Not only did I pass the Foot Structures section of Phonology/Structure of the English Sound System with flying colors (official grade not in, but I’m 100% certain that I got at least a 96% on the assignment) but I’ve totally improved my air guitar (a noble pursuit) and I found a cough drop (thanks to 
covarla) whose taste I can stomach.
Now it’s time to head home, I’ll catch up with everyone later.
Not only did I pass the Foot Structures section of Phonology/Structure of the English Sound System with flying colors (official grade not in, but I’m 100% certain that I got at least a 96% on the assignment) but I’ve totally improved my air guitar (a noble pursuit) and I found a cough drop (thanks to
covarla) whose taste I can stomach.
Now it’s time to head home, I’ll catch up with everyone later.
Quack Quack Quack Quack Quack Quack
We’re nearing the end of the semester and it seems everyone — despite numerous promises to ourselves and each other — is once again in the same boat as we were last year: sleep deprived, overloaded, and facing the burnout that signals to us the beginnings of Summer where we’ll each take between one and four weeks off before we start the cycle again during the summer session while we once again make the same promises to get more sleep, get ahead of game, etc.
I would be slightly less stressed if it hadn’t snowed every day this week (this, I’m sure is happening, because Al Gore is coming to talk to campus to talk to us about global warming and God has a twisted, fucked up, sick sense of humor that I can’t help but admire) and because it’s been snowing, I haven’t been able to go running because the cold air irritates my lungs and at this point, I think they deserve a break.
So we can all share in the fun, here is the list of things that I need to have done in short, short order:
So for Wolf:
Project (not actually required, doing it voluntarily, so we’ll see where that goes, due the last day of class, quickly morphing from an actual paper into a model for those who wish to write future papers due to time constraints)
Final Exam (I estimate an A on it, this occurs the Last day of Class)
So for Michelson:
Final Homework (due tomorrow…I hate making trees, boy howdy do I hate making trees…I see how they’re useful…but it’s assignments like this that make me glad that in one more semester, I get to enter into the field I’ll be specializing in…a field which doesn’t require making trees…fuck trees, man I hate trees so, so much…stupid trees)
Scrap Book (almost done…I had a good time in the craft store…I like scrap booking…I have to remember to bring my camera to campus so I can take a picture of something I want to include in it…I also have to finish watching RKO films for the dialect diagnosis section)
Final Quiz (coming up soon…her course is humbling…very humbling…I should be getting a B+ to an A- as my final grade; working towards the A-)
So for Jürgen:
Presentation (This Coming Tuesday…’yea, even as I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…’; and despite what he says, I’m fairly certain I’m walking into the class with a deficit because he wasn’t thrilled with the paper I chose to present, despite my firm belief that not only is it beyond adequate, it’s interesting and on point in many of its arguments which is better than what I can say for most of the papers we’ve discussed this semester of which, I’ve had at least one major issue with each of them)
Experiment (Due the last day of Class…the instructions were close to twenty pages long when they could have been two pages long…this actually seems to function as a wonderful metaphor for the entire semester, this will be completed Monday so covarla and I can compare our findings — a requirement for the assignment — and then just finish writing the damn thing up, which should take around three hours)
So for Roustum:
Final Exam.
I’ll be really sad when his class is over, he’s had a profound impact on my life from my politics to my academic future and my love of languages, and my future career to my love of Middle Eastern Food.
Okay…time to get back to doing work…I really can’t wait for April 30th…the day after the last day of classes, I’m sleeping in hard core.
I’ll catch up with everyone on the flip side.
Peace.
Quack Quack Quack Quack Quack Quack
We’re nearing the end of the semester and it seems everyone — despite numerous promises to ourselves and each other — is once again in the same boat as we were last year: sleep deprived, overloaded, and facing the burnout that signals to us the beginnings of Summer where we’ll each take between one and four weeks off before we start the cycle again during the summer session while we once again make the same promises to get more sleep, get ahead of game, etc.
I would be slightly less stressed if it hadn’t snowed every day this week (this, I’m sure is happening, because Al Gore is coming to talk to campus to talk to us about global warming and God has a twisted, fucked up, sick sense of humor that I can’t help but admire) and because it’s been snowing, I haven’t been able to go running because the cold air irritates my lungs and at this point, I think they deserve a break.
