Bastard Love Child

Mystic Comment: I'm glad these are the things I will remember before I leave for school. Red hats, swings, strange thumping noises in coffee shops, piers, pure boredom of this place but friends who make it fun anyways.

Realization when driving around town with Jessie and Meg last night:

My hair is the bastard love child of the two.

Shorter than Jessie's, but longer than Meg's.

Redder than Jessie's, but blonder than Meg's.

Not as curly as Jessie's, but curlier than Meg's.

Don't ask me the genetics of the whole things... or how I could be older than both and still be their love child... perhaps an incident with a condom and a time machine?

My hair is sexy and it makes me feel like Ingrid Bergman.



"Play it once, Sam. For old times' sake."
















And now I leave to go camping.

Until Later,

Sondra

I Pull An Elle Woods

Last night was fun. It was my Dad's 50th birthday party, and I got to have lots of interesting conversations. Some people were familiar, some not so much. People would come up to me and say "Oh my God! Is that Sondra? I remember when you were a little baby! You're so grown up now!"

I got to see John, who I hadn't seen in ages and got to hear all about Morocco. I lended him "Carnet De Voyage", and was thrilled to find that he recognized alot of the drawings in it.

I also had a really interesting conversation with Laura, my cousin Allan's fiancee. I'm not exactly sure what that would make her... cousin, right? Anyways...

She asked me about college and what I wanted to do. I really don't have much of a clue right now, so I just shrugged my shoulders and said that I was planning on taking a few liberal arts classes and see where it leads. I love humanities and philosphy, but that stuff isn't very practical or easy to find a job in. I was kinda leaning towards maybe something in Psychology, but it's just really a whim right now. I said that one time I took one of those 'career path' computer programs in high school, and was shocked to find out that my result was 'drug addictions councilor'. My friends were amused, but some also agreed that they find me easy to talk to. Regardless, I want to end up helping people.

"Have you ever thought about being a lawyer?" she asked.

"What?! Me? A lawyer? HaHA! No way! No! I mean, I could never do that, I'd go on this huge guilt trip every time I had to put someone in prison or worse, to death. No way. I don't even eat meat, how could I ever make something like that my job?!"

"Well, there are alot of other things you could do with a law degree. You could go into Family Law. You could help alot of people there. Maybe Immigration Law? Think about how much you could help people navigate the system there. And it's really not as impossible as so many people think. Sure it's hard, but so is everything else. And people will always need lawyers. I have a friend who is a lawyer, and it's certainly not hard to be able to find work."

"I don't know. I've never thought of myself as a future lawyer. I'm not competetive at all, I'm not really hard nosed or anything, or malicious, or especially driven by money."

"But think about it, you could change all of those sterotypes and help so much people. Doctors are the same way. I hated alot of the pre-med people I went to school with. They were snobby book types. So many doctors are not the type of doctors you want to be dealing with. If I spend 10 minutes with people in the E.R., trying to help them out and find their way, they're so surprised and grateful. It's the only way you can change how doctors are, to act like how a doctor should act."

---

So now I'm playing with the idea. I'm not saying I'll be enrolling in a Pre-law school now, but it's something to consider. I've always sort of felt that I could do well at alot of things, it was just a matter of finding something. Law is definitely something. It applys to most issues I'm passionate about, and I could help so many people. I'll keep in the back of my mind for a year, and see how I feel about it then. Not something to be really flakey about.

I wouldn't be too thrilled at the idea of working in a traditional office all of the time, but perhaps it would also be quite possible to work for enviromental or feminist groups which would provide a much more modern/laid back atmosphere.

Ah, the inner hippie comes out. I could write poems after my victory of saving wetlands.

Ahem. "Nobody sits like this rock sits. You rock, rock. The rock just sits and is. You show us how to just sit here and that's what we need." (if you don't know where thats from, go rent i heart huckabees NOW!)

The thing that surprised me the most was when I brought it up to my Dad later that night. He actually took it as something plausible. He almost never does that. Never. Normally he'll say something like- "Well, you'd need better grades for that" or just kind of smile in a way that I find infinitely annoying, as if to say 'how cute, you say you want to be an astronaut?'

I just thought it was that he had a bit too much wine (which is still possible), but when I brought it up to my Mom at breakfast, she seemed to agree with it too. Given, that's like the greatest thing you could tell your parents.

"Mom, Dad, I want to go pre-law." It goes over much easier than "Mom, Dad, I want to be a conceptual artist." Unless, of course, your parents are conceptual artists themselves.

