Hello World, tremble in fear!

My name is Lauren Snailbrain and I have something to say. I dedicate this to people who are like me. Stand up stand out, breath in breath out. I’m someone you’ve just realized you can’t live without. I am unique. And I swear you are too. Make your own music and dance your own way. Toss your cares into the air. Live out your big city dreams. Sing out, sing loud, never doubt and never shout never. Show me a hero and I will show you a tragedy. Hello Los Angeles, I am Lauren Snailbrain and this is my manifesto. I salute you.

I was reading John Green's blog this weekend and there was this post in particular that stuck out to me. He was talking about how certain lines of poetry had a lure to them that had him whispering them to himself. Anyway...it's interesting and it made me think about lines that really spoke to me. It seems that whenever I read F. Scott Fitzgerald, I come across a line here or there--quite ordinary: just a line explaining or describing something--and I'm slightly stunned by the eloquence and beauty of his words. I think I'm going a bit overboard here, but I honestly find that even insignificant descriptions of the setting can really hit me. All of the sudden, I really realize how lovely words can be. Here's some poetry by Auden that I love...

"I sit in one of the dives
On Fifty-second Street
Uncertain and afraid
As the clever hopes expire
Of a low dishonest decade:
Waves of anger and fear
Circulate over the bright
And darkened lands of the earth,
Obsessing our private lives;
The unmentionable odour of death
Offends the September night." -W. H. Auden's "September 1st 1939"

"O stand, stand at the window
As the tears scald and start;
You shall love your crooked neighbour
With your crooked heart." - W. H. Auden's "As I Walked Out One Evening"

Basically, I love all of "As I Walked Out One Evening". It's whimsical and it's fascinating...to me at least. This summer I tried to write my own poem in this style, and it died. I am HORRIBLE at rhyme. I have more appreciation for this now... :)

If I Found That Envelope...

If you could go anywhere, where would you go? Which places would you visit first and who would you take with you? Whenever I am in a plane, I gaze down at the land stretching out below me. I wonder what's going on down there in the miniature dips and hollows and I know that they must be houses and cities somewhere, but at this height they are invisible to me...I can only imagine what must certainly be there. Flying back home this summer, I had the insatiable urge to travel more, to turn around immediately and see new places, eat new foods, temporarily adapt to new ways of life...

My head is filled with thoughts of Egypt and Iceland, the French countryside and the Greek islands...I wish I was there now. Anywhere but here, anywhere that was different and fascinating and intriguing. Learning new languages and walking around the cities in the evening...doesn't that sound lovely? he only question that remains is: If you were stranded on a desert island with only churros and water, how long would you survive? I wonder...

Today my name is Geraldine

Sometimes I'm seriously diggin the summertime freedom, but with the winter chill. Today is one of those days. It's a Saturday in October and it's not cold enough yet for me to happy and I really see no reason to do those fucking Key IDs anyway...pointless torture, I tell you. I crank up the air conditioning and curl up in my chair. I cover myself in mountains of blankets-my aunt's wave colored crochet, brown furry, little kid quilts-and cover my feet those slipper things from the Gyspy Lady at Carlizzles, and sip hot cocco in perfect bliss. You have no idea what it feels like to just BE and let all the crazy things flying around in my head just STOP and float down to where they need to be. It's marshmellow marvelous. All I'm missing is my toasty fire burning in the fireplace...

I started out reliving the fashion disasters of Team Zoe, but eventually Bravo had the audacity to turn on that stupid housewives of Atlanta show so I turned to my books. I never really thought about reading Rachel Cohn's stuff before. Robin Benway raved about her, but I really never made the connection between the conversation and the actual reading of the books. Honestly, I love her collaborations with David Levithan, but I've always had this bias that he was the true genius of the two...yes, I know. Foolish. I read Gingerbread on Friday and Shrimp today and I think I may even read Pop Princess, even though my entire body shudders at the idea of touching something called Pop Princess...we shall see. I think Gingerbread is a little cliche and a lot over the top, but Cyd Charisse is a character that grabs onto your shoulders with both hands and pulls you into her world, whether you like it or not. Besides, what's not to like about someone named Cyd Charisse?

Plus, I finally got my hands on the new Nylon(technically not so new because I just haven't had time to go buy it until now...tsk tsk)! AND GUESS WHO IS GRACING THE COVER OF MY FAVORITE MAG?!?! ZOOEY DESCHANEL, THAT'S WHO! I love her so much. SO MUCH. She's ultra fabulous. :) Nylon has it right: ZOOEY DESCHANEL will charm the pants off you. Just like Michael Cerra belongs at CTY, Zooey Deschanel belongs in my life. Just kidding, but still. She's amazing. I met her shopping once...it took tremendous will power not to start jumping up and down in my annoying excited way. She sews. She sews!