So we can all share in the fun, here is the list of things that I need to have done in short, short order:
So for Wolf:
Project (not actually required, doing it voluntarily, so we’ll see where that goes, due the last day of class, quickly morphing from an actual paper into a model for those who wish to write future papers due to time constraints)
Final Exam (I estimate an A on it, this occurs the Last day of Class)
So for Michelson:
Final Homework (due tomorrow…I hate making trees, boy howdy do I hate making trees…I see how they’re useful…but it’s assignments like this that make me glad that in one more semester, I get to enter into the field I’ll be specializing in…a field which doesn’t require making trees…fuck trees, man I hate trees so, so much…stupid trees)
Scrap Book (almost done…I had a good time in the craft store…I like scrap booking…I have to remember to bring my camera to campus so I can take a picture of something I want to include in it…I also have to finish watching RKO films for the dialect diagnosis section)
Final Quiz (coming up soon…her course is humbling…very humbling…I should be getting a B+ to an A- as my final grade; working towards the A-)
So for Jürgen:
Presentation (This Coming Tuesday…’yea, even as I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…’; and despite what he says, I’m fairly certain I’m walking into the class with a deficit because he wasn’t thrilled with the paper I chose to present, despite my firm belief that not only is it beyond adequate, it’s interesting and on point in many of its arguments which is better than what I can say for most of the papers we’ve discussed this semester of which, I’ve had at least one major issue with each of them)
Experiment (Due the last day of Class…the instructions were close to twenty pages long when they could have been two pages long…this actually seems to function as a wonderful metaphor for the entire semester, this will be completed Monday so
covarla and I can compare our findings — a requirement for the assignment — and then just finish writing the damn thing up, which should take around three hours)
So for Roustum:
Final Exam.
I’ll be really sad when his class is over, he’s had a profound impact on my life from my politics to my academic future and my love of languages, and my future career to my love of Middle Eastern Food.
Okay…time to get back to doing work…I really can’t wait for April 30th…the day after the last day of classes, I’m sleeping in hard core.
I’ll catch up with everyone on the flip side.
Peace.
This Week is going to be crazy; however I have Friday Night through Monday Night blocked off to complete my work for the semester. My cell phone will be off, I’ll only be checking email.
I present my literary review to the Linguistic Anthropology class this coming Tuesday. This should be a cakewalk. If Jürgen thinks I’m combative in the back of a classroom he should see what happens when I’m given a captive audience.
However, as we head into the final stretch of this semester, I’m anxious, I’m excited, but overall I’m cautions. I’m expecting As…but those will come from hard work and certainly aren’t guaranteed, they’re tenuous at best.. I have no room for mistakes at this point in the game…there’s barely room enough for sleep.
“You give me too much credit, Matan!”
– Prof. Roustum
I met with Prof. Roustum today regarding the email I sent him pleading to take the independent study. The main problem, is that teachers don’t get paid for 499 level courses (which is why so few grant students access). The other problem is that he’s a teacher at the school for refuges in Buffalo so his time is precious as it is.
He leveled with me today and explained his reasons for being hesitant to grant the independent study (mostly a money and time issue, which I do understand) however he told me that if I needed the two or three credits to graduate, it wouldn’t be a question, he’d let me do one instantly. I regretfully had to inform him that I wouldn’t lie to him: I have 130 credits under my belt and certainly don’t need more credit to graduate. He then told me again that if I were to need those credits that he would allow me an independent study, and I again emphasized that I will not lie to him. He then said that he would look at the situation when the semester ended and perhaps something can be worked out…so it certainly isn’t a yes…but it certainly isn’t a no so we’ll see (keep your fingers crossed).
In other news, he’ll be having tea with my parents and myself when they come up later this month if he has the time. He really enjoys my Mother (they email each other).
Dad and I are taking the Assault Rifle Course together…this can lead only to one of two things: either a visit to the E.R. for one of us or an amazing blog entry in the near future…
Originally we were going to take the assault rifle course on Long Island, but the day long course was being offered on the day of the Lavender Ceremony, so we’re going to probably take the one in Elmira, NY together (providing we don’t have schedule conflicts).
