I can't believe I'm blogging...

Our Family Reunion

2007-02-01T02:07:00.000-08:00

Usually family reunions are large families who are spread out over a few states and gather together in a random place (with homemade T-shirts and all) once a year or every few years to see each other. Well, in this case, my extended family is within a few mile radius of each other, and all originally from NYC (if not Italy) - the same borough even, Queens - and some of us still haven't ever really met. Though when we did, it was like we had always known each other. So we spent an evening at Piccolo's, another italian experience, and all got together to hang out and chill, and for some, meet for the first time.

These are my 3rd cousins, I think! Haha. It's pretty amazing how we are all around the same age. 3 of them are married (including my sister) - 2 of the weddings were just recently - and 2 more are engaged.

There are only 4 of us left single, myself included... :) The only one missing was my brother who didn't get home until a few weeks later!

i love tony's head sticking out in this one.....can't miss a picture...

How cute - the older generation :)

Here's the guys...lookin' slightly like a bunch of "how you doin's"...

Here's the girls...

Before I left NYC again, and being that my brother had gotten leave from the army and was home by now, we arranged another time to get together...and this time we all realized another very important fact about our family, we're all catlovers!

Radio City Music Hall...Thank you Aunt Beanie and Uncle Richie! Haha

2007-02-01T01:08:00.000-08:00

Being a native NYer, this was ironically the first time I had seen the Radio City Show...the famous Rockettes. It was pretty incredible and a definite NYC holiday experience....

There's a beautiful 'nativity' scene at the end, which I completely did not expect, with live animals - camels and goats - and great costumes. The show talked about the real reason we celebrate. I just was shocked that in our day when everything is all politically correct, this show has gone under the radar so to speak and the story of Jesus' birth is still being shared.. (tho Nicole noticed that they never actually say the name "Jesus" throughout the whole monologue...hmmm...but still you can assume everyone knows the story)...

and then of course, not to be outdone, the real rockettes took to the streets!!! crazy NYers...

and to top it all off, we enjoyed dinner and (barely) dancing at a real city Cuban restaurant, complete with authentic Cuban cigar-making on premises.. Really good food and a great band!

Manhattan at it's finest...and coldest!

2007-01-31T06:22:00.000-08:00

A Tribute to Starbucks

2007-01-31T05:59:00.000-08:00

And what trip outside the country would be complete without numerous trips to Starbucks!

A reunion with my friend Sarah who lives in Minnesota!

...and Renee from Long Island

NYC during the HOLIDAYS...

2007-01-31T04:38:00.000-08:00

SOOooo it came and went like a flash - but I was home in Queens NY for most of December and some of January. Of course you're living everyday trying to fit everything and everyone in because you know you'll be leaving soon and don't know when you'll be back again. This is how our visits home always turn out. Its so wonderful to see family and friends and cats and eat great food again :) Italians just have the market on pretty much everything - ok maybe not EVERYTHING, but cooking, beautiful land, personality, fashion, etc...and then NY Italians are a subculture of the real Italians...just displaced in another city :) LOL

So i really didn't mean to get into all things Italian, but this time for some reason, I realized more than ever how cultural my NYC family is. How more often than not, our conversations would revert to food, a recent dish we had, or what amazing homemade Italian restaurant we'd go to, or having my own Grandmother come over and make some seriously great stuff she hasn't even made in years. Until finally one day my dad finally admitted, "We really are food snobs aren't we..." hahah. We all heartily agreed.

So with all that said - i'm going to post tons of pics on this "BLOG" turned "PLOG" (sincs it's more pictures than written material)...i'd say I'm a more 'visual" person, because that sounds like a great excuse, and i'm not one for writing too much PLUS i just think pictures really say a lot more than i could. Tho i'll put in some explanations too...

First things first: our time at home, the wonderful family we have and the amazing family traditions we have during Christmas. Don't really know how or why they started, but they make the holidays what they are - fun times.

this was our first big shopping trip. We went the day after we arrived! Awes :)

the fam...

The famous Villa Mosconi's in Manhattan...they love us!!

the one time we FINALLY got a chance to take my grandparents out to eat - and pay for them...we had a little battle but got in covered... :)

Another random nite, nicole and tony were making their first ever Gingerbread House which almost turned into a disaster, but somehow turned out pretty nice...complete with a Menorah in the window and a paw print from one of our sneaky cats!

My mom had a lot of help cooking the the kitchen...

The Nightwatch Team from Succat Hallel

2006-11-11T14:13:00.000-08:00

This is Nicole, Ruben and Lindy. These 3 are the core team that hold down the hours from 12am to 6am at the house of prayer in Jerusalem...and they're not always sleeping... :)

this is me with the nitewatch team

In this one we were trying to do the "N" and "W" for nightwatch with our hands...not only was it backwards anyway, but we look a little ridiculous.

...looking Middle Eastern with our Old City scarves...Lindy, Melissa and me (we joke that the "old city scarf" look is the telltale sign of Jerusalem Syndrome...hehehe. and we ARE NOT there..)

....because we can look normal in our scarves also...right??

or you can just look like ZORO...

and some MORE happenings...

2006-11-11T14:01:00.000-08:00

This was Tony's "surprise" Birthday on Nov 2nd at Cup O' Joe's....

"the mayor" went around the table greeting everyone after he was mostly surprised when he arrived

Other random happenings...

2006-11-11T13:12:00.000-08:00

this was a wedding of good friends in Jerusalem, Joel and Laura. Congrats!!!

the guys....

and the girls....

and THEN there was a costume party...on Rehov Rashba ...the dudes place...called the RashBash :)

Happy Birthday Rachel!!!

2006-11-11T12:54:00.000-08:00

This is Rachel and it's her birthday today - well actually my blog says the 12th even though i'm writing this on the 11th, which is actually the day. Computers - or maybe confused jerusalem time....anyway, she's in PA at the moment, but her inevitable return to Jeru will be in January (finally).

yeah for aroma!!

Sunset over Jerusalem

2006-11-11T12:18:00.000-08:00

here's some pics of sunsets I captured from the top of a building in the center of Jerusalem..

and this was just a few days ago...

going...

gone...

pictures of the desert

2006-11-06T02:08:00.000-08:00

i love camels. they always look like they are smiling...

just a bunch of jackasses... heh heh

shaun, one of our grafted members, tried petting a camel...

in baghdad...

