dazed and confused

I was just looking at www.lindsayism.com , and i was reading about how the curly red haired girl in Dazed and Confused is Beck's wife, and there was a link to her website and the whole thing is devoted to Scientolgy. So then i went to the Scientology website (because this is what procrastinators do), and I saw this page http://home.scientology.org/cntinent/Namerica/usa/index.htm. You can look up who the crazies are in your state! (I didn't recognize any names)

these posts are really boring

Although it may seem like I have hit my peak as a blogger, please dont worry - the good stuff is still to come. I just need to remember to bring my camera out and take more pictures.

Procrastination is a very common theme in my life. I still haven't finished those papers that were due last month. I am working on one of them right now, I am going to try to finish it tonight. Tomorrow after work a friend and I are going to rent a car and go up north and go hiking. So i want to get these stupid papers out of the way before I go, they are making me so anxious!

Look at this link Julie sent me, talk about sugar-coating a horrible illness http://www.msud-support.org//. Calling a deathly disease "Maple Syrup Urine Disease" is like calling Irritable Bowel Syndrome "Melted Tootsie Roll Feces Disease." I guess it is pretty easy to self-diagnose yourself with a name like that, though, you dont have to keep track of what signs and symptoms correspond with what illness. Its not like, "ohhh, my hands are shaking, do I have parkinsons or MS?" Its, "oohh, my pee smells like maple syrup, I must have MSUD."

OK, now I am going to get back to this paper. This blog is a great procrastination tool!

working the night shift

I worked the night shift last night, which is a lot slower than working during the day. When I had downtime, I looked through what was coming through on the wires. I learned that in Rio de Janeiro, they no longer enforce the speeding limit and other traffic laws after dark because so many people get carjacked, the enforcement would rather ppl just speed through the lights.

I wish I had something interesting to say, but I don't. In a couple hours Nicole and I are going to go windsurfing, which I have never done before. I'll take pictures! First I am going to take a nap because I feel like I am getting sick.

Oh yeah. There is a section of the online newspaper called "the underground," which is targeted at a younger crowd. In westword there is a regular column (is it a column??) called "drunk of the week," (http://www.westword.com/issues/2005-06-23/dining/drunk.html) and I suggested to the editor that we do something like that, and she said yes. So now Nicole and I will be visiting a different bar every few days a writing a review. It will be more than just a review though, I was envisioning like a story centered around our experience at the bar, or some type of theme... Any ideas? We start tonight.

That's it, I'll try to update later!

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

a social experiment

Last night we went out to eat for Nicole's birthday dinner at this place called Kyoto Salsa, a restaurant that is a blatent rip-off of Sushi Samba in Manhattan - same menu, same decor, etc.

After dinner we went club called Ehrlich in the Port of Tel Aviv. Apparantly it is a tapas bar, but I didn't see any tapas. The place was packed (if there had been a fired we would have all been screwed), and I was getting a little bored standing around people watching. How could I spice things up?

See my mischevious grin:


It's because I have an idea. I am wondering if I can get a random person to take off his shirt. I find my victim. You can't really tell in the photo, but the white on his shirt is glittery.

Me? he asks. Yes, you!

After some persuading ("men in israel are not allowed to be in bars with no shirts, I will get kicked out"), he agrees to do it for the birthday girl. I told him that the minute he walked in the door, Nicole said to me, "wow, I love that shirt." (lie) Here he is taking it off:


And handing it over. I think the girl in the background wants in on the action:


Here, let us help you.



It's a perfect fit!



Some awkward standing around.



All done.

im at work

See all of the headlines located under the ads on the homepage of www.haaretz.com? I wrote them, and chose the pictures! (except for sports and business - them be boys' topics)

quickly

Last night we went out for Nicole's birthday (again). (she is one of the other interns, we are three). I'll post from then later on today. But until then, here is a photo from 2 nights ago.

two posts a day...

I wanted to work on my papers today, but I didn't, I just procrastinated as usual. In my procrastination, here is what I learned:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/more/06/20/
japan.sprinter.ap/index.html
A 95 year old Japanese man broke the 100m for his age group. He ran it in 22.04 seconds. (link via www.whatevs.org) I didn't know if that is fast of not, so I pulled up some other 100m records for comparison. ITHe world record is 9.77 seconds, held by a Jamaican. THe Caddo Mills High School record for girls was 11.89 seconds, made in 1998 by Daniell Morgan. I googled 100m high school records and cado mills came up, that's why I'm using that school. THere is still a pretty big difference between 11.89 seconds and 22.04 seconds, so I am pretty confident that I could beat the 95 yr old japanese guy.

