As you can probably guess, it's been a very busy month and some days since my last post. The biggest event was, of course, The Move. In the end, everything worked out and we got all our stuff unpacked and have since settled in quite nicely to the new place. But the actual move? Oh my Lord, was that an epic tale of disaster upon disaster!
In the perfect world in my head, where everything happens as it should, the plan for the move was straightforward and rather simple for a moving plan:
1) Pick up the moving truck at 5:00pm on Monday, August 31st.
2) Drive it to my apartment, where Yuval will meet me with his parents' Honda Fit.
3) Together, we move all my stuff out of my apartment and give the empty space a good scrub down.
4) Drive both vehicles to his parents' house, where he has all of his stuff, and stay the night.
5) Wake up bright and early on September 1st and move his stuff and the remaining furniture into the truck.
6) Drive to our new apartment along with some members of his family who have consented to help.
7) Spend a few hours hauling things up the stairs and the elevator and deposit them without regard to furniture arrangement for the moment.
8) Have one of us return the truck while the other stays at the apartment for the cable guy who is supposed to come between 2pm and 5pm.
9) Reunite at the apartment, shower, and sit for a bit.
10) Go out to a big celebratory dinner and be happy it's all over.
Of course, this being the single busiest move-in time of the year in Boston combined with the fact that I am a McGinley (a people consistently plagued by situations that cause us to throw our hands in the air and shout "Why me, Lord?!"), nothing went according to plan. Let's examine how things actually turned out, shall we?
1) I arrive at the truck pick-up center at 5:10pm only to find it closed and no truck in sight. Hysterical, I anguish over how in the hell we're going to find another truck on August 31st in Boston (answer: we aren't).
2) Make several whimpering phone calls to my mom (for support) and Budget Rental (for WTFing). Apparently, even though my confirmation said 5pm, Budget had it in their system for 4pm. And they have no way of getting a hold of the guy who owns this particular auto shop/Budget truck rental place. And the best they can do is call their "inventory guy" and see if there's another truck available anywhere within 50 miles of Boston. And this may take up to 6 hours. And he is really sorry.
3) Follow Mom's advice and call a cab to take me back to my apartment, since there is no public transportation anywhere near this suburban area. Call Yuval, crying, to apologize for screwing up and let him know I'm on my way in a taxi and we have no truck. He says he'll call Budget to see if we can change the reservation to just tomorrow, since we were technically renting it for 24 hours. I revel in this example of calm, cool, collected logic.
4) Meet back at my apartment in Newton. Yuval has successfully changed our reservation to the earliest possible time (8:30am) tomorrow, so if my landlady lets me stay just the night we can get my stuff out tomorrow morning. Except my landlady will not let me stay because the new tenant is moving in at 8:00am tomorrow and I HAVE to be out tonight. This leaves only one option: make multiple runs in the Fit to the Shavit house and back to cart all my stuff out of the apartment (including furniture).
5) We begin the arduous task of cramming an entire apartment into one car. I end up leaving a lot of stuff on the curb that I hadn't planned on leaving (TV, desk, one of my bookcases, etc.). The whole process takes about 5 hours, including a yummy but brief dinner with the Shavits and a vigorous cleaning of the apartment. Somehow we make it back to his parents' house in one piece and collapse into bed around 1:30am.
6) Wake up at 8:00am and arrive at the same Budget truck rental place as yesterday by 8:30am. It is immediately evident that there are NO moving trucks in the vicinity of this building. We talk to the owner/manager, and he says that his Budget inventory man was supposed to deliver all the trucks yesterday but didn't. We are the 3rd reservation that morning without a truck. He didn't have a truck for me yesterday anyway even if I had gotten there right at 5:00pm. He has no way of knowing when the trucks will arrive as his inventory man has not called him back. The best we can do is call Budget ourselves to complain, let them know we're waiting, and wait for the trucks along with the 2 other disappointed reservations.
7) This all being too much, we head to the nearest Dunkin' Donuts to get breakfast and figure out a plan. The trip there and back to the dealer takes about 20 minutes.
8) We decide to just postpone the move until we can get a truck. Yuval leaves his number with the manager who says he'll call as soon as the trucks arrive, which could be that day or 2 days from now. On our way out, he suggests we try the Enterprise up the road. It's a long shot, but they do have huge cargo vans that are good for moving. We decide to give it a shot.
