There's no place like the domes.

How come dancing at the domes is so much more fun then dancing anywhere else? Okay, I take that back. I'm a dancer and I will dance practically anywhere. Practically being the key word there. Don't expect to see me dancing on any bars anytime soon unless you have bought me massive amounts of alcohol.

PS- I finished my first painting that I am proud of. I'm glad that my craft center class finally paid off. Time for a new short-term hobby. Any suggestions?

Well That Backfired

The Kerry people and moveon.org called out to Bush to denounce the ads by Swift Boat veterans for Truth that questioned Kerry's military record. Instead, Bush denounced all 527s, including MoveOn. Come on, who didn't see that coming?

Weekend Update: Yolo County Fair and Humboldt

Thursday night I worked at the Yolo County Fair at the YEEP booth. I actually had a lot of fun because I got to spend some time with one of my favorite coworkers who is going to LA next week for a “real” job. We even packed up the booth early to explore the fair. I think I’m getting really good at developing crushes on a guys who are taken and then hiding my true feelings. Well at least I will have something to remember him by, we both milked a cow named Cutie Pie. Now I can cross milking a cow off of my list of things to do in life.

Friday night my mom came to town and I made a huge sacrifice to make her stay in Davis more comfortable: my bed. As most of you may know, I have a huge emotional attachment to my bed, I don’t give it up to or share it with very many people. For those of you who have managed one of the two- congratulations. Anyway, on Saturday morning we woke up early (by my standards) and started the trek to Humboldt. I must say, 299 is my least favorite highway. Being on a windy road for more than two hours should be illegal. I think next time we will avoid that and take 101 even though it is a longer drive. Once we made it up to HSU we visited my brother’s tiny dorm room and met his roommate who was eating chips and watching Half Baked. (Sober, or not? That is the question.) However, he stood up and shook my hand so that is like 100 points in my book. After a nice shopping tour of Eureka to gather dorm provisions for my bro, we ate dinner at our hotel and watched the Olympics. Random ADD moment: I have to confess; I am rather addicted to the Olympics. I have never been so patriotic in my life. I think I worried Andre the other night with all my Olympic knowledge as we were watching the women’s all around gymnastics finals. I even knew the winner beforehand…no thanks to NPR. Back to Humboldt: Gorgeous area, cool people, good school. Only time will tell how well my brother does in that environment. Let’s hope he stays on the right (or right enough) track.

Junior High Life Lessons

In one of my classes in junior high we did an exercise where we ranked the things most important or valuable to us from a list. From what I remember, the list included family, friends, freedom, religion, money, power, your health, being loved, and being understood. I don’t remember how I ranked the list, but I do remember one of my classmates ranking religion as number one and declaring that if you don’t have religion you are screwed for the rest. Even though I don’t remember my preferences then, I still think about them today. For example, when I am sick, I think that I would value my health about all because it is hard to enjoy like when I am sick and thus I am “screwed for the rest.”

One preference that I have constantly thought about is if it is more important to be loved or to be understood. There are definitely kinds of love that are unconditional and it doesn’t matter if whomever loves you understands you or not. I may not understand my family but I still love them. But outside of family, I find it weird that you would love someone without understanding them. I have never been in love, but I have had someone tell me they loved me. This doesn’t make sense to me because I feel like this person doesn’t understand me at all, so how could he say he loves me? I think that I want my future spouse to be someone who understand me and who I understand. So in terms of marriage, it is more important for me to be understood. But, you generally don’t marry someone unless you love them. I mean, my best friend understands me and I’m not marrying her. And anyone who understand me also knows that I need to feel loved and love back. Therefore, it is like a catch-22 and I don’t think I will ever be able to decide what is more important to me.

Despite the fact that I wish to be understood, I sometimes get angry when people do try to figure me out or label me. I feel that there is a lot to me and anyone who labels me is probably only seeing one aspect of the whole picture. Steve said that I am Apollonian: logical, unemotional, rational, and cold. And on some days, he is probably right. But it really bothers me that he says I am cold, because I don’t think I’m cold at all. I’m just a strong women and if I come across as cold, you probably deserve it. Steve, for example, knows exactly how to push my buttons. Of course I’m going to come across as cold to him sometimes.

I just don’t’ understand how I can want to be understood and then get angry when people try to understand me. I guess it just boils down to not wanting people to misjudge me, or to judge me for that matter.

Funny how a class assignment in junior high can still haunt me today.

