Another pic of me...

OK so this is another attempt to put a better picture of myself in my profile. What I said before still stands: My hair is neither that short nor that straight...

Weekly update

• I spent time with my adorable cousins!
• I signed up to go to Poland with my school to learn about the Holocaust before Pesach.
• Another scary math test... but I think I did OK.
• I reversed!!! Ouch, that was annoying!
• I fed the guinea pigs for the first time in my life. But I made it my business not to touch them.

Have a good week!

The week that was

• The wonderful symphonia!
• Normal life resumes
• My cousins came yesterday from NY!
• Driving lesson #2, as it turns out my friend who told me it's more fun the second time is right...

Have a good week!

It's all over... and I'm thrilled!

Well, this feeling isn't new to me, because I've felt it after every Festival I've been at so far. We won!!! We have a very talented person in our grade, and every time we win we owe it to her. This is our fourth year winning first place, and when the principal commended her for this in front of the whole school, I have to say she deserved it. And when we gave the principal flowers like tradition dictates, he passed them on to her.
That said, I'm exhilirated. Shocked. Thrilled. All of the above. Every year, we all say there is no chance we'll win again. Three years in a row is crazy... Four years in a row is crazy... and then we win again. And not only did we win four years straight, but we won in eleventh grade. Nobody wins in 11th grade because they're so busy planning the whole event. We didn't even start working on our dance until this past Thursday. Yet we still managed to win, and defeat the strong urge the judges must have to give someone else first place. OK, I'll admit most of the rest of the songs weren't so good. But still... (Goodness knows this repetitive vitcory really inflates my ego even though I had nothing to do with the actuall win.)
Oh, and I forgot to mention our prize: a trip to the Chermon, because it doesn't seem to be snowing in Jerusalem...
OK, now I'm done raving about our song. We also had a play with a lot of dances, and it came out just amazing! The acting was good, and the music added a ton.
Anyway, I need to go to sleep soon. But I'm so proud of all of us!!! We did it!!!
Oh, and I'm not posting any pictures because they all came out bad. :-( I forgot my camera had a setting for fast motion, so they came out blurry. Maybe if I get my hands on someone else's I'll share them.

This week

• Driving lesson #1
• Staying in school to work on the Symphonia
• Finishing early almost every day this week because of rehearsals
• Fasting...
• The arrival of Ethel

Have a good week!

Oy, guess what?

My father walked in tonight with... another guinea pig. He'd been talking about doing that since we came to the conclusion Lucy wasn't pregnant because they say guinea pigs are happier with company, and tonight he actually did. Mira and I had been lobbying for everyone to agree to call her Ethel for as long as we'd been talking about getting another one, and tonight we actually managed to convince them. We almost didn't call her that because my brother Noam (age 3) was saying "Effel" at first but then he managed to say "Ethel".
So, let me just say that anyone who expected Lucy to be welcoming toward her new roommate was very wrong. Ethel is very small, probably as big as Lucy was when we got her, and let me make this very clear: Lucy hates her. I'm finding this very amusing, because I never really liked Lucy (but that's mutual) and had no plans to like Ethel. My father put Ethel in the cage, and Lucy came out and started chasing her around the cage. Ethel clearly didn't like it, so she went into the "house". Lucy followed her in and Ethel went out. Then they found a new way to get out of the house in case someone was blocking the exit, by pushing it up and then squeezing out. Anyway, we brought down some carrots, and Lucy ate both of them. My father said they were making noises he hadn't heard before and I said Lucy was probably laying down some ground rules, the first of which is: "I get all the veggies."
Some of us don't think Ethel will make it through the night.

Everything's good!