9) The Enterprise has 2 cargo vans sitting in their lot. Careful not to get our hopes up, we ask if either of them is available. The salesman starts smiling and says he just got off the phone with a woman who canceled her cargo van reservation. It's ours for the day, mileage included, and comes out cheaper (even with full insurance) than the Budget truck would have been. We drive the van back to the Shavit house in victory and begin loading it up with the help of Yuval's sister Tamar.
10) It takes 2 trips, and we scratch the van making a tight turn around the corner of the building (good thing we got that insurance!), but we succeed. All of our belongings are now in the new apartment. Since none of us had had anything since that morning, we all three head to Anna's in Davis Square for burrito deliciousness and an early dinner (at 5:30pm). I'm so happy I pay for Tamar as well as Yuval and myself. We part ways, and Yuval and I work on asssembling furniture and making the apartment more navigable. He leaves to play hockey at 10:00pm, and I continue building Ikea furniture and putting things away until he returns around 1:00am. After setting up the bed and showering, we both collapse into sleep around 2:00am.
Victory at last!
And now our apartment is fully outfitted and decorated. We even had Yuval's family over for dinner on Sunday night, and we chowed on homemade pizza and were presented with a housewarming gift of an ice cream maker, a scooper, and 8 nice bowls to serve it in. If you're curious about what the place looks like, well, you should watch my little tour video:
I've also joined a fabulous gym for which I am paying way more than I ever thought I would for a gym. But I get a personal trainer and have a new regimen to follow, and following it I am. And now I'm preparing for a weekend in NYC with my mom, shopping and seeing shows.
All in all, life is going really well after the pitfalls and shortcomings of The Move.
Read
Fly on the Wall by E. Lockhart
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman
Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli
Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Seen
The Cove
Ponyo
The Last Unicorn
Shawshank Redemption
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Friday, August 7, 2009
9 to 5
Long time no see, Internet. I can't use the excuse that things have been really busy--what it comes down to is that I'm just plain lazy.
SO! I told you all about Israel in my last post. Did it really happen almost 2 months ago? That's seems insanity to me. And yet, it's fact. My 4th of July was a good time, made even more wonderful by the fact that I got Friday, July 3rd off from work. Yay long holiday weekends! I celebrated our nation's independence in South Boston at my friend Seamus's house, which is about a 10 minute walk from the beach (not that I went swimming in the ice cold Atlantic waters). I hope all of you had a fabulous 4th of July as well!
Yuval's birthday was also in July, and he got some pretty nifty presents from his girlfriend (everyone said so). A cover for his Kindle DX, an Amazon gift card, this shirt, and a delicious dinner at KO Prime in downtown Boston (where I had my first in-restaurant filet mignon--it was soooo good).
Other than that, not too much else of great note happened in July. The lovely Kathryn VanArendonk and Annie Lambla paid Boston a visit, which resulted in a delightful picnic dinner in Outlook Park in Brookline. Much wine and cheese and carbohydrates were consumed. The Immunology Division had its annual pool party and cookout, which was a little hectic for me to organize but turned out very well. It's always nice to see what colleagues are like out of the office, especially with their kids. I've also spent a LOT of time arranging things for the big move at the end of the month. Trying to find a rental truck in Boston for August 31/September 1 is one of the most challenging tasks you can ever face in your life.
The big recent event was the McGinley family reunion I attended from July 31-August 3. Over 35 relatives converged on our house in Cincinnati, a great many of whom I'd never seen or heard of before. While I feel most family reunions are supposed to be dull affairs, this one was a ton of fun. I love meeting all these people and hearing story after story about my grandpa and great aunts and uncles. Plus, there was really good food. I also got to meet my two new twin cousins, Samantha and Madison, for the first time. They are 4 months old and, like most babies of that age, chubby things of extreme cuteness. It's remarkable how individual their personalities are at such a young age. Needless to say, they were pretty much the star attractions of the reunion. It was also my Great Aunt Beck's 90th birthday, so of course my mom orders the most beautiful (and delicious) cake to celebrate. I'm so happy I got to go to this reunion, especially because I had to miss the last one.
Plans for this weekend include attending Frey's birthday party (a friend from kickball) and helping Yuval wash his hockey gear. The latter may not sound fun, but I'm strangely fascinated by the way the water turns yellow when he's rinsing off all the sweat that's built up.