2006-11-05T05:06:00.000-08:00

hey... so my brother, Matthew (US Army Intelligence), is in Baghdad at the moment - just got there 2 weeks ago after spending a year in Germany and a month in Kuwait getting accostomed to the desert...(you can see pics of us in Germany here, http://embloggage.blogspot.com/2006/08/deutschland.html).

so he's going to be spending an official year in Iraq. please remember to keep him and all the soldiers in your prayers. he's already going out on his missions, into local houses with a translator, gathering information and drinking large amounts of arabic coffee or tea.

anyway it's going to be a long year - thanks for the prayers!!

here's an excerpt from his last update...

On a serious note, it was quite interesting observing the city streets and the standard of living as we convoyed to our destination. It’s just so saddening. The place is so poverty stricken and obviously war-torn. It’s a mess. The cute little kids (whether they r future insurgents or not) run outside and wave to us, give us a thumbs up, and of course scream (no they don’t ask politely. It’s not part of their culture) for candy! So many of them don’t even have shoes. Trash is strewn about everywhere. Stagnant puddles of nasty muddy water cut through the trash here and there. People drive donkey-pulled carts with like 5 people on the back. Everything just looks so poor it’s hard to describe. Next time I’m out I’m gonna bring my camera. Maybe that can catch somewhat of a glimpse of things here. It’s hard to swallow the fact that the work I do, if successful, will save a few Iraqi lives, but only for a little while longer. The issues here are so deep rooted, complex, and seemingly hopeless. These poor people fear for their lives every day that the bad guys whether it’s shia on sunni or sunni on shia will target them next. Death in the most gruesome of forms is so commonplace for these people to experience and hear, read, or talk about.

The Jerusalem March

2006-10-28T06:33:00.000-07:00

Every year during Succot, there is a march through the streets of Jerusalem. Christians representing nations from around the world that have come up to celebrate the feast in Jerusalem, march through the streets with candy, flags and gifts for the Israeli's that come to watch. There had to be at least 6000 or 7000 people that march in the parade, alongside the Christians are other groups like the police, IDF and other israeli foundations or organizations that join us. It's loads of fun. Grafted did an awesome job screaming, shouting, loving and supporting Israel and just having fun.

its been a while

2006-10-28T05:25:00.000-07:00

Yes. It's already the end of October - and I'm just again blogging. Lots of things have been happening.

the weather change for one, it's freezing at night! in Israel you don't really get a fall season. it just goes from really hot, to really cold in about 2 days. on some random day in maybe November the leaves will change color and fall off the trees - yes, all in one day - and then you start really dragging out the jackets. it's rained only twice so far and only for about 15 minutes at a time, so i really can't complain.

u just can't dress for this weather. warm during the day, plus walking everywhere makes you hot....by the evening, you're really cold and wondering why you didn't schlep a jacket around all day. though last year, i remember wearing sandals in december still, so i will deal with this...i remember NYC winters.

speaking of winters, WE (me, nicole and tony) will be schlepping home via Madrid on December 6th. oh the joys. i'm so excited. and so is tony since it'll be his first Christmas season outside Israel. and that is a big deal since they don't celebrate it here. (go read my last years' blog of how nicole and tony had to take off work to spend Xmas day at home, and how me and my brother had to walk home our Charlie Brown looking Xmas tree down a major road during rush hour traffic)...good times (http://embloggage.blogspot.com/2005/12/merry-christmas.html).

So my parents were here visiting for about 3 1/2 weeks. that was a great time. they've been here about 5 or 7 times, and know their way around, where to walk, how to take cabs, what places to go, etc...We were all crammed into 1 apartment, and we went through 5 pounds of coffee or something ridiculous like that, but it was really fun. they came with 4 full suitcases and left with only 3 muchmuch less full ones..so you can imagine how much wonderful american stuff they brought with them..mostly coffee, but there were other things too!

about 10 days of that time, i was helping to lead a tour of about 75 young people from around the world. they came in for the Grafted tour during the Feast of Tabernacles.

this is me and James, the NEW bookstore man :) it was great to see him in action...Ahhh. this was the first year where i didn't have to run the bookstore of the ICEJ during the feast. and yet, i managed to hang out there pretty much most of the time, pointing fingers and laughing at the dude who took over my old job. heheh. JUST kidding.

it was fun to see everyone again, and yet not to have to deal with questions, complaints, confusion and all the other stuff that goes on. even my parents, who weren't planning on doing anything there wound up helping out at the bookstore.

The Grafted tour was amazing. There were about 6 leaders, 1 "spiritual leader" and a whole crowd of Finns. the Finnish always take the award for most people on the tour - this year there were 43. more than half. others were from various nations around the world. so we traveled the country, galilee, dead sea, ein gedi, tel aviv, jerusalem.

it was great fun to meet all people from different nations. our worship/prayer/testimony times were really amazing. it was wonderful to see young people's hearts loving the lord, loving israel, wanting to learn more about God, and this nation and just being in relationship with Him. i was very impressed that even tho cultures, nations and languages were so various on this tour, the heart of unity in worship and prayer and just hanging out was really special.

things have settled down a bit. i have about 6 weeks now until i get home...will be nice to see family and cats again. we'll all be home this time, except for my brother in the military...this time around in Iraq.

Little side trip to the Alps of Austria...

2006-08-01T01:33:00.000-07:00

Deutschland :)

2006-08-01T01:11:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics of my time in Germany.

I went to visit Matt at his base in Schweinfurt (also known as 'pigtown')...we went to Wurzburg... And it's an insane bike culture...crossing the street you have to watch for cars, trams AND mad bikers who demand the road more than NYC cabs do...Good times in Bavaria, where Inge is from..this is Inge and I on our hostel balcony... so B-E-A-Utiful!!!

The Perfect Cappucino

2006-07-31T07:07:00.000-07:00

Soo the other exciting part about the apt is the cappucino maker...Israel is full of coffeeshops with awesome capp's and we love them. It's a large part of the culture here (among other things, hummus, zatar, etc.) and after having large amounts them in the 3 years that I've been here, I'm very happy to make it part of daily life.

The challenge of course is, making them yourself, should you have a machine. I tried once a while ago when I first got here, it was a slight disaster - and it just wasn't quite the same as Aroma. But while I was away in Germany, Nicole who was also catsitting, would come by for one or two or three...So since then I've learned to make them...better...

