toned saddle shoes from UO today for $8.79 total, after using free shipping and 10% off. Alas, I did not. That's how careful I'm being with the ol' pocketbook. Tear.

I was just reading my Sociology book and came across this sentence:

"Applying the scientific method to the social world, a process known as positivism, apparently was first proposed by Auguste Comte."

Notice anything odd? Maybe it's just me, but "apparently?" Apparently to whom? The author? What!? Auguste Comte either did or didn't apply the scientific to the social world. So, author, if you just found this out prior to writing the article, you don't need to let me know that he "apparently" did this. If he did, he did. Goodness sake, that's such an odd word to place before a fact in a textbook. I'm so confused.

Go listen to good music, and I'll be back soon.

:]

Hello, September.

Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. "Pooh!" he whispered.

"Yes, Piglet?"

"Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw. "I just wanted to be sure of you."

Greetings. :]

I am now nearly finished with two weeks of school. It's been a bit stressful, actually, for reasons entirely unrelated to school work. However, it's mostly unimportant. Just one of those unexpected added stressors.

A few of you wanted to know the novels required for my multicultural lit/film class. I am more than willing to share! Many of them are uncommon, but they all are intriguing, in their own way. I will list them in the order we are reading them.

1) My Antonia by Willa Cather

- This book we've already read and discussed. It had some lovely shining moments, but all in all I found it to be way too unnecessarily descriptive, which made it a long, drawn-out read.

"I was something that lay under the sun that felt it, like the pumpkins,

and I did not want to be anything more. I was entirely happy."

- My Antonia

2) The Latehomecomer Kao Kalia Yang

- This is a Hmong family memoir. I'm currently reading this book for next Tuesday's discussion. It's a big one to fit in a week!

3) Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

4) Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

5) When The Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka

6) Always Running by Luis Rodriquez

7) Flight by Sherman Alexie

8) Night Flying Woman by Ignatia Broker

So, one novel a week, with the exception of a few weeks when we have to watch a film and respond. I am rather excited about this, as well, because one week the movie is Crash. Have any of you read any of these? Thoughts? I may write a bit about each of them as I finish.

Now, have any of you read any of Ralph Waldo Emerson's essays? Oh my! I have recently discovered their brilliance. The first one I read was Friendship, which lead me to reading his others, which lead to me wanting to share so many quotes from them. However, I will just tell you to read a few, so that I will not jip you of context. You can find them all here and here. I love how he takes a topic so many have written on, like friendship, and causes you to explore it in a completely new way. Anyway, have a read.

Today I was hit by a cool breeze that oddly nostalgic. I think I'm excited for fall. Also, I don't think I told you that I purchased tickets for a Mumford and Sons concert. I definitely definitely DID! Also, in the news of exciting events, I also got a Gap $50 giftcard for $25 through Groupon. If you live in a big city, you should definitely check this site out! It's free, and there are amazing daily deals! My best friend goes to college in Chicago, and she introduced it to me.

Alright,

this is a fantastic song,

this is a fantastic video,

and I will talk to you all soon.

:]