56

• Olfactory receptors, in humans, are categorized in 56 families.
• The word "Yeah" is sung 56 times in both R.E.M.'s song "Man on the Moon" and Nirvana's, "Lithium".
• Fifty-six is also the number of consecutive games where Joe DiMaggio had a base hit in 1941.
• Fifty-six also represents the number of men who signed the United States Declaration of Independence.
  
• It is also the code for international direct dial phone calls to Chile.
• Fifty-six is atomic number for barium.
• And... fifty-six is the number of days in which I'll be back in the U.S.

Spiderman 3

I finally watched Spiderman 3 today. So let me say just one thing...

You suck Topher Grace.

Topher should have just stayed that skinny stoned white-kid sitting on the couch in his parent's basement on "That 70's Show" because that's basically who he plays in the movie... except whinier and more pathetic (I know! I know! I had no idea that was possible either!).

I am the little dog...

... and Germany is the big dog.

Nothing's Happening

I'm doing a lot of studying... and the bunnies who live outside my apartment just had another litter. That's about it.

What are you guys up to?

14 Olives for the Low Price of $4.66

That's right, I'm blogging about olives... my life is just that exciting right now.

Tom and I went to the "nice" grocery store down today and the guy who was guarding the "free" samples all but literally twisted my arm into buying some olives. I bought some sort of large variety (about the size of small plastic Easter egg) that were coated in fresh herbs and garlic and stuffed with almonds. They're delicious. As a "gift" he also allowed me to eat one of the shrimp and gave me a smaller container with about twelve regular sized olives that are spiced (with chili's) and stuffed with the most scrumptious chili gelatin I've ever had.

What I'm saying is that I payed nearly five dollars American for olives. For beautiful, ripe, firm green olives and I actually feel that it was worth it. For those of you who don't remember, this is quit a change for me, the girl who used to eat canned black olives after wearing them on the tips of her fingers... of course I was five, it was thanksgiving, and you all weren't watching the "kids table" very carefully...

Thomas Weisskopf

Tom was an exchange student at Elmwood-Murdock Jr./Sr. high school when I was a freshman in high school at Weeping Water. His host family was pretty involved in one of the Weeping Water churches though and that's how we go to know each other.

On to the point... I haven't seen Tom in six years (we've talked on and off though) but he's coming to visit for the weekend. Also, in a crazy, twisted, it's-a-small-world-after-all sorta way there's another American girl studying in Dortmund this semester who studied in Tom's hometown when she was in high school.

Gustav Klimt, "The Kiss"

I have a poster of Klimt's "The Kiss" hanging in my room... the wrong way. Instead of hanging it vertically, I've hung it horizontally. It's been hanging wrong (no matter where I lived) for as long as I've had the poster (I think I got it in November). Some people notice, some people don't. I generally tell everyone that I've seen it displayed in various stores/places both ways... mainly to see what they say. A friend of mine called it a "bold choice" and later she told me that she liked that I hung it horizontally. I'm waiting, somewhat anxiously, for someone to come over and tell me what an idiot I am, to criticize my education, and mock me openly in my own apartment.

This is the intended view:

I realize I'm offending art students and Klimt admirers everywhere... but it fills the space on my wall and I rather like it "wrong"...


I've found hanging it this way can be a real conversation starter. I've also found that people who take the interpretation of art too seriously tend to ignore what's truly aesthetic about a piece; color, texture, complex lines, etc. (of course this is just my opinion). To clarify, I don't think that what is in the picture and how it's seen from a certain angle should determine the sum total of it's value. In fact, I feel that since Klimt's "The Kiss" can be hung incorrectly yet still maintain "sense" in one's mind only adds to it's beauty. Not that I think art necessarily needs to make sense... in fact, the only thing art really needs to do is appeal to someone.

It's because of this I'm seriously considering hanging the ten Van Gogh posters I have taped up around the place either upside down or sideways....

... just kidding.