AND one day (just a few days ago) I really did almost make the perfect cappucino, almost... We only know one person who we've selfishly required be on his life-long-goal list..and he makes them pretty dang good. Franklin bought his capp maker in ITALY though :) which of course immediately pushes the quality up to beyond amazing, but Franklin is famous for being a 'perfect capp maker...'

Mine came close. And now I have to leave the apt - with the cats and the Mr. Coffee behind. It's almost tragic and JUST when I was getting into it...

More goodbyes to Hudi and Izzy...

2006-07-31T00:30:00.000-07:00

BABIES!! They love to sleep on people's laps...well Izzy did - and when people weren't around, then Hudi came out... this is Rachel and Izzy in the left pic and me, Zac and Izzy in the other pic on one of our all-nighters watching "24" ...this time we happened to stay up until 6am to finish the season! Awesome... Izzy loved it!

Below is a pic of one of the first bonding moments that I had with Izzy when I first arrived..."Don't get attached!!!" is my dad's famous quote regarding any cats that we meet....

and they do everything together...

Last Days in Rehavia

2006-07-30T23:51:00.000-07:00

Well, I've lived for almost 4 months in this apartment...at first it was somewhat weird to move into someone else's house when they aren't there. You don't know where everything is, and where they put stuff, etc...but it grew on me!

As did their kitties :) the real reason why I was asked to live here. Here's some pics of the apt AND of the dead bird that I found lying on the floor one night when I got home. I screamed and asked Tony and Nicole to tell me if I had really seen what I thought it was....I think it was a little gift for me from one of the cats. Apparently cats are known to do this to show that they love and appreciate you, isn't that sweet...but isn't it when they are outdoor cats??!! How they got this bird from our little balcony I'll never know. THANK GOD Tony was there to get rid of it tho, because I don't know what I would have done.

Hudi and Izzy - You will be missed (sniff, sniff).

happy birthday to me!

2006-06-10T11:25:00.000-07:00

Hey so it was my birthday on June 4th and I turned 29....amazing. I think you have at least 4 years to get used to the fact that you're in your upper 20's...since 25 you're counting down really towards 30! HA. So by this time, it's not really a big deal to be 29, except when people think you look 23..

So we've had this age thing going on - me and my new friend Rachel. She is a fulltime staffer at Succat Hallel and we are both 29 at the moment. Tho when she tells people her age, they are visibly shocked because she actually looks 18 (really 12, but I want to be nice)...Anywho, it's been really fun to have somone around who is the same place in life, the same age and in Jerusalem. Amazing.

here's some pics...

An Evening with Robert Stearns

2006-06-10T11:04:00.000-07:00

How exciting - we had the privilege of spending a nite hanging out with Robert Stearns. Thrilling. And one night, I even got to sing with him... and I was wearing green pants...

Fam Time

2006-04-15T13:32:00.000-07:00

And these are pictures from yet another wonderful Italian restuarant, Piccolo's. We love their homemade ravioli. (Sorry Tony and Nicole again). My brother Matt is home visiting at the moment in NYC from Germany where he is stationed in the US Army...he arrived the day before I left. So we got to spend one evening together with the whole fam.This is Aunt Beanie (great name, long story), Uncle Richie and my cuz Cristine. Below is our grandrents...I remember mentioning in another blog how Popi (that's what we call my grandfather) is never looking at the camera....we wonder if it's on purpose now...

This is me with bro Matt and my cousin Cristine.

Pics of my Last Days in NYC

2006-04-15T13:08:00.000-07:00

HEY so I'm BACK in Jerusalem...but before I write a Welcome Back email for myself, I'm gonna stick in some pics from just a week ago when I was wandering around NYC...

This is Times Square, hopping till all hours of the night. There are so many lights you feel like you're walking inside...

And this is Rockefeller Center. During Christmas the Tree would usually be there.

Last Minute Things....

2006-04-05T21:39:00.000-07:00

So no matter how much time you spend at home, 3 weeks OR 3 months, it's always that LAST last week of rushing around that makes you go crazy. And then you start remembering everything you have to do before you leave because there is a deadline now "oh, i'm actually leaving the country soon!"...things that you've put off like a big pile of papers sitting in your room for months that you have to go through and don't know what to do with, or putting your hundreds of pictures in an album after about 4 years...

All that to say, I've been busy here with the usual stuff, including seeing people for the last time for a while - meeting up for breakfast, lunch or dinner - whatever fits the schedules ...

These pics which Nicole and Tony know REALLY well is basically just to make them jealous. OH i mean, to remember how much we LOVE this place: One of the MOST awesome restaurants around is Villa Mosconi's - AMAZING homemade Italian pasta and a great armosphere. We love it because we know everyone that works there :) They are great and we recommend this place to everyone who comes to NYC...it's also right next door to where Nicole and Tony's wedding reception was in Manhattan.

This was breakfast this morning, the 7 Star Diner in Whitestone, NY where the rest of my family lives. We've been doing breakfast actually once a week for the last few weeks so the waitress got to know us pretty well.. she knew this was my last time there, but it'd be a trade-off with my brother who will be flying in for a visit on Saturday, so she'll get to see him next week..New Yorkers are great sometimes, they're like your best friend. We also notice that in a lot of family pics, it's hard to get my grandfather to actually look at the camera long enough for his face to be seen. He's usually looking another direction, except this time he just probably wanted to eat...

Email Stalker...

2006-03-29T21:16:00.000-08:00

Nonono, it's not anyone who comments on my blogs...it's actually my dad who wants attention.

I think my parents were highly offended at the title of my last blog so this time I guess I'll amuse them with this one...

So it works like this, if I'm signed onto the computer while my dad is home, he makes any excuse to come downstairs to our basement where the comp is and talk to me, or walk reallyreally slowly by as he's pretending to do something..or other times he'll just hover over my left shoulder and stare at the screen in hopes that I'm chatting to someone online...we always joke about his own "buddy list" on AIM having a whopping 2 maybe 3 buddies...we think he's jealous. So now, whoever lives at home at the moment and goes online (not my mom of course, he already knows her password), it becomes an ongoing back and forth between us as he tries to hover as much as possible, really not caring about any information, but just for the sheer annoyance now and the more you put up a fight, the more he hovers...

