GREAT Weekend

The Shabbaton was great. I had such a good time. I reunited with kids I already knew and met new kids. My older brother and I got awards one after the other at banquet. I presented two girls with an award and couldn't even get the speeches out without choking up. The kumzitz at the end of the night last night was really emotional. I was in hysterical tears when I spoke. I love these kids so much. They are my life.

I am so tired, but I refuse to go to sleep right now. I am taking the day off tomorrow before I start my subbing stint. I don't know which class I'll be in. We shall see.

Oh! And my video was a hit! One thing was messed up (the caption for a picture was on the wrong picture) but the kids LOVED it! They laughed a lot. After I showed it, Rabbi Miller came up to me and said, "Why did we make a video?" (Someone made an official yearbook video that was shown the next night. It was awesome, but mine had a lot more on it.) I told Rabbi Miller that I am making the video from now on.

I played softball on Sunday afternoon. It was an advisors vs. NCSYers game. I was the only girl on the advisor team and one of my girls was the only girl on the NCSYer team. I missed most of the pitches and throws, but I had an awesome time! I even got a bruise at the base of my thumb from catching a ball awkwardly. I was so proud to have a bruise, but now it's pretty much gone. Oh well.

When we FINALLY got back to Boston, I saw MALKA! (Okay, Malka, happy?) :)

That's all I have for now.

Still Not Fully Packed

I stayed up until about 5am this morning and DAC called me at 7:40 to tell me that she was coming to pick me up. We went to Dunkin Donuts then TARGET! Yes, FINALLY! I got a really cool new watch (my other GREEN one was falling apart, but this one is GREEN too!) and some stuff for the Shabbaton. A GREEN sleeping bag for example. Yitz asked us to get him a pink one. Haha. After I paid, I kept telling myself...Abba loves you, Abba loves you over and over again to make me feel a little less guilty about how much I spent. Don't worry, I stayed in the 2-digit range.

The bus leaves at 3pm and my brother's friend is giving us a ride. I am going to be so extremely absolutely wiped out when I get back. AWESOME!

Happy Weekend to EVERYONE! Yes, even YOU.

Back Home and Packing Again

I have been packing (for the Shabbaton) for quite a while now. Okay, so I got distracted...so what?

Today was crazy. I went to sleep early this morning and woke up a little later to a packing frenzy. I had to open and reopen my college boxes plenty of times before I took care of everything. My friend, Rivka, saved my life by coming to the bus station with me. And DAC picked me up from the bus, so that was AWESOME! So good to be home for good.

I went to my Rochele's shower tonight. I still can't believe she's getting married! I also say my friend Rivkie from high school. She just got engaged this week. Her sister, Chana, was there, too. I also saw a girl Chani that I haven't seen for three years. We went to school together from 1st-8th grade and I hadn't seen her since the Lubavitch girls convention in 12th grade. We had a great time reuniting. I was a bit hyper, but what else is new?

I should get back to packing. I worked my tushy off on an NCSY video and I can't get it onto a CD. I thought of a plan though, so we shall see how that goes. I don't want to have to bring my computer with me.

Back to packing. Have a great weekend!

Packing

Packing, packing and packing.

My cousin can't drive me home with my stuff. I'm hoping to fit everything into 2 big suitcases and one little one. I am leaving one bag at Devora's. I can handle this. Woohoo!

That's all I have for now.

Back to packing.

I'm DONE!

I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE! I'm DONE!

Yes, I copied and pasted that. I'm not THAT bored already. All I have to do it write up a few fieldwork papers (that I think I was supposed to have done last night). I woke up at 7am to review the Hebrew literature, went to sleep for a little bit, then woke up at ten to 9, thinking that the final was at 9. It was at 9:30, but I chilled with Rachel Lee in the caf until then. We were going to the same place anyway, because a lot of the Hebrew classes were having their final in the gym. I knew a lot of it, so I know I didn't fail. It's all about the fluff, baby.

I have to figure out if someone wants to give me a ride home with all my stuff. I might ask my cousin. But, if anyone knows anyone heading in that direction in the next few days, let me know.

I worked on my video again last night (got help with it, too) and it is AWESOME! I hope I can burn it off my computer. I don't want to bring my computer to the Shabbaton, so I'll have to make sure that it will play on whatever computer is there.

Speaking of Shabbaton, if anyone knows of anywhere where I can find a good dvar torah on Bamidbar (something interesting to teens) let me know!