It’s odd, but we’ve found some weird kind of father-son bonding experience over firearms…nothing says family love like the smell of gun powder and a perfect score on a paper-human target; I’m sure there’s a hallmark card for it somewhere.
What I’m Doing With My Life/The Soon to be Immediate Future
I’m perilously close to graduating…as such, this means that whenever I enter the vicinity of a family function, I’m left to explain just what it is I’m doing with my life and from what I’ve gathered, many people are confused as to what the next few years hold in store for me as well as what my job will be when I’m done.
I’m not going down the path of academia (to the chagrin of some who hoped I would); this doesn’t mean that I won’t be completing higher level degrees (quite the contrary, I want my Ph.D.) it just means that I won’t be attempting to get into a tenure-track professorship.
Whenever I see people on television setting up makeshift hospitals and repelling out of helicopters to land in war zones in times of need, I go “that could be me.” And people think I’m kidding or having delusions of grandeur when I tell them that I want to work in war zones. I want to work in Darfur, I want to work throughout Africa, and the Middle East. I want to work with Doctors Without Borders (if not at some point, set up my own group, Translators Without Borders? Who knows…maybe someday) as an EMI-T (Emergency Medical Interpreter-Translator). The field (much like Translatology) is still relatively new and still being defined, which is incredibly exciting to me (and very, very appealing)…because I hope that the work that I’ll eventually be doing will help to define the field and pave new paths of academic exploration for others.
I’ve been told by a few family members that I need to dream smaller, or to settle down or to get a nice secure job where I’ll be safe (and had I been born a woman, I guarantee that my grandmother would have told me to get my MRS degree by now) .but there’s a simple rule to life that I live by: there are winners and there are losers and you get to choose which one you’ll be. And the only reason the winners are getting the cool jobs (the jobs that they want) is because they learned the skills necessary to do their work, and they went out and did it despite how many people told them they couldn’t.
I’m not a loser.
So many times people are told to settle down, to tow the line, to behave, to take the easy way out that will earn them the most amount of money for the least amount of work…those people, they don’t make history.
I don’t accept failure (for myself or for others) and outside of sexual relations, I don’t accept no as an answer — ever. The basic requirements to be an EMI-T are physical fitness, ability to work in multiple languages in high-stress environments, being able to interpret on the spot for the patients and the doctors and being able to translate charts on the spot for doctors and then provide the necessary information for follow up care to the patient upon discharge. Certifications are encouraged. Specialized training in Medical Translation a must.
I know I can do all of that. I’m also aware of the risks, but what is life if you don’t take risks? I feel this is what I have a calling to do and much like I’m moving to Israel because I feel a call there, I’ll be training so I can do this too. If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out and I won’t be disappointed in myself…because I tried. But I plan on living my life without regrets, and you’ll never know until you try…so I’m trying.
Of course, I’ve mentioned the job, so I should probably mention how I plan on getting the training (which will take quite a few years).
I graduate this December. I submit my paperwork to the Aliyah Organization on February 2nd; from there I’ll be in the United States for however long it takes for the paperwork to go through for both them and Nefesh B’Nefesh so I can receive whatever assistance I’m eligible for.
Upon arrival in Israel I’ll assess my options (academically/university wise) after I complete Ulpan and an Intensive Arabic Program (which I’ve been saving for, and will have more than enough money to cover by the time I make Aliyah).
After I complete both those language programs (neither of which are degree granting) I want to get my Masters in Arabic. While I love the field of Linguistics (I really do) I am much more interested in the Arabic Language than I am in the science behind the language and I’d like to find a program that reflects the focus that interests me…I want to read Arabic novels and Arabic poetry and to learn all I can about the language.
I’ve had a wonderful two year love affair with the Arabic Language and I want to continue that love affair into a relationship that lasts a lifetime; I want to one day be able to express myself better in Arabic than I can in English.
So that’s the deal kids: graduate in December, move soon after that, study really hard, learn the language, live life (always take time for a margarita and a dance with a good looking guy, it’s what keeps you young), take the ATA exams, go for a masters degree, then change the world before noon. Maybe I’ll even find time to work in a nap or two.