This particular night my dad, after trying to read emails over my shoulder but not getting anywhere, decided to "leave"... started walking away... and thinking I wouldn't notice that I never heard footsteps going upstairs, as he rounded the corner out of sight, it got quiet. Hmmmm. Seconds lapsed as I waited and then decided 2 can play this game...So I started feverishly and intermittantly clicking on my mouse on nothing in particular, but all the while waiting for him to pop his head around the corner to see what I was doing... It was great when he waited a little while and then sneakily looked, only to find ME staring right back at him. We burst into fits of laughter - my dad screams when he laughs and then my mom comes down to see what is going on...I usually ask her to take her husband upstairs with her....but still, a few minutes later he would try to sneak down the stairs again ....

Apparently, he gets the biggest kick out of it too, like reverting back to childhood. SO this story was more for Matt and Nicole and Tony's benefit who know what it's like to have DIS (we call him) as our email stalker wanting attention...

Un-inspiration

2006-03-27T22:40:00.000-08:00

So I haven't blogged because I haven't had anything too interesting to write about - I need a muse, as they say, or something...BUT I have been keeping busy...

Lets me think what I've been up to: Yesterday morning, I spoke at a church on Israel, officially for the first time. How weird is that?? I always thought I would never do something like that, only because there are people who know SO much more than me about it, so what can I say. But I realized, lots of people HERE don't know much about Israel and only know what they see on the news, which we all know is pretty much one-sided and always showing explosions or something. Anyway, it was nice to get a chance to explain to people some things about living over there...

Tonight and for the past few Monday nights, I've also been driving into Manhattan for this great bible study. Actually one of Lance Lambert's very own home-boys hooked me up with the contact, Dana Congdon, a friend of theirs who lives in NYC. All these people belong to a chinese church in Flushing NY that Lance speaks at from time to time.... the bible study (BS) is in Greenwich Village which is a very cool area of the city - and the BS has been a great blessing....

Ummm on Wednesday nights I've been going with my good friend Margo to another BS in Queens...GEES i'm just full of BS aren't I!! HAhahaha...This one I've been doing a little worship at for the past few weeks and wound up just leaving my big purple keyboard at their apt instead of schlepping it back and forth. YES I do own a big purple keyboard and it's awesome.

Speaking of Margo, our favorite quote is "Why's the carpet all wet Todd?.... I-don't-know-Mar-go!" from Chevy Chase's Xmas vacation. Me and Margo have been having a great time - we always have these 'adventures' we call them when one of us is driving and we are on a mission going somewhere...something always happens. It started a long time ago when I first got my license, and was driving us 2 home from yet another BS in the family's LARGE 1986 Pontiac and got pulled over because I raced to get off an exit I thought I was going to miss and cut off a cop .... who immediately put his lights on and followed me but the exit-ramp kept winding around a turn and I wasn't sure if I should actually pull over right away or wait and get off the exit...until by the 3rd time the cops voice echoed..."Pull Over NOW." HA...He let me go anyway...but we always laugh about that.

And what I can write is that I do have a return date (finally) to good old Jerusalem. Can you believe? 3 months at home already and it's over just like that.

OH and my cats are so cute. I should blog about them sometime.

The Emily Formerly Known as ....

2006-02-28T18:14:00.000-08:00

...you can fill in the blank in the title if you want...

So I'm back from cold Minnesota to cold NYC. WHY does it have to be COLD!!! You guys better not be outside tanning yet in Jerusalem.

So some pics from the trip: apparently their claim to fame over there is the "cherry in the spoon" piece found at the Sculpture Gardens. Interesting, though I couldn't quite put my finger on the relevance of it and any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

This is me and Sarah at a very cool and very large David Crowder Band concert (they opened for 3rd Day who I'm not so crazy about). But what I did realize at this concert, held in a huge auditorium with a few thousand people, is that America is blessed. There are so many Christians able to attend this and worship Jesus together in this huge place - and to cool music! And it happens all the time and all over the US (except really NYC for some reason, Christians are so scared to come here). But for me, it was actually a cool thing to be a part of it - I had forgotten what it was like. I was very happy that 3rd Day didn't really use the stage just to be rockstars, but they honestly shared a deep message about living a life for God and they ministered to hurting people also.

This of course was me finding an illegal piano, as I tend to do, and sit down and play it and then get kicked off. I think I only lasted 10 minutes before a security guard came and asked me to leave, "You're not allowed to play the piano, Miss." Oh well. I played the innocent card..."Oh, sorry. Well why is it sitting here? Does it ever get played?" He said, "No, it's only for show." Why would a piano be sitting there like that in the middle of nowhere and open for anyone to come and play it and THEN not be allowed to!!?? What's the point. If its just gonna sit there, why not move it to my house where it will be put to use?

You know they say that 90% of the money in this country is owned by 10% of the population....

I hope that last comment made sense. I thought it did at the time...

I'm in Minnesota

2006-02-24T17:27:00.000-08:00

Hi. I'm in Minneapolis, Minnesota right now visiting my very good friend Sarah. I've known her for yearsandyears - and it's the type of thing where you can just pick up friendship where you left off...with lots of stories in between. Originally from NY, she moved here to study - Interpreting and Sign Language - and is now living and working in this cold forsaken state. Ha. Who would have thought.

Today we did lots of stuff and walk around as much as we could outside and drink coffee. There are many coffeeshops here for a reason. Already last night, we found ourselves randomly walking into a Kereoke place where of course, I immediately hooked myself up with a U2 song - "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For."

Just some thoughts about MN - I came asking the question, what came out of here? I'm still not sure, but hopefully by the time I leave I'll have a better answer. It's a cute place, friendly people and they aren't rushed or walking around panic-y like "New Yorkans" (as Shannon would say, tho he doens't read my blog)....

OH right, I think Prince came out of Minnesota. There we go. I think that's great - and when I leave maybe I can be The Artist Formerly Known As Emily. Awesome.

Pictures

2006-02-12T16:21:00.001-08:00

Thought I’d add some more pics for the fun of it!

This is Anna's Farm...

Charlie's Angels if they were hicks...

Milking a cow, ever so carefully…An awkward moment for both of us..

The White House....

More travels...

2006-02-06T10:49:00.000-08:00

Sooo more news from the NY front. I just got back from Lancaster, PA and Washington, DC. Driving my car is so nice and the countryside is really pretty. In PA I visited 2 friends I actually met in Jerusalem, Sara and Anna. Some of you over there may remember them from their brief stay…

When they arrived at the Embassy (where Sara was actually volunteering post-Feast in the bookstore with me), they were just finishing up their trip to Kurdistan and other European countries. And we still marvel at the fact that even though we
have lived 3 hours apart all our lives we had to go all the way to Jeru to meet! How cool is that.

