I saved lives!

yesterday i gave blood for the first time. it was a very exciting experience.

my neighbor is a parent in a school that has a bi-annual blood drive. she asked me to help out just to keep things running smoothly, and once i was there, i figured i might as well give blood. i have to admit, the needles are kind of big and scary looking, but if needles intimidate me, well, then I'm making the wrong career choice.

i walked away with a free t-shirt, bag, pin, sticker, and a good feeling that i was able to help sick people.

i was tagged by the babysitter and G6

Book Meme

Here are the rules:
Grab the nearest book. Open the book to page 56. Find the fifth sentence. Post the text of the next two to five sentences in your journal/blog along with these instructions. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST. Tag five other people to do the same.

Not all your hide would tempt me in the least. TARTUFFE: girl, speak more modestly; unless you do, i shall be forced to take my leave of you. DORINE: Oh, no, it's i who must be on my way; I've just one little message to convey. Madame is coming down, and begs you, Sir, to wait and have a word or two with her. TARTUFF: gladly.

That came from Tartuffe,or The Impostor by Jean Baptiste Poquelin Moliere. i have The Norton Anthology Of World Masterpieces on my bed, because i was sick in bed the whole day, and desperate for something to read.

Seven Facts About Me

Here are the rules:
1. Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people (if possible) at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs.

1. I'm a lefty.

2. i don't like meat. it may be as a result of eating Neve food for a year. by the time i came home from Israel, i wasn't eating chicken, meat, or fish. i started eating chicken again, but i just can't stomach meat.

3. i got stitches three times. once when i was four, on my chin (i ran into a lamppost) when i was eleven, again on my chin (i was "skating" on ice in my backyard and i fell) and when i was 13 on my lip (i ran into a tree) i was kind of clumsy when i was younger. for full embarrassing details on these stories, see sister1

4. I'm an over-obsessive shower freak. i can't get into bed at night without showering. even if i come home at 2 am. the second Shabbos is over I'm in the shower. i just like feeling very clean

5. i can raise one eyebrow. this is a feat that i taught myself how to do in sixth grade. i used to practice for hours in front of the mirror, until i was able to isolate the muscle of my left eyebrow. and then my right.

6. i love double numbers. i don't know when i realized it, but i just find them more fun than other double digits. my favorite one is 33. it's partially due to the fact that when i was in eleventh or twelfth grade, my favorite Yankee pitcher was Javier Vazquez, and his jersey number was 33. until he got traded after the embarrassing loss of 22-0 to the Indians.

7. i listen to music at night to fall asleep. sometimes in the morning i wake up tangled in my headphones, and sister1 says I'm going to strangle myself, but i have a hard time falling asleep without it.

i can't tag anyone because they've all done it already

at a chanuka party last night i had the first donut of the holiday. it was custard. custard is one of those foods that you either love or hate. like tuna fish. there isn't really an in between with those kind of foods. of course, nothing beats the caramel donuts of Israel. everyone says that Uri's makes the best ones. but i personally think that it's because it's free with the talk-and-save coupon. nothing tastes as good as free food when you have no money. i personally thought the donuts from the Ma'afia Ne'eman were the best. the stand in the mall in Malcha were even better then the ones from the store on Yaffo. a friend of mine said she found a grocery store locally that had caramel looking donuts, but they just didn't taste the same. so i was thinking about caramel donuts. why are they always squashed? it doesn't matter where you buy them, how long they've been sitting, or how fresh they are. they icing is always cracked, and they always have a squashed look, as if they've been sat on. and there's gotta be a better way to make them so that you don't have to eat a dry donut till the center, and then when there's no donut dough left, you get a mouthful of custard. still, they are my favorite chanuka food.

it's scary how quickly time flies.

this morning an old classmate of mine had a baby. she's not the first of my friends to become a mother, but I've known her the longest. aside from being in her class since second grade, I've lived across the street from her since i moved into the neighborhood when i was four. we played together on Shabbos afternoons, carpooled to parties, rode the bus with each other, sat on her front porch swatting at mosquitoes in the summer evenings. and now she's a parent. responsible for a child. i don't remember growing up, but i turn around and I've closed the chapter of elementary school. high school is over too. I'm not even a teenager anymore. we're all moving swiftly forward on the path of Life. kinda makes me want to make the most of every moment (which means i should probably not have allowed myself the guilty of pleasure of staying in bed till who-knows-when this morning) and make every moment count. I've said this before, but life's just way too short to care about the small stuff. it's the important things that should matter; health, happiness, friends, family...

surround yourself by the people you love, and don't waste time in petty arguments. don't get stuck in situations that won't make a difference a week from now, or even two days from now.

it's definately Chanuka

my house has it written all over the place: besides for the obvious-the menorahs at the windows, there are dreidels strung over the banister, happy Chanuka stickers on the dining room window, the front door, my mom's car, even on the bathroom mirror! and of course, oily food. although, mercifully, we don't have to have the latkes we had last year. the "healthy" ones. the ones that "tasted like fried glue" according to my siblings.

there's snow on the ground. it's definitely a "white Chanuka" although it would be nice if the town did a better job plowing. and a quicker job too.

the stores are playing "Maoz Tzur" and other Chanuka tunes. ad nauseam. according to a friend of mine they were playing Maoz Tzur in Walmart, but i doubt that.

the Chabad cars are driving around with menorahs strapped to their roofs. last year i got to drive a MenorahMobile because i worked for Chabad. this year i got to drive a car with broken windshield wipers and low tire pressure. what fun.

presents are being given all around. my family doesn't really do the whole gift-giving thing, but my mom got us each something small. just a gesture to show us she was thinking of us. (thanks, Mom) but yay for Grandparents who believe in giving money on Chanukah!

and best of all, I'm on vacation from school! time to start on my winter reading list, and sleeping late. oh, wait. i can't sleep late, because i have to take Sister 1 the the bus every morning. well at least i have lots of free time and no obligations. so i can catch up with friends who i never see. and i can help out at the blood drive that my neighbor is running. (see, vacation is NOT a selfish thing!)

Happy Chanuka!

city snow

it's pretty

it's quiet

it's hushed

under a blanket of snow

it's pretty

......

it's gray from car exhaust

and yellow from...well it's yellow

it's nasty when you get splashed

you can keep your city snow

anybody have a connection to Brett Favre?

my lab professor has promised a free A to anyone who can bring him to the practical tomorrow. he said first he'll scream like a girl, and then we'll get to go home...