la la la...i'm a blogging fiend...la la la.
decided to go to a cafe to read the articles for my next paper on the pros and cons of humanitarian/military intervention. i figured, if i am just going to be reading to figure out what i need to still research, why the fuck am i going to wake up at the bumfuck of morning and take a bus back and forth from herzliya...i'd rather take my dear time getting ready (and catch up on "true blood" which is my latest guilty pleasure addiction next to "gossip girl"...i know, i know...but it's an addiction) and spend the bus fare on a cup of coffee. so i went to coffee bean. and one of the things i looove about israel are the old men who meet up every morning at the coffee shop and sit and shmooze. they are so animated and lively when they talk, it's amazing to watch. today's topic of conversation is the new knesset and netanyahu and all. unfortunately my verbal hebrew isn't so well, i can read and write, but speaking and listening are hard unless the person doesn't mind speaking slow and me speaking as if i just learned a language (though i have technically been learning hebrew since english...it's just been on an on and off basis), so i could only understand bits and pieces but the old men were talking about past prime ministers and they were all around since israel's establishment so they were throwing out names like ben gurion, jabotinski, dayan and so on. i love hearing about history from the people who lived during the time b/c you get real emotion and real perceptions, not some dumb textbook or prof who tries to give an unbias point of view - you hear real stories from real people. they were talking about the arab israeli conflict - and i took that course as an undergrad (the history of... ) and it was an interesting class (i memorized the conflict from 1946 to 2006....) but, again, that was from a prof (who is apparently a leftist) trying to teach an unbias class. it's near damn impossible and to fully be able to understand what they were saying...that's what really motivates me to learn the language. fuck having to deal w/ banks (i am w/ leumi - they have a policy apparently to hire at least 1 or 2 english speakers or israelis who speak it fluently) and fuck doctors (i have friends who have been here over 10 years, speak the language just fine yet still prefer english-speaking doctors...and they aren't hard to find as most studied in the states), i just want to be able to understand what these old men say when they meet for coffee every morning...i'm sure it's damn more interesting than reading about the realist, reactionist and revolutionist theories on international intervention.
i still haven't located my ring. it might be in my room but it's so damn cluttered (and a mess...thanks to not really being home during the week and the weekend) that it might be here. i decided during passover break, i am going to do "spring cleaning" and totally rearrange my room. of course, to rearrange means taking everything out since there is no real room to maneuver. this wouldn't be completely horrible except that my bedroom set that was shipped from the US when my parents moved here, is my great grandmothers from the early 1900s and it's solid cherry wood...IE: fucking heavy and i am not really wanting to unload my drawers. not only that, but the bed itself is a real olden-style bed which means there are no screws...it all just "fits" together w/ hooks and shit. also, i am a packrat and the only time shit gets thrown out is when i rearrange my room b/c it forces me to look at things and think if they are really necessary to my existence. i can always make the argument "yes" but i know there are things i could probably do w/out and things i can put back in boxes until i am officially settled somewhere and can take them out.
like my 50-some-odd elephants. i don't even know how the collection started but i can tell you that 95% of them, people bought for me. jeez...you play an elephant in the 6th grade play and all of a sudden, people think it's your favorite animal. over the years, though, they have grown on me.
but i need to put them away for now.
i think i am going to have to bribe my mom one day to come out here and help me. this was her furniture before and she can help me put the bed back together (i put it together on my own the first time...never again. i ended up w/ bruises all over my legs and arms) and she will be that voice that tells me "throw that the fuck away." sometimes, i need that voice.i will take her to meatland (a shop that has items shipped from the US that you can't find anywhere else like solid white tuna, folger's coffee, ortega mexican products, terrell's chips and so on) and out for a meal...plus i will pay for her transportation...it's a win-win situation in my book.
speaking of parents, i am going to see them tomorrow through saturday night. i hate the shlep to maale adumim b/c i have to take 3 buses and it's a pain, but i haven't really been there in a month or so and though i saw them at the wedding....well, really, i need laundry done. when i went to university in the US, i was never that kid that brought laundry home (of course, my house was a 5 hour drive from school...) so i am making up for lost time. i could stay til sunday morning but i don't want to lose a day, especially w/ an exam and a paper next week...i need sunday. so i am going thursday after work (i get out at 12 on thursdays) instead. i think friday morning my parents want to go into j'lem but i am not sure.
i sent the main article i am basing my paper off to my dad so we can discuss the pros and cons and give me a focus on where my research needs to go b/c right now, i am reading random interesting things, but they are random and i am not quite sure if they are necessary to my paper.
this will be weekend #4 i haven't been in my apartment....next weekend i won't be home either. joual will be home and i will have not seen him for 2 weeks. and again, i will want a weekend of nothingness and complete relaxation b/c the next week classes resume and i have to grade exams - i have 3 weeks to grade 65 essay exams. though it doesn't sound too difficult...it is a pain in the ass. but at least i have a deadline so it will motivate me a bit more...perhaps....maybe.