G-d's Turn to Play the "Time Game"

Bus ride home:

Time Started: 11:30am
Time Finished: 7:05pm

That's right. A usually four and a half hour long bus ride turned into an almost 8 hour bus ride. How? Oh, because a truck carrying methane got into an accident on the Mass Pike at about 9am, so they shut down the entire Pike until they made sure that everything was safe. (The driver was fine.) So, the bus driver took back routes and there was insane traffic. People were not happy. I just wanted to get off the bus. I did, BH.

Last night I went to Sharon with Dena. It was fun. I got back and didn't really sleep at all. I was working on the NCSY video with Yitz the whole night. It's a really cool video. Now, I am going to try to unpack the suitcases in my temporary room so I can pack a smaller bag and bring back empty suitcases. I hope someone can help me when I leave. I haven't started studying for my final, but I am not worried. I'll study on the bus and when I get back to the dorm.

I am hoping that one of my NCSYers calls me about our breakfast date. If she doesn't, then I am going out with DAC. My uncle from Connecticut is coming today with his family. We don't see them too often, so it's nice when they come.

Yeah. So that's my incredibly interesting blog post. I am not ready to say goodbye to my nephews. I can't.

A Midspring (All) Night's Clean (Up)

Yes, I am pulling an all nighter. Right now I am sitting on my room floor trying to clean and pack. I started out by cleaning out the stuff from under my bed. I found some treasures under there. I just emptied my closet. I am surrounded by stuff. Lots of stuff. I know I'll have time next week so I am not going crazy.

I had a good day today. I was up late working on a video that I am making for the Shabbaton next week, so I slept in. DAC called me to remind me to work on a list of songs for the band. I got up and worked on the video for a while longer. Then Miriam made me get up. We went to get our eyebrows done (hey, it's how we bond) and H&M where I got a pretty skirt. Thanks, Abba! After that, I went back to the dorm and relaxed some more. Then Erica called me to offer to get me some dinner. Thanks, Princess! Then my friend from my ed psych class called me and said we should study for an hour to get it over with. She came down and we ADDed a lot, but we got some studying done. Then Miriam and I went to the library for a while and I studied a little bit more. Don't worry, I didn't over-exert myself. I am going to miss having so many people around to hang with.

Here's what is the prominent issue going on right now...

As much as I love going home, I am not looking forward to this weekend. My nephews are leaving the US on Tuesday. That means that I will have to say goodbye to them on Sunday. (PS I am crying as I type this, just so you realize what I am going through.) I am going to be a mess when I get back to NY. I would come home on Monday, but I don't want to be home when they actually leave. I can't help but feel hurt and upset that they live so far away. I love them insanely and I just want to be able to see them all the time, not once or twice a year. (Oh, wow, here come a lot of tears.) I really can't take it. On top of that, they really love me. I don't want them to forget who I am. I am going to Israel in January, but I have a feeling that I will have to let them get used to me all over again. They will grow up so fast and I won't be there to see it. I really can't take this. I feel hostility towards certain people about this, even though they aren't going to do anything about it. I can't be home after they leave because I can't stand to see my parents upset. This is why I don't want to move to Israel until my family does. Besides that, I am not working so hard in school just so I can ship out of the country as soon as I graduate. I can't do it to them. I don't know how I am going to handle this.

I have to get back to packing because I still have to review my notes for my final in 4 hours.

I hope everyone has a great weekend. You all now know how mine will be.

Sigh...relaxation!

I took my second final of the day. I think it was fine. There was a lot of stuff that I hadn't studied, but I remembered it anyway. We shall see how that goes.

Now I am enjoying my time of doing nothing. No, it's nothing new. I do nothing even when I should be doing something. I know that is what you were thinking.

I am still trying to figure out what to do tonight.

No finals tomorrow. Beautiful.

It's Not Boredom...It's Insane, Incredible Love

Not Worried

I took my bio final this morning. I finished it at 10:10 and had to wait until 10:15 until I could leave. My bio lab teacher (I love her!) was one of the proctors and she handed back my bio lab final and said, "Here's something you can look at while you're waiting." I got an 88! My friend, Miriam told me that I will probably have an A average in the class because we (my lab partner and I) got 2's (2 is the highest) on our in class worksheets. Woohoo! That is why I am not too worried about my bio final. Anything above a D will work for me, thanks.

I have my Language and Literacy for Education final at 1. I am excited about it, not in the brown noser way, I mean in a confident way because I know the stuff. I wish everything in this school made me feel confident. Uch.