Wow, I have a gazillion things going on right now.
First is the Symphonia. Every year my school had a big event 2 days before Tu Bishvat called the festival. What they did was choose a topic, and each grade had to compose two songs under that theme and then put together a dance to go with the song. It was a contest judged by a representative from each grade and a group of teachers. And everything else was provided by the 11th grade. I'm talking about the scenery, the decorations around the school, the MC's, the skits, the dances that weren't part of the contest, the costumes for the skits and dances, and just about everything else. The festival was always held in the school. Oh, and my grade has won first place for the past 3 years, plus a third place 2 years ago, because of some rather talented people. Anyway, this year we're in 11th grade so it's our turn to do it, but they're changing it. The school decided it needs more content, so they turned it into a musical. From now on, they'll choose a person from Tanach every year, all of the songs will be related to the person, and the play will be made up of Midrashim and stories from Tanach that match the songs. And they renamed it "HaSymphonia Hashvi'it" (The 7th Symphony, because 11th grade is called the Shvi'it, which means 7th year) and moved it to a theater. So our person is David Hamelech, and the name of our musical is "Shiru Lamelech". I was on the text committee, and I've been missing a ton of classes to find stories and write the script. Now rehearsals have started, for the play and the dances that enhance it, not to mention the song and dance we're entering in the contest. They wanted me to dance, but that was so not happening. Anyway, the Symphonia is this coming Sunday, so last night we stayed in school. I left for a few hours for my (first!) driving lesson, but other than that I was in school the whole night. We painted the scenery until 10, had a great time, and it came out gorgeous!!! (See picture.) And then we watched a rough version of the play and the dances, and I have to say, it's going to be amazing! We went to sleep in the school dorm around 1, and we were aching all over from the painting on the floor while trying to avoid the wet paint. Then we had school the next day, and we were all falling over. The one good thing was getting up at 8 because we were already in school. Then today they let us out early for more rehearsals, and since I'm not dancing or acting I went home. Thank Goodness.
Another thing going on is- I DROVE YESTERDAY!!!! Although it wasn't that thrilling, because I had close to no idea what I was doing. I've heard it's more thrilling as of the second lesson, so I have that to look forward to. Then I got back to school and had to endure everyone I saw going "HOW WAS IT????", so by the time I talked to my mother and she asked how my lesson was, all I could say was, "Fine."
What else? School. I have a major paper due in about a month...
Ummm... my (Hebrew) birthday is tomorrow which is also Asarah B'Tevet- a fast which also commemorated the Holocaust. Have an easy fast, everyone.
Last but least, my cousins are coming to visit us in a week and a half in preparation for their upcoming Aliyah. We're so excited!
Gevalt, I think that's it. Overall, I would say my mood is good!

This week's happenings:

• A traumatic ordeal in the mall. The movie was good, though.
• Back to school.
• We're working very hard on our "Symphonia Hashviit" (7th Symphony/11th Grade Symphony). I don't feel like explaining what that is right now because I'm not feeling that good about it right now, but I'll gladly do so after it comes out great.
• My birthday's this week. 17 on the Hebrew calendar.

Have a good week!

I have my first driving lesson on Sunday!

That's all. I just had to say that.

Oy, gevalt...

I think HP freaks all over the world will be proud of what they made me go through today.
My sister Mira hadn't seen the new movie yet, and our plan was to go to the 12:30 showing at the mall. So we got there at 12, and I went to buy tickets but we were told it was already sold out. Such is Chanukah. The next showing was... at 4, and going home and coming back later was out of the question because we don't live close enough. We discussed it at length, and I decided to be nice to my little sister and wait there until 4. So the first thing we did was buy tickets for the 4:00 showing, and all we could get was 2nd row. This is the part the HP freaks should be proud of. So anyway, we walked around the mall, bought some things we needed, and around 2:30 we were ready to drop. So we walked around in search of places to sit, sat and walked some more. Eventually we made it into the movie, and my first reaction was, "What idiot put a HP movie in a 7-row theater?" But we can be proud anyway. And the movie was just as good the second time, so I was happy, except for the part where I spent 7 hours in the mall...
Oh, and Mira knows not to ask me for any favors of this kind for a long time.

*sniff*

I've just been hit with the sad realitztion that Harry Potter is almost over. I've been hooked for a long time, and it's been only the books (and Jo. We can't forget Jo.) for me. I've never particularly loved the movies, and even though I raved about the last movie, that was just because they did an amazing job based on the book, but it's definitely not one of my favorite movies.
But the books. Jo Rowling has big plans for 2006, which are to write the LAST HP book. LAST. And it just hit me. I was never really sad about it before, like I know other HP fans are. I have quite a few other things in my life besides HP, and I should be able to get over it. A lot of people talk about missing the speculation, but I don't think I'm going to miss that. Like, it will be missing, but I'll have all the answers I need to my questions, so I don't think I'm going to be too sad about that.
It's just like, there will be no more Harry Potter books. This was emphasized to me in a quote I read on www.the-leaky-cauldron.org by Melissa, the webmistress: "Opening a Harry Potter book for the first time is a rare gift, and we've only got one left." I almost cried when I saw that, and I realized how right she is. It's over.
So I'm not a fan of the movies, but obviously I'll see them all anyway. Being that I'm not a fan of theirs, they won't be keeping me in the "fandom". The HP part of my life will have to really live for the 8th book or the encyclopedia Jo said she probably won't but "never say never" write.
And speaking of Jo, I am a huge fan of hers, and also of her website. I think it is possible for the Potter-Freak in me to live through the updates to her site, and anything else she may write. Please, Jo, write!
Waaaaahhhhh.......