“I don’t want somebody to love me, just give me sex whenever I want it, ’cause all I ask for is instant pleasure, instant pleasure, instant pleasure…you in the traffic for all eternity, how could that speed be where you want to be…”
– Rufus Wainwright
So I came in third place for the essay contest…and considering that I wrote spoken word/poetry instead of an essay I’m happy. Plus it means I get $50.00 (or $25.00 since there was a tie for third place?). Either way, it’s more money than I had to begin with and $50.00 buys at least a weeks worth of food in Israel (a few peppers and rice for lunch, a salad for dinner, maybe some falafel if I’m gunna be really lavish…I’m a cheap date).
I’m excited, I sold my desk the other day to Joe so now I have even less furniture in the apartment (and another $50.00 actually…). Now I just have to sell the antique dresser set, the chest of drawers, a bakers rack, three more shelving units and my bed (well I’ll sell my bed in December) my coffee table and sell my chachkis and I’ll have reached the very admirable goal of having all of my belongings fit in my messenger bag :-D.
Minimalism rocks my socks…it also makes cleaning up so much easier.
Loosing Weight!
I’ve found a new eating structure that’s really working well. I’m already down 15lbs and I’m finding it fairly easy to follow. Combining that with getting back into running I’m on the path that I want to be on (now if only the weather would cooperate already so I can run outside without feeling all clammy).
UBULS
So the UBULS (UB Undergraduate Linguistics Society) I co-founded with friends fundraised with our hoodie sale a total of $1,100.00 and we started to redecorate the Linguistics Lounge last weekend.
Apparently Dr. Michelson was originally hesitant as to what she would find when she came in, though she (and everyone else) seem to love what we’ve done with the place. I’m not sure what she was hesitant about though, since she was sending in a Gay Man and two Designing Women (not only that withfangs is a dual-degree Linguistics/Art major) so I’m not sure what she was expecting to find other than a color coordinated, fully redecorated to-the-nines room, but whatever it was, she was relieved we did a good job.
The lounge now looks like a classy living room, it’s wonderful, and warm, and inviting.
Next weekend (I hope) we’re going to get the big, fluffy matching couch and then in May I’m building the computer-bar (though quite a few professors have made mention that they wouldn’t mind if it were a wet bar instead) which will have power strips running down the bottom of it and four stools to sit on so people can setup their laptops and work in the lounge, with WiFi access and a printer.
The Graduate Linguistics Association should be donating a new red microwave (our color scheme is red and beige) and the electric tea-kettle. Lisa (withfangs) is donating her coffee maker…which we’re incredibly grateful for since it only holds four cups of coffee which means that we might finally be able to avoid continually growing swamp thing on a daily basis.
Tomorrow we’re continuing the Linguistics Film Series we setup and having a viewing of “The Gods Must Be Crazy” which I haven’t seen yet, so I’m excited.
I have more to write, but that’ll come later.
G’night New York.
This Week is going to be crazy; however I have Friday Night through Monday Night blocked off to complete my work for the semester. My cell phone will be off, I’ll only be checking email.
I present my literary review to the Linguistic Anthropology class this coming Tuesday. This should be a cakewalk. If Jürgen thinks I’m combative in the back of a classroom he should see what happens when I’m given a captive audience.
However, as we head into the final stretch of this semester, I’m anxious, I’m excited, but overall I’m cautions. I’m expecting As…but those will come from hard work and certainly aren’t guaranteed, they’re tenuous at best.. I have no room for mistakes at this point in the game…there’s barely room enough for sleep.
“You give me too much credit, Matan!”
– Prof. Roustum
I met with Prof. Roustum today regarding the email I sent him pleading to take the independent study. The main problem, is that teachers don’t get paid for 499 level courses (which is why so few grant students access). The other problem is that he’s a teacher at the school for refuges in Buffalo so his time is precious as it is.