I hope to do something fun tonight. Looking at my final schedule (that someone made on post-its on my wall because they love me...and they think I'll forget to go to a final) I see that the next finals are nothing to worry about. I am so happy that bio is over.

More later...

I Wish

I wish I was more motivated.

I have two finals tomorrow. This should be interesting...

She's Done It Again!

FINAL English Paper

Time started: 9:00pm
Time finished: 11:48pm
Time due: 12am

I am officially the champion!

Today, I went to RI with my family for a Mother's Day lunch at my aunt's house. It was really nice. On the way home, we went to Barnes and Noble and I got the books I needed for my paper so I would be able to cite stuff. I got home and got to work. I am pretty darn proud of myself. I really do work best under pressure. Speaking of pressure, I need to sign up for another class. I need to take a full courseload so I can talk to them about not being screwed over and not be screwed over...know what I mean?

Anyway, tomorrow I can relax. I am going to chill with Dena and then with DAC at the NCSY office. I can't wait to have a day not worrying about stoopid skool stuph. Sigh...



Now comes the special shout out...

MAZEL TOV, DEVORAH!

I am so proud of you!

Yes, I'm Still Up

So, for those of you who remember, I have to do a posting every week for my literature class. There's a website called Angel where we have to post a thought on the readings that we did in class. This week, we had to post responses to the creative projects in class. No one posted about mine...yet. Haha. One girl's post title caught my eye.

It was called "Let's Go Yankees- We'll Get Them Next Time." Being me, I opened it up and read it: (Don't worry, it's worth it.)

So I just got back from a Yankee-Red Sox game, which, for all you sports illiterate people out there, is one of the biggest rivalries in all of sports. As a Yankee fan I felt totally at ease and comfortable in the sea of blue and white pin-stripes at Yankee stadium. I can't say the same thing about the guy sitting next to me. He was from what I could see, the ONLY Red Sox fan in my section, maybe in the whole stadium. As I was sitting there listening to other people yell obnoxious comments and rude things to this lone Red Sox fan, I remembered Sarah, Rachie and Jenni's creative project (I'm not kidding, I really did think about it at the game - the Yankees were losing). It was because of their creative project, where they really showed how Janie was treated, that I connected Janie to Mr. Red Sox Man. He must have felt like such an outsider. It must have been so uncomfortable for him to sit there in his flashy Red Sox jersey. It probably was so clear to him that he was so not wanted. Before seeing their creative project, I wouldn't have given this guy two thoughts. I would probably thought he was an idiot for wearing a Red Sox jersey in Yankee Stadium but then I would have forgotten about it. Now I sort of felt bad for him. I guess he got his vindication though, the Red Sox won, 5-3. Don't worry though, we'll get them next time.

I decided that my post for the week was going to be in response to this. I called it:

"Semi Response to Ariella: Yankees? I don't think so."

Ariella's post which compared Janie to "Mr. Red Sox Fan" was interesting, but I do not think that it is that comparable. Ariella said that the Red Sox fan (who was not the only one in the stadium, by the way) must have felt the same way that Janie did. Speaking as an avid Red Sox fan, I must disagree. Us Red Sox fans do not feel like outcasts when we go to Yankees games in full BoSox gear. We CRAVE attention from our rivals. I don't think this fan cared that he was being "excluded". People should have realized this when they saw his flashy Boston jersey. We are PROUD to be fans. Besides...we WON. (Just had to reiterate that fact even though Ariella already wrote it.)

Yes, I am planning to bring this into the realm of the literature: Janie was not a girl who craved to be an outcast. She was not proud to be left out. Imagine how this Red Sox fan felt after the game. Even if he felt put down and harrassed (which is what Yankees fans are great at, by they way. Yes, it's a rivalry.), I am sure that he felt fine after the Red Sox WON. Janie was a different type of outsider. There was no "winning side" for her to have been on. She had no choice but to be an outcast.

Did I mention that the Red Sox won? Oh, I did?

Editor's note: No hard feelings, right, Ariella?

Now, the whole class will see that I wrote it at 3:30am, but early mornings are my times of GENIUS! (It's also the time when I realize that I can't procrastinate anymore.)

Now I can go to sleep. Night night.

Paper? Eh.

Shabbos was nice. (Editor's note: I realize that I always write that "Shabbos was nice". Just thought you should know.) It's raining here and is supposed to rain for the rest of the week, but it was still nice. Tonight, I went out to pizza and ice cream with DAC. I love that woman. We had a really good talk.

