Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Leaving on a Jet Plane

T-minus 7 hours until my plane leaves for Tel Aviv!

I didn't get to bed until late last night because of packing and dropping the mice off with Yuval's flatmate. I forgot my $5 coupon for my taxi ride to the airport at home. I had to drag my 40lb. duffel bag up ramps and over bridges to the T and then from the T to the office. I didn't get a chance to do the dishes or take out the trash/recycling before I left this morning.

But you know what? Who cares! I'm going to Israel, baby! L'CHAIM!

And if you have a prayer you want me to put in the Wailing Wall, just email me. I'll have internet access while I'm at the Shavit's apartment.

See you again after the 17th! :o)

Seen
Arlington Road

Monday, June 1, 2009

This Town

Happy June, everyone! Even though summer doesn't officially start until June 21 (also Father's Day), I've always felt that the unofficial start of summer is June 1st. I mean, does anyone out there consider June to be a part of spring? No.

I leave for Israel on June 9th at 5:30pm, and I'm so excited. Sadly, I won't be visiting Istanbul this time around due to flight conflicts, but maybe next time! Still, there's going to be plenty to see and do in Israel, some of which we've already planned out. I will get the opportunity to:

- Visit Jerusalem, including the Wailing Wall, The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and the Dome of the Rock
- Hike around the Sea of Galilee, and see the Mount where Jesus gave his famous sermon
- Meet Yuval's aunt and cousin and stay at the kibbutz where they live
- See the Dead Sea (and possibly float in it?)
- Attend a concert featuring the most popular Israeli rock singer, Yehuda Poliker
- Go to the beach in Tel Aviv many, many times

All in all, it sounds like a very excellent trip. You can see why I'm so excited! Also, if there's a prayer you want me to put in the Wailing Wall for you, let me know and I will.

Summer always means BBQ to me, and good Lord have I been participating in a lot of it. Saturday Yuval's flatmate, Alex, smoked a total of 26 pounds of meat (most pork), and all of it was consumed by about 30 people. It made me feel like a viking, seeing this giant hunk of pig shoulder smoking on the grill. And it was delicious pulled pork! And then Sunday, Yuval's parents hosted an art party at their house and, of course, kebabs were grilled (although I didn't eat any because they had lamb in them, and I don't eat baby animals).

I finally managed to donate blood for the second time this year. I tried back in March, but my iron count was too low--something that was especially puzzling considering I take iron supplements with 150% of my daily recommended dose. But the technician at that appointment told me I should take them with a Vitamin C pill, too, because that helps the body absorb the iron. Apparently it worked, because my iron count was equal to that of a crowbar when I went to donate on the May 19th. And I got a coupon for $5 off at Uno's for donating!

Last Friday was Shavuot, which saw me at the Shavit household consuming large amounts of dairy-based food. Shavuot is the Spring holiday, and the "food theme" is dairy because spring is when all the cows start giving milk to their calves. Summer fruit (like pears, grapes, etc.) are also a central theme. And I learned my favorite Hebrew word so far: "mishmish" (meesh-meesh), which means "apricot." I will never call them apricots again. Mishmish 4 life!

This weekend I'll be dragging Yuval to the Franklin Park Zoo for 1/2 price tickets before noon--they do it the first Saturday of every month. They have pygmy hippos! I will also most likely be going to see Pirates! (Or Gilbert & Sullivan Plunder'd) at the Huntington on Sunday. I can't wait for the Opera Workshop memories to start resurfacing.

Also, I have started a new blog with Yuval. No, it's not a cutesy, gag-inducing "couples" blog. It's a blog where we will document every instance that we run across a misuse of the word "bemused," which I'm convinced is the most misused word in the English language. If you run across an abuse of this word, please let me know. All perpetrators must be brought to justice!

Seen
The Last Action Hero

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Give A Reason

So it looks like my original intent to publish twice a week on this blog has fallen by the wayside. However, once a month is still more often than most of my friends update their blogs (*cough*hint*).

When last I left you, Yuval and I were about to head down to NYC to see Wicked. We did, and it was awesome. I loved the show, and (more surprisingly) he loved the show. It's always kind of a strange experience for me when I know the recorded version of a musical so well that seeing it live and performed by a different cast makes it seem like a totally different show. Does that happen to anyone else? I'm sure it does. The hotel we stayed at was fabulous (The Marcel at Gramercy) even if the room was a little cozy--but it normally costs $200 a night to stay there and I got it for considerably less thanks to Hotels.com and their spring sale. We also found a delicious French/Vietnamese fusion restaurant on a walk down 3rd Avenue, on the corner of East 13th Street. I'm not sure what the name was because it was a Vietnamese character, but they had the most amazing seared beef I've ever tasted. I did not know that mostly raw meat could taste that delicious. The bus rides to and from NYC were long, as always, but it was a wonderful way to spend the weekend, and even more wonderful to have that Monday (4/20--Patriots Day here in Massachusetts) off from work to recoup. Another fabulous birthday gift from Yuval! :o)

I was priveleged enough (thanks to Adrienne) to see the dress rehearsal for Opera Boston's production of The Bartered Bride the last week of April and thorougly enjoyed myself. Although, it was the second opera dress rehearsal I've seen that has had to be stopped during the performance because of some technical snafu (the first was a decorative mounted deer head that nearly fell on the male lead, this time because something went wrong with the violins and the speakers in the pit). However, I like it more when there are interruptions because it reminds me that these are collaborative pieces of theater, which I love.

