Vegetarian Lag BaOmer, end of year sadness, and bird flu.

Well, yesterday was Lag BaOmer. That means I was in Superland (with a couple of friends) on my father's company's annual "Yom Kef". It's kind of getting old, but it's fun. Every year I say I'm not coming back, but so far that hasn't lasted more than a year. Anyway, it was (literally) a fun day (except for the sunburn), and we'll have to see about the future years...

The night before that, I stayed in Ariel for the bonfires. We manned the food booth at the citywide bonfire, which was slightly lame but we had fun... there was music and good food, anyway. When that was over we went to a bonfire a bunch of the families we know made, which was basically winding down, but we still had time for some singing which was great. Then we went back to the apartments, and I felt really old because we went to bed around 1. You don't go to bed before 2:30 on Lag BaOmer, ever. And I also had no meat that night, just because I wasn't at the right place at the right time, which was different. Lag BaOmer means bonfires, which means meat.

Today we had a bunch of cousins for Shabbat, and that was fun. Most of them are leaving at the end of the year, so it was good to see them all before.

Speaking of the end of the year, it's starting to get sad. Suddenly you realize how short Sherut Leumi actually is. It's just like- next year, I won't be in school anymore, and I won't be in Ariel. It's kind of weird, but life will go on without me, you know? It's not like my life won't be going on without them. And I'll be leaving all the girls, who have become really good friends. That's sad.

In my apartment, we have a nest in our window. In the nest are two baby pigeons. Actually, they're not really babies anymore. In any case, their mommy left them, and we're left to watch them. One of my roommates really loves them, and I'm trying very hard not to admit I feel the same way. The rest of us have been saying for weeks that we need to get rid of them because they carry diseases. I actually freaked myself out the other day by looking them up on Wikipedia to check exactly what diseases those are. I then needed to call my mother and get reassured that there is no danger in breathing the same air as them, and the only danger is coming in real contact, like being bitten. So we're fine.

I think that's all for now. Keep twiddling those dials. The next password will be "bird flu". Keep each other safe. Keep faith. Good night.

:-)

Shavua Tov!

Well, I don't have much to report this week, except that now I've really decided to go to Nishmat next year. Thank goodness that's over. I guess that's about it. Coming up is my first full work week since Pesach, and then a Shabbat at home with a bunch of cousins.

And in case I don't see you, good afternoon, good evening and good night! :-)

Hey!

Well, I did it. I actually managed to post twice in 2 weeks. Good for me!
The big excitement for today is our favorite state's reaching the big 6-0. (To quote the mayor of Ariel: "Our state is 60, we wish it until 120." -as is customary to wish people on their birthday.)
I mean, 60 years is a long time. Wow. But then, for a state, not really.
Anyway, for me, it means vacation, which is always nice (even though I'm going back to Ariel for Shabbat) and tonight we're having a barbecue, of course. Last night we had the usual performance in Efrat, which was nice.
What's new with me is that I've started thinking again about doing Sherut again next year. I'm a bit surprised about this, myself, because I was pretty set on going to a Midrasha. I still think I'll be in Midrasha, but I'm not sure. I don't know exactly what I'll do if I decide to do Sherut, but I want to stay close to home.
Um, what else is new? I think that just may be it. Chag Sameach!

Since February 8th...

I wanted to make a cool post and make a list of big things that have changed in the world (or maybe even only in Israel) since February 8th. But that required me to look at a huge amount of news articles, and I'm tired. Then I thought maybe something big happened that day that I could write, but that didn't reduce my work by much.

So I don't have any particularly interesting way to introduce my first post in almost three months. Or maybe that's better, because then you don't know just how long ago my last post really was.

Anyway... I'm back! I know I've been a very bad girl. Wow, that was horrible. I didn't post anything for close to three months. That just may be the longest I've ever gone between posts.

Well, it's not like I've disappeared off the face of the earth. People who I see or talk to (or even my Facebook friends) knew I was still around. It's just that I've been neglecting my blog.

OK, now I'm going to stop rambling about my lack of blogging. What's new with me?

• Well, there was Purim in the last three months. That was a long time ago. A week before, we undertook a big project in Ariel where we printed up a thousand yellow balloons with smileys and stayed up all night tying them onto cars and decorating the city. That was a lot of fun, though tiring and a lot of work. But the compliments the next morning made it worth it.
• I checked out a couple of Midrashot, and then the whole thing got put on hold (because I didn't get around to making a decision or checking out any other places) but I think I'm going to go to Nishmat in Yerushalayim. I'm not sure yet, but I hope I have a good year!
• Our other huge project in Ariel was a pre-Pesach secondhand bazaar. Again, a lot of work, but fun.
• I've subscribed to a bunch of new podcasts. (Someday I'll list them all.) One of them actually read an e-mail from me on the show and then posted a link to my blog, which, of course, hadn't been updated anytime recently. That's a bit embarrassing, but I'm over it. I would have posted a shout-out to anyone who came here from there, but it's not relevant anymore.
• Right before Pesach, I took my psychometric test. I didn't study as hard as I could have, but I think it went OK.
• Pesach was great! We had the whole family together for the first time in years. And then we all went down to the Dead Sea for the second half of the Chag. I drove. Honestly, (family members, don't read this:) I think the highlight of my Pesach was the driving, especially because on Wednesday of Chol Hamoed I became legally allowed to drive alone. I've actually done that (barely) a couple of times. But it's exciting!
• A piece of news that got me last night was that was the first week since December 1998 where there was no Harry Potter book on the bestseller list. I'm sure they'll be back, but it's just awesome that they've been there for so long- that's close to a decade. And sad that they're not there anymore. In other news, today is the tenth anniversary of the battle of Hogwarts at the end of the seventh book. THE climax of the entire series. The day it all became over. The day the good guys won.

I think those were the big things. It's great to be back. Live long and prosper. Shabbat Shalom and Yom Ha'Atzmaut Sameach!