So my favorite experience was hanging out on Anna's family farm – and just marveling at large countryside, barns, homemade everything and cows. Just like Little House on the Prairie. The whole time I felt like the city kid that they were taking around - giving me the real Lancaster experience and maybe sort of embarrassed when I’d stare and take pictures of the Amish buggy's. Hahaha. This past Friday morning, we went to a buffet for breakfast – a place like this is what America is made of. Serious amounts of such good food, and by the end we were just slaphappy and overstuffed….

After this, we took out the 4-wheelers on the farm and went nuts, as much as we could. At first, I was slightly spastic because it was my first time driving one, but man alive, it was so exhilarating and insane. Here’s pics of me looking totally country and rugged…or something like that.

Oh – so in the midst of my PA stay, I also went to DC for a few days to visit some randoms there – Nick, my college friend and Dave the Rave or Gave or Have or whatever we call him. I spent a day in DC seeing all the monuments, the White House, museums AND ....HaDag Nahash...a very awesome Israeli band. How random is that. As usual - a great show of such talented musicians. We talked to the trombone player at the end for a little bit too. So fun!

Greetings from The Big Apple!!

2006-01-18T09:05:00.000-08:00

Hello from the rainy and cold city of New York, or should I say "How YOU doin??"

So I'm home in Queens, just like you all may know. It's weird to be typing now from America and not from Israel. So now all my Israel friends won't really know what's happening with me until they read. HA!

Hmmm. So after arriving in NYC for New Years, I unpacked my large unbelievable-sized suitcases only to repack and hop on another plane 5 days later. This time just flying domestic, which is so weird to me because I didn't need my passport. I'd panic every 2 seconds that I didn't have it, and then would realize that I don't actually need it!

So I just got back from my little excursion to Texas and Arkansas. Yep, the South. It was awesome. Everywhere I went I made sure I had sweet tea, and then of course there is BBQ and real Mexican places that someone told me if you run in and yell "Immigration!!" the place clears in a second. Haha!

But home has been nice too. There are 2 parents here and 3 cats, good food, 3 empty beds to choose from to sleep in and somehow there is always a pot of coffee being made.

One morning I had the wonderful opportunity of going out for breakfast with my parents to Bruce's. Oh my soul. It's a Jewish place that is in a very Jewish area (think NY here though). I don't think it's kosher at all and on the menu in the Extras part you can order a "Shmear of Cream Cheese." Anyway, they have just awesome types of french toast and because I was so not used to the over abundance of food, I had to take a picture. I guess it's true, America just does things BIG. And of course bottomless cups of coffee too...

Guess I'll be spending the next few weeks here, maybe throwing in a trip to Lancaster, PA or DC or Boston at some point also...

So everyone write me and let me know how life in Jtown is going!!!

A taste of the life in Israel

2005-12-28T01:57:00.000-08:00

I wanted to title this one “Jackass Potato Man” but didn’t because it may have been too shocking at first glance, but then again, I just wrote it in the opening line. Oops. So, people have been waiting for this blog for a while and here it is.

One day last week, Nicole, Matt and I were at the shouk (Israeli open market that sells things like fruit and veggies really cheap). We had a long list of things to buy, one of which was VERY important because it involved making Grandma’s amazing potatoes which are the best thing to eat.

I guess to picture what the shouk is like for those of you who don’t know, it is filled with small narrow lanes with stands or vendors lining both sides, and all very squashed in. Walking in the middle of these lanes is just about every type of person you can imagine shopping there, all day long: old ladies with carts who don’t stop at ALL to get by you, if you get knocked over with a cart, well it was your fault; then there’s the occasional slow-walker who stops abruptly to look around, thus causing people backup and lots of impatient yelling; or the large cart filled with pita and bread making deliveries that some small Israeli boy is trying to push down the center lane but is taking up the whole road and people are not getting out of the way OR they are trying to squeeze around it. Yes, it’s insanity most of the time. On top of all this is the bantering back and forth of vendor keepers yelling out prices per kilo in Hebrew and trying to get people to buy their apples, as opposed to the apples right across from them.

Ok, so with that in mind, our first stop was at a long row of vegetables, including the potatoes. Standing there, it all of sudden dawned on us that the Idaho potatoes that we needed were not exactly available in this country. HA, never really thought about that before! So we kind of stood there to discuss our options, and not really knowing what to do, will these ones work, and what should we buy…..when all of sudden, I get this very HARD slap on my arm a few times that shocked me and I turned to see the actual owner of the booth giving me an angry look to get out of his way so he can unload his carrots or something. I wasn’t even in his way…and excuse ME for shopping at YOUR booth, sir! Ok, I’m telling you, it doesn’t sound very mean how I’m writing it, but I can’t get across the ridiculousness of it.

You’d never get away with this in America, the guy would be sued in a second!

At first we all stood there gawking at him, like did he really hit me? He did. He kept fussing and commenting and saying things that Nicole translated for us later on like “You guys want to live here or something” and “Get out of the way” AND he had the audacity to accuse me of dropping a carrot on the ground, as he huffed to pick it up and shove it back on the huge pile of carrots that were just waiting to topple over anyway (PLUS you should see how dirty and nasty the sidewalk is). Meanwhile we left, wanting to yell and scream but too angry to say anything and just thinking, well hmmph, you’re not getting OUR business, which was the only thing we could think of at the moment.
Still, when we settled down we were all saying, why didn’t we throw a potato at him! Why didn’t we yell back!!

But you know, you’re better off NOT doing all these things. This, my friends, is life sometimes in Israel and you almost can laugh about something like this. They are abrupt, loud, tough and “in your face” people. I’m sure the dude didn’t think twice about what he was doing, it’s just the way they live. And in some ways, you can learn to appreciate it (when you’re not the one being bothered) and in some ways, you respect it more than those other types of people who would wait until you left and then talk about you behind your back. Ha.

In typical Israeli way, they’ll huff and fluff over you for a while, but if I went back, I’m sure we’d be best friends like nothing ever happened. That’s just the way they are. Well in this case, I’m definitely not going back, but still, it makes for a funny story.

And by the way, Grandma’s potatoes turned out quite nicely, no thanks to him!

Our Christmas Story continued…

2005-12-28T00:31:00.000-08:00

12/24 – Christmas Eve day, Tony continued decorating the tree…he basically didn’t stop for 2 days straight. We joked that our tree now looks like the Armenian Orthodox church with ornaments hanging EVERYWHERE. And more baking went on, of course, while the movie Elf was playing… (“Is there sugar in syrup? Then YES!!!”)