speaking of oldies, julie pointed this story out to me the other day: http://www.boston.com/news/odd/articles/2005/
06/22/ohio_women_sit_20_days_in_car_to_win_it/.
As you can see by the link name, women sit 20 days in car to win it. what the headline doesnt say is how old they are. One is 57 and one is 74! My first thought was, wow, a 74 yr old doing an endurance contest! but then i thought a little more about it, and according to the article, the women pass the time reading crossword puzzles and books. that's probably what they do to pass the time, anyway. so it makes since that they would last longer than a 24 yr old boy, for example. It's nice, too, that the two ladies are relatively close in age, considering how much time they have to spend together. I wonder if they have gotten in any fights yet.

besides reading about the acheivements of old people, i also procrastinated by walking to Jaffa.

I just went into my bedroom for a second, and there was a COCKROACH on the floor. I didn't want to step on it (he was huge and I was wearing flipflops), so I poured some israeli windex on him and after floundering around for 30 secs or so he finally died. I put the crappy batteries in the camera and took a picture. The photo doesn't do justice to his size, because when he died, he shrunk.


OK, I was going to go to bed now, but suddenly I am wide awake.

dead batteries

I am annoyed with tower records. I purchased an 8 pack of double a batteries there a week ago because they were on sale for 18 sheckels down from 24 sheckels. And I think now I know why - every single one is dead! So, until i get that taken care of, I will not be taking any new photos. Hopefully I will be able to find the receipt - looking through faded and crumpled receipts in Hebrew is a very long process for me.

Last night I went out with the other two interns (for nicole's birthday) and some other people. Nicole had a camera that worked, so as soon as she sends me some pics, I'll post them.

Until then, check this photo out from February. You can see my apt. building, it is farthest one away on the right side of the street - it looks like a shadow but you can barely make out the balconies.

http://auscillate.com/israel05/4832.html

A post a day...

I am going to try to update daily. As someone who reads a lot of blogs, I know that the most interesting ones aren't neccessarily the ones from ppl with the most eloquent writing, the coolest photos, or the most fascinating lives, but the ones who update frequently!

Today, Friday, is really Saturday, and Saturday is really Sunday. That's how it works in Israel, at least. The weekend begins Thursday night and people don't work on Friday and Saturday (because of Shabbat). When I lived in Jerusalem, this wasn't necessarily a good thing, because NOBODY worked from Friday afternoon through Saturday evening. (ie coffehouses, movie theatres, all the stores were closed.) In Tel Aviv, though, people are a little more secular so places will stay open on Shabbat. Not everyplace, but enough so if a heathen wants to get a cup of coffee, she can!

I am going to try to finish my papers that were due last semester so I can wipe these incompletes from my transcripts. I think I will go work on it at one of those cafes.

Oh, I am going to try to do a photo a day, too. So here is one of my kitchen:

nice view

This is the view at the end of my street, the Mediterranean.



Hello, Anat and Eyal. Anat is my former neighbor from the dorms at Hebrew Univ. Eyal is her roommate. This is a bad photo of her, but she wouldn't let me take another one.




For Shavuot, I went to Anat's grandfather's house in Jerusalem, with Anat and her family. This is where I spent Passover 2000, Morroccan style.

This is a picture of my living room...I am sitting on the couch on the right.



And here is my building from the outside.


Enjoying dinner with my friend Ruthie at Yotvata on the beach. I studied abroad with Ruthie in 1999-2000. Look, there is no driver in the car behind us!! Just kidding, it is parked.



That discolored part of my toenail fell off yesterday. I am not sure why. I know that having your toenail fall off sounds gross...



...but see, it's not too bad.



A photo taken right before I left for Israel, at our school bbq, with Fritz and Stephan. Hi, Fritz!

Observations

Edition One: Things I want to talk about here, but I dont want to get beaten up

Israelis have gotten a lot fatter since the last time I was here in 2000. Maybe it is just Tel Aviv, I don't know...but the obesity levels seem like they can't be that far behind Baton Rouge.

Israeli girls wear ugly spice girly shoes; styrofoam platform sandals in flourescent colors. To work.

It is really annoying when you are walking down a normal sidewalk and someone is trying to pass you and they are on a motorbike.

For some reason, and I noticed this the last time I was here, too, people seem to think that an electric wheelchair is an appropriate vehicle for the road!! Including the highway!! At least they seem to stay out of the left lane.

Shalom

Hi, this blog is mainly for my grandparents because I don't get to talk to them that much. Hi, Gramma and Grandpa!

Hi, Mom and Dad!

Hi, Julie!

Hi, everyone else!

This is to keep you updated on whats's happening in the Holy Land. Photos and stories to come. Let me know what you want to see, and I will give it to you!