October 2007 – Page 6 – moocow in the city

New Tattoo and Wow, I think Chewbaka and I could be cousins…

moocowinthecity 2007-10-06 No Comments

Well, asides from the fact that after looking at the photo I clearly need to get laser hair removal so I’m not mistaken with a wooky or as Chewy’s cousin, you can now see my new Tattoo (Christie, Candie, Frank and I all got ritually scarred together…ahh, the memories…)

Anyways, the new Tattoo:

Quick rundown of FAQs I’ve received over the past four years (I think it’s been four years) since I’ve been inked:

No, Tattoos are not actually against Jewish law – though there’s rules about them, like not getting them while in Mourning. No it doesn’t mean I can’t be buried in a Jewish Synagogue, that would violate the laws about respecting the dead among a few other things (though I’ve always wanted to be buried in one of the hippy type, card board box, return to the earth quickly cemeteries anyway). Yes, in Jerusalem there is a Tattoo Parlor. There’s one in Tel Aviv too. Actually, I’m sure there’s many more I didn’t find. Yes, Many Israelis Have Tattoos. No Hillel International doesn’t care one fig leaf that I have a tattoo especially given the populations that they want me to work with (e.g. prostitutes, homeless, druggies and frat boys among others are in my Job Description as “Special Projects Intern”). My Boss’s Nephew has many more than I do (read: he’s totally covered). Yes, all of mine are covered up when I wear a suit which means I can still, one day, find gainful employment outside of my field if I want to (…sort of like Anthropologists, I’ve found that if you’re not interpreting, they really don’t care how you look in your bedroom, office, or cafe – wherever it is that you translate – so long as you can translate well. I did find, however that the U.S. Government does care, apparently, who you sleep with…apparently being Gay means you’re not able to translate Arabic well…which is why they fired a slew of Gay Arabic Translators right before 9/11). Yes my parents know, yes my grandparents know, yes my Rabbi Knows, yes my Shaliach Knows…even the Chabad Rabbi Knows.Aanyone who feels the need to: get it out of your system now and on your own time, not in my comments field

open pasture

Brief Update

moocowinthecity 2007-10-04 No Comments

64 Days Until Go Time…No Wait, The Day’s Over…Now It’s 63…

Just a quick run down of life before I head home to shower, and watch Legally Blonde while I study and munch on pomegranates.

Good Ideas in Computer Science

Gnomes and Unicorns folks, Gnomes and Unicorns. We have our midterm for this course on Oct. 29th and we have a quiz in it next week. Right now we’re programming Karel the Robot…the course is okay, I believe I’ll be receiving a B+ to an A, we’ll see though.

Phonetics

This is phonetician boot camp (where there is an i in team [ti:m]), and while I didn’t do as well as I liked on the first homework, I did receive an 85% in the Buffalo Vowel Transcription, a 90% on the Arabic Transcription (I can’t believe I botched the one phonetic symbol which would have ensured a 100%…but such is life…the speaker was from Kuwait which was cool though) and I also (according to my scoring estimate) received a 90% on the German Vowel Transcription, I should find that out Tomorrow.

I should be getting my second homework grade back later this week (e.g. Tomorrow) or next week. The lowest grade is dropped so I’m hoping that – providing I did well on the second assignment – I can forget about the first and proceed forward with the course with no further hitches.

Linguist in Waiting is my informant for Tagalog which is the language I’ll be examining for my semester long phonetics project which we’re being introduced to next week. I want to specifically look at stress in the language.

Grammar & Lexicon

We don’t really need to discuss this course. It’s going (and is – thankfully – over in 63 days). The mid-term is tomorrow. We’re not doing a whole lot of what…’normal’ (read: non-linguists) people would describe as grammar (the best way to describe what we’re doing is mental masturbation).

Overall, there’s a large portion of students in the course who are overtly negative or hostile to each other, but JP and Julia as the teaching team are wonderful, so that’s a blessing at least.

TA-Ship

This was Sociolinguistics Boot-Camp for me last year, it’s much nicer standing on the other side of the classroom, watching the process from the standpoint of the educator rather than the one being educated. Scott’s teaching philosophy agrees with my own and, to date, it’s been nothing short of a wonderful experience. I get to teach the class by myself when Scott’s at a conference on the 25th of this month (I’ll be teaching about Politeness and Accommodation, which is good since I can cover that in my sleep if I were required to).

The students have their midterm exam this coming Tuesday, so I imagine (or hope) that most will be taking this weekend to study and taking advantage of my office hours Tomorrow to go over anything that they’re shaky on.

Also next week we’ll be listening to international rap which gives me a wonderful opportunity to use the HaDag NaChash Curriculum Guide for “The Sticker Song” (שירת הסטיקר). Actually, any chance for HaDag NaChash anything to make it’s way into class makes me happy, but the fact that we can legitimately incorporate it is great.