Joseph Bueys probably wouldn't be thrilled by the idea of a child of his decided to go off to law school. "What do you mean, pre-law?! Why can't you just be normal and display upside down urinals at art galleries?!"

But it was nice to catch their attention. I just need to give this some time and think about it.

"Hey, you could even go into Medical Law! Help doctors out when their sewed for mal-practice? Huh? What do you think?"

Now I see where her true intentions lie. Sneaky, that Laura.

Until Later,

Sondra

New Haircut!

Okay, for some time now I have been in desperate need for a new haircut. It was bad. My hair was totally insane and even started to plot to invade poland. If it were not for the ponytail, life might be very very different right now.

So yeah. I looked like this this morning:



Eeep!

Even though I may be a hippie at heart, I don't really want to look like one!













And then, you ask?

I had the most amazing hairdresser. His name was David. Totally flaming and hillarious.

As he was washing my hair he asked:

David: "So, are you working for the summer?"

Me: "Uh, well I was, but then I lost it."

David: "Did you get fired?"

Me: "No, I just got laid off."

David: "Did you show up to work drunk?"

Me: "No..."

David: "Haha! I used to get fired for that ALL the time! But I don't do that any more. Don't worry, I'm not drunk now. Ha HA! Only sometimes. I only drink when I'm thirsty."

He was hillarious, but I have to admit, I wasn't quite sure if I trusted him completely with my hair after that.

But he did an AMAZING JOB!!!

Check it Oouuuut!






Bellisimo! Muah!



Now if you excuse me, I have some serious dancing for joy to get back to.









Until Later,

Sondra

Eram, Erat, Eras

stupid-alarm-clock-i-hate-you-stupid-alarm-clock-all-alarm-clocks-must-die.

Needless to say, I was not too happy about waking up this morning. I am still not in a good mood. Blah F-ing morning.

Coffee. One moment. Blah.

Okay.

Nick's post today reminded me of the Latin class I took back in high school. I don't remember much, a few declensions, nouns, a verb or two thats pretty much it. It was a great class though, and we even had a toga party in bed sheets. The thing I do remember the most though was being amused by the sentances we had to translate.

Now, French is a different world. The two languages share alot, but the things you learn in French are much more practical. French is still a language very much alive and used all the time. The thing with Latin is because it is a dead language, the vocabulary is very much dated.

Example.

In French the first sentances you start to learn are practical things. e.g. "Où est l'école?"(Where is the school) and other things. But with French you keep on learning other words, words related to the modern world. "Ordinateur"(computer)and "Voiture"(car).

But thats not the case with Latin, unless you want to take the neo-latin approach and make up words for modern day things.

In Latin class, our first sentances were "agricolae in via" (The farmers are in the road)...I think thats it, anyways.

The funny thing is, as the class progressed, the sentances from our books had a tendancy to get increasingly violent due to lack of vocabulary.

The farmer in the road turned to sentances like- "The Romans invaded Gaul", "The soldiers captured the women" and (the all time favorite violent latin phrase) "The soldiers used swords on the slaves".

I am totally not making up any of those sentances. We had to translate them all. Just don't ask me to translate them now... I'd fail miserably.

Added Later: Okay, I can do better than this. I've been Miss Bitchy Pants lately. I'm not exactly sure why I've been acting like this. I normally only pull this card when provoked, but for some reason It seems as if I've been snapping at everyone. It needs to stop.

I went for a walk and I talked to an adorable little boy named Michael who was five. It made me feel a little better, and I'll be trying harder.

My posts also haven't been up to par since the "Love Your Tree" post, and I'm sorry, so I'm going to be making extra effort in the next few. Tomorrow I FINALLY get my hair cut, so that should give me at least something to work with.

If you're sick of the 'hair posts' (I am, at least), something with lots of substance is comming soon. Hopefully.

But before any of my 'trying harder' is manifested in my blog, I need to take care of a few things on the home front.

Note: The "Beauty Truth" quote is from Alison's tattoo. Thanks Alison, It too made my day a little better.


Until Later,

Sondra

Weird Dog

My dog sneezes alot.

Perhaps there is something wrong with him, but he's always done it so I think he just likes to sneeze.

Preferably on me.

When he's happy about something he'll go into this sneeze fit. It's quite amusing.

Example: "Dog, time to go for a walk" *sneeze!* (dog runs around in circle) *sneeze!* "Sit!" *sneeze!*

I have a strange dog.

That, and I just like to write the word "Sneeze" alot.

Until Later,

Sondra

It's All In The Genes, Baby!

A picture of my Dad when he was my age. I saw it and started laughing so hard that I started to cry. It simply defies everything I know about him. Dad? A Hippie?



