back to cool

That's what they say!
And speaking of speaking (man, can you tell how much I have always wanted to use a segue as cheesy as that?), my little brother just started at my school and says it's the best school ever and he never wants to leave.

I have just one thing to say: !

Actually I have a lot more than that to say. I got into the car with my mom and just started blabbing and didn't stop for ten minutes until she forced me to listen about my brother's first day. So first of all, I have what my last-year social studies teacher calls "the dream homeroom." I have several friends in there, and all in all, it should be great. In fact, it's one of the few things I'm optimistic about. My ex-teacher also said the funniest thing. She told me that the popular girl, let's call her Grace because there are no Graces at my school, actually has a lot in common with me once removed from "certain social influences." This is to me a fascinating concept because I have never been popular and find it close to unimaginable that I could be friends with the popular girl. However, my mom had a friend in college who was just that type--popular pretty cheerleader--and they were practically inseparable. So I'm interested in this possibility.

cycles of addiction

Unfortunately, I'm in health for the last quarter of the year, so today we learned about inhalants. The only thing that stuck for me was the term "cycle of addiction," which, although it's about something serious, strikes me as funny whenever I say it or think it. For instance: cycle of addiction!!

Doesn't that make you laugh? No? OK.

I have a confession to make: I've been a bad Jew. I've chewed 2 pieces of gum, eaten 2 Tootsie Rolls, stolen 2 chips from my friends' lunches, and had a piece of cake made by my friend Katy that was absolutely to die for (hate the expression but had to use it, sorry).

I feel so naughty.

Also, there's something else I have to rant about--that's what this blog is for, anyway, ranting. I hate it when other people get me into trouble. My friends have gotten me yelled at by my advisor three times in the past two days, and it's definitely not fun. Also, in French class today, the girl behind me kept kicking my chair, so I kept moving up my desk, until the teacher finally singled us out and scolded us because she "had to talk." I'm sorry, but she's lecturing all class; does it kill her to say something else? And it was the other girl's fault. It just was. If you're reading this, Olivia, I am totally going to get you kicked out tomorrow.

Just you wait. All of you...mwahahahaha...

Just kidding.

Hey, guess what? I got a 16.7 on my 100-meter today at the track meet. It was fun. Some people said I was fast. Also my friend lost her tiny stud earring under the bleachers in a moment of brilliance. Yeah, I do hang out with some smart people.

M&Ms, maturity, and lots and lots of money

Although I may have supposedly reached the age of responsibility, maturity, and all that jazz, the bowl of M&Ms sitting seductively on my living room table, left over from the after-the-fact brunch, still lures me to the point at which I cannot help but get up every 5 seconds to grab a few.

There is enough "Jewish Mother" gum in my mouth for the US Army to chew. In my mind, chewing this gum keeps me away from the M&Ms and other threatening puddings, cookies, cakes, candies, pies, pastries, quiches, and bread on the first floor of my house right now. It's very difficult not to shove it all down my gullet, but I've experienced enough food regret this weekend to force myself to know better.

My family and I will be eating cake for the next year and a half or so, I expect. As you can see above, Colette Peters created a sick cake for my bat mitzvah. Simply sick. My mom and I met with her a few months ago for three hours, deciding finally on this design (the books are my favorites). She in turn made this magnificence materialize. In fact, many years ago, she created the groom's cake for my parents' wedding. We have a thing going, us and Colette.

So, I have to say that the expected--and certainly real--relief is overtaken by complete disbelief at the fact that the whole thing is over. Not just the service and the party, not just the day itself, not just the bat mitzvah itself, but everything that went into it. I will never practice again. I will never read my Torah portion again. I will never stress about who is seating where and whether or not Kaitlyn or Darria or my dad's important colleague, who sent me a tzedakah box that I didn't recognize as a tzedakah box until after a week.

Incredibly wonderful as it is, it's also slightly disconcerting.

Then again, who am I kidding, I'm thrilled. I'm ecstatic. And I've got the thousands of dollars, gold earrings, sign board, and "life cycle portrait" to prove it. I couldn't have imagined a day more ridiculously perfect.

