I love this guy

Being a bit of an art history aficionado, I'll occasionally find myself staring at random pictures for extended amounts of time. It's almost never to admire the composition or the brilliance of the symbolism like someone who just called herself an "art history aficionado" ought to be doing. No, I'm usually just fascinated by what the people inside it are up to.

Marriage a la Mode is a series of paintings by the English artist William Hogarth ridiculing standard aristocratic marriages of the day. The second painting in the series shows a married couple the morning after an all-night party:

Notice that guy in the left-hand corner?

Is his facial expression not awesome? One look at him and you know exactly what he's thinking. How many times have we all felt the same way? You can't not sympathize with him. I just love it.

On the myth called 'Summer Vacation'

They say that long ago, in the mists of ancient history, a certain practice was widely observed in early western culture. The story goes that in the summer months, children would lay aside their school books and devote their summers to climbing trees, chasing the ice cream man, swimming in the lake (or if they were lucky, the pool), capturing fireflies, and reading the occasional adventure story when it rained. Of course, as in all myths, the long-established order had its adversaries and a hallmark of the time was the Olympian-v-Titan-esque battles between the children and their parents. These parents, armed with chores and schedules, were part of the school of philosophy that taught that "The unstructured life is not worth living." To this day, it isn't certain exactly who won, as archaeologists constantly unearth evidence  that supports both sides.

When I was little, I was one of the many who believed in this legend. Similar to the story of Santa Claus, it is taught by parents and teachers to children everywhere. And, like the Santa legend, when a child reaches a certain age he is subjected to the rude awakening that the story he has been told all his life by everyone he trusted was, in fact, a lie. Delaying this revelation until high school only makes it more painful.

Such has been my fate. My days are filled with extra studying, college visiting, transcript making, library organizing, and blog-neglecting. Hopefully the craziness will die down soon and I can start blogging a little more regularly again. I miss writing and the way it stretches my brain. However, I have started reading Knowing God and love it. There will probably be a related post forthcoming. :-)