Was that gross enough for you?
Oh, and don't forget to live every week like it's Shark Week by tuning in tonight and tomorrow for the last two days of programming! And if you're sad like I am that you missed some of the programs, you can download full episodes on iTunes from the website. Hurrah!
Read
The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart
It Sucked and Then I Cried by Heather Armstrong
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
Hungry Ghosts by Jasper Becker
The Boy Book by E. Lockhart
Seen
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
9 to 5
Gran Torino
Step Up 2: The Streets
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
SO! I told you all about Israel in my last post. Did it really happen almost 2 months ago? That's seems insanity to me. And yet, it's fact. My 4th of July was a good time, made even more wonderful by the fact that I got Friday, July 3rd off from work. Yay long holiday weekends! I celebrated our nation's independence in South Boston at my friend Seamus's house, which is about a 10 minute walk from the beach (not that I went swimming in the ice cold Atlantic waters). I hope all of you had a fabulous 4th of July as well!
Yuval's birthday was also in July, and he got some pretty nifty presents from his girlfriend (everyone said so). A cover for his Kindle DX, an Amazon gift card, this shirt, and a delicious dinner at KO Prime in downtown Boston (where I had my first in-restaurant filet mignon--it was soooo good).
Other than that, not too much else of great note happened in July. The lovely Kathryn VanArendonk and Annie Lambla paid Boston a visit, which resulted in a delightful picnic dinner in Outlook Park in Brookline. Much wine and cheese and carbohydrates were consumed. The Immunology Division had its annual pool party and cookout, which was a little hectic for me to organize but turned out very well. It's always nice to see what colleagues are like out of the office, especially with their kids. I've also spent a LOT of time arranging things for the big move at the end of the month. Trying to find a rental truck in Boston for August 31/September 1 is one of the most challenging tasks you can ever face in your life.
The big recent event was the McGinley family reunion I attended from July 31-August 3. Over 35 relatives converged on our house in Cincinnati, a great many of whom I'd never seen or heard of before. While I feel most family reunions are supposed to be dull affairs, this one was a ton of fun. I love meeting all these people and hearing story after story about my grandpa and great aunts and uncles. Plus, there was really good food. I also got to meet my two new twin cousins, Samantha and Madison, for the first time. They are 4 months old and, like most babies of that age, chubby things of extreme cuteness. It's remarkable how individual their personalities are at such a young age. Needless to say, they were pretty much the star attractions of the reunion. It was also my Great Aunt Beck's 90th birthday, so of course my mom orders the most beautiful (and delicious) cake to celebrate. I'm so happy I got to go to this reunion, especially because I had to miss the last one.
Plans for this weekend include attending Frey's birthday party (a friend from kickball) and helping Yuval wash his hockey gear. The latter may not sound fun, but I'm strangely fascinated by the way the water turns yellow when he's rinsing off all the sweat that's built up.
Was that gross enough for you?
Oh, and don't forget to live every week like it's Shark Week by tuning in tonight and tomorrow for the last two days of programming! And if you're sad like I am that you missed some of the programs, you can download full episodes on iTunes from the website. Hurrah!
Read
The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart
It Sucked and Then I Cried by Heather Armstrong
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
Hungry Ghosts by Jasper Becker
The Boy Book by E. Lockhart
Seen
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
9 to 5
Gran Torino
Step Up 2: The Streets
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Monday, June 29, 2009
Yom Shi Shi
Believe it or not, this is the first chance I've had to sit down and write about my recent vacation since I got back on the 21st. Jet lag + crazy amounts of work + exhaustion = no time for blogging.
If you want to see pictures of my travels, I've finally posted them on Facebook.
I was in Israel June 9-17 with Yuval and his family. A one-word summary would go like this: a-mazing. His parents have an apartment in Tel Aviv, so that was our home base for the duration of the trip.
However, we went all over the place. Let's see if I can remember all the cities: Tel Aviv, Be'er Sheva, Haifa, Tsvat, Jerusalem, Nazareth, Tiberias, Caesarea, Akko...I'm sure there are more I've forgotten, but that's the majority of them. I saw deserts, beaches, oceans, lakes, rivers, forests, mountains, valleys, fields. I saw wild camels roaming the desert hills outside of Jersusalem, friendly stray cats that camp outside cafes in Tel Aviv, and white cranes swooping over the Sea of Galilee. Like most people, when I think of Israel, I think of nothing but desert and sand. Turns out it encompasses quite the cavalcade of biodiversity for such a small land area.
