Taking a much needed three day vacation

If you need me, don't. I almost died of exhaustion this last week. If I'm up to it, I'll make a post later.

Go Giants!!

the slip

Looking at all my immediate family's blogs, I can see that no one has brought up what happened last sunday. Of course, this could be for several reasons, a few could apply to me as well. Therefore there is probably a good reason why I shouldn't write this, but as I and Iguana are the only eye witnesses to speak of, I feel that many people will be wondering exactly what happened.
The end of winter break was dangerously close. So close in fact that I wasn't really thinking about it. But my brother was, constantly reminding me by asking me if I knew what it felt like to know your freedom was about to end or whatever. I just said no. That was the last two years. This year I don't care about going back to school anymore. I'm on top of things now.
So anyways, the end of break means...lice checking!!! No, not for me, for all those elementary school goers that are related to me, such as the PT and Iguana. After two futile attempts made by my mom to get them into the high security compound that is our elementary school (the doors were locked) my mom asked me to drive them over while she made lunch. Yes, I now have a license and can drive without a fully licensed person with me, but this was to be the first time I would be actually doing that. That was a little scary to think about, what with all the snow being on the ground, but I figured I'd be okay. And I was. That was not the issue.
After daringly turning a slightly busy corner to get closer to the school, we all piled out of the car to get inside the school. There are two entrances; stairs that lead into the building, and a ramp. Me and Iguana went up the ramp, and the PT, what with the goofball she is , decided to go around, and ran around to the stairs. "Whatever" I thought "If it makes her happy".
So after lice checking, we started to head out. When we left the building, this time me and Iguana went down the steps, which was the most direct approach to the car, which was right across the street. The PT, of course, ran down the ramp.
This is where things get creepy when I think about it. She was running down the ramp, laughing away, and right when she started running down the slush covered ramp, she stumbled and caught herself. I should have realized right then, and I was actually processing a warning through my brain to tell her when, as she reached the bottom, she slipped backward, landed on her back, and slid down the rest of the ramp on the back of her coat.
She was crying the kind of cry I expected to hear if she had pinched herself or gotten scared (which is what I assumed had happened) so I helped her up with Iguana and we started to head for the car. I was saying things like "don't worry" "it's okay" ect. because at the worst, I figured she had scraped her hand. On our way to the car, an older jewish woman I do not know came over to us.
"Is she okay"
"Yeah she's fine." I said.
"Here I have some stuff for her" the woman said back, reaching into her purse and pulling out a small glass bottle with a gold liquid inside and a dropper.
"Here's some rescue remedey" she said. The PT, of course would never take candy from a stranger and gave a very negative screech.
"Okay, she doesn't want any remedy, what else can I do?" the woman said half chuckling as she walked away. To this day I have no idea what was in that bottle.
So we went back to the car. The PT was still crying as we drove home, which was not something I had expected. I made the usual jokes which usually make her forget about pain, but she did not seem interested.
We got into the house and showed the injury to my mom, who took it much harder than I had. She did the usual "does this hurt" routine with her and ended up putting an ace bandage around her wrist. We asked the PT what happened to her wrist, and she said she didn't remember. I, at this point, thought she might have sprained it breaking her fall on the ground. Iguana was saying something about stretching her muscles. I never quite knew how either was possible. I didn't see her hands or wrists involved at all.
Yet, my mom told me she was almost certain that is was broken, and the PT wouldn't really eat her mac and cheese and was still moaning, so we ended up taking her to the hospital, getting an xray, and discovering that in fact, she had broken her wrist in two places. She will have a cast on for four weeks. This is her right wrist. To me, that sounds like she can't write books, play video games, use computers, eat, and tons of other stuff for four weeks. And she's only six. This is what is haunting me right now. There were so many ways that didn't have to happen.
But I called her tonight and she sounded fine, in fact not really interested in talking to me (she was in the middle of watching "kronks new groove"). She got a white and red striped cat in the hat cast, and she sounded perfectly normal, so I'm feeling much better about the whole thing now. I considered making a get well card and having everyone at the school sign it, but my mom told me she wouldn't know the difference (which is probably true).