I guess it just goes to show that the crazy hair is in the genes.

Happy 50th Birthday, Dad! (even though he doesn't read my blog)







Today was lovely. I finally got to see my best friend's new appartment!!! It's very cool, and I hope things work out for her. What? Friends with their own place? Does this mean I'm growing up?

Shoot.

I got to hear all about the summer courses she's taking, and even got to help with an essay about "Lower Educational Standards in the South".

"Oh. I just figured out why there aren't any more dinosaurs. Noah couldn't fit them all on the arc."



Anyways, It was great seeing her. Sometimes I get introverted and forget that I have such awesome friends to hang out with, and end up shutting myself up in my room and listen to music/read/think.

Hey, I'm curled up inside my Fluffy Orange Comforter of Luuurve, incense going, jazzy French music in the back-ground and a great book- I tend to forget life exsists beyond my beloved hideaway.

On the plus side, I'm almost half way through "Life of Pi", and I absolutely love it so far. I can tell already this is going to be one of my all time favorite books.

India is described with such love and detail, I feel as if i've been there myself.

It reminds me of a similar author, Michael Ondaatje. He wrote The English Patient, but I'd recommend In the Skin of a Lion. Everything is described to the smallest detail in his books from a young boy studying moths, mapping lovers bodies, immigrant bakers and the Sahara.

"The grooves and the
corrugated sand resembles the hollow of the roof of a dog's mouth".

If I could only write like that. I like what this one woman says about one of Ondaatje's books.

"This is a book which should be read slowly and preferably aloud. In this highly recommended piece of literature we are taken on a sensual exploration of place and people. It is worth savoring the language which evokes the taste, touch, sight, sound and smell of the characters who are inextricably bound up with their own geographical and human journeys."

Whoever said books can't be sexy was dead wrong.

Until Later,

Sondra

The Post About Nothing

I hope that last post didn't come off as sounding like I was fishing for compliments because thats not what I intended, but thanks James, your comment was sweet. The entry was more of a reaction to hearing a few women talk about tummy tucks as if it were as simple as a going to the dentist for a teeth cleaning. *Sigh*.

It's also amazing what a little good light and the right angles can do for a girl, 'cause in real life I really look like this:



"No, no. That wasn't the one I said. This one means Kill Kirk... And also, hallelujah... Depending on the context."


Or not.

I don't think the quote from "House" is exactly fair. "House" is a show that I love to hate. Everything that Hugh Laurie's character (Wooster for those who know) says pisses me off to no end. He's emotionally cripled, sexist, narcissistic and just plain mean, but I find him facinating in a horrible sort of way. Anyways, what he's saying is that because a woman is beautiful, she is automatically exempt from having to develop any other desirable qualities by society. That if she really wanted to be something other than a doctor, she could have.

That's true to some degree, but normal people don't just become doctors because they're 'ugly' and smart. People become doctors because they want to help others, and has nothing to do with being pretty or ugly.

I've met several girls who have been like super-model gorgeous, but I also consider to be the smartest and most compassionate people I've met. Their own beauty means very little to them and devote themselves to helping others.

Do you follow? I can't tell if I'm making any sense. Blah.

The West Wing is also a good show. Both my dad and myself love to live in the pretend world that Jed Bartlett is president... and the upcoming election is between Jimmy Smit and Alan Alda. Can't go wrong there.

Anyways...

This blog entry is about nothing, and I have writer's block. I'll write again when I can find something to write about.

Until Later,

Sondra

p.s. Bunnies re-inacting Rocky Horror Picture Show in 30 seconds and other films for those who care to see.

p.p.s. I'm going to finally start reading all the books I should be reading. Starting with Life of Pi, then moving on to Memoirs of a Geshia. I'd like to read something by Norman Mailer... more Vonnegut, then perhaps finish with Kerouac. I bet I won't get past Memoirs, but I like to think I will.

Love Your Tree

I saw this quote today and it made me happy.

"You are sublimely, exactly how you need to be at this moment."

In an interview I once watched, Eve Ensler, a famous feminist and playwrite was explaining one of her adventures. She had been traveling all over the globe and was asking women if they loved their bodys. She was in Africa, sitting next to a woman in her sixties that very same question. Her response was this:

Woman: "Do I like my body? Do I like my body? My body. My body. I love my body. God made this body. God gave me this body. My body. My body. Oh goodness, I love my body. My fingers, look at my fingers. I love my fingernails, little crescent moons. My hands, my hands, the way they flutter in the air and fall, they lead right up to my armsso strongthey carry things alongI love my armsand my legs, my legs are long, so long, Masai people, we are tall, I get there fast!"