He leveled with me today and explained his reasons for being hesitant to grant the independent study (mostly a money and time issue, which I do understand) however he told me that if I needed the two or three credits to graduate, it wouldn’t be a question, he’d let me do one instantly. I regretfully had to inform him that I wouldn’t lie to him: I have 130 credits under my belt and certainly don’t need more credit to graduate. He then told me again that if I were to need those credits that he would allow me an independent study, and I again emphasized that I will not lie to him. He then said that he would look at the situation when the semester ended and perhaps something can be worked out…so it certainly isn’t a yes…but it certainly isn’t a no so we’ll see (keep your fingers crossed).
In other news, he’ll be having tea with my parents and myself when they come up later this month if he has the time. He really enjoys my Mother (they email each other).
Dad and I are taking the Assault Rifle Course together…this can lead only to one of two things: either a visit to the E.R. for one of us or an amazing blog entry in the near future…
Originally we were going to take the assault rifle course on Long Island, but the day long course was being offered on the day of the Lavender Ceremony, so we’re going to probably take the one in Elmira, NY together (providing we don’t have schedule conflicts).
It’s odd, but we’ve found some weird kind of father-son bonding experience over firearms…nothing says family love like the smell of gun powder and a perfect score on a paper-human target; I’m sure there’s a hallmark card for it somewhere.
What I’m Doing With My Life/The Soon to be Immediate Future
I’m perilously close to graduating…as such, this means that whenever I enter the vicinity of a family function, I’m left to explain just what it is I’m doing with my life and from what I’ve gathered, many people are confused as to what the next few years hold in store for me as well as what my job will be when I’m done.
I’m not going down the path of academia (to the chagrin of some who hoped I would); this doesn’t mean that I won’t be completing higher level degrees (quite the contrary, I want my Ph.D.) it just means that I won’t be attempting to get into a tenure-track professorship.
Whenever I see people on television setting up makeshift hospitals and repelling out of helicopters to land in war zones in times of need, I go “that could be me.” And people think I’m kidding or having delusions of grandeur when I tell them that I want to work in war zones. I want to work in Darfur, I want to work throughout Africa, and the Middle East. I want to work with Doctors Without Borders (if not at some point, set up my own group, Translators Without Borders? Who knows…maybe someday) as an EMI-T (Emergency Medical Interpreter-Translator). The field (much like Translatology) is still relatively new and still being defined, which is incredibly exciting to me (and very, very appealing)…because I hope that the work that I’ll eventually be doing will help to define the field and pave new paths of academic exploration for others.
I’ve been told by a few family members that I need to dream smaller, or to settle down or to get a nice secure job where I’ll be safe (and had I been born a woman, I guarantee that my grandmother would have told me to get my MRS degree by now) .but there’s a simple rule to life that I live by: there are winners and there are losers and you get to choose which one you’ll be. And the only reason the winners are getting the cool jobs (the jobs that they want) is because they learned the skills necessary to do their work, and they went out and did it despite how many people told them they couldn’t.
I’m not a loser.
So many times people are told to settle down, to tow the line, to behave, to take the easy way out that will earn them the most amount of money for the least amount of work…those people, they don’t make history.
I don’t accept failure (for myself or for others) and outside of sexual relations, I don’t accept no as an answer — ever. The basic requirements to be an EMI-T are physical fitness, ability to work in multiple languages in high-stress environments, being able to interpret on the spot for the patients and the doctors and being able to translate charts on the spot for doctors and then provide the necessary information for follow up care to the patient upon discharge. Certifications are encouraged. Specialized training in Medical Translation a must.
I know I can do all of that. I’m also aware of the risks, but what is life if you don’t take risks? I feel this is what I have a calling to do and much like I’m moving to Israel because I feel a call there, I’ll be training so I can do this too. If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out and I won’t be disappointed in myself…because I tried. But I plan on living my life without regrets, and you’ll never know until you try…so I’m trying.
Of course, I’ve mentioned the job, so I should probably mention how I plan on getting the training (which will take quite a few years).
I graduate this December. I submit my paperwork to the Aliyah Organization on February 2nd; from there I’ll be in the United States for however long it takes for the paperwork to go through for both them and Nefesh B’Nefesh so I can receive whatever assistance I’m eligible for.
Upon arrival in Israel I’ll assess my options (academically/university wise) after I complete Ulpan and an Intensive Arabic Program (which I’ve been saving for, and will have more than enough money to cover by the time I make Aliyah).