Get Up

Ahh...the sheer bliss that is winter break. The truth is that for me, it's difficult for me to enjoy a vacation because I spend the whole time thinking about how much time I have left. It's like an automatic reflex
Me thinking: Cool it's winter break! Oh no! I only have Five days left and then I have a whole semester all over again!

So how does one enjoy the one week long vacation with no yom tovs one gets all year? Sleeping in? No, I tried to wake up at 6:25 this morning. I distinctly remember hearing my Palm Pilot's alarm going off, and thinking "oh shoot they're going to be pissed if I don't turn that off right now!" Then I turn it off and immediatly I start thinking about how I'm going to not fall back asleep. Often it is like a civil war.
"You need to get up for shul" I tell myself.
"But I don't want to get up!"
"But you have to!"
"But it's cold outside the bed, and I'm tired, and it would be so much better to just go back to sleep"
"But you set your alarm for now, and it was probably for a really good reason (that I can't quite remember being 3/4 asleep) and anyways you're already up, so get out of that bed, put your dang clothes on and get to shul somehow before you miss the 6:45 minyan! After all, wouldn't it suck if you slept in and missed it?"
That gets me maybe half the time to get out of bed. This morning I was not so fortunate. I don't remember going back to sleep. My last thought may have been something like
"I'll just lie back for a minute so I can work up the energy to get out of bed."
So anyways I wake up and it's 8:15. I don't have an issue WAKING up, just getting up. This is a very fine line. So my brother (Out of Ammo) of course gets up right away and starts getting me up.
At this point in the morning I am never in the mood to put up with crap, especially since I always know right away that I slept in even though I was up and thinking earlier. So my brother starts being annoying so I'll get up. I believe if it were anyone but him I may have gotten up, it's just something about the tone it's said in in combination with my already annoyed additude that bugs me. The conversation this morning went something like this:
"Get up!"
*muffled grunt*
"Come on get up!"
*no response* (at this point I think if I don't bother you you won't bother me)
"Get up!"
*slightly irritated grunt* Noise I can take.
"Get up!" (starts pulling at my blanket, not very succesful. I have improved on defending my blanket after years of crappy veckers)
"Get up!"
Now I will do anything to stop him from saying that.
"Will you cut it out?"
"but you need to get up!"
"That's great, but it's not your problem! I'll get up when I'm ready!"
slight pause
"But you need to get up!"
Around here i'm just like "this is going nowhere" so I just get up since I'm mostly awake by then anyways, but really, not the best way to start the day.