Now I am at Dena's. We're having a sleepover. We're in two seperate rooms, but whatever. Ha. I have to write a paper tomorrow. It's an early mother's day present I guess (get it? Because I'm not a mother yet?). We'll see how that goes.

I might do orientation at Stern next semester. We'll see about that too. And about coming to New York for a week in July. I have a wedding on a Sunday, then my birthday is the next Friday. It's something to think about while procrastinating tomorrow.

Have a great day!

Sleep? Nah...

I went into bed at 6am. Don't ask. I spent the night with Tiffany and Devorah in the 36th Street lounge. We had gotten dinner together (I didn't eat because I had gone to Mendy's with my class) then they watched Grey's Anatomy. I did, too, but I was pretending to be working on my math journal that I was supposed to start a long time ago that was due today. Devo and I left 36th Street at about 5, had a really great conversation for a while, then I went to bed. I woke up at 9:30 to quickly finish the math. Then I went back to sleep for an hour, woke up at about 11:15, studied some bio lab, then went to class.

There was one last math lesson presentation, then the teacher gave us what she called "10 minute papers". We've had them last semester too. She would give us an assigment, or an article to read, then she would give us 2 or 3 simple questions to answer. So she had asked us questions about our lesson plans and then reflections on our strengths and weaknesses. After the class, the teacher said, "This is the part where I tell you how much I enjoyed working with you." She started choking up. I felt myself choking up, too. As hard as her class is, I really like her.

Then I took my bio lab final. I'm sure I mixed up some veins and arteries, but yeah. I hope I did well because it will help my bio average. I am not doing too well in bio lecture.

Tonight I need to get help with my last English paper. I'm not sure if I am actually going to go. I actually read all the Sparknotes for the last book we read, so I am pretty confident about the paper. If I need help, then I'll ask. Hmmmm. I want to take a really early bus tomorrow morning so I can have the day at home. I found out today that I can stay home until Wednesday. I have 2 finals on Wednesday, one on Friday, then one the following Monday. May 22 is my LAST DAY. I just got a call from the registrar's office because I took a developmental psych class (child) last semester and signed up for another one (lifespan) this semester. The woman called me to tell me that I can't do that, but I told her that I didn't get a high enough grade for it to be counted towards my major, so I need to take it again. She kind of made this, Oh, so you're kind of scwoooood" noise. I told her, "Yeah, I'm not doing too well." Wonderful.

Anyway, I'm tired of typing. Bye.

CAFFEINE

Wow I am high on caffeine right now. Really. Coffee on an empty stomach (thanks, Perica!), then some Cocoa Puffs in class to try to calm me down. Gave my lit presentation. Left the poster in her office because she wanted to keep it, went back to my dorm, then realized that I didn't take a picture of it, so I went back. Thank G-d she was still there.

I have a class dinner starting across the street right now. I'm going to wait for Erica, then go. Mr. Koreman, our Language and Literacy for Education teacher, takes us out to dinner at the end of the semester, so this time he's taking us to Mendy's. I'm so wired, whoa.

WIRED!

Okay, I'm out. Good night. Whoa I'm crazy.

LITERATURE- Creative project+Paper

Time Started: 9:50am
Time Completed: 3:00pm

Still so much to do today.

My creative project and paper (the paper was about your inspiration and process for making the project) are about love and marriage as portrayed in the books that we read in comparison to how the media portrays love. I made a display board with cut outs of love, breakups, and what's going ons (relationships no one really understands). I'll try to post a picture of it. I would post the paper up here, but I don't want my blog to get a bad reputation. I'll just post what I wrote about the process of the making of the project.

The process that I went through to make this collage involved just about as much reading that was required this semester. I went through seventeen magazines. These were magazines that loved to publicize everything about Hollywood interactions. I cut out anything and everything that depicted relationships, the love and the heartbreaks. Originally, I was going to create the display board with one side depicting love and the other side depicting heartbreak. Then, in the middle, I was going to put reasons for breakups. After I finished cutting all the material, however, I found that I had way too much love to keep on one side of the board. Instead, I spread the love in the middle of the board; I put the heartbreak material on the right side and the “What’s Going On?” section on the left. The “What’s Going On?” section displays relationships that we do not understand too well. At least, I do not understand them. The abundance of love media that I found in the magazines that I “researched” comes to show that a majority of the advertisements and articles that we come across, tend to, sometimes blatantly, push love in our faces. An advertisement for shoes that I found, for example, contained a picture of a man with his nose on a woman’s neck and both of them are laughing. There were no shoes involved in the making of this advertisement. I can not even begin to explain the logic behind this; probably because there is none.