The differences between life in Israel and life in the US were sometimes striking, sometimes subtle. Ice cream is hard to find, but gelato is on every street corner--and it turns out that it tastes way better than ice cream, anyway. While every store in Newton Center closes by 9pm, cafes in Tel Aviv don't start getting their second rush until 11pm. Fruit and vegetables are much fresher and more delicious because most of them are grown within Israel. The only kind of Coke to be found is sugar cane Coke (which I love rougly 100x more than the high-fructose corn syrup Coke that you find here in the States). Most signs are in three languages: Hebrew, Arabic, and English. I never, in all my travels in cities and highways in Israel, saw a car any bigger than a Chevy Cobalt--parking is impossible, and no one wants the low MPG performance of SUV's in a land where gas taxes are sky high. All hot water in Israel is heated by solar energy. For water conservation, the toilets have two flush options: one for urination and one for, well, a really big Number Two.
Not all the differences were charming, though. I lost count of the number of security checkpoints I had to pass through by the second day. See, it's a common misconception that the only people who have to deal with heightened security in Israel are the Palestinians. But every mall, business park, beach, and tourist destination has a security checkpoint that everyone must pass through. It's not a big deal--they check your purses and your bags and occaisionally ask you what you're there for--but it's a constant reminder that, even in a metropolis like Tel Aviv, the people are always aware of the threats to Israel's tenuous existence. I think that's something that a lot of Americans don't understand when they criticize Israel's policies and politics: there is not, and has never been, a guarantee that the country Israelis live in right now will exist for their grandchildren to enjoy. Americans don't ever think of the possibility that New York or LA won't be there in 10 years, but Israelis have to contend with the very real threat that Tel Aviv may be destroyed in the near future.
On a lighter note, some other less charming differences between Israel and the US? People do not subscribe to deodorant as a habit over there. No one ever says "excuse me" when they bump into someone in a crowd. The rule of "standing to the right, walking to the left" has never been imported. You can only find supermarkets in big cities--everywhere else, you have to go to a souk (outdoor market) and a mix of smaller stores to get most of your groceries.
For those who don't know, I was supposed to go to Israel on pilgrimage the summer after I graduated high school. It was something my church in Cincinnati did every two years, and our rector always went with the group. I prepared for that trip for 4 years and was so excited to go. But that was back in 2003, and when the war started getting really hot and heavy, the parents said "no" and we went to Ireland instead. Don't get me wrong, Ireland was fantastic. But ever since then I've had a longing to finish what I started studying for in 9th grade.
When we took a day trip to Jerusalem, I wondered aloud to Yuval if my reaction to all the holy sites now differs greatly from how I would have reacted back in 2003. His answer was an immediate "yes," and he's right. We went to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, I saw Jesus's tomb and place of crucifixtion and the slab they laid him on after he was taken down from the cross. I walked along Via Dolorosa and stopped at each Station of the Cross. I visited the church that was built around the house in which Mary supposedly received the Annunciation. Everything was fascinating and I didn't want to miss a single thing. I took pictures of every nook and cranny.
And yet.
There was no great rush of spiritual feeling. No sense of true awe to accompany my viewing of these holy sites. More than anything, there was simply a sense of historical curiosity and a desire to see where history was made. I watched people kneel to kiss the stone slab, saw the faithful lower their heads to the stone of Golgotha and pray. And I observed it all with a kind of clinical detachment, an interest stemming from watching religious-socio-anthropology in action. I was offended at the sheer amount of wealth and number of gewgaws that decorated these most holy places after the Greek Orthodox fashion.
I guess, in the end, I reacted the way I did because I see Jesus more as a historical figure whose lessons should be remembered rather than a super-human divine creature meant to be revered from afar.
That, and I couldn't stop thinking about the smorgasbord of germs and viruses crawling around on all the surfaces people were kissing. Seriously. Do they realize that no one wipes those stones down with Clorox at the end of the day? I won't ever kiss the Blarney Stone, either.
