Musical Question

Who listens/buys to Nickelback music? The band's oeuvre can be describes aggravating screaming of trite lyrics (hey I don't mind trite lyrics, but I think the band thinks they are deep, hence the double offense).
Every time the song comes on the radio I get a piercing pain in my head and have to switch the channel. For the love of G-d please stop buying this shit.

Annapolis Conference or The Same Old Song

I've been to busy wallowing in my personal life to listen to news this week. However, the embarrassing Annapolis Conference is under way and it's the usual song and dance: Israel will give the tiny amount of land they have for peace to be further bombarded with rockets from Gaza (and now, with 70% more probability, from the West Bank!). What makes different this time is that they are talking about dividing Jerusalem up, and that is unacceptable. It seems Bush buckled under and decided, like so many others before him, to throw Israel under the bus.

Syrian delegates received warm handshakes and words of thanks from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, whose administration has largely shunned Syria since early 2005.

Dividing Jerusalem puts Israeli lives in danger and rewards palestinians (once again) for bad behavior. Look Jerusalem is a holy city for three major religions, the Israeli government treat the holy sites with respect and security. Look there is already a natural divide in Israel, but relinquishing all sovereignty to the palestenians, means that everything will remain the same except that Israel will be more threatened because it won't have the authority to protect itself.

Anyway, if you are as annoyed as I am - you can do the following:

Click this link and in just 90 seconds you'll have left a message with the White House, Israel Embassy, and State Department saying Israel should not be pressured. Your call is important, and will sway the decision makers in Washington.

http://friend.CallsForJerusalem.org


I don't how effective this, but it won't hurt.

I Can't Be Bothered to Write Well

So I'm just going to quote others who write better, funnier, and sharper.

I'm a little worried about myself, as a freelancer. To be a successful freelancer, you have to be good at networking, at selling yourself, and be motivated. I hate other people; I hate myself even more; and all I really want out of life is to be able live in a hut in Montana by myself like Ted Kaczynski minus the mail bombs and scary shades.

- Forksplit

It's like she climbed into my brain.

Quote of the Day

"Basically, half of them are in prison for killing the other half."

- Gib explaining why Detroit has lost million people since 1950's.

If Gib suddenly got an offer to write a sitcom, I would tune every night it was on and not even Tivo-it. The guy has the gift of the funny.

Rain

It's raining pretty hard outside right now and all I want to do is curl up in bed and watch Irony of Fate. Instead I'm stuck doing pointless data entry, surrounded by half-imbeciles.

Enjoy one of my favorite songs:

What's Worse?

Being thought of as slothful or vain. On the surface I would pick slothful. However, in real life I guess I prefer being perceived as lazy, than self-obsessed. My ex and some of my friends have remarked how much I like to look in the mirror. I don't deny it. I'm obsessed with looking at my image. It doesn't mean I like what I see, yet if I go to a restaurant I try to sit with my back to the mirror as to not get distracted and out myself as completely obsessed with myself. Recently, while traveling in Israel, pn remarked about the habit. Usually, I would get all defensive about it, but you have to have a sense of humor about yourself so I freely admit it. This wasn't the case a few months back.

A few months ago when I started working at my new job, my boss asked me to help him carry some stuff to his car. We have a mirror downstairs and also an elevator that is right next to the mirror; after helping my boss load the car and waving goodbye to him I wondered back into the lobby heading straight for the mirror. Unfortunately, my boss decided that he had forgot something. Seeing me right next to elevator, he remarked that a flight of stairs is not such strenuous exercise. Maybe I shouldn't be so lazy. And instead of letting him know that I didn't intend to use the elevator and was just looking at myself, I mumbled something about high heels and stairs.

I let him think I was physically lazy, rather than vain. And I still don't understand why.

Sample of the Trip

Some terse highlights of Israel:

- A very pregnant woman lighting up a cigarette. I'm pretty sure if this happened in the states she would be stoned.

- Meeting the Prince of Belgium. Short, blond guy in a tan suite with a five person entourage. Weird: has a strange penchant for Brazilian women. However, he does know Bibi personally, kind of cool.

- Sitting in Artcaffe (an Israeli chain) looking over Haifa with Polya, drinking espresso, as the sun warms my back

- getting kick ass shoes for about $10 each

- seeing my friend who is classically trained play the piano for the first time

- at the Cave of the Patriarch watching a religious Jewish man checking his cell phone as he is wearing tallit and holding a large prayer book, also seeing a completely white dove

- Nice Israeli soldiers actually talking to us in Hebron and letting us know that the religious Jews are nice to them and they have Friday night dinners with them (a complete surprise to me, since I heard the relationship between the settlers and soldiers wasn't great)

- watching two Israeli lawyers yell at each other in formal preceedings

- dancing in Herzilya on my first night in Israel

- getting lost in Ramat Gan, with no working cell phone and still being able to find Senya's house

The Best Guide to the Presidential Hopefuls

I have to say that my man is Romney...I can even take him as vice-president, if Giuliani makes it to the Presidency.

On the Edge of My Seat

I'm flying to Israel today and I cannot wait. I have a hate/love relationships with traveling. I get incredibly nervous before going anywhere that is farther than 100 miles from me. I get this incredible rush of energy that usually results in me picking a fight with the person I'm traveling with or who is getting to the airport. It's like from the moment I wake up I need to GO!

Anyhoo, I just wanted to let the three people who read this blog know that posting will probably be light. But I'm sure I'll comeback with some exciting stories from the land of milk and honey.

Things I'm looking forward to:
- Israeli food: they have the best humus I have ever eaten and their fruits & vegies are incredibly fresh.

- The people: I have very close friends in Israel. In some ways it's like coming home. I'm traveling with one my closest friends from the States so that will be a great experience too. Another friend has a huge birthday celebration which I'm excited to witness.

- Nature: Someone told me that Israel has thirteen different climates. I really want to go on biking and hiking. We will see how that turns out.