once school starts, then maybe i will be home more on weekends....
stupid roommate brought up our bdays again. she is the day before me. and again she started talking about how her boyfriend wanted to take her away but it doesn't make sense and blah blah blah and will just have a party at the apt instead. i really need to work better on my "i don't give a shit face." i just told her that i will either be at joual's or my parents for the weekend. she asked me why i won't stay if joual isn't around and i was like, i want to see my parents. i don't need an excuse. besides (and here comes my rant), really, i hate my birthday. bad shit seems to happen on or around my bday and i can list them since i was 13. my bday has been "celebrated" by me going to the hospital, my mom in the hospital, my dad, being sick, fights, accidents...you name it...bad shit happens. to me, staying under the covers and treating it like a normal day is fine. experience has shown that parties only make it worse. good things never come out of my bday parties. and i am convinced that i will never just have a good birthday as shit will always get fucked up some how. as it is, my bday is on passover which means no good cake. and i am turning 26 which means i am closer to 30 than 20. not that i have any life goals i want to achieve by 30 (i don't plan that far in advance, hell, i haven't even figured out what i am bringing to my parents tomorrow and i have to be out the door by 7:30am to go to work), it's just the idea of 30. i think popular culture did that. they also fucked up turning 40 by calling it "over the hill." you would think that w/ life expectancy going up that 50 would be the new 40 but i guess not. anyway, i hate my bday as i have never had a good one and i don't really have any expectations that this one will be any better.
no expectations leads to no let downs. it's how i learned to live.
end of bday rant.
i do it every year though.
i needs a hair cut...maybe sunday.
i also need to get some rest b/c i will be up early and i actually want to work on my paper once i get to my parents.
ehhh, who am i really kidding - i will watch the latest episode of lost
-JB
xoox
oh yea...this is the intro to "true blood"....not only is the song good but the imagery is amazing. check it out...
decided to go to a cafe to read the articles for my next paper on the pros and cons of humanitarian/military intervention. i figured, if i am just going to be reading to figure out what i need to still research, why the fuck am i going to wake up at the bumfuck of morning and take a bus back and forth from herzliya...i'd rather take my dear time getting ready (and catch up on "true blood" which is my latest guilty pleasure addiction next to "gossip girl"...i know, i know...but it's an addiction) and spend the bus fare on a cup of coffee. so i went to coffee bean. and one of the things i looove about israel are the old men who meet up every morning at the coffee shop and sit and shmooze. they are so animated and lively when they talk, it's amazing to watch. today's topic of conversation is the new knesset and netanyahu and all. unfortunately my verbal hebrew isn't so well, i can read and write, but speaking and listening are hard unless the person doesn't mind speaking slow and me speaking as if i just learned a language (though i have technically been learning hebrew since english...it's just been on an on and off basis), so i could only understand bits and pieces but the old men were talking about past prime ministers and they were all around since israel's establishment so they were throwing out names like ben gurion, jabotinski, dayan and so on. i love hearing about history from the people who lived during the time b/c you get real emotion and real perceptions, not some dumb textbook or prof who tries to give an unbias point of view - you hear real stories from real people. they were talking about the arab israeli conflict - and i took that course as an undergrad (the history of... ) and it was an interesting class (i memorized the conflict from 1946 to 2006....) but, again, that was from a prof (who is apparently a leftist) trying to teach an unbias class. it's near damn impossible and to fully be able to understand what they were saying...that's what really motivates me to learn the language. fuck having to deal w/ banks (i am w/ leumi - they have a policy apparently to hire at least 1 or 2 english speakers or israelis who speak it fluently) and fuck doctors (i have friends who have been here over 10 years, speak the language just fine yet still prefer english-speaking doctors...and they aren't hard to find as most studied in the states), i just want to be able to understand what these old men say when they meet for coffee every morning...i'm sure it's damn more interesting than reading about the realist, reactionist and revolutionist theories on international intervention.
i still haven't located my ring. it might be in my room but it's so damn cluttered (and a mess...thanks to not really being home during the week and the weekend) that it might be here. i decided during passover break, i am going to do "spring cleaning" and totally rearrange my room. of course, to rearrange means taking everything out since there is no real room to maneuver. this wouldn't be completely horrible except that my bedroom set that was shipped from the US when my parents moved here, is my great grandmothers from the early 1900s and it's solid cherry wood...IE: fucking heavy and i am not really wanting to unload my drawers. not only that, but the bed itself is a real olden-style bed which means there are no screws...it all just "fits" together w/ hooks and shit. also, i am a packrat and the only time shit gets thrown out is when i rearrange my room b/c it forces me to look at things and think if they are really necessary to my existence. i can always make the argument "yes" but i know there are things i could probably do w/out and things i can put back in boxes until i am officially settled somewhere and can take them out.