This Sucks

While I realize that many of you will not have much interest in reading this, and it will probably invoke some "who cares" faces out of many of you reading it, it's pretty much what's going on with me right now and I need to blow off some steam about it.
To the untrained eye, I have the perfect dorm room this year. The treasured "5 man room" (even the alumni came in and told us it was the best room in the school), the best shower, and I even got all the roommmates I had requested the year before (+ one I had in freshman year and created many social complications- but I can get past that). But if you spent ten minutes in there with everyone together, you would see things are not as good as they would appear. That something the Rabbis have trouble with. But we'll get to that later.
The thing is, one of the people on that "request list" is not quite the same person he was a year ago. Maybe that's just how I see it since I didn't spend a ton of time with him last year, maybe he actually did get worse. But he's definetly got plans for his life that would differ with the yeshiva's more than a little. For those yeshivish readers, he would be called "off the derech". But that's not to say he's a mean person. A little...forceful maybe, but all in all, definetly a nice guy. Even though every other word he utters is a curse word as bad as they come, and although the things he discusses are not very "neshoma enriching", he's still not a mean person. He has however, practically admitted to us that he doesn't believe in God, and never goes to davening.
Do I care about all this? A little, not enough to really do anything about it.
But there's another guy (one I didn't request) who may believe in God, but is half the time a total jerk, and the other time an awesome person. This one baffles me. He plays the worst type of rap music on the radio in our room 24/7 (or did, until the radio was confiscated) but recieves dvar torah's once a week from his father, which he graciously forwards to me. I can't stand him when he's being a jerk, but when he's in a nice mood, he's great. Him and the other guy I talked about are great friends and both love the room.
That leaves me and two other people. We're the "Jewish" half of the room. That basically means we come to davening, don't mouth off to the rabbeim, and don't have goyish friends (as opposed to the other two). And we didn't really enjoy the influence of the other two for the first four months or so. We were worried we would be like them by the end of the year. Meanwhile another friend of mine desperatly wants to switch out of his two man room because he can't stand his roommate, and was pushing for a room switch. Things all got really complicated, with vast plans of who did and didn't want to room with who, and in the end one of the three jewish guys from my room went to the Rabbi. He told them he didn't like their influence and wanted a change. He also told them that me and the other jewish guy wanted the same thing (which was true- but to an extent). So the two of us got pulled out of class and talked to by the rabbi about all this. We didn't snitch. The Rabbi told us first that we were not going to snitch to him and nothing we told him would get them in trouble. Okay. So he asked us if they were doing certain things, all of which they were. Then we discussed what the change would be. The two guys definetly did not want to leave the room (one dropped in right before the meeting and told the rabbi that) but the rabbi decided that if they're going to be a bad influence, they're going to have to leave. We said okay. That night, the rabbi broke the news to the two roommates who would be forced out of the room. They did not take it very well. For the first two days not much was said between us. But after a while, the jerk started accusing me of snitching (an accusation that still is going on) and the other one said he didn't trust me but otherwise has made his peace. (the plan called for him to get his own room)
Things have died down a little, but basically I wound up with most of the blame, since I'm kind of the goody goody in our room. Things were much more serious a while ago, but the resentment can still be felt for sure. No switch has actually happened yet (the rabbeim take forever to do anything) but things might move smoother now that someone was expelled (extra space). Sounds cruel, but is very true.
Thanks for reading Dovid Safir.

Sorry

I've been meaning to post for a very long time but I still don't have enough time to make a post.
That should tell you how busy I am. (or how hard it is for me to get to the internet) I'll try to post again soon. I think facebook has really distracted me, and hasn't done me very much good.
Something should go up this week.

Me? On Facebook??

I'm so Happy! I'm finally on facebook!
Yay!
...what's facebook again?

I really have no idea how to work this thing, and it does show a little in my "profile page". I find blogger so much better. I didn't somehow make blogger think I was in Wisberch Grammer School. And what is this "wall"? A place for me to sit back and bask in the radiance of my own wisdom which I have written to myself?

I have a sneaking suspicion that facebook is completely useless if I don't have any friends. And there's little hope of anyone from a London Grammer school approving my requests. But if anyone happens to get a request from me, please confirm it and let me know you exist.
I need all the help I can get.

An annoying philosphy question that's not really philosophy

VERY IMPORTANT UPDATE:
I forgot to include their biggest argument, which is that it's two against one (one person wants to sleep, while the two of them want to play magic, and they think it's unfair that they're getting kicked out for one person.)



Okay, if anyone who's reading this just read my sister's blog (older), please don't read this until a little later because it will look really shallow and pointless.

As none of you know, I am living in a five person room right now. It is extremley difficult for five people to agree to do the same thing at the same time. Like sleep for example. But there is a specific problem my room is facing right now on Shabbos afternoons that I was hoping someone out there would help me fix.