Other highlights of that week included the Bruins' strong showing in Game 1 of Round 2 Playoff hockey against the Carolina Hurricanes, a Saturday morning kickball practice in beautiful weather, and babysitting Dylan. Book 5 (the final volume) of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series came out May 4 (also my mom's birthday), and thanks to Amazon pre-order I had it in my hands and finished by the end of that same day. A very entertaining series, and I highly recommend it to anyone who's at all familiar with Greek mythology. I also attended a surprise party for one of Yuval's best friends who is now also one of my friends. She is now 25 and can rent a car without underage fees. Hurray for Meaghan!

Sadly, some things didn't go so well after that. The Bruins played a humilatingly bad next 3 games, giving the Canes a 3-1 lead in the series (which is best of 7). They managed to rally back and force a game 7, which was exciting and breathtaking, but then played a rather half-hearted game and lost in overtime on home ice here in Boston. It was heartbraking, and Yuval and I didn't talk for about 20 minutes after the end of the game because we were both so distraught and distracted. Oh, well. Maybe next year? (Cross your fingers)

However, great things happened to make up for that bad piece of news. Yuval and I found an apartment for September 1st, and have signed the lease and handed over the deposit. It's a 1+ bedroom (that has an extra room that will be a guest room/study) that includes heat and parking in the rent. The unit has air conditioning, a full kitchen, a huge living room, and lots of storage. It's on Highland Avenue, less than a 10 minute walk from Porter Square, and 1 block away from the house Yuval lived in when I first met him. We're so excited! And I'm so relieved that the apartment hunt is over--I hate them!

Other good things that happened last week include Yuval's sister graduating from Carnegie Mellon with highest honors (congrats, Tamar!), getting to see a free production of Much Ado About Nothing that was pretty hilarious (if not a bit miscast), and the beginning of my committment to bike to and from work. I discovered that I actually really enjoy biking, and now bike most everywhere I can even outside of work. Great workout, and faster than the T! I also discovered something called Groupon, which is a website that emails you a new super deal every day for some fabulously discounted thing in Boston. Yesterday I got 4 spa treatments (facial, eye treamtent, hand treatment, and eyebrow waxing) for $59 (normally $144) at Total Skin Care II spa. I highly recommend both Groupon and the spa to everyone in Boston! And through my membership with Zipcar, I got 15% off a 45-minute deep tissue massage at Moore Massage in Brookline. It was a painful process, but my back feels much less tense now.

And now you're caught up on all my adventures from the past month. One last piece of really super exciting news: I have been invited to join Yuval's family on their upcoming vacation to Istanbul (not Constantinople) and Tel Aviv! It's the kind of trip I've always wanted to go on, and it will be even better because I will be with people I care about who know the local language and culture (at least in Israel). So incredibly psyched!

Anyone know of any great things to do in Istanbul?

Read
Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut
Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman
The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron
The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan [Percy Jackson and the Olympians Book 5]
Here Lies Arthur by Philip Reeve
Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd
Scalped: The Gravel in Your Guts (Volume 4) by Jason Aaron
The Foreigner by Larry Shue

Seen
Knockaround Guys

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Right Round

Just in case anyone out there in Internetland was breathless with anticipation, the mice were given names. They are Trixie and Alma, after two of my favorite characters on Deadwood. Trixie Mouse is inquisitive, brave, and likes to run around (a lot)--she is the feisty one. Alma Mouse is much more reserved, spends a lot of time preening, and hides in their house whenever I open the cage--she is the delicate one. I've officially had them for a month, and they seem to be doing very well (and pooping like mad).

Much has been going in my life since March. I got to see my hip hop teacher in a show with his dance company, Rainbow Tribe. The performances were amazing! Made me wish I had started dancing earlier. That same weekend, Yuval and I hustled over to the ART in Harvard Square to see one of the last performances of "Endgame" by Samuel Beckett. And wow. Everything about the performance was excellent, and the acting was so good I almost understood what was going on when the show ended (which is quite a feat for a Beckett play).

The same day as "Endgame", we also saw the finals of the Hockey East championship: BU vs. UMass Lowell. Lowell started off the much stronger team, but a dispute about a goal in the 2nd period really shook them up and they lost their focus. BU pretty much dominated the game after that. Yuval has successfully turned me into a full-fledged hockey fan. Boston Bruins play their first game of the Playoffs tonight!

I've also attended a surprise birthday party, gone home to visit my parents for a weekend thanks to a Delta sale, and seen pictures of my two newborn twin cousins, Samantha and Madison (born at the end of March). And, as always, there's been a lot of reading and movie watching going on. This weekend we will be heading down to NYC by MegaBus to see Wicked, a show whose music I memorized the year it came out but have still never seen. The tickets were my birthday present from Yuval. :o)

Perhaps the biggest news, though, is that I will be looking for a new apartment this fall that's big enough for two people! Yuval and I haven't been successful in finding the right place yet, but there's still time before the deluge of undergrads snaps up all the good apartments during the summer. Does anyone here in Boston know of a 1 bedroom in Cambridge that will be available this fall? Apartment hunting sucks like whoa, and it never gets any easier.

Read
The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes
Heroes of the Valley by Jonathan Stroud
A Darkling Plain by Philip Reeve
Magazines: The Week, Wired, Good, Foreign Policy, Defenders

Seen
I Love You, Man
Adventureland
Dr. Strangelove
Coyote Ugly
Alien
Armageddon
Gone in 60 Seconds
Jurassic Park III
The Big Bang Theory (Season 2, up to current episodes)