This is the problem with blogs:
1. you have to avoid being to risque because you can never predict when Mrs. Korf will take up websurfing as a means to spread her message to the world (as if.)
2. you have to avoid being to graphic because you never know when some bored dormitory of boys will appreciate your crassness (uh hu.)
3. you have to avoid becoming to personal diary like- cuz no one is interested in reading if you ate breakfast today or the fact that your new 4 inch heels gave you blisters (hmm...)
4. you have to avoid being to audience-oriented... it's supposed to be original like you're indifferent to the fact that you have no idea who the hell is reading what you write.... (right. convince yourself.)
That was for you, Rico, love...

So what are you left with? I am wondering... being that my life is often Bridget Jones meets periodics librarian (basically an extremely boring book worm/academic-a-holic drama queen) it gets a bit complicated. Last night at 4am i decided to watch Phantom of the Opera, I am not sure why i did that. I desperately needed the sleep, and I desperately needed to have some serious self-downtime. I love the music, I have have and always will. Ever since Rose and I saw it on Broadway. Anyone have the score? Or must I download it from some illegal website (from some unfortunate immigrant sitting in a drippy basement in Chinatown trying to make money to buy popsicle sticks to mail home so that his mother can build a raft for her two extra daughters and ship them out of China?) guess I'll just have to.... (lord major ramble mode- that was a run-on fahhhshizz).

In addition to this enlightening subject I hate doctors. Now, I don't hate all doctors (I myself will be one in 7 years time) uh oh getting into personal territory... next.

So what books am I reading? A very bad anthology of poetry from Barnes and Noble, no wonder it was $4.95 it has a terribly poor selection. Finally got some new fiction to read like In the Midnight Garden of Good and Evil etc. ...also reading, last month's Reader's Digest (what happened to that mag it used to be so nice to read), last month's National Geographic and an article my Dad clipped me out about BC and its political professors. (HAHA anthropology/evolution discussion return).

Right, so should i bring up some very intellecutal observation about something?? Like if abortion is good, or if we should promote the death-penalty, or be into stem cell research, or do a portrait on female sexuality, or investigate if my mom's new crumpet recipe is truly as low-fat as she says.... How about... the fact that i will be spending my summer carrying a back pack bigger than me, eating warm tuna (ugh. i suffer from tuna trauma as it is) on a knee that predicts the next rainfall but doesn't work very well unless it's in a 150 degree Bikram yoga class??? dunno... wonder what lea, ricko, entropy, rishe have on their blogs maybe i should steal something clever from them.
actually,
what the hell.
i'm gonna go balance my check-book...

the STARS in THE attic

Alright :) Curiousity kills the cat.
Shawna i am honored you think my blog looks like a rollerskating rink- I always loved those (especially when they had that disco ball glow in the middle with the lights off).

Today Yuda and I went to see Madagasscar- I am waiting for a hit from there. Best part of the film [if you're forced to see it] the neurotic germa-phobic giraffe and the militarisitc SPF hungry penguins :) I swear some people truly resemble animals.

After the movie Yuda and I went out for pizza and i watched pregnant woman after pregnant woman walk by. Beautiful but slightly unnerving. Like a sci-film where everyone just wakes up pregnant (men too i am afraid) Nehama you'll have to verify if such a movie actually exists. And yes the season definitely has something to do with it. Its mating season in the animal kingdom!! Through out all of history people have celebrated spring "Sumer is Icumen".... :) Still i'll continue this chat in the posts.

Princess Fergie and I got some great pics yesterday in Manhattan of Fleet Week- She has this Sex in the City fantasy going {there's that word again} cute sister-in-law of mine :) eek. She wants to put the pics up, perhaps we shall after work of day is completed. speaking of which...
mahalo friends and i suppose... mates.