After I complete both those language programs (neither of which are degree granting) I want to get my Masters in Arabic. While I love the field of Linguistics (I really do) I am much more interested in the Arabic Language than I am in the science behind the language and I’d like to find a program that reflects the focus that interests me…I want to read Arabic novels and Arabic poetry and to learn all I can about the language.
I’ve had a wonderful two year love affair with the Arabic Language and I want to continue that love affair into a relationship that lasts a lifetime; I want to one day be able to express myself better in Arabic than I can in English.
So that’s the deal kids: graduate in December, move soon after that, study really hard, learn the language, live life (always take time for a margarita and a dance with a good looking guy, it’s what keeps you young), take the ATA exams, go for a masters degree, then change the world before noon. Maybe I’ll even find time to work in a nap or two.
“I don’t want somebody to love me, just give me sex whenever I want it, ’cause all I ask for is instant pleasure, instant pleasure, instant pleasure…you in the traffic for all eternity, how could that speed be where you want to be…”
– Rufus Wainwright
So I came in third place for the essay contest…and considering that I wrote spoken word/poetry instead of an essay I’m happy. Plus it means I get $50.00 (or $25.00 since there was a tie for third place?). Either way, it’s more money than I had to begin with and $50.00 buys at least a weeks worth of food in Israel (a few peppers and rice for lunch, a salad for dinner, maybe some falafel if I’m gunna be really lavish…I’m a cheap date).
I’m excited, I sold my desk the other day to Joe so now I have even less furniture in the apartment (and another $50.00 actually…). Now I just have to sell the antique dresser set, the chest of drawers, a bakers rack, three more shelving units and my bed (well I’ll sell my bed in December) my coffee table and sell my chachkis and I’ll have reached the very admirable goal of having all of my belongings fit in my messenger bag :-D.
Minimalism rocks my socks…it also makes cleaning up so much easier.
Loosing Weight!
I’ve found a new eating structure that’s really working well. I’m already down 15lbs and I’m finding it fairly easy to follow. Combining that with getting back into running I’m on the path that I want to be on (now if only the weather would cooperate already so I can run outside without feeling all clammy).
UBULS
So the UBULS (UB Undergraduate Linguistics Society) I co-founded with friends fundraised with our hoodie sale a total of $1,100.00 and we started to redecorate the Linguistics Lounge last weekend.
Apparently Dr. Michelson was originally hesitant as to what she would find when she came in, though she (and everyone else) seem to love what we’ve done with the place. I’m not sure what she was hesitant about though, since she was sending in a Gay Man and two Designing Women (not only that withfangs is a dual-degree Linguistics/Art major) so I’m not sure what she was expecting to find other than a color coordinated, fully redecorated to-the-nines room, but whatever it was, she was relieved we did a good job.
The lounge now looks like a classy living room, it’s wonderful, and warm, and inviting.
Next weekend (I hope) we’re going to get the big, fluffy matching couch and then in May I’m building the computer-bar (though quite a few professors have made mention that they wouldn’t mind if it were a wet bar instead) which will have power strips running down the bottom of it and four stools to sit on so people can setup their laptops and work in the lounge, with WiFi access and a printer.
The Graduate Linguistics Association should be donating a new red microwave (our color scheme is red and beige) and the electric tea-kettle. Lisa (withfangs) is donating her coffee maker…which we’re incredibly grateful for since it only holds four cups of coffee which means that we might finally be able to avoid continually growing swamp thing on a daily basis.
Tomorrow we’re continuing the Linguistics Film Series we setup and having a viewing of “The Gods Must Be Crazy” which I haven’t seen yet, so I’m excited.
I have more to write, but that’ll come later.
G’night New York.
My Mom’s mailing me bagels from Bagel Boss (as soon as they’re open from Passover); thank God…we’re entering finals week, I’m not feeling well (seven flights in 48 hours apparently leads to a higher probability that you’ll catch a cold while traveling and this one’s a doozy) and I need a real bagel from New York stat.
For those of you unaware, if you ever make it to New York City, I will state, for an absolute fact, that is is in your vested interest to take the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) from Penn. Station to Hicksville Station (the Hicksville that I speak of is the same one that is referenced in RENT, and happens to be the town over from where I grew up which is Plainview).
