Gaming in C++

Here's the deal, /prog/. Over the winter break, I have decided I want to practice and expand my skills, and as such, design a small applet type game using C++. Now, i am fluent in C++, and MFC, but MFC wouldn't exactly be ideal for this. I fully intend for the game to be 2D Sprite based.

What should I look into, what should I use, and how should I go about things? I've heard openGL would work well, is there anything else I ought to remain cognizant of?

>>18
(Off topic)
Just a tip. Unless it's lisp it's enterprise and everyone here hates it.

(On topic)
If you want to exercize your coding skills it'd probibly be better if you stuck with either straight up OpenGL or Direct3D (whatever floats your boat) and write your own wrapper for it instead of using someone elses.