NEW POST :)

Hello friends-
Much as i've been extremely entertained by the series of comments following the last post...i do think it time for an entirely new entry. so Shabbat was nice- complete and total lazy day. Incredible feeling when you just lift schedule, time, and other daily things off your chest and absorb the peace of the day. Caught up on some reading (hmm...the Dante Club...Michel Foucault's "Society Must Be Defended" and read up on Biartiz in south of France). Anyone have any books to suggest? any films? I have two and half weeks before Rosario and I leave to the Great Continent {helas!!} and although I will be working there will have ample time on my hands (to catch up on all those lunch dates and picnics :) oh! Maman made heavenly strawberry apple crumpets (come over for some). And for the weather report: it rained on and off never got quite pouring nor fully dry....sort of hazy dewy musty day (i do love the smell) the sky was as indecisive as me as i contemplate venturing outward for a visit [though the books prevailed].

In regard to the issue of 'Anonymous' postings...I refuse to guess who's posting what (simply because i've guessed wrong too many times to admit to... and consequently made an utter fool of myself) i don't mind it. I always appreciate anonymitity (which is why i choose to travel under... well.... not my usual names) One day i'll have to post a rather hilarious story that involved my forgetting of my new name (Sig- i remind you of Netanya???). So as they say somewhere- whatever floats your boat works for me.

I was just reading some interesting blog posts on various sites of friends of friends.
to the 'Realist or Cynic' sweetheart, how can you possibly call youself such a thing?? Your innocent and truly genuine declarations moved me deeply (how old and wrinkled my soul feels).
I am inspired by such devotion...

Apparently i have nothing to enlightening or humorous to say- This Shabbat i had an epiphany regarding my book...i am going to include a chapter called the "Method of Marriage" [for those who don't know it will not be an expose but a personal account] for those of you who didn't like my phrase 'love happened' you'll get a sneak peak on it.

Righto my dear fair beautiful friends- i bid you good week, good cheer, and good [hmm what am i craving] ripe red lusciously fresh cherries... :)

To one who has been long in city pent,
'Tis very sweet to look into the fair
And open face of heaven,- to breathe a prayer
Full in the smile of the blue firmament.
Who is more happy, when, with heart's content,
Fatigued he sinks into some pleasant lair
Of wavy grass, and reads a debonair
And gentle tale of love and languishment?
Returning home at evening, with an ear
Catching the notes of Philomel,- an eye
Watching the sailing cloudlet's bright career,
He mourns that day so soon has glided by,
E'en like the passage on an angel's tear
That falls through the clear ether silently.

nothing like a bit of Keats on a rainy night. I love the way poetry looks on a blog- so culture clash, so odd, so...patheticly devoid of depth...like open flat red sticky cheap wine...like art without truth. Still despite all... my affair with words endures...

peace to you all loves...peace to you all.

o do i love this blog :)

you know this is the best escape from Hume's fork (which i am beginning to stronly associate with the Devil's...) well three down, two do go...what the hell.

so Mr. Blog!!! ha ha!! I'm sorry our secret is out- my knee cannot retain its wisdom (seriously i am going to check it out one day...i swear. ) YUMMM as if i just saw you at the wig lady!! Mama Mia i thought i needed to get my eyes checked!! 48 hours dear tick tock tick tock.... Shternie thanks for checking us out- ;) it would be lovely to see you when you come to the states (though i maybe drinkin guiness in Dublin by then :) ) and Rishe your blog is on my list tonight...

so down to business- Abelard was a Christian theologan but actually more of a Medieval philosopher, because the Church was the only way one could persue an academic career he was forced to enter the monestary. Story has it that he was in love with a woman named Eloisa. Now this fair maiden was quite the brilliant one herself. Anyway, love happened. She refused to marry him because she did wanted him to continue making advances in his studies. She became pregnant. Her uncle forced them to marry. Their child's name was Astrolabe (how's that for Bohemian???). The church refused to admit him in the study halls because he was a married man. Here's the tragic part. They separated, he was castrated and she joined his monestary as an abess. Read the poem- it's a letter from Eloisa to Abelard. Pope's tight anti-thetical clauses capture her warring emotions and as she tries to spiritualize their love and devote her self to worship- she is overwhelmed by memory... after Pope wrote it they became celebrities people would go and visit their graves in France (as I hope too) okay okay just read it, not so much romantic or erotic as it is tragicly beautiful. k, enough on that.