There's a little taste for you.

Thanks to Tiffany for encouraging me to do this! WOOHOO!

Night of Realization

Even though I didn't get a lot of work done today, it was a night of realization.

1. I have the most amazing friends in the world.

2. Some people need to work on their people skills. GET A CLUE!

The end.

Aw, man. It's SUNDAY.

Why am I aw manning because it's Sunday? Because it's so hard to procrastinate about school work when it's not Shabbos anymore!

Shabbos was really nice. I was and still am in Monsey at my brother in law's parents' house. I got to play with my nephews. They are too cute bli ayin hara. I am planning to head back to the city semi-soon. Party. Back to work. I made a list of the work that I have to do while I was on the way here. Not so bad, but I am not too excited about it.

Anyway, I am excited to go home. I am supposed to have reading week, but, as always, we have math class, so I can't really go home. I will be home next weekend and will hopefully be able to stay for Sunday. I need to find out what my final schedule is. I am unsure about when some of them are.

I hope everyone enjoyed their weekends.

ANOTHER SHIRA SHOUT!

Hey Shira,

GUESS WHO DOESN'T HAVE SCHOOL A WEEK FROM MONDAY?!? Maybe I WILL go with you. I'm not sure though. We'll discuss. If I don't call you, then have your people call my people.

Love,
Hinda


END OF SHOUT OUT


The sheva brachos were nice. Got to see a lot of people. Only problemn is that I just got back and have lots to do. I decided not to drop lit and I am meeting with the teacher on Monday. I have to make an oral presentation by then. Fun, fun, fun. Only thing is, I didn't revise my paper since I thought I would drop the class. Whatever.

Good night.

Plan Change

I am not withdrawing from lit class. I am getting help. I would like to reiterate what I said before:

MY FRIENDS ROCK!

I'm going to the carnival soon, then it's off to Brooklyn. I hope to be back early so I can plan a project for lit class with a friend. The teacher is going to have a lot of emails from me. I doubt she's my biggest fan. Whatever. The friend who is helping me said she has good stories of when she was in the class. Should be an interesting night.

Shout to Shira

SHIRA,

I LOVE YOU!

I'll be home (and hopefully not as stressed) next weekend. Call me.

Informative Night

So I learned/was reminded of some things tonight:

I get most upset about stress/schoolwork when I talk about it.

School is meant to stress you out.

Lit class is (usually) useless.

Friends are awesome.

I am withdrawing from lit class. I'd rather have a W than a D.

I think I am going to end up here for an extra semester.

My heart is still broken.

There are probably other things I have learned tonight, but I can't think of them right now.

I gave over my math lesson plan today. Some things really annoyed me. Like, for example, when I was showing the class what a "line plot" was, the teacher told me that it was incorrect. I told her that that is how it was in the book that she recommended that we buy for the classd, and all she said was, "Well then the book screwed up." Gee, thanks. The class told me I did a good job. I don't even care...it's over.

I am going to a carnival uptown with Tiff tomorrow. I have to go to Brooklyn after that for sheva brachos for my friend. That should be interesting. I'll see girls that I really want to see, so it will be okay.

I am so tired. Stressed. Ready to go home...for good.

I want to see my nephews. I think I am going to follow them to Monsey for Shabbos.

Sleep time.

MATH LESSON PLAN

Time Started: 10:00pm (somewhere around there)
Time Finished: 3:52am

It's a pretty cool lesson. I am pretty confident with it even though the math teacher never seems to agree with me.

Here's a bullet list of what's going on:

• I made a meeting with my lit teacher yesterday for tomorrow. I am not sure what I am going to say to her. That I can't handle lit? I am hoping to have an idea for my creative project and I hope to be able to do it with Jaz (my friend in the class)
• I hope to meet with Mr. Koreman (my language and literacy teacher) at some point tomorrow to talk about what's going on.
• I want to go to the Israel thing at YU tonight, but NO...I have work.
• I need to revise the paper I didn't write.
• My friends might come into the city, so I hope to chill with them.
• I found out last night that today in bio lab, we are dissecting a sheep eye.
• I am so stressed out.
• I don't think I am going home for Shabbos. Maybe I should get the book I was supposed to read for lit class and read it over Shabbos so I can BS a paper.

That's about it right now. I hope to figure everything out before I go insane. I AM SO SCREWED!

I hope you all have a better day than me.