That evening we went to a Christmas Eve Party at the lovely and posh home of Beverley (UK) and Sharon (New Zealand), friends of ours who work at the Embassy. They had a massive spread of good food - mulled wine, eggnog, Mince pies (which are so British), Stollen (German traditional bread) and other things that people brought native to their homeland during the holidays. I made Gingerbread cookies and Nicole made mini-pizza’s and peppermint hot chocolate. (Oh and it wasn't just a girls party, which is what the picture makes it seem like).

25/12 - Christmas Day was rainy and cold and it hailed a little bit – but that didn’t stop us from having a great day. Of course, I never left the house so it didn’t matter anyway. But Nicole and Tony went out that morning for some more last minute shopping and wound up coming back looking like Santa and Mrs. Clause! That morning all the packages sent overseas from family arrived – 5 packages! AND because it’s a normal working day for everyone, the post office was open, so they could go and pick them up.

Tony’s parents and Kathy, a friend of ours, came over for dinner. Nicole and I really prepared everything like we do in America (or I should really say what my mom, aunt and grandparents do) and it all turned out so good…including the COW that we roasted in the oven. I never saw meat like that before and Nicole commented on turning vegetarian, until it came out looking beautiful and tasting delicious. Then we remembered, THAT’S what meat should look like.

Armenian friends, Ohan (who was the best man in Tony and Nicole’s wedding) and his family came over afterwards for dessert. There was a smorgasbord of dessert: Tiramisu they had made and brought over, Panetone (very Italian), pumpkin pie (very American and made for the Armenians who couldn’t fathom the idea of a sweet pumpkin mix, and I still don’t know if they caught onto the idea very much), Torte di Noci (this is a walnut tort, an Italian favorite that we always see on our tables at this time of year but never really eat – until we made it ourselves) and other various cookies. There was tons of food…and playing in the background this time was White Christmas, the all time best Christmas movie where Bing Crosby’s voice glides over the mellow sounds of the title song. Awesome.

No Christmas would be complete, of course, without a viewing of The Marx Brothers, A Night at the Opera. We were all pretty exhausted by that time but forced ourselves to stay up and watch this movie once again even though we can recite most of the lines by heart. It’s SUCH a funny movie and brings back memories of watching this at home for years!

And of course, we had a phone call from the ENTIRE family in NYC as they were eating dinner. That was nice, hard to understand, long distance and everyone talking at once (like our family tends to do) but it was nice to share the moment with them. I hope it was nice for my parents to wake up their first Christmas with no kiddies there - just 3 cats, who hopefully were just as good replacements for us. Next year mom and dad, we'll all be somewhere together! (We don't want to have to cook everything again...hahah).

But it was VERY cool when I realized that the real reason we are celebrating occured only just down the road. Jesus was born only about 20 minutes from here in Bethlehem. Of course, the stable isn't there, it looks completely different and was an entirely different world back then, but it brought it all home to realize this is the area of the world where it all began – and will end someday.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2005-12-26T02:12:00.000-08:00

(Picture below, a brief look into the Christmas we had this year. No major catastrophes, just fun stuff to remember...)

Merry (day after) Christmas!
So lots has been happening. I wish I had been blogging all those little things that happened this past week so I could write in great detail, but now I'll just take the time to write the highlights of the days leading up to our big Christmas spent here in the HolyLand.

20/12 - Matt, my brother in the US Army flies in from Germany at 4am.

21/12 - We had a wonderful goodbye dinner with a very special family here, the Schutz family. It's like my 3rd goodbye party, but this time it was shared with my friend Carolyn Awitty, from Kenya, who is returning home after being here for 5 years. We had a wonderful meal that night, thanks Leslie!

22/12 - This night (Thursday) is the night that my Young Adults group meets. Once a month we have a big worship night called The Deep End where tons of people come and worship with loud music and Scripture readings and stuff. This was a cool night.

BUT this was also the day that Matt and I picked up our REAL Christmas tree from the Old City. And of course, real not in the American sense of the word, but real according to Israel's standards - which means pretty tall, very skinny with lots of holes and like a Charlie Brown tree. But it's probably the biggest one in all of Jerusalem. It smells like a mixture of pine and peanut butter.
Sooo after realizing that we can't fit it in a cab, Matt and I decided to walk the tree home to Nicole's apt. So there we were, walking along a major road - Hebron Road - during rush-hour for 40 minutes...each with an end of the tree in one hand and shopping bags in the other...

We definitely looked hysterical, and I'd just say a cheery and slightly embarrassed 'Merry Christmas' to the stares that were coming from the cars. Yeah, especially in a country that doesn't really celebrate OR recognize this holiday - we looked funny. But then again, anything can happen in this country...

23/12 - This day we went shopping for last minute items as we were planning to replicate our awesome and historic Schiavi Christmas dinner that we have every year in the US...I'm telling you, it took like 4 or 5 shopping trips to get everything...now I know what some people go through to get stuff.

OH and that afternoon we put up our tree - which meant sticking it in a bucket with really large heavy rocks to hold it up - and we made homemade pasta too which is SO good that you almost can't go back to the boxed kind.

I think our baking also started that day - and just basically continued straight through the next 2 days!! Insane. One of the Christmas traditions for our family is playing Nat King Cole's album while decorating the tree, which just sets the ambiance nicely...

And just so you know, the tree did actually fall over twice that day AND once on Nicole on Christmas morning as you saw above...buckets don't really work.

More to come...

Me doing a Plumb song called "Cut"...

2005-12-05T05:18:00.000-08:00

So in response to Mike's last comment, I did give him permission to put the video clip up of a song I did - as long as I get 10% everytime someone clicks on it. I think it's on a website or actually something has to be downloaded in order for you to get it...so try clicking on this...

http://www.brainzipper.com/files/cut.avi

If it doesn't work for you, then let me know...and I'll do something. I don't really know what I'll do, but, um, we'll see.

I'm also laughing because there is so much background noise...WHY aren't YOU people listening to me! I'm crying... (actually I like it better that way...)

Anyway, how fun. Enjoy.

Rock On!

2005-12-01T05:17:00.000-08:00

So, Everyone, last night I officially did a "concert" at a place in Jerusalem called The Jamm. It's a pretty chilled out coffeeshop/hangout place that usually has open mic nights or smaller bands come in.