here's a shout-out there's a gig on Sunday nite at Tommy's Tavern in Greenpoint- @ 9pm should be fun...Peretz thanks for the email- you going? sorry the brain is not coherent today...all i know is that its cold outside and the sky's about to burst with a rain storm (my mom posts the weather on my door...) :) i'm late for piano gotta fly.

greetings friends-

Perhaps it is in my complete hautiness that I care not to believe that my present relapse of blogging should consequently produce a lack of audience. The front stairs of our house are being redone, leaving our Shabbos guests to come through the alley way (I must say I am completely cured of my fear of moon-maddened cats clawing my eyes from garbage cans) and our spontaneous guests braving the obstacle course. Later today it rained (as my left knee had earlier predicted) and poured with plenty of thunder and lightning. brilliant rain storm. Now that we've covered weather I must say that life as of late has been uncannily dull, though commitments tend to do that I suppose :) not much of which to update and I am afraid I am in the wrong mood to be clever or offer any brilliant observations. I do apologize for my lack of phone calling, much of that is due, not to overburdened scheduling but to the fact that I had misplaced my phone for a few days. (and thankfully found it). Thursday finals conclude (I jump with jubilation) and although they are not terribly difficult they do require hours and hours of review (Friday alone was Aristophanes, Euripides, Thucydides, Plato, and Sophocles). So playdates are temporarily on hold. Rose and I are somehow still planning our trip (well booking a ticket anyway) which should be absolutely amazing. Okay, I will waste no more needless words on the great circle of thought that is my life in regard to my exam on Monday on 18th century poetry I am suggesting the read of Pope's "Eloisa to Abelard" (scandoulsly breathtaking) I am quite partial to it, and I think it reads lovely.

I, therefore, purpose not or dream,
Descanting on his fate,
To give the melancholy theme
A more enduring date,
But Mis'ry still delights to trace
Its semblance in another's case.

No voice devine the storm allay'd,
No light propitious shone,
When, snatch'd from all effectual aid,
We perish'd, each, alone;
But I, beneath a rougher sea,
And whelm'd in deeper gulphs than he.

With that dear friends I bid you fair night.

yes, well i am sorry i disappoint...
i am in the midst of finals
i have no concept of time, space or self
i'll be back...

WANTED: NEW HAMPSHIRIANS

This is a shout-out for my very very nice uncle and aunt

who are desperado for counselarooos this summer!!!

Any interest in working in the very lovely state of New Hampshire??? (sans the Man in the Mountain- which after being there for a million years fell down the day before I got there) They truly are lovely people and quite flexible (refer to Angelique :) ....

call me or them- 718 801 0150

i'd appreciate if you spread the word-

till later more creative posts (scouts honor.)