Usually, for me, after eating cholent, I am unable to do pretty much anything besides flop on a bed or couch and sleep till, or possibly through mincha. One of my roommates appears to have this very same issue. But two of my other roommates don't seem to get this problem- and are huge magic addicts.
For those of you who don't know, Magic is a trading card game that lasts for HOURS. No joke. These guys go at it all afternoon. ALL afternoon. 5 hours 6 hours 7 hours, doesn't matter. And it's not the quietest game either. Many times have I woken up to the sweet sound of-
OOOOOHHHHHHH!!!!!! SNAP!!!!!!!! (translation- I win)
I however, who lacks the spine and guts to tell them to be quiet (I don't feel it's necessary, I'm lazy, my list of rationalizations go on) just meekly try to get back to sleep, which never works. My other sleeping roommate however, tells them to be quiet, or play somewhere else.
They take extreme offense immediatly. "Your kicking us out of our OWN room so you can SLEEP! Who's being selfish here?" This particular person has quite a bit of energy because he slept through all of Shabbos davening. In his room. In his bed.
My sleeping roommate eventually leaves and sleeps somewhere else. I argue that it's much easier to find somewhere else to play magic than it is to find someplace to sleep, but they really never agree with anything I say, being stubborn and bringing in more crude, flawed logic to their side.

Any suggestions?

OHMYGOSH!

I just realized that it's 10:09 PM and I have a Halacha test tommorow! Oh, well. I guess that awesome blog I was going to write is just going to have to wait!
Bye!

We Juniors Are Just Too Nice These Days

There are lots of differentiations between "New Witz" and "Old Witz", many of which I can't really relate to. But I have been here for quite some time (three years) and I can tell you that if there's one thing that has changed since I was a freshman, it's the upper-lower classmen relations.
When I was a freshman, I was terrified of the Juniors and Seniors. Maybe that's just me, but the sophomores alone were enough to keep me on my toes. After all, they did come into my room one night with the intent of whipping me with belts (They afterwards said it was a joke). Seniors had very little or nothing to do with us, and if they did happen to talk to you, it was either to tell you to go away or shut up. This still holds true to today, but what's really changed is the way the freshman and the juniors interact.
When I got out of sophomore year, I thought the next two years would be a breeze. I wouldn't have anybody annoying me because the seniors are too mature to care, and the freshman and sophomores are all below me and wouldn't try anything. Unfortunatly, I soon discovered, along with many others who had shared my thinking, that this was not the case. You see, the freshman this year don't really realize that they can't make fun of people TWO GRADES OLDER THAN THEM, to THEIR FACE, and expect to get away with it. This is partially because this year's freshman class is filled with a bunch of dimwits. I'm serious. These guys are dumb as doorknobs. But either way, it doesn't really matter since my class is really to nice to do anything to them. I mean, if we wanted to, we could show them who's boss and they'd learn to leave us alone, (and some of us certainly have; the message however, has not been recieved) but that's not really us. I think that's because we know what it's like to be terrorized by upperclassmen (our juniors were jerks). So what's the outcome of all this going to be? These freshman will grow up to be mean juniors, who will pick on the freshman, who in turn will grow up to be nice juniors who will be too nice to pick on their freshman because of what THEIR juniors did to them. It's an interesting cycle, actually.

The Terror Is Over!!!!

Space

Still coming in summer 2008

Chemistry Class

Not that I like school or anything, but I pride myself in being able to find the good in most anything. And so far this year, I have managed to keep myself fairly interested in the stuff I'm supposedly learning. Thus, as most of my class routinly does, I am not a big "trouble maker". It's not in my nature to set off a stink bomb in class, or just callously insult teachers like they're not real people. Maybe that's intellect kicking in. I'd like to think so.
But last Wednesday, it didn't take a rocket scientist to find out what to do and what not to do when I walked into Chemistry Class.
I've heard lots of stories from my brother about Chemistry class. How the teacher is known to go beserk and just kick people out of class to alliviate some of his anger. So I generally stay quiet, rarely ask questions, and he's actually come to think pretty highly of me. But when I walk into the classroom at the begining of the period, and the teacher strangly resembles a tomato, I don't exactly try to crack a joke with him.
I walk in, and some sophomores from last period are still there, crowding around his desk handing in papers. Most just wanted to get out of there, but some were taking their time. One tiny sophmore slowly works his way through the crowd and goes up to the teacher.
"sir, I'm really sorry about-"
"You? I don't want to talk to you I'm sick of you!"
"But sir, I'm really-"
"Get out of my sight!"
"I was just trying-"
"GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!!!"
The miniature sophomore puts on an "I didn't do it" face and walks out into the hallway carefully.
"You JERK!" The teacher adds as the student leaves the room.