Independent Study

I’m looking at language policy from India in 1929 (the Language Riots) and comparing it to present language policy in India, specifically as it relates to education with an underlying focus on language discrimination. This is much more fulfilling than the research I was doing through last semester. I plan on being done with this by the end of October so I can ‘scrape it off my plate’ so to speak.

Classical Tibetan

Classical Tibetan is going wonderfully, even though I won’t be able to be here next semester I’m receiving enough tools that I’ll be able to continue studying it on my own until I can study it in Tibet at some point (…it’s good that when I say things like that, folks at this point know I’m not kidding…). But Tibet is certainly on the list, and had I had this course before I set the ball in motion I would have certainly stayed for another few years here at UB before making Aliyah, though it really is time to get a move on and I’m not getting younger (a side note, I was once told by a very bitter and jaded homo that if I didn’t have a long time boyfriend by the time I was 21 I’d be single forever…he didn’t know how to respond when I said ‘that’s okay, I have my right hand and a mirror…’).

TESOL/TEFL/TESL
Next Weekend (Oct 13/14th) starts my TESOL/TEFL/TESL training course; which will be occupying my time over Oct 13/14, Oct 20/21 and Oct 27/28. I’ll be receiving my certificate on the 28th.

Israel

I should be finding out if I receive the grant that I asked for from Nefesh B’Nefesh later next week (hopefully). The other day I received my Garin Tzabar application which I’ll be filling out when I get back to my apartment so I can mail it out Tomorrow.

I’ll be meeting with my Shaliach sometime in November for our second meeting (though we’ve been in regular contact via telephone and email) which means I’ll have to book a weekend down to NYC (…twist my arm…no wait…twist it…).

Hillel

Chai Line is going amazing. I submitted a grant for that on Tuesday, I have some letters to send out for it Tomorrow before Shabbat and I’ll go into this in more detail later on.,

Time to head home

Time to head home, I’ll go into a real, full length, life update (including my Mom’s and Margie’s visit to Buffalo) sometime later this weekend.

Peace all!

open pasture

Brief Update

moocowinthecity 2007-10-04 No Comments

64 Days Until Go Time…No Wait, The Day’s Over…Now It’s 63…

Just a quick run down of life before I head home to shower, and watch Legally Blonde while I study and munch on pomegranates.

Good Ideas in Computer Science

Gnomes and Unicorns folks, Gnomes and Unicorns. We have our midterm for this course on Oct. 29th and we have a quiz in it next week. Right now we’re programming Karel the Robot…the course is okay, I believe I’ll be receiving a B+ to an A, we’ll see though.

Phonetics

This is phonetician boot camp (where there is an i in team [ti:m]), and while I didn’t do as well as I liked on the first homework, I did receive an 85% in the Buffalo Vowel Transcription, a 90% on the Arabic Transcription (I can’t believe I botched the one phonetic symbol which would have ensured a 100%…but such is life…the speaker was from Kuwait which was cool though) and I also (according to my scoring estimate) received a 90% on the German Vowel Transcription, I should find that out Tomorrow.

I should be getting my second homework grade back later this week (e.g. Tomorrow) or next week. The lowest grade is dropped so I’m hoping that – providing I did well on the second assignment – I can forget about the first and proceed forward with the course with no further hitches.

Linguist in Waiting is my informant for Tagalog which is the language I’ll be examining for my semester long phonetics project which we’re being introduced to next week. I want to specifically look at stress in the language.

Grammar & Lexicon

We don’t really need to discuss this course. It’s going (and is – thankfully – over in 63 days). The mid-term is tomorrow. We’re not doing a whole lot of what…’normal’ (read: non-linguists) people would describe as grammar (the best way to describe what we’re doing is mental masturbation).

Overall, there’s a large portion of students in the course who are overtly negative or hostile to each other, but JP and Julia as the teaching team are wonderful, so that’s a blessing at least.

TA-Ship

This was Sociolinguistics Boot-Camp for me last year, it’s much nicer standing on the other side of the classroom, watching the process from the standpoint of the educator rather than the one being educated. Scott’s teaching philosophy agrees with my own and, to date, it’s been nothing short of a wonderful experience. I get to teach the class by myself when Scott’s at a conference on the 25th of this month (I’ll be teaching about Politeness and Accommodation, which is good since I can cover that in my sleep if I were required to).

The students have their midterm exam this coming Tuesday, so I imagine (or hope) that most will be taking this weekend to study and taking advantage of my office hours Tomorrow to go over anything that they’re shaky on.

Also next week we’ll be listening to international rap which gives me a wonderful opportunity to use the HaDag NaChash Curriculum Guide for “The Sticker Song” (שירת הסטיקר). Actually, any chance for HaDag NaChash anything to make it’s way into class makes me happy, but the fact that we can legitimately incorporate it is great.