In other news, M.I.A. has a new clothing line, about which she says, "It's not really...like, a fashion line...as such". It's called NEET( Not in Education, Employment, or Training). Plus, it spells out TEEN backwards. I'm completely in love with "Paper Planes", even though everyone is giving me shit about it...Here's something tres cool she said in the Nylon interview: "The artwork came from being everywhere. I got inspiration from the paintings in side rickshaw taxis in India, these crappy bootlegg Madonna stickers in Africa...It's, like, this weird understanding of Western things but they get it all wrong---and it's the getting it wrong part that I like." Downside: Afrika Leggings: $85 How Many Sweatshirt: $150 Lauren's Brain: WHAT THE FUCK?? HOW MUCH ARE WE CHARGING FOR LEGGINGS?? Are you out of your mind? NEET= total fashion lust.

Oh, and while we are on this page, have I mentioned that I want to be the girl from the Supra ads? You know? That girl with the super choppy hair with the scarf, torn leggings, and the tooth bracelet? Yes. That should be me. But I don't think I could pull it off without moving to a whole other place. But on the other hand, sometimes I wish I was named Geraldine, so who knows what's logical in my head...

Collins vs. McQueen

Collins vs. McQueen:

During the judging of the final challenge before Bryant Park, Kenley Collins' wedding gown was compared to one of Alexander McQueen's Fall 2008 looks. Here they are. I think they look eerily similar...

The Strangest Things

I never thought I'd see the day when I'd skip off gleefully to do community service...come on now...you know me. But I think the day has arrived. I always feel so happy after coming back from the Cantebury and I don't feel like I've wasted any of my time, contrary to my previous experiences with volunteering. I love the little old people! They are adorable.
My current favorite is Dorothy from assisted living. She's very lively and opinionated and sweet. She doesn't seem to care that I have no idea which way the activities are when I'm pushing her through the hallways. Plus, she doesn't treat me like her personal slave...there are a couple of the ladies who are so grouchy.

Another thing that amuses me: the Obama twins! There are these two ladies who ALWAYS wear their Obama buttons on their sweaters. I think it's cool how they're still opinionated about politics and are aware of what's going on right now. Although I disagree with their choice of candidate, I still think it's great that they're still concerned with voting even though they're living in a retirement home---basically in a bubble.

So far, all I'm responsible for is serving tea and cookies, but I really enjoy it. I like it much more than I initially expected and I'm glad. The only thing I didn't really love was going into the assisted living area...they live two to a room and they're sleeping in hospital beds. There's nothing wrong with that, but they remind me of baby birds the way they look up at you confused when you ask them if they'd like to go to the daily activity. Frail, but very cute. They're sitting in their beds with the covers pulled up to their chins...

I wish today was simply an illusion...

Hello world!
Or maybe just Gaines! :)

OH, THE FRUSTRATION. I should be doing Key IDs right now...how I hate doing those notecards...takes forever, but instead I figure that it is long overdue to write a new post. Recently life has been all over the place. The school newspaper came out last week and I'm still behind on sending out the issue to other schools and whatnot. But that's okay. It will get done. Eventually...

On another note, I saw Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist last night, which was AMAZING. I love Kat Dennings(The 40 Year Old Virgin, Charlie Bartlett, The House Bunny). She is wonderful. I wish I was Kat Dennings. No, I take that back. If I could be anyone in the world, it would be Zooey Deschanel (In a non-creepy way, of course). The music was amazing, the casting was good, I loved the humor, and my only complaints are as follows: Michael Cerra is too nerdy for Nick, and also I wanted to hear Where's Fluffy actually play a set. It's rather frustrating when the characters spend the entire movie chasing Where's Fluffy and then you don't get to hear them. The book explains how fantastic they are, but I don't think it comes across as well in the movie, especially as the lyrics are not written across the screen...Overall, I think the book to movie transition was rather good. Although some aspects were changed or left at the wayside, everything was done in the spirit of the novel. Suprising, isn't it? I don't know...What do you think? Maybe because it's not Harry Potter, I'm not up-in-arms about the minor changes, but maybe they were major and not minor after all? Let me know.

I also discovered the Rachel Zoe Project last week while eating raspberries after school. Ever since her guest appearance on Project Runway, I've thought of her as the human scarecrow, but I think she's actually not that bad. Yes, she has the whiney little girl voice, and yes, she does run around wasting most of her money on clothes, but I think all people have these traits whether we like them or not. Plus the show mentions how she's best friends with Marc Jacobs. marc Jacobs equals epic win.

Well, what else can I say? Life is busy right now and more than anything, I'd like to say that I was on a plane somewhere exotic and fabulous but I'm not. I'm at home, eating Panda Express, watching reruns on Bravo, and desperately wishing that the giant stack of Key IDs on my desk was growing smaller by the minute. And so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.