Someone up there likes me...not to mention Uncle Lenny and Aunt Rhoda, who sent me $724.12 to boot.

takashi murakami

Here are some pictures from the only Japanese artist I genuinely like: Takashi Murakami.

I went to the exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum of Art this past Saturday when I was going to my old friend's bat mitzvah. My dad picked up a volume about Japanese art in their bookstore, and these pictures caught my eye in a flash. I hate Japanese art usually; the cuteness and clean lines annoy me to no end, especially in anime, which I loathe with a passion. However, I love this sadistic and happy grimness. Check it out and rate it. I posted them to a school forum, too.

quick talk

Today I had my meeting with my rabbi about my bat mitzvah speech. He said I've certainly picked up NJ speaking rhythms--I talk enormously fast.

Have to go--bye. More tomorrow, I swear.

regrets and updates

Dear browsers,

Sorry sorry sorry for not posting for over a week or responding to your comments or updating any HTML or anything. My life has become completely crammed with stuff between social problems, fluctuating grades, bat mitzvah insanity, midterms, the school play, piano, and the fact that I am now restricted to one hour a day--with supervision--on the computer because I put videos on YouTube, which I was not supposed to do.

My bathroom recently got revamped. My dad got new curtains, a rug, a caddy with frosted glass in the door, a soap dispenser, and towels. The whole thing looks really coordinated because everything is white and therefore matches the walls, bath, toilet, sink, floor, and each other, but also the dark trimming on the curtains, large mounted mirror, and towels all match in this really great way that I just can't pinpoint.

Perhaps the best way to say it is that the perfectionist in me is deeply excited.

Has any portion of your house/tumbledown shack by the old railroad track/apartment/whatever else you've got gotten redone?

hebrew stuffings (no sausage allowed)

YAY.

Contrary to popular opinion, one really can get what one wants through incessant whining and complaining.

For example, I've missed the past two sessions of Sunday Hebrew school purely of my own accord. The first time, I coaxed my mother into letting me stay home because the day before that had been Groundhog Day--February 2nd--and my argument was that it was a "holiday weekend" and we should "celebrate," and that in addition I was "tired" because of the party I'd gone to the night before. Seriously, I'm good. Then yesterday, my mom let me miss it because she said she'd rather just not wake me up and not have to listen to all my lamenting. She let me stay home and sleep. How cool is that?

Of course, I don't go to the night sessions on Wednesdays because first of all they are completely pointless and I usually end up getting bullied, and second of all because they start at 7:30, but my sister's play rehearsal starts at 7 on Wednesday nights. Convenient, nu?

Now I'm going to miss this Sunday too because Hebrew school is actually canceled on account of President's Day. (Four-day weekend too...whoopee.)

By the way, my aliyah is so long that even the tutor couldn't get all the way through it. And I've got one and a half weeks to learn it.

At least I'm doing OK with my Torah portion.

pie

I could really go for an apple pie right now. Fresh, hot, crisp, juicy. Know any good recipes?

I made the most stunningly cool drawings for my French homework; this class and teacher are going to worship me. I can see it now--a roomful of seventh- and eighth-graders bowing down to me, the Goddess of Art and All Things Beautiful and Brilliant, as if I am some kind of Allah or something. Plus, of course, the round little teacher left speechless.

Just kidding, I'm not really that egotistical. Only about French. Believe me, I've suffered a blow since getting back my Algebra midterm and discovering I may have a stalker or two.

love,
love me do*

P.S. what do you think of the fact that this has been the first December in 130 years that NYC hasn't gotten any snow?? I think it's pretty insane.

*that's a bad Beatles pun right there if you get it...if you don't please just ignore my quirks

nightmares

It is very possible that I am going to burst into madness right about...now.

This is like some horrible Arthur rerun.

My bat mitzvah and the bat mitzvah of my friend from my old school are on the exact same day, at the exact same times. And of course, our lists of people to invite are nothing if not identical.

Ohhh I really don't feel good now.

lateness

Basically, I hate lateness.

I don't mean to say I'm exempt from this. Often, I'm late for school, Hebrew tutoring, and other stuff, to use an overused word. But I'm never happy about people and/or things being late.