Weekend Update: Family History, Marriage, and Car Accidents

Friday night I began my mission to learn more about my family and our history. I visited my great uncles in San Jose and got about an hour to talk to each of them and record our conversation. Let me tell you, there is going to be some funny stuff on those tapes. The interview with my great uncle Herb included a brief mention of his first "tit grab." The interview of my great uncle Fred occurred over dinner at a Chinese restaurant and includes comments such as "pass the sesame chicken." Surprisingly, the only part the two disagreed about was which of our family members first came to the US from Russia/Poland. (We aren't exactly sure where the village was, considering the borders have changed a lot.) Herb says my great grandfather was the first to come to America. He was smuggled out because he was about to be arrested for his socialist activism. According to Fred, my great great grandfather came first and sent for his son. I'm sure my grandfather will agree with one of them, and then we will have a majority and declare that the truth. I wish that they knew more about my family's life in Russia, but apparently my great grandfather didn't talk about it much, which isn't surprising considering how much Jews were persecuted. Herb just said I should watch Fiddler on the Roof and I'll get a good idea. I think if I could meet anyone in the world, I would like to meet my great grandparents. They lived through such an amazing time period and suffered brutally from the depression. Still somehow they managed to get all three of their sons through college, thanks in part to a Navy program that paid their tuition during WWII. I'm excited about recording this oral history lesson, although I have no idea what I am going to do with all the info I am trying to gather.

On Saturday Benet, Caroline, and I attended Anthony and Katie's wedding. This wedding was a momentous occasion for me because Anthony is the first of my friends to get married. The wedding was absolutely gorgeous and I thought Anthony was going to burst when he saw Katie walking down the aisle. I'm not the type of girl who gets sentimental over weddings but I must say seeing one of my friends in a wedding dress did make me want to be a bride. Although now I realize I really just want to be the center of attention and I don't need a wedding to do that. The reception was at the Hyatt in downtown San Jose and was...well, gorgeous. Great food, great dancing, and a great open bar. I was told the president of Stanford was there and I tried to meet his son, but I didn't get around to that. I've heard weddings are great places to meet guys, but I think the only guy I flirted with was the cameraman. (Like I said, open bar… and now I can get a discount on prints.) Overall, I had a blast and look forward to more of my friend's weddings.

On a more serious note… I have never been in a car accident, but today Benet and I came very close to a serious crash. It was a pretty typical situation, the cars in front of us (SUV’s, I might add) suddenly slammed on their breaks and we could not stop in time. We were probably about two feet away from the car in front of us going 50 mph when I yelled “Benet swerve” and she flew onto the shoulder. Luckily, there was a very wide shoulder and she was able to keep control of the car as we flew into the gravel. We probably sat their dumbstruck for a few minutes. I tried my best to affirm Benet and keep her from completely freaking out. After all, she had to pull it together and complete the drive home. I assured her that she did the right thing, which she did, and told not to think about what could have happened, because it didn’t happen and we were ok. The ride home was not easy though. Both of us were, for lack of a better term, pretty freaked out. When we got home we made dinner and drank beer to relax. We tried to focus on the Olympics instead of the recurring image in our minds. When Jen got home, we found out she had been in a car accident today as she was driving home from Santa Barbara. The car behind her wasn’t able to break in time either. She is okay, and I believe the car is too. I am still in shock when I think about this weekend. Yesterday, Caroline’s car broke down over Pacheco pass. Today, Jen got in a car accident and Benet and I nearly got in one. Every day that goes by I get more and more scared to drive. I just know too many people hurt and killed in car accidents. And I’m supposed to be worried about terrorism?

What's in a name?

My name in Hebrew means "I'm cold" and I just got described by two people as being cold. Also, my name means "womanly," which I think also applies.

Cuddle Parties

I'm glad people are reaching out and touching each other.

Reports from the 'no

This is my third post today, a new record. It does make sense though, I am in Fresno. When I am home I am either really bored or extremely overstimulated and generally pissed off. Therefore, I need to write and vent a lot. I just had lunch and coffee with my friend Marshall. He is the artsy/director type and I love hanging out with him because he is different then all of you academia/political types that I generally hang out with. And he is just a cool guy in general. Having a conversation with him and his friends keeps me on my toes. Not to mention they are witty as Hell and always provide good conversation. With one of his friends the conversation jumped from "God hates fags" to "Go back to your side of town." This last comment was directed at some trendy/ditzy types who were making a big scene as they tried to cross the street. Now this comment shocked me in several ways. First, I am from the side of town he was referring to. When I called him out on it, he apologized and said I was cool. Maybe next time I am here I can learn the secret handshake to be part of the tower district scene. Second, as someone who did often visit the tower district from the other side of town, I always wondered if they could tell I din't belong and secretly sneered. It's like that local/visitor battle thing that always happens in cultured places like Santa Cruz. His comment verified my fear that I will never fit in. I'll always be that girl from the other side of town. Curse my suburban upbringing!