Independent Study

I’m looking at language policy from India in 1929 (the Language Riots) and comparing it to present language policy in India, specifically as it relates to education with an underlying focus on language discrimination. This is much more fulfilling than the research I was doing through last semester. I plan on being done with this by the end of October so I can ‘scrape it off my plate’ so to speak.

Classical Tibetan

Classical Tibetan is going wonderfully, even though I won’t be able to be here next semester I’m receiving enough tools that I’ll be able to continue studying it on my own until I can study it in Tibet at some point (…it’s good that when I say things like that, folks at this point know I’m not kidding…). But Tibet is certainly on the list, and had I had this course before I set the ball in motion I would have certainly stayed for another few years here at UB before making Aliyah, though it really is time to get a move on and I’m not getting younger (a side note, I was once told by a very bitter and jaded homo that if I didn’t have a long time boyfriend by the time I was 21 I’d be single forever…he didn’t know how to respond when I said ‘that’s okay, I have my right hand and a mirror…’).

TESOL/TEFL/TESL
Next Weekend (Oct 13/14th) starts my TESOL/TEFL/TESL training course; which will be occupying my time over Oct 13/14, Oct 20/21 and Oct 27/28. I’ll be receiving my certificate on the 28th.

Israel

I should be finding out if I receive the grant that I asked for from Nefesh B’Nefesh later next week (hopefully). The other day I received my Garin Tzabar application which I’ll be filling out when I get back to my apartment so I can mail it out Tomorrow.

I’ll be meeting with my Shaliach sometime in November for our second meeting (though we’ve been in regular contact via telephone and email) which means I’ll have to book a weekend down to NYC (…twist my arm…no wait…twist it…).

Hillel

Chai Line is going amazing. I submitted a grant for that on Tuesday, I have some letters to send out for it Tomorrow before Shabbat and I’ll go into this in more detail later on.,

Time to head home

Time to head home, I’ll go into a real, full length, life update (including my Mom’s and Margie’s visit to Buffalo) sometime later this weekend.

Peace all!

open pasture

Free Airplane Ticket (maybe) and an “I’m alive” entry…

moocowinthecity 2007-10-04 No Comments

…I’m alive…

…is it the weekend yet? Really, really stressful week but at least it’s heading to a close.

Outside of that, I may have a free jetblue ticket coming my way (if I’ve estimated my points that I have, added to the points I’m going to receive after going from Buffalo to NYC, NYC to West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach to NYC, NYC to West Palm Beach and West Palm Beach to NYC and then NYC to Buffalo (I have to go get Grandma again, this time for Thanksgiving). The ticket is non transferable, and I can fly anywhere in the U.S. (and obviously I’d have to use it December/January before I move to Israel in February)

Some thoughts have been:
Fly to California, grab a cup of coffee, get back on the airplane so I could go “yeah, this one morning I decided to fly to California to get a cup of coffee…” (it’s what I considered doing last time I got a free ticket from jetblue).

Go to California and hang out there for a bit, meet fellow LJers who are in the area (Sockie, Tigger, Taeresh, Matthias, Goodall, etc)

…though if I go to California without Alice she may kill me (She was born and raised there)

Mom says I should check out San Francisco (which is tempting); there’s also people I want to meet in Georgia (yes Paula, I’m talking about you).

I’m already planning my trip to Boston in Dec./Jan. to see Carrie and Stephen, but I’ll just pay for that out of pocket when I get my paycheck from Hillel (due sometime in the middle of this month…supposedly…) rather than use a free round trip anywhere in the US flight to somewhere that I can get to for 50.00.

I checked and it’s only within the U.S. and JetBlue doesn’t go to Canada so harassing Anne and her Husband is out (well, it’s not ruled out entirely, it’s just not possible with this plane ticket…I still want to take Dominic shopping and I need to have Anne sign her Bra, because, apparently that’s what you’re supposed to do according to MsScribe when you’re in the presence of a BNF and borrow one and I feel bad that I missed out on this unique cultural tradition and have regretted not getting a bra signed ever since).

Seattle is also an option, I’ve heard it’s a fun time; I could also meet Steve in Texas (though I’ve invited him and his husband – who’s Israeli – up for Thanksgiving, but they may or may not come which I understand, it’s a bit of a haul).

…ohhh…I could go back to Wyoming…I miss Wyoming…though, equally tempting is to go to Kentucky so I can see the Museum of Creation, where their exhibits show how Adam and Eve lived with the dinosaurs (personally, I want a tshirt of Adam, Eve and a T-Rex in a big group hug).

…this is the problem with giving someone like me a free plane ticket…there’s so much to see, everywhere…

…ohhhh I could see the biggest ball of twin in Minnesota…but then I’d probably have to stop by and say hi to the side of the family I don’t get along with…Wisconsin could be cool though…

……ohhh, I can go to Oregon….ooooor I can have some real fun and go to Salt Lake City Utah…

Okay…well, we’ll see what I come up with…in the mean time…it is far past my bed time….and this week needs to be over with…asap.