It was kind of the first time I performed as a 'frontman' (or woman really, what's the PC way of saying that) of a band - a band that's not really a band at all. It was the first - and probably last - time all 3 of us will play together - Austin, a volunteer here from Texas who is leaving in a week, played guitar and sang backup and of course longtime fave drummer, Joel "the madman" Hilsden joined us.

So I did about 8 originals and 4 cover songs - mostly obscure or really old cover songs that people would have never heard of anyway - even threw in a Collective Soul song "The World I Know" because it mentions New York City, oh and a random band called Plumb has a great melo-dramatic ballad called "Cut" which I love because of the piano part.

Anyway, I think it all flowed pretty well depsite the fact that all 3 of us never practiced at the same time. I got to sit with Austin 2 times and teach him my songs - and I saw Joel about 2 hours before the show and showed him some stuff...

It's very different to hear your own songs being played band-style. I'm always writing/singing by myself at the piano and have thought through some ideas of what it could possibly sound like, but you never really can tell. All of a sudden my cutesey little song "Fly" which I have recorded on CD with just me and piano, turned into this Evanesence-y type song that gets pretty heavy at the end with the drums and stuff...Hmmm. Pretty exciting.

SO a LARGE thank you to all my friends who came out to watch and hopefully enjoy the show! You guys are COOL and maybe there'll be more....

Hiking the Crater

2005-11-16T02:30:00.000-08:00

I will sometime get around to writing my post feast thoughts and stories, being it was my last one and I should document it but I'm still processing it at the moment and dealing with PFSing (Post Feasting) and can't take the time to write it out just yet.

So I will talk about a hike that we went on this past weekend.

On Saturday, there were 7 of us that drove down to the south of Israel, the desert, to a naturally made crater, thousands of years old. It's one of the largest in the world. That's all I can basically say about it, because I don't know any more than that, and I don't even know if I got that much right. (Ree, maybe when you comment on my blog, you can expound on this...)

It was about a 2 1/2 hour drive, where we go from busyness of cityness to brownish rolling hills of the desert filled with sheep and bedouin communities. We also go from cold Jerusalem to hot desert sun, which is what I love the most. It's a beautiful drive and a stark contrast from going north - which is green and colorful. But both are really nice, B-E-A-Utiful!

Basically, on this hike, all you really see is dirt and rock, but the sky was huge and blue and goes on forever there. In fact, I've camped in the crater once before about 2 months ago, and I couldn't believe the amount of stars that were in the sky! I was completely in shock - you could see the Milky Way and just tons and tons of stars...always amazes me...

So, we did about a 3ish hour hike...the hill at the end was steep and really exhausted us all, but we conquered it. The nice thing about hikes is that you can just walk and talk to your friends, take your time, stop for pictures and granola (or Beasley if you like that kind of stuff, those are Israeli style chips for those who don't know) and then just continue on whenever you feel like it.

We also got to go hiking with Ree and Franklin's dog, Chloe, and she did a wonderful job. It's almost like having a kid around, but you take less care of it and she doesn't say anything or complain. She was a great additive to the dynamics of the group. I don't know why, but it was fun. And when she gets tired, Franklin carries her on his shoulders, which is even funnier.

That nite we went back and watched some funny SNL clips and a movie at Ree's.....which people barely stayed awake for. And made some homemade mulled wine, which reminds me of England during Christmastime (because they used to have these "mince pies and mulled wine" christmas parties).
So that was my Saturday. Fun stuff.

Attack of the Bees!

2005-11-15T05:46:00.000-08:00

....After having NOT written in so long, I completely forgot my username AND password for this awkward blogspot - I couldn't even sign on to my own blog page! Imagine!

So, my time at the Embassy is coming to a very quick end. The new guy, James (we call him Semaj which we say is his Arabic name - or just his name spelled backwards) is taking my place and I'm still training him. At times, when he occupies the computer, I get to sit out here at the reception area and check my email and stuff..so it works out well. Except that all my pics are on the C drive on my computer...and I'm out here - oh well I'll just add them later...

Hmm. I think I should blog the bee incident.

So 2 weekends ago I went with a bunch of friends up north to the Galilee and the Golan. It's so nice to get away from Jerusalem and surroundings and just visit peaceful countryside. I always wanted to live in the south or something when I was in the US because it's so cute and quiet and nice and they serve Sweet Tea which is my fave drink!! Anyway, I'm still happy to be a city girl and I probably wouldn't be able to handle how slow they talk...but it's nice for a visit.

So, we visited a well known sight called Gamla - the scenery, the mountains, the hike - it was all so gorgeous! I wish I had pics. Anyway, my German friend Ruben was going to help a girl jump off a ledge over a small patch of weeds and stuff - so he stepped on what he thought was just a patch of weeds...until suddenly, in a delayed reaction, a swarm of bees came flying out, angrily, at Ruben's feet. He screamed for us to run, and this sent us all panicked in different directions. Man, it was horrible! Just like the movies...they were all over him and chasing him! He even threw himself to the ground, was rolling around and then ripped off his shirt too...I've never seen anything like it. After we had stopped running and things had quieted down, Landon and I were standing far off kind of in shock. He was checking out his stings - he got 3 - and I was marveling that I hadn't gotten any.

Until, as I was standing there...a few seconds later...some stray bee that I was swatting out in annoyance, just flew right into my neck and stung me! PUNK! That was my first bee sting ever. I feel like I've suddenly been thrust into a whole new realm of people around the world who've encountered "the bee."

But poor Rube, I think he got like 25 stings! (Actually this is what I was telling people until I found out he only got 15, but still 15!!!...) Most of them were around his feet too and his one foot swelled up to twice the size ...kind of funny to look at.

Anyway. We finished the hike, kind of all tense and nervous at first, but then we all calmed down. The hike to the top of Gamla is SO worth it for the view. You are high up looking out far off into the distance, it's quiet and peaceful, and birds are flying around eye level with you...

And by the end of the trip we were laughing hysterically at the whole incident and kept recounting our different reactions and Rubens' selfless heartfelt cry "SAVE YOURSELVES..."(well, he just said Run, but we're taking some creative license here). So at least we can laugh at it now and I am happy to report that Ruben's foot is back to normal and thankfully he is recovered from the trauma.

Ok Ree - there you go - a blog. :)

Feasting and Beasting...