--------------------------
I returned to Boston around 3:30pm EST on Wednesday, June 17th and paid $77 for a cab home from the airport (the last thing I wanted to do was sit on the T for an hour). This gave me just enough time to do the following: pick up my mice from their babysitter, clean their cage, shop for supplies at CVS, do my laundry, charge all my battery-powered accessories, and pack a small suitcase for the next trip. I got to bed around 10:30pm after being awake for more than 24 hours (stupid time zones).
Then it was rise and shine at 6:30am on Thursday so I could pick up Anthony and drive to Cleveland for "Kenyon Reunion Part II: The Reunioning." Surprisingly, I never got the least bit sleepy during the entire drive because my body was too confused by the time zone changes. We rolled into Nate and Kari's place around 8pm and promptly headed to Ruby Tuesday's. Oh America!
The reunion was a blast. Folks from Kenyon and Denison were in attendence, and we were all exposed to a board game that will haunt (some) of us forever with its awesomeness: Arkham Horror (brought to you by the lovely folks at Call of Cthulu). We swam in the pond, played Mafia, dished out some Apples to Apples, played with the farm animals, attempted a few games of Ultimate Frisbee (poorly), played the requisite game of Never Have I Ever, and, of course, ate and drank copiously.
But it had to end, and Sunday morning saw me driving my sister's RAV4 down to Cincinnati, where it now waits in the driveway, breathless with anticipation for her return from Australia. I really miss having a car, which means I will have to start practicing my manual driving so I can drive Yuval's car come September 1st.
I'm hoping that the Reunion will continue as an annual tradition far into the future. It's become one of the highlights of my calendar year along with Thanksgiving and Christmas and my birthday (because I'm selfish). To all whom were in attendence: thank you for the great times, folks. To all who weren't: you better be there next year.
Read
Hannah's Winter by Kierin Meehan
Knockemstiff by Donald Ray Pollock
Nation by Terry Pratchett
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
Seen
Up
Changeling
If you want to see pictures of my travels, I've finally posted them on Facebook.
I was in Israel June 9-17 with Yuval and his family. A one-word summary would go like this: a-mazing. His parents have an apartment in Tel Aviv, so that was our home base for the duration of the trip.
However, we went all over the place. Let's see if I can remember all the cities: Tel Aviv, Be'er Sheva, Haifa, Tsvat, Jerusalem, Nazareth, Tiberias, Caesarea, Akko...I'm sure there are more I've forgotten, but that's the majority of them. I saw deserts, beaches, oceans, lakes, rivers, forests, mountains, valleys, fields. I saw wild camels roaming the desert hills outside of Jersusalem, friendly stray cats that camp outside cafes in Tel Aviv, and white cranes swooping over the Sea of Galilee. Like most people, when I think of Israel, I think of nothing but desert and sand. Turns out it encompasses quite the cavalcade of biodiversity for such a small land area.
The differences between life in Israel and life in the US were sometimes striking, sometimes subtle. Ice cream is hard to find, but gelato is on every street corner--and it turns out that it tastes way better than ice cream, anyway. While every store in Newton Center closes by 9pm, cafes in Tel Aviv don't start getting their second rush until 11pm. Fruit and vegetables are much fresher and more delicious because most of them are grown within Israel. The only kind of Coke to be found is sugar cane Coke (which I love rougly 100x more than the high-fructose corn syrup Coke that you find here in the States). Most signs are in three languages: Hebrew, Arabic, and English. I never, in all my travels in cities and highways in Israel, saw a car any bigger than a Chevy Cobalt--parking is impossible, and no one wants the low MPG performance of SUV's in a land where gas taxes are sky high. All hot water in Israel is heated by solar energy. For water conservation, the toilets have two flush options: one for urination and one for, well, a really big Number Two.
Not all the differences were charming, though. I lost count of the number of security checkpoints I had to pass through by the second day. See, it's a common misconception that the only people who have to deal with heightened security in Israel are the Palestinians. But every mall, business park, beach, and tourist destination has a security checkpoint that everyone must pass through. It's not a big deal--they check your purses and your bags and occaisionally ask you what you're there for--but it's a constant reminder that, even in a metropolis like Tel Aviv, the people are always aware of the threats to Israel's tenuous existence. I think that's something that a lot of Americans don't understand when they criticize Israel's policies and politics: there is not, and has never been, a guarantee that the country Israelis live in right now will exist for their grandchildren to enjoy. Americans don't ever think of the possibility that New York or LA won't be there in 10 years, but Israelis have to contend with the very real threat that Tel Aviv may be destroyed in the near future.