From Hicksville Station take a taxi cab (in-zone should be around $7.00 since taxis on The Island don’t use meters like the ones in The City do, on The Island it’s all based on zones) and tell your driver that you want to go to Bagel Boss (don’t worry, he won’t need directions or an address), in about four to ten minutes (depending on traffic) you will be there (this is our equivalent of Mecca so stop, look outside, take a deep breathe and prepare yourself for what will be a life altering experience)…once inside, you will finally have a taste of a real bagel (and you should order a few flagels while you’re at it, because they’re also amazing).
Bagel Boss bagels can last for up to two weeks unfrozen and longer if you freeze them. The only warning I can give you is that they’re so big, the odds of them fitting into your toaster are slim to none (we had to buy a special toaster to fit them) so I recommend purchasing a toaster oven before you make the trip so you can get the full experience. My personal recommendation is when they start to get slightly hard, microwave them for 30 seconds, then toast them in the toaster oven.
That said,
God Bless Jewish Mothers
God Bless Jewish Food
God Bless New York.
And With that, it’s bed time…man this week is gunna be rough…I am almost done with the real post (I know, I know, I know…mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maximus culpa) but I had more thoughts today which require me to drag out posting it slightly further.
In other news, it snowed again today.
My Mom’s mailing me bagels from Bagel Boss (as soon as they’re open from Passover); thank God…we’re entering finals week, I’m not feeling well (seven flights in 48 hours apparently leads to a higher probability that you’ll catch a cold while traveling and this one’s a doozy) and I need a real bagel from New York stat.
For those of you unaware, if you ever make it to New York City, I will state, for an absolute fact, that is is in your vested interest to take the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) from Penn. Station to Hicksville Station (the Hicksville that I speak of is the same one that is referenced in RENT, and happens to be the town over from where I grew up which is Plainview).
From Hicksville Station take a taxi cab (in-zone should be around $7.00 since taxis on The Island don’t use meters like the ones in The City do, on The Island it’s all based on zones) and tell your driver that you want to go to Bagel Boss (don’t worry, he won’t need directions or an address), in about four to ten minutes (depending on traffic) you will be there (this is our equivalent of Mecca so stop, look outside, take a deep breathe and prepare yourself for what will be a life altering experience)…once inside, you will finally have a taste of a real bagel (and you should order a few flagels while you’re at it, because they’re also amazing).
Bagel Boss bagels can last for up to two weeks unfrozen and longer if you freeze them. The only warning I can give you is that they’re so big, the odds of them fitting into your toaster are slim to none (we had to buy a special toaster to fit them) so I recommend purchasing a toaster oven before you make the trip so you can get the full experience. My personal recommendation is when they start to get slightly hard, microwave them for 30 seconds, then toast them in the toaster oven.
That said,
God Bless Jewish Mothers
God Bless Jewish Food
God Bless New York.
And With that, it’s bed time…man this week is gunna be rough…I am almost done with the real post (I know, I know, I know…mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maximus culpa) but I had more thoughts today which require me to drag out posting it slightly further.
In other news, it snowed again today.
If New York was being invaded, you can bet your ass that I would do everything I could to prevent the successful invasion by enemy forces. Molotov Cocktails (we learned how to make those in Hebrew School when an older teacher wanted to make sure that we could take care of ourselves should history repeat itself) to IEDs and whatever tools I could find for the resistance. For my efforts in this country (were I to be successful with whatever band of wo/men I could gather), I would be called a patriot and I would be lauded. Why? Because I would be defending my country, my home and more importantly, my family from a foreign invader who was attacking us. How interesting then, if I were a few countries away I’d be called an insurgent by the same people who, here, would label me a patriot.
Who knew that all we had to do was change the name of “Prisoner of War” to “Enemy Combatant” and all of a sudden our obligations ended. Perhaps in the future we’ll change “Murder” to “Sending on Vacation” and “Stock Fraud” to “Wealth Confusion” and then we can avoid all those hassles that come when you kill people and steal from your workers pension funds and your investors wallets. It’s an orwellian wet dream.
Funny things, these words.