2005-09-15T05:43:00.000-07:00

So I can't believe I haven't written in so long - and I'm so full of thoughts, or so I say. I'm trying not to feel the pressure of the bloggage - but I thought I'd be a lot more diligent (hence, the meaning of my own name "Emily"). So, I've been time consumed lately with various things that shall remain nameless...but one thing at work that keeps me going is the Feast, which is worth mentioning becuase it will be my excuse for not writing for the next month!

Yippee. Or scary. For those of you that don't know, the ICEJ where I work celebrates a Jewish holiday, the Feast of Tabernacles, or Succot, and hosts a very, very large international conference where thousands from around the world gather here in Jerusalem. We, a mere core staff of 50, plus the help of loads of volunteers that come in to work selflessly for weeks or months on end , run this monster. Can you believe? And every year I wonder, "how the heck does this happen?" And yet, every year, it does... and has been for the past 25 years!

I run the sales booth. It's large. So here I am in my office, coordinating volunteers, figuring out random things from time, bus and lunch schedules to how to work a cash register in Hebrew (and how to train my little old volunteers on this) and then putting together some 'special deals' this year... Just a lot of usual business. From here on, the Embassy has one sole focus and one main goal..it's kind of what we live for from year to year and it comes so quickly - then it's HERE - and then just like that, it's gone, disappeared into the wind, and we are left reeling in the aftermath. Mine particularly is boxes. Boxes and boxes and boxes of everything you can imagine, dumped into one room and waiting for me to come stare at them and wish they'd all go away - oh, I mean, organize and sort through and unpack, etc.

Hmm. Anyway. This will be my life from here to the end of October. So far away it seems, but it will go so fast. In fact, this will be my 3rd Feast already! This, to me, is major, because after doing my first one I said to myself (and probably also to everyone around me :) that I will never do this again. So that's why I'm here today. Makes sense. God really has a sense of humor.

But I have to admit there are a LOT of great times and funny stories that we get out of it. I mean, it can't go down without something going awry somewhere. And believe me, it happens and is hysterical. Plus you get to meet people from everywhere, make new friends, stretch in the ways of patience and control... :) things like this.

Thrilling. I'll definitely talk more as time goes on.

emails, newsletters and other things...

2005-09-08T06:36:00.000-07:00

Today I finally sent out a massive email update to everyone and their mother to tell them all about my life. This was long overdue, and it bascially went from a short, concise email to a 3 page newsletter that took me 2 days to write, where I even interspersed pictures AND captions in between the text. This was a big deal for me. And as one friend commented, I even 'bolded' some random words throughout it that I wanted to highlight. This makes it official, apparently.

So my parents have been have been stuck at home answering people's questions one after another, What's Emily doing? When's she coming home? So I figured I'd just let everyone know once and for all and that is the best way to do it.

But I love those massive emails that go out, once every 2 years for me, that tell people what happened in the last 3 months, but really they missed a year and a half of your life. It's hysterical. But whatev. I'd like to post it here, but it's too big so just email me if you want to read it.

Anyway, that's all I have to say for today.

Birthday Greetings...

2005-09-06T05:28:00.000-07:00

Hey today is my cousin's birthday...she is 24 years old.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Cristine!!! WooHoo...

We always used to call her "Crissy the baby" because she is the youngest of the 4 grandchildren.

Since it's her birthday, and I have nothing else to say, let's talk a little bit about her. Cristine is really cool, lives where all our family is from, in the grandiose City of New York. Queens, to be exact. She is half Irish/half Italian (the Italian being the better half, although the Irish have awesome accents and a gorgeous country with hills and sheep and castles). She currently works in the tape library of A&E in Connecticut and drives a 40 minute commute (without traffic) to work everyday. This is incredible...

I can remember the days of commuting, but I won't get into that.

She loves sports, like let's see: volleyball on tues nights, beach volleyball on wed nights and of course, the company softball league.

And like the rest of us, she loves Italy - and we will always reminisce of our 2 trips to the Motherland with the extended family, all 10 of us shuffling around from city to city, visiting family and having the greatest time ever. We still to this day talk about it everytime we get together, we laugh again at all the jokes my brother would make about us (because all he did was make fun of us somehow) and we still watch the hours and hours of video we have. It's sooo great to watch. Plus the food is out of this world and that's pretty much where the conversation always heads towards, especially with this crowd...

I love my family :)

Hope you don't mind the pic Cris, but I thought the empty pasta bowl was fitting...

times, they are a'changin'...

2005-09-04T15:11:00.000-07:00

So we were eating dinner at Ree and Franklin's house on Friday night (we made pesto, YUM!) and started talking about journaling, blogging and just your random thoughts that come out on paper (or a computer) in some sort of way. Most of the peeps were saying (minus Franklin, why is it that guys never journal?) that even in keeping a journal, there is this inate fear that someone somwehere will read it someday - either when they're alive or when they die, their journal will be read ...so one girl has never kept a journal at all because of this. Someone else said they used to change the names or talk in vague hidden code so that the supposed 'reader' someday won't have a clue what she was talking about. So sneaky-sneaky...

Hmmm, so I was all about the opposite. I have always thought, "How cool will it be when someone reads my journals someday and gets to go through life with Emily." I wonder what they'll think! Isn't this so exciting? I always tend to write everything that I'm ever thinking, plus things that happened to me, and anything else I can think of. And I called myself a psycho-journaler...like it's always on my list of things to do. And I get stressed when I haven't written in a few days because there is just so much to catch up on that I MUST set aside a time to write.

AND I also love going back and reading through everything that I have written. You'd be suprised at how you actually learn a lot about yourself from the last few months and years, and how God has been with you the entire time, and you remember things that happened that seriously impacted your life or you read about really lame messes that you got yourself into that seemed like a HUGE deal back then and all you can think now is, how ridiculous was I that I spent 8 pages on this?

Anyway, that's when Ree said we should blog, because the rest of the world can read now what we write, instead of waiting til we die or something like that. Well, I guess people can read if they want to be enlightened with the existence of random people around the world. Funny, but I was always so anti-blogging, for the sole reason that it was computergeek.internet world that I am so not into. BUT this morning, Ree forwarded me this exciting free blog thingy and it was easy to set up.

So, I decided to try it. As opposed to it as I am, plus I'm a procrastinator and I'm not so good at keeping up on things and now I have to write in my journal AND write in this blog thing...(maybe I can copy and paste). So who knows, we'll see if this works.

I mean, I have tons of thoughts. You should read my journal.