"This is a shut-up day" I thought to myself, and quickly sat down at a table.
Other people, unfortunatly did not seem to grasp this concept, and out of the sheer boredom that is chemistry class, began to cause a bit of a ruckus.
The teacher had just assigned us a chapter to read to ourselves while he graded some tests he wanted to hand back. (and wait for himself to calm down) So one guy in the back decides that's boring, and reads to himself outloud.
The teacher tells him to knock it off, so he starts reading quietly to himself. A few minutes later the teacher yells at him:
"I don't believe that you don't know how to read to yourself! That's a second grade skill!"
"Sir I skipped second grade."
What the heck is going through this kids' brain, I think to myself. But there's no way I'm saying anything, so the only thing to do as I have learned is to keep a straight face and watch the show.
The teacher of course blows up at him and talks about how he thought he had "outgrown that childish behavior". The guy does not get kicked out, but severly warned. So the reading continues. And someone starts humming, and someone starts tapping his pencil, and two people start joking with each other, and I just don't know what to think. Am I a goody two shoes, or are these people morons? I don't seek to piss a teacher off even if I'm bored and I hate him. I think that's because I can think ahead to the point where I know it won't do anyone any good anyways; a trait these guys probably lack. I feel like it's just common sense, and the reason I came up with was just that teenage boys are the dumbest entities on planet Earth.

Israel Videos...

...yeah about those...
My plans were, and are, to make a sort of montage of all the good parts of our 1:40 of videos from Israel. But since I'm still jet lagged, and I'm really busy getting ready for school, I doubt I'll have time to before succos. Oh well.

hilarious

Aren't those guys weird mommy?

This past friday night we were walking back from a meal at our cousin's house (me and my mom and the pt and fudge; the others had gone on ahead.) The pt had been falling asleep before we left, but we gave her a chocolate with lots of colorful sprinkles on it, told her it was super energy chocolates and suddenly she was full of energy. My mom asked her if she could feel the energy going into her and she said "yeah, I really feel it!".
So anyways, we were walking home with a now-hyper the pt (look I'm doing russian dancing in the middle of the street!), with me and my mom on either side of her, both of us holding one of her hands, and we past by a group of twenty or so teenagers hanging out on the corner of the street by some benches, talking and laughing. A loud POP from that general area drew our attention toward them.

The pt : Ummm... what are those guys doing?

Mrs. B: Making trouble probably.

The pt: Yeah, just hanging out...doing their things...probably not NORMAL (emphasis on that last word).

Me, fudge, and Mrs. B: Okay the pt, lets go, lets just keep moving...just stop talking...

But she just kept talking. And since in ramat beit shemesh everyone is shomer shabbos, there were absolutly no cars out in the street. No sound except for those guys and the pt practicly yelling "Those guys are so weird, what are they doing anyway? Aren't those guys weird mommy?"

News Flash!

Well, my sources have informed me that psychotoddler has the cable for the camera, (and he's back in not-israel) so no pictures are going up until I get back.
Too bad really. I'd like to get them up here now, but what can you do?

Pictures and Stuff

I'm trying to get some more movies and pictures on the blog, but as of right now I can't connect my camera to the computer. I'll get them up as soon as I can.

Ze Lo Yeraich!

Star Wars... B'Everit!

Life opens, every day.

-the pt