Well chelllooo everybody... so today I went to Ozzie's for a studying gig (now doesn't that make school work sound better??) and on the usual library run i noticed the most peculiar thing: This month is National Jewish Month?! Now, i've never heard of this phenomenon before- then again they have National Haitain Month- i wonder do they run out of months for everything or do they go by a bi-yearly cycle or sometin...hmmm... point to ponder some other time.
Now onto other important blogster business:
Eddie dahlin...i loved your poem, my o my where does he harbor these emotions?? really dear you musn't be so uptight- don't you know that the 'snake' comment was not correcting your lovely recitation- it was merely me speaking aloud- you should understand a brain shot to hell, sometimes the censor between brain and mouth is simply not functioning....after reading your lovely ode i must insist that you carry out your plans for law school or again my Queer Eye idea... (really though- if it wasn't...well you...maybe i'd be more open to the sentiment :) ) and no more love poems you are really going to ruin my prospects ( eh?? :)) (people don't understand that you're more feminine than me :) (now we're even.)
Other thoughts....
Sar have fun in Hong Kong!! Let me know if it's worth the trip, i've been told it's like a never-ending Chinatown :) hope you have fun and don't gag from the ducks and monkeys being roasted in the streets (how anthropologically correct was that?!) gazooks...
Rishe- i am so glad you've rediscovered our blogosphere- and i am going to check out your blog.
Nehama- no work no play, and seriously no pay :) but then again...as if the money even lasts... and could you please figure out how to put that site counter up (i'm thinking its a cheap self-esteem boost, cheaper than therapy at least :)
and Shawna...our duckie and chickie names: Furball A, Furball B, Sebastian and of course...Lucille Ball #100, 101, 102
cannot find my AXB cds- i'm thinking i left them somewhere in someone's laptop burning- i'm thinking its when i was up at Yale- anyone??
hocus pocus mini me mocus... pfff! i'm gone!

Happy Mutter Day

So I have an interesting thought on Mother's Day.
Mother:
Hebrew: Ima
Yiddish/German: Mutter
French: Mere
English: Mother
Italian: Madre
Spanish: Madre
Funny that in nearly every Phoenician language the word for mother always has a 'mem' sound. One of a child's first words is 'mama'... Now why is this? I once read in this obscure book that 'mem' in Hebrew is 40...for the 40 weeks that a woman is pregnant the child is in 'mayim', 40...the state of preganancy until birth (thinking Shavous here...) feminine wisdom etc. etc. hmm...interesting notion i think.
Like Valentine's Day- I often wondered where Mother's Day came from, here's the story:

The earliest Mother's Day celebrations can be traced back to the spring celebrations of ancient Greece in honor of Rhea, the Mother of the Gods. During the 1600's, England celebrated a day called "Mothering Sunday". Celebrated on the 4th Sunday of Lent (the 40 day period leading up to Easter*), "Mothering Sunday" honored the mothers of England. During this time many of the England's poor worked as servants for the wealthy. As most jobs were located far from their homes, the servants would live at the houses of their employers. On Mothering Sunday the servants would have the day off and were encouraged to return home and spend the day with their mothers. A special cake, called the mothering cake, was often brought along to provide a festive touch.

As Christianity spread throughout Europe the celebration changed to honor the "Mother Church" - the spiritual power that gave them life and protected them from harm. Over time the church festival blended with the Mothering Sunday celebration . People began honoring their mothers as well as the church.

In the United States Mother's Day was first suggested in 1872 by Julia Ward Howe (who wrote the words to the Battle hymn of the Republic) as a day dedicated to peace. Ms. Howe would hold organized Mother's Day meetings in Boston, Mass ever year. In 1907 Ana Jarvis, from Philadelphia, began a campaign to establish a national Mother's Day. Ms. Jarvis persuaded her mother's church in Grafton, West Virginia to celebrate Mother's Day on the second anniversary of her mother's death, the 2nd Sunday of May. By the next year Mother's Day was also celebrated in Philadelphia. Ms. Jarvis and her supporters began to write to ministers, businessman, and politicians in their quest to establish a national Mother's Day. It was successful as by 1911 Mother's Day was celebrated in almost every state. President Woodrow Wilson, in 1914, made the official announcement proclaiming Mother's Day as a national holiday that was to be held each year on the 2nd Sunday of May.

While many countries of the world celebrate their own Mother's Day at different times throughout the year, there are some countries such as Denmark, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Australia, and Belgium which also celebrate Mother's Day on the second Sunday of May.