Okay well I am off to temple and then to get funky at the 40 Watt Hype show with Sarah. "Get your boogie shoes.... "

PS- What is with me and 26 year olds?

Solar Power

If this actually passes, it will be monumental. This solar incentive bill will give lots of rebates to homeowners who install solar panels and aims to get 50% of new homes using solar power by 2013. Solar panel doesn't have very many downplays, so I'm exited that it is becoming easier for homeowners to utilize this amazing technology. However, I think this legislation is missing one key point. What about other buildings? Businesses and industry also have roofs, and usually they are really big and really flat, perfect for solar panel installation. But, like always, we place the burden of environmental concerns on the typical municipal user. Not to say we aren't to blame, because we are, but I would like to see some more promotion in the commercial sector. There are lots of roofs and therefore lots of solar potential.

I am employed because of the public goods charge on your PG&E bill that funds the Yolo Energy Efficiency Project. I'm not glad that electricity users have to contribute to energy efficiency and renewable power. However, it does seem kind of ironic that all of the PG&E rebates are funded by ratepayers.

Despite the fact that the Governor campaigned on promoting solar energy, he has yet to endorse the bill. Go fig.

There is a camp...

A camp near home...
You may have heard...
Its Camp Shalom!

There are more cheesy camp song lyrics where that came from! Since I am in Fresno, I decided to stop by my old place of employment, a Jewish Day Camp called Camp Shalom. I know, it is quite an original name. My stepmother is now the director and my stepbrothers are counselors. Its definitely a family adventure. Going to camp was quite nostalgic. In morning circle my brother introduced me as one of the old counselors and pointed out that I was wearing a Camp Shalom shirt from last century....1999. Wow I'm so old. It was unusual to see all these kids that I used to play with who are now much taller and don't remember me. One of my campers just got her driver's license.... my brother is turning 19 next week and going to Humboldt State in two weeks. One of my stepbrothers is going to UCSC in a month. Soon I'll be graduating and getting a job and married and having kids and.....oh my.

I'll part today with some lyrics to one of my favorite camp songs entitled "Wherever you go."

"Wherever you go, there's always someone Jewish.
You're never alone when you say you're a Jew.
So when you're not home and you're somewhere kind of newish,
The odds are don't look far cause there Jewish too."

Why doesn't the real president get me this excited?

I love West Wing marathons.

I think now is an appropriate time to share a dream I had the other night. In my dream, I worked with the president. Then something happened and we had to run and hide in the White House tunnels. I remember in my dream that I felt really cool for being with the President when shit was going down, which is kind of an odd feeling to have when you are tromping through secret tunnels. But the really weird part of the dream was the President himself. First, it was George W. Bush, then it was John Kerry, and then it was Martian Sheen. What the Hell do you think that means?

I think I have been watching too many West Wing reruns on Bravo.

Burning Hands

Tonight I attended a punk show at Café Roma with Alison and Evan. Andre met us there because he thought I said I was going to a funk show, not punk. As it turns out, he hates punk, and was not happy about the $4 cover…not that anyone else was happy about it either…I mean, its Roma…. But, the show actually turned out to be quite entertaining. One band added a lot of really unique sounds and the guitarist kept running around and knocking into things. Then at the end of the set they literally took apart the drum set and handed off the drums to people in the audience. Then the rest of the band mates handed off their instruments. A whole new band was born. It was very exciting.

Andre and Melody came back to my place and I convinced them to help me make salsa. That was an adventure. The salsa turned out pretty tasty. However, my hands are burning from cutting the jalapeno. Actually it is really painful. I wish they had a hotline or something you could call to find out what to do in situations like these. Okay I am now going on a quest to find something basic to even out the acidic jalapeno. I guess I did learn something from chemistry after all.

The GRE

I bought a GRE study guide book because I need to take the GRE this summer. Attempting to study is going to be challenging. I'm expecting it not to happen to often. Wish me luck.