September 2004 Archives

Okay, so maybe this is sort of twisted, but Mark and I saw the "coolest" fight the other evening. Maybe 'cool' is the wrong word, and of course, if the fight hadn't occured, all the better. But, anyway. We were enjoying some pizza outside a little pizzeria/gelateria, went in to pay, and when we came back out there was clearly a kerfuffle of some kind at the corner of the street. We paused to assess the situation as it was the direction in which we were headed, and realized that a fight was in progress. But not for long. Men descended literally from every corner, separated the men and simply blockaded them from approaching each other. One had been on a motorcycle. Another cyclist came over to his bike, helped him move the damaged motorcycle out of the road (away from the other man). Masses of men, I swear, continued to appear - all civilians. Not, however, to "see what was going on". They were there to help, to discourage any continuation.

I was really impressed. Mark and I mulled it over while enjoying some yummy dessert and realized that this scenario was unlikely in the States for a couple of reasons:

1. you never know whether one of the 'fightees' is carrying a weapon

and

2. if the police show up, they're most likely to simply arrest everyone there as they wouldn't know who the true culprits were and everyone would have their own version

Just a snapshot of life here that makes it interesting. Israelis may not be friendly, but they always seem to be there if you need them.

As you can see, I'm working on a new title to my blog. No offense, Nae, but I discuss more than simply life in Israel. In fact, it's sort of rare that I discuss life as it is particular to Israel. So, I'm working on a new title.

I'm open to suggests, too.

Maybe I'll make a tradition of it and change the title once each year (I've had this blog a year now!).

Anger.

I had a beautiful, relaxing weekend. I felt great. Refreshed even...

Then, I woke up at 5 this morning so angry from such a horrible, horrible dream. I immediately thought "I must have to go to the bathroom." Growing up, whenever we had a nightmare our mother had us go to the bathroom. I assume the theory is that if our bladders are full it may cause bad dreams. I have no idea if that is true, or if it was our mother's ploy to bring us back to reality, or maybe even simply an attempt to make sure we didn't wet the bed - but in any case, that's what I did this morning [went to the bathroom, not wet the bed].

I got back into bed, but I was so furious that I couldn't get back to sleep. I kept thinking/dreaming about what I'd dreamt, going in and out of consciousness. I tried praying to get it off my mind. Unfortunately, as you can tell, it didn't work, as I sit here 6 hours later writing about it.

I won't tell you the details, because, quite frankly, they don't deserve to be repeated. However, have you ever had a dream in which someone you know and love does something horrible, and even though you know it's a dream, it's hard not to hate them when you wake up? Well, that was definitely the case this morning.

I wonder, will those three words now become a part of my family's jargon? Will it be a euphemism for ... for idiots? For annoying bits of flea-ridden junk in your life?

Also, am I the only one who knows that my mother would really like to be called "Nannie", not out of any cast-off yearnings about our younger years, but of her younger years, when her siblings (and she, I believe) shortened her name, Stephanie, to Nannie? And she'll tell you, it's 'ie' not 'y'. Should we simply make the switch - how fast could we do it? It tooks us all a while to find an alternative to Mommy that we all liked (including her!). But if she'd prefer to be called Nannie, why not?

So, here's the test, how quickly will we start seeing signs of her being called Nannie? I'll start the clock now.

I had a really good weekend.

First, I would like to thank my father for getting us the book on massage. Before we left the States we got some lavender essence, and this weekend I got a foot massage & Mark got a back massage. What a difference a little massage can make! Ahhh....

Secondly, we got back to the Shrines, and that's like a massage for the soul. Ahhhh....

Thirdly, Mark and I had rehearsals for the upcoming southeast Asian dance/music night and are getting excited about that. Yay! I'm doing one of the most difficult Indonesian dances from Bali - apparently by the age of 15 girls are forced to 'retire' from the dance. Err? Whatever, it's fun. The really scary part is that you know I don't have rhythm - agh!

Yesterday evening Mark and I went to a dinner for his office. It was a really good time. Afterward we watched Changing Lanes (w/ Samuel Jackson & Ben Affleck). It was really good. All I can say is: don't let Ben scare you off. He performed really well in this movie. Really, I swear. Of course, I think it has pretty much killed Mark's desire to become a lawyer. Not that he was very serious about it, but he's played with the idea for years.

Okay...

First, I would like to say that I am irritated beyond belief with these websites that somehow figure out how to get comments onto my website. Online Texas Holdem? Online Casino? Grr!!! Agh!! Not only that, but they've started putting "viable" comments. And today, I found one that was sexist! And I have no one to STRANGLE!!! So not fair. So, needless to say, I'm irritated.