The Day after the Day of Infamy + 65 yrs

Friday, December 8, 2006

This ulpan program ends in 20 days. Yikes. What adventures await in Life After The Ulpan? No one (and I mean no one) really knows.

Actually, that’s a lie. I’ll be traveling, as you may know – partly with friends & family, partly solo – and then joining up with Magen David Adom, Israel’s ambuance corps, on Feb 11. The thought of traveling continues to evoke both excitement and fear, as I haven’t traveled “around” before. I expect that I’ll seek out a safe-house for my computer, since hauling it from hostel to hostel seems like a very bad idea. So who knows how blogging will work during those 6 weeks… I may be able to post quick updates from libraries or internet cafes; I don't expect to be able to blog any more elaborately than that.

Speaking of traveling. Apparently, the Negev Desert is laced with bus-routes and has tons to offer backpackers. It’s also hit-or-miss: the Negev Winter brings with it unpredictable weather that includes flash floods and cold, cold nights. The North, of course, is loaded with stuff I want to see, trails to hike, etc. Yeah, who knows where I’ll be during that month of going it alone, or how it will go. At least I know how to ask for bathrooms, and for a lift.

This has been another short week of long days. Movie recommendation of the week: if you’re young & like the kind of mindless humor executed in Old School and Anchorman, see Hot, Wet American Summer, which co-stars Miles from Fraiser. If you’re not one of these people, don’t bother. Also, everyone should check out the amazingly realistic Titanic 2 parody-trailer: Titanic: Two the Surface. It won’t take you long to find it online. And then to be amazed!

A fragrantly absented-minded event in the life of an (already) absent-minded young man: Yesterday I committed the Deadly Sin of forgetting Vanessa’s birthday. Shit, shit, shit.

In other news, I finally received my one pair of jeans back from the laundry service. Peace.

PS Did you know that octopuses, squids & other cephalopods have 3 hearts and blue blood? Their blood gets its color from the copper-rich oxygen-transporting protein hemocyanin. Not everyone’s cool enough for hemoglobin, I guess.