starting my christmas list early this year...

1. Canon EOS Rebel T2i EF-S 18-55mm IS Kit

oh, delicious dish. the Canon earns first place Christmas list ranking for 2 main reasons: a) it is obviously badass and takes some crazy great digital shots. and b) it was on the list last year, and probably the year before that. and before that. it is the susan lucci of Christmas gifts. please, someone, clinch that emmy for it. 

at the low low price of only $899.99 (before implied holiday savings) how could you not?

2. Fucking Insanely Awesome Wall Map

need i say more? i doubt it... but i totally will. this map has stolen my heart, as has much of the urbanoutfitters.com shopper's pornography. $140 might sound silly, but come on. look at it. 

3. most ridiculously expensive laptop in the world. (aka the murder machine) 

although this macbook pro will undoubtedly lead to my mugging and murder aboard the redline el, it's so cool that i don't really care. however, i suppose that if i could somehow feasibly afford such opulence, i probably wouldn't need to go to college. i'd probably just lay around naked in my villa all day, building forts out of stacks of hundreds and throwing rubies around like confetti. OR on the other side of the equation, i could take out a massive student loan to secure this diamond studded thief-magnet, thus forcing myself to graduate with a doctorate in finance to fulfill repayment. 

hm... i guess when you put it that way, i kind of have to buy it... 

Be Still, My Heart. 

The fully customizable, fully awesome, plato superbike from urbanoutfitters.com. 


le sigh. 


with the addition of the plato superbike to my transit collection, i could worry less about the effect of the apple murder machine on my life expectancy. i suppose you could call it a necessity... especially if you've seen the crowd i ride the train with. 


Cardboard Taxidermy? Absolutely!

vegan animal extortion at it's finest. mcfabulous, actually. again, from urban outfitters. i can't believe i actually want a life sized deer head in my house, but hey. i'm stylish like that. 




i really need to get off urbanoutfitters.com

or not, because ohmygodthisisspectacular. i am already in negotiations with my lil' sis (mon petit souer) to wreak havoc on the quiet streets of paris in these magic gojira suits. i'm thinking of putting together some sort of telethon so that average americans can become a part of our cross cultural alliance. 

when life gets you down...

go to target and put on funny hats. it's cheaper than lemonade, and hey, hats are neat.

well hi there.

 bonjour, tag, hola, etc: 

evidently, it has been quite some time since i last wrote about anything here, which is not to say that i've had nothing to write. on the contrary, i've been so busy living that i haven't had an extra moment to record any of it. ah, excuses, excuses.

a brief summation of my last, oh nine months or so, would be to say that... well, i have this whole new life that i'm enormously proud of, and i should probably record some bit of it here or there. 

unfortunately, i'm no longer a world-saving greenmachine eco-terrorist. my time spent with greenpeace was extraordinary, and i wouldn't change it for the world. i accomplished more with them than i ever dreamed possible on that first miserable day, and i learned so much about myself during the process that i simply sprouted off in another direction, hopefully for the better. 

thanks to my experiences with the greenmachine, i discovered not only my true passion for the environment, but also a deep passion for education and communication. anyone who can make a life of fighting in the streets for the planet deserves the upmost recognition and gratitude (remember that when you run into them, please!) but after some careful introspection, i discovered that i am not one of those chosen few.  quite simply, i feel like i could do more good for the planet and myself by utilizing a skill-set more directly inclined to me. and so, back to school i went. 

i'm now back at DePaul, working towards my degree in International Studies, and hoping to pursue law school when the time comes. ultimately, my desire to save everything from my air supply to polar bears still remains, but i am working towards creating that future in a different manner.  

cue: the life of the tortured philosophy student. with my bank account reaching new, exciting, and perilous lows, the change has been immense to say the least. i've been casually flirting with the idea of getting a job for awhile now, and eventually i daresay it will be a much more immediate problem, but some health problems (boo hiss boo) prevented me from doing so over the summer. quite honestly i'm a little afraid of a resurgence, so fiddle my days away i do.

ok so maybe fiddle isn't the right word, but fiddle it is. too late now, i've already typed it, so i'll move along. 

 faddle? 

somewhat more recently, as in today, i finished my application to study abroad in PARIS this spring, so that's a little new and exciting and less perilous. the actual due date for it is October 15th, and the decision date isn't until November 15th, so i have a fair chunk of waiting-waiting-waiting ahead of me that i've marked my calender for. the program i've applied to is an intensive language study program that incorporates western European political studies and a cultural survey of the arts and society. the only real problem that i'm having is the recommendation letter conundrum. 

the problem: said study abroad program requires 2 yes 2 letters of recommendation from DePaul professors, one of whom must be a french professor.  and, since i've been here now for oh, 12 days or so, i'm finding the "ask a random professor of something-or-other" a little difficult. my political systems of the world instructor is a perfect fit on paper (junior professor of the political science department, international studies adviser, all around pretty-cool-in-that-just-been-in-your-class-four-times sort of way) but you know, i've been in his class 4 times. 

hopefully i'm just that memorable? 

and i get the feeling that this second letter is going to be even more hysterical.  "bonjour, professeur. je vais bien, merci. et vous? enchante! ... by-the-way-would-you-mind-taking-a-few-hours-out-of-your-day-to-blatantly-commend-my-apparent-mastery-of-the-french-tongue?" 

the plan: is to simply hand them my academic questionnaire and hope for the best. 

"yes, yes. i know we've met four times, but here is a brief history of my life, a list of all my future academic and professional goals, a few baby pictures and a video of me receiving the "future star!" award at brownie sleep away camp when i was six."  

how can this not go well? 

and so, TA DA: my life, circa fall 2010. handing out baby photos and biographies to near strangers and spending a lot of time on the el.

i'm sure there will be more later (Oh, God. i sincerely hope so.) and so until then, ciao, my friends. 

brynn