Well Shavuah Tov, my loyal bloggers...a good healthy week to you all. So Rose and I are in the midst of planning our trip...though we've got no tickets... and all i have is a backpack, a pair of sandals, two pens and my log... so where is the wind going to take us?? ireland. headin' all the way to Ardmore Bay, maybe to Galoway for a word fete... then Paris (my love. my light. my joy.) Spain e Portugal...but really who knows?? Parce-que the Rose and i will get to train station and decide to go to Transylvannia...glory glory freedom :) ... Happy Happy Birthday Papa Gary :) hope you've digested Moo's cake :)...in the spirit of malchus and gevurah- my feministo buds...au revoir Ricko, bon voyage.. i better see you b4 next semester in lab...Edmond hope you're out of your Vertigo...Angelique- where o where can you be? and Anne Oakley keep me posted on your "experiment"...i'll keep a sleeping bag for you, as your L.-wh. [lee you should get that term] and all that :) People it's official i am looking into cats- send references...

The past 45 hours have been one calamitous, down-wind event after another... some days are just not happening... still 'what does not break us makes us stronger' (Nietzche) must pull from inner- resources... namastaei. tonight is teferes and gevurah (harmony/perfection and fortitude/strength) perfect application for my current state.

The gesture (or mudra) of namaste is a simple act made by bringing together both palms of the hands before the heart, and lightly bowing the head. In the simplest of terms it is accepted as a humble greeting straight from the heart and reciprocated accordingly.
Namaste is a composite of the two Sanskrit words, nama, and te. Te means you, and nama has the following connotations:
To bend
To bow
To sink
To incline
To stoop

All these suggestions point to a sense of submitting oneself to another, with complete humility. Significantly the word 'nama' has parallels in other ancient languages also. It is cognate with the Greek nemo, nemos and nosmos; to the Latin nemus, the Old Saxon niman, and the German neman and nehman. All these expressions have the general sense of obeisance, homage and veneration. Also important here is to note that the root 'nama' is a neuter one, the significance of which will be elaborated upon later.

The word nama is split into two, na and ma. Na signifies negation and ma represents mine. The meaning would then be 'not mine'. The import being that the individual soul belongs entirely to the Supreme soul, which is identified as residing in the individual towards whom the namaste is directed. Indeed there is nothing that the soul can claim as its own. Namaste is thus the necessary rejection of 'I' and the associated phenomena of egotism. It is said that 'ma' in nama means death (spiritual), and when this is negated (na-ma), it signifies immortality.
The whole action of namaste unfolds itself at three levels: mental, physical, and verbal.
It starts with a mental submission. This submission is in the spirit of total surrender of the self. This is parallel to the devotion one expresses before a chosen deity, also known as bhakti.

The devotee who thus venerates with complete self-surrender is believed to partake the merits or qualities of the person or deity before whom he performs this submission. There is a prescription in the ancient texts known as Agamas that the worshipper of a deity must first become divine himself, for otherwise worship as a transaction would become invalid. A transaction can only be between equals, between individuals who share some details in common. Hence by performing namaste before an individual we recognize the divine spark in him. Further by facilitating our partaking of these divine qualities, namaste makes us aware of these very characteristics residing within our own selves. Simply put, namaste intimates the following:

'The God in me greets the God in you
The Spirit in me meets the same Spirit in you'

In other words, it recognizes the equality of all, and pays honor to the sacredness of all.
Translated into a bodily act, namaste is deeply rich in symbolism. Firstly the proper performance of namaste requires that we blend the five fingers of the left hand exactly with the fingers of the right hand. The significance behind this simple act in fact governs the entire gamut of our active life. The five fingers of the left hand represent the five senses of karma, and those of the right hand the five organs of knowledge. Hence it signifies that our karma or action must be in harmony, and governed by rightful knowledge, prompting us to think and act correctly.

By combining the five fingers of each hand, a total of ten is achieved. The number ten is a symbol of perfection, and the mystical number of completion and unity. It is true for all ancient traditions. Ten is the number of the Commandments revealed to Moses by God. In the Pythagorean system, ten was a symbol of the whole of creation. Ancient Chinese thought too thought of ten as the perfectly balanced number.