like my 50-some-odd elephants. i don't even know how the collection started but i can tell you that 95% of them, people bought for me. jeez...you play an elephant in the 6th grade play and all of a sudden, people think it's your favorite animal. over the years, though, they have grown on me.
but i need to put them away for now.
i think i am going to have to bribe my mom one day to come out here and help me. this was her furniture before and she can help me put the bed back together (i put it together on my own the first time...never again. i ended up w/ bruises all over my legs and arms) and she will be that voice that tells me "throw that the fuck away." sometimes, i need that voice.i will take her to meatland (a shop that has items shipped from the US that you can't find anywhere else like solid white tuna, folger's coffee, ortega mexican products, terrell's chips and so on) and out for a meal...plus i will pay for her transportation...it's a win-win situation in my book.
speaking of parents, i am going to see them tomorrow through saturday night. i hate the shlep to maale adumim b/c i have to take 3 buses and it's a pain, but i haven't really been there in a month or so and though i saw them at the wedding....well, really, i need laundry done. when i went to university in the US, i was never that kid that brought laundry home (of course, my house was a 5 hour drive from school...) so i am making up for lost time. i could stay til sunday morning but i don't want to lose a day, especially w/ an exam and a paper next week...i need sunday. so i am going thursday after work (i get out at 12 on thursdays) instead. i think friday morning my parents want to go into j'lem but i am not sure.
i sent the main article i am basing my paper off to my dad so we can discuss the pros and cons and give me a focus on where my research needs to go b/c right now, i am reading random interesting things, but they are random and i am not quite sure if they are necessary to my paper.
this will be weekend #4 i haven't been in my apartment....next weekend i won't be home either. joual will be home and i will have not seen him for 2 weeks. and again, i will want a weekend of nothingness and complete relaxation b/c the next week classes resume and i have to grade exams - i have 3 weeks to grade 65 essay exams. though it doesn't sound too difficult...it is a pain in the ass. but at least i have a deadline so it will motivate me a bit more...perhaps....maybe.
once school starts, then maybe i will be home more on weekends....
stupid roommate brought up our bdays again. she is the day before me. and again she started talking about how her boyfriend wanted to take her away but it doesn't make sense and blah blah blah and will just have a party at the apt instead. i really need to work better on my "i don't give a shit face." i just told her that i will either be at joual's or my parents for the weekend. she asked me why i won't stay if joual isn't around and i was like, i want to see my parents. i don't need an excuse. besides (and here comes my rant), really, i hate my birthday. bad shit seems to happen on or around my bday and i can list them since i was 13. my bday has been "celebrated" by me going to the hospital, my mom in the hospital, my dad, being sick, fights, accidents...you name it...bad shit happens. to me, staying under the covers and treating it like a normal day is fine. experience has shown that parties only make it worse. good things never come out of my bday parties. and i am convinced that i will never just have a good birthday as shit will always get fucked up some how. as it is, my bday is on passover which means no good cake. and i am turning 26 which means i am closer to 30 than 20. not that i have any life goals i want to achieve by 30 (i don't plan that far in advance, hell, i haven't even figured out what i am bringing to my parents tomorrow and i have to be out the door by 7:30am to go to work), it's just the idea of 30. i think popular culture did that. they also fucked up turning 40 by calling it "over the hill." you would think that w/ life expectancy going up that 50 would be the new 40 but i guess not. anyway, i hate my bday as i have never had a good one and i don't really have any expectations that this one will be any better.
no expectations leads to no let downs. it's how i learned to live.
end of bday rant.
i do it every year though.
i needs a hair cut...maybe sunday.
i also need to get some rest b/c i will be up early and i actually want to work on my paper once i get to my parents.
ehhh, who am i really kidding - i will watch the latest episode of lost
-JB
xoox
oh yea...this is the intro to "true blood"....not only is the song good but the imagery is amazing. check it out...
Plus ur unbridled enthusoasm will keep u young forever. And look how u enjoy the conversation of the men at the coffee shop. Some day, a girl will be hanging on ur every word, seeking ur wisdom for a paper on international intervention.
I got a kick out of u playing an elephant in a 6th grade play!!!
Enjoy ur weekend with ur parents!
ucranian siren thing is going weird/fine nothing serious, my russian is improving and i passed the hebrew test with 80 points out of 100 which at one point i couldn't think it would happen but apparently i'm not so screwed, still my biggest problem is spelling, if i can nail that i'm free...
not much more has happened... internet here in beit canada sucks so i'm going to blog probably tomorrow from home in rashlatz....
have a great weekend...