And apparently the same television stations are both left and right wing biased depending on which political party you ask (wouldn’t that then make them center?) and if you fulfill your duties as a citizen you’re a danger to the country and letting the terrorists win. If you stand up for justice and demand truth you are labeled a crazy liberal and you are summarily ignored and apparently God is on everyone’s side (no matter how insane they are)…because they said so (or they have a direct telephone line to the heavens that I’m presently unaware of); and it would seem that no one has read the books that they’re quoting from — at all.
Adults really fuck things up, don’t they?
I’m not an idealist. But I’ve learned a few things and one of them is that if someone’s hungry, you feed them if not because it’s the right thing to do, then because the world can change in a second and very soon that can be you. If someone needs shelter, you find some wood and some nails and you start helping them build shelter; and if some of your friends walk by, they’ll pitch in and soon you’ll have a house; and if enough friends stop by, you can make a few houses and soon you have a village and if you do that, well then something really special happens: you make a community…there’s very few communities these days, though there’s a lot of houses next to each other.
The main difference is that part of being a community means checking on your neighbors, it means bringing them soup when they’re sick, and watching their kids when they’re in a pinch, and driving each other to work and sharing rides when gas prices go up too high and the entire community making sure that children learn right from wrong about the things that really matter in life (not piercings or tattoos or what music is acceptable) but about doing good deeds, loving each other and when they’re older, loving their partner(s) safely, being honest, working hard, volunteering and pitching in when it’s needed and not asking what’s in it for you.
I can only imagine what the world situation would be like if our world leaders who are currently leading us down a short path, grew up in a community instead of a house.
If New York was being invaded, you can bet your ass that I would do everything I could to prevent the successful invasion by enemy forces. Molotov Cocktails (we learned how to make those in Hebrew School when an older teacher wanted to make sure that we could take care of ourselves should history repeat itself) to IEDs and whatever tools I could find for the resistance. For my efforts in this country (were I to be successful with whatever band of wo/men I could gather), I would be called a patriot and I would be lauded. Why? Because I would be defending my country, my home and more importantly, my family from a foreign invader who was attacking us. How interesting then, if I were a few countries away I’d be called an insurgent by the same people who, here, would label me a patriot.
Who knew that all we had to do was change the name of “Prisoner of War” to “Enemy Combatant” and all of a sudden our obligations ended. Perhaps in the future we’ll change “Murder” to “Sending on Vacation” and “Stock Fraud” to “Wealth Confusion” and then we can avoid all those hassles that come when you kill people and steal from your workers pension funds and your investors wallets. It’s an orwellian wet dream.
Funny things, these words.
And apparently the same television stations are both left and right wing biased depending on which political party you ask (wouldn’t that then make them center?) and if you fulfill your duties as a citizen you’re a danger to the country and letting the terrorists win. If you stand up for justice and demand truth you are labeled a crazy liberal and you are summarily ignored and apparently God is on everyone’s side (no matter how insane they are)…because they said so (or they have a direct telephone line to the heavens that I’m presently unaware of); and it would seem that no one has read the books that they’re quoting from — at all.
Adults really fuck things up, don’t they?
I’m not an idealist. But I’ve learned a few things and one of them is that if someone’s hungry, you feed them if not because it’s the right thing to do, then because the world can change in a second and very soon that can be you. If someone needs shelter, you find some wood and some nails and you start helping them build shelter; and if some of your friends walk by, they’ll pitch in and soon you’ll have a house; and if enough friends stop by, you can make a few houses and soon you have a village and if you do that, well then something really special happens: you make a community…there’s very few communities these days, though there’s a lot of houses next to each other.
The main difference is that part of being a community means checking on your neighbors, it means bringing them soup when they’re sick, and watching their kids when they’re in a pinch, and driving each other to work and sharing rides when gas prices go up too high and the entire community making sure that children learn right from wrong about the things that really matter in life (not piercings or tattoos or what music is acceptable) but about doing good deeds, loving each other and when they’re older, loving their partner(s) safely, being honest, working hard, volunteering and pitching in when it’s needed and not asking what’s in it for you.
I can only imagine what the world situation would be like if our world leaders who are currently leading us down a short path, grew up in a community instead of a house.
moocowinthecity