Also, I'm a competitive and pretty overanxious (hemhemfrenchcough) person, so when teachers take an eternity and a half to grade a paper or test, I get furious. I mean, I'd never fume at my teacher or ask them for a grade that I know they don't have. And I don't usually get mad at instructors when they have a genuinely good reason for taking an excessively long time to hand something back. But now I am.

It's taken a really really REALLY long time for my teacher to give me grades on three separate projects. This teacher--I won't specify--has the best reasons possible not to have these assignments graded yet for me. However, many other students, a lot even in my class, have gotten these back already.

I don't mean to single out people. This scenario has played out in just about all of my classes.

Blame it on genetics: my dad can't stand it either.

love and impatience
--me

JCC & the ball game

We joined the JCC again today after a several-year hiatus. I wouldn't necessarily say it feels good to be back, but it certainly is nice to have a pool to use. I still smell like chlorine.

On an unconnected note, tonight I watched "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" with Esther Williams, Frank Sinatra, and Gene Kelly, a 1949 cornfest that somehow leaves the viewer satisfied.

Just wanted to post...nite!

new year's

You're reading my blog! And for being such a good person, you deserve some cheery holiday wishes. So happy 2008!

Well, there's my energy burst for the day. Two exclamation points. What more do you want from me, really?

I got my ears pierced today, but the back of my left earring has already managed to fall off--entirely the fault of the rather chubby woman who did the piercing. But I've got a pencil eraser holding its place until tomorrow, when I can get a new one, so I'm not worried.

I bought my bat mitzvah dresses, too. That's right, dresses, plural. According to my mother, who has unpierced ears and is thus rendered completely unhelpful when it comes to those kinds of things, I have to have three different dresses for three different occasions: my Friday night service, my actual bat mitzvah on Saturday--WOOT WOOT--and the breakfast we're hosting on Sunday for my family. So yeah, little as I like wearing fancy clothing, I now have three new formal dresses, and so do my mom and sister. The abominable amount we spent is none of your business.

But I guess it'll be worth it when I'm standing there in front of everyone, and despite everybody else's efforts to look nice, I'm the coolest one there. Yay.

Imaginary Witness

Wow.

I just walked in the door from seeing Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust at the IFC, a stunning theatre in the heart of New York City. This movie portrays the different ways that people have attempted to capture the unimaginable horror of the "Nazi atrocities" that are the Holocaust through film. The most essential point I thought they made was that no one can ever really know how terrible what happened was except for those who were there in the death camps and survived to tell the tale. But these people, as the director (Danny Anker) mentioned in a session after the showing of the movie, are dying fast, and soon there will be none of them left--at which point only the stories captured on film will serve as testimony to this mark in history.

The image with a tomato in the corner is a quote from rottentomatoes.com, a site for movie reviews and honest criticism.

Adam Sandler rulez

here comes chanukah
~by Adam Sandler~

"You don't need Deck the Halls or Jingle Bell Rock
Cause you can spin a dreidel with Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock (both Jewish)"

Haha, he also does another great song here--

lunch lady land

SLOPPY JOE, SLOPPY SLOPPY JOE!!!!!!!!!!

December is here

YAY PEOPLE IT IS FINALLY DECEMBER!!!!!

This means Hanukkah and Christmas for me, plus two sweet weeks off for winter break! Aah, I lurve December.

Today, I had my piano recital. I played the Pochod Marsch by Prokofiev. Yes, I hesitated once or twice while I was playing it, but cut me some slack -- I've been sick for a couple of days now and am still not entirely 100 percent.

Hanukkah starts in three days. I can't wait to get my presents! Plus, my family plays this game every night of Hanukkah where, in the evening, when the candles are all lit, we bet on which candle will be the last one to burn out. It's a great outlet for my competitive nature because when I lose, at least it's not a big deal, so it really is just for fun.

apologies

I am sorry to God for taking His name in vain so much.
I am sorry to my mom for staying in my room all the time.
I am sorry to all the hungry people in the world for throwing away perfectly good food.
I am sorry to my piano teacher for never practicing.
I am sorry to my bat mitzvah tutor for never practicing.

And finally...

I am sorry to all you peeps out there for not posting more, and when I do post, not posting about anything much worthwhile to read.