On a lighter note, some other less charming differences between Israel and the US? People do not subscribe to deodorant as a habit over there. No one ever says "excuse me" when they bump into someone in a crowd. The rule of "standing to the right, walking to the left" has never been imported. You can only find supermarkets in big cities--everywhere else, you have to go to a souk (outdoor market) and a mix of smaller stores to get most of your groceries.
For those who don't know, I was supposed to go to Israel on pilgrimage the summer after I graduated high school. It was something my church in Cincinnati did every two years, and our rector always went with the group. I prepared for that trip for 4 years and was so excited to go. But that was back in 2003, and when the war started getting really hot and heavy, the parents said "no" and we went to Ireland instead. Don't get me wrong, Ireland was fantastic. But ever since then I've had a longing to finish what I started studying for in 9th grade.
When we took a day trip to Jerusalem, I wondered aloud to Yuval if my reaction to all the holy sites now differs greatly from how I would have reacted back in 2003. His answer was an immediate "yes," and he's right. We went to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, I saw Jesus's tomb and place of crucifixtion and the slab they laid him on after he was taken down from the cross. I walked along Via Dolorosa and stopped at each Station of the Cross. I visited the church that was built around the house in which Mary supposedly received the Annunciation. Everything was fascinating and I didn't want to miss a single thing. I took pictures of every nook and cranny.
And yet.
There was no great rush of spiritual feeling. No sense of true awe to accompany my viewing of these holy sites. More than anything, there was simply a sense of historical curiosity and a desire to see where history was made. I watched people kneel to kiss the stone slab, saw the faithful lower their heads to the stone of Golgotha and pray. And I observed it all with a kind of clinical detachment, an interest stemming from watching religious-socio-anthropology in action. I was offended at the sheer amount of wealth and number of gewgaws that decorated these most holy places after the Greek Orthodox fashion.
I guess, in the end, I reacted the way I did because I see Jesus more as a historical figure whose lessons should be remembered rather than a super-human divine creature meant to be revered from afar.
That, and I couldn't stop thinking about the smorgasbord of germs and viruses crawling around on all the surfaces people were kissing. Seriously. Do they realize that no one wipes those stones down with Clorox at the end of the day? I won't ever kiss the Blarney Stone, either.
--------------------------
I returned to Boston around 3:30pm EST on Wednesday, June 17th and paid $77 for a cab home from the airport (the last thing I wanted to do was sit on the T for an hour). This gave me just enough time to do the following: pick up my mice from their babysitter, clean their cage, shop for supplies at CVS, do my laundry, charge all my battery-powered accessories, and pack a small suitcase for the next trip. I got to bed around 10:30pm after being awake for more than 24 hours (stupid time zones).
Then it was rise and shine at 6:30am on Thursday so I could pick up Anthony and drive to Cleveland for "Kenyon Reunion Part II: The Reunioning." Surprisingly, I never got the least bit sleepy during the entire drive because my body was too confused by the time zone changes. We rolled into Nate and Kari's place around 8pm and promptly headed to Ruby Tuesday's. Oh America!
The reunion was a blast. Folks from Kenyon and Denison were in attendence, and we were all exposed to a board game that will haunt (some) of us forever with its awesomeness: Arkham Horror (brought to you by the lovely folks at Call of Cthulu). We swam in the pond, played Mafia, dished out some Apples to Apples, played with the farm animals, attempted a few games of Ultimate Frisbee (poorly), played the requisite game of Never Have I Ever, and, of course, ate and drank copiously.
But it had to end, and Sunday morning saw me driving my sister's RAV4 down to Cincinnati, where it now waits in the driveway, breathless with anticipation for her return from Australia. I really miss having a car, which means I will have to start practicing my manual driving so I can drive Yuval's car come September 1st.
I'm hoping that the Reunion will continue as an annual tradition far into the future. It's become one of the highlights of my calendar year along with Thanksgiving and Christmas and my birthday (because I'm selfish). To all whom were in attendence: thank you for the great times, folks. To all who weren't: you better be there next year.
Read
Hannah's Winter by Kierin Meehan
Knockemstiff by Donald Ray Pollock
Nation by Terry Pratchett
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
Seen
Up
Changeling
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
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
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