Eve: "Wait, I don't know how to do this. I want to feel like you. I want to love my body and stop hating my stomach."

Woman: "What's wrong with it?"

Eve: "It's round. It used to be flat."

Woman: "It's your stomach. Its meant to be seen. Eve, look at that tree? Do you see that tree? Now look at that tree. (Points to another tree) Do you like that tree? Do you hate that tree cause it doesn't look like that tree? Do you say that tree isn't pretty cause it doesn't look like that tree? We're all trees. You're a tree. I'm a tree. You've got to love your body, Eve. You've got to love your tree."

Eve went on to make a very good point. She said that in Afghanistan, it is forbidden for women to eat ice cream. Eating ice cream is apparently considered sexual, therefore women are not allowed to. However, they eat it anyways in secret ice cream eating places. It struck Eve as odd, because here, these woman are literally not allowed to eat ice cream, and yet they do. In America, woman all have the freedom to eat ice cream, but we don't anyways because our culture idolizes extremely thin women.

It makes me so sad that our culture is like this. It makes women feel so inferior, advertising a body image that is simply physically impossible. Tall, blonde, thin, large chested. It's exactly why the advertising is so successful- It's simply impossible to have.

Today, if you watch some television, you'll find now that platic surgery and botox are simply considered the norm for makeovers. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all for someone improving self image. I'm not suggesting that we all go out and burn our bras. What our culture doesn't seem to realize though, is that women are risking major surgery and injecting poisons (literally what botox is) into themselves so they can look a bit more like the cover of a magazine. This is major stuff!

Models are freaks of nature!!!

I'm not exactly sure if I have a definite point to all of this. I'm not saying that I am completely happy with the way I look either. I wish I was graceful, I'd like to be taller, look slimmer, and that my hair was auburn and not so blonde it looks invisible at times. But I'm trying to work on accepting, and being happy with what God gave me. Trying to see that some of the things that aren't considered 'in' in our culture are the very same things that make me special. The bump on my nose, my short 'polish peasant' fingers and toes are all things combined to make one me.

Ta da!

And one thing that I'd have to say transends all of these things, things much sexier than long legs or big boobs- confidence. And thats something that we can all achieve.

Until Later,

Sondra

Sleeping In

I slept in today, and it was lovely. I haven't been able to sleep in at all lately for some unknown reason.

I had a dream that I got a puppy. He was adorable. I put him in a large white bucket. His name was 'Coffee', but I wanted to change it. He looked exactly like my dog, but smaller. Then I drove him around in the car at night time.



I don't remember anything more than that.

Random thing: I'm not sure why, but theres something about large white t-shirts that make me happy. They make me think of gorgey boys.

Next year I get to visit England with my grandparents. I'm very excited about that. I need to start learning about Britain now, so I'll know what I want to see. I've been thinking alot about Europe in general lately. Perhaps it's Bush, Perhaps it's this whole nominating a new supreme court justice, or maybe it's still the war.

Great citys, new people, everything so close. I was re-reading "Carnet de Voyage" by Craig Thompson, when I read "I'm in Oregon, and my family is in Wisconsin- 3 1/2 hours by plane- farther than Paris from Marrakesh." The man he was talking to in Morocco was shocked to hear that he only sees his family once a year.

I first saw it in a French bookstore and bought it. French bookstores have entire sections totally devoted to graphic novels. Staying away from the "Asterix" comics, this one caught my eye. Totally worth every single Euro I paid for it. After reading (or at least trying to read) the French version I bought, I purchased the original English copy when I got home.

I would recomend "Carnet De Voyage" to anyone. Its sort of this travel journal/graphic novel. It has all of Craig's drawing and notes in it from when he traveled to France, Morocco, the Alps and Barcelona.

It makes me miss this:



and this:



*le sigh*











Until Later,

Sondra

Quoi!

Yesterday I went shopping for school stuff. It's hard to think of everything i'm going to need to live/survive.

I did buy a quite lovely fluffy orange comforter. It's amazing. I was so excited about it that I used it last night even though it was too hot to use.

clothes hamper, storage boxes, lamp, new cd/radio alarm, phone and the likes.

I'm going to be ordering a Beck poster and am currently looking for a Andy Warhol poster that isn't over $40 that I like. So far, no luck. The ones I do like are either magnets or just too expensive.

If all of Andy Warhol's works were copies, wouldn't a poster be considered an original?

I'm going back to searching through bizzare but awesome european hair models (a la meg) so I can find the right haircut. I want something funky and short. No more boring hair for me!!!

Quoi!!!

Until Later,

Sondra