how not to impress me

after awhile attending singles functions can become pricey . some people try to circumvent this by becoming super schnorers who don't pay for events but stand outside the venue waiting to see who comes in or out. or better yet there are those who show up at the venue take a quick peek at who is in the event room and decide whether or not it is worth spending the money . if its not worth it they leave.
ok, so  i can understand those  who peek in before paying. i can't say that i have never tried that trick. then again those who do this actually do end up paying to get in if they decide that the crowd is "worthy" .
those i take issue with is those who stand outside and shamelessly stand around the front door of an event and don't actually pay especially when i have paid. if i can manage to afford to pay why can't they. if they can't afford to pay they are most certainly not for me.

edokko: growing up a foreigner in wartime japan

i started reading this book about a month before the tsunami hit japan.
edokko: growing up a foreigner in wartime japan is the story of isaac shapiro a jewish new york lawyer who was born in 1931 and grew up in japan. his mother was born in russia and moved to china as a baby and his father's family moved to japan after the russian revolution. shapiro's parents met in berlin as musicians and left germany because they feared the anti-semitism yet to come. his parents then lived in palestine and later went back to japan. young isaac also lived in china for five years during his parents separation, but later moved back to japan when his parents reconciled. he spent the war years in japan and at fourteen befriended united states military officers who were stationed in japan and worked as an interpreter.after the war he moved to the united states under the guardianship of a united states military officer.
japan was good to the jews during the 20th century when they fled russia due to pogroms and later when they fled the shoah.
mr. shapiro had a unique life and his memoir is well written. it was also quite an appropriate read after all the devastation that has recently befallen japan.

more on mad men

though i have been having fun watching the cable series mad men via netflix  aside from the era's sexism there is another thing that disturbs me about the series. mad men is set in the early 1960's and it totally convinces me that these actors are existing in the early 1960's. unlike actual tv series that were created in the early 1960's that have a dated period feel to them mad men seems like it is happening now instead of fifty years ago. this disturbs me because it is so surreal. my parents were young during that era . they were younger than the characters of this series, but it was the time of their young adulthood. when i watch this series i see the continuum of life and as enjoyable as it is, it is also bittersweet.

hooked on srugim

ever since i saw the first three episodes at the israeli film festival in november 2008 i fell in love with the israeli tv show srugim.                          srugim is about israeli orthodox singles in there late 20's early 30's living in  jerusalem . it is amazing to see a tv show that shows life as a single orthodox jew. though one of the characters is otd, the rest are not which is what makes this show unique. it is so cliche to chronicle someone who is otd. to chronicle someone who is frum and single and is sincere  is much more of  a challenge.
srugim has been shown on the jewish channel with subtitles and it is also on dvd. the only drawback of the dvds is that they are in the israeli format and not in the us format.
 between friends who have cable and friends who have the dvds i have managed to see all of the first season and most of the second season of srugim. 
i would love to elaborate more about the episodes, but i don't want to ruin it for you.

facebook follies

i joined facebook for the events . yes i am constantly checking status updates , posting photos and instant messaging  but really i just joined for the plethora of singles events posted . now that fb exists no one gets conventional e-mails about events so i just had to join. oy the peer pressure.
my most favorite part about seeing posted events is checking out the guest list. you just know that half of those people on the guest list are not attending because in a few days when the event posts photos you don't usually see half the people who say that they are attending. this can be good , this can be bad depending on who on the guest list you do or don't want to see at said event or even in photos.( yes there are some people i don't even want to encounter even in a photograph)
even if they make people pre-pay for an event one still doesn't really know who is truly on the guest list. as the saying goes... "just clicking attending on fb does not assure one's spot at the event. one has to register on the link" which is usually off  facebook.
i do miss the good old days of just asking the event organizer who was attending the event before actually signing up. there were no guest list guarantees then either , but it didn't indulge any one's inner stalker either.
now when we attend singles events not only do people look vaguely familiar because we may have seen them in person we now may have seen them on facebook  as well.  when someone uses the pickup line "haven't i seen you somewhere?" they aren't completely lying. they probably have seen you somewhere before, but that somewhere was most likely  virtual.

super talkers

yes , we all know them. and they are usually women. who are they? im speaking of super talkers - people who are fun to talk to but once engaged in conversation its hard to escape. i don't mind them so much if i see them in a random non-social environment, but they are deadly to speak to in shul or at a singles event because they zap you in and you can't get away and no one else comes by to say hello when you are talking to them because they don't want to get stuck as well. super talkers are nice people but they have tentacles. i used to talk to them more often but i find i like to talk to a variety of individuals who are preferably male at a  social event , not just one person.
recently ive taken to only speaking to super talkers for a few minutes and then i excuse myself. i usually feel bad when i excuse myself, but its worth it. every time i get sucked in and only talk to a super talker at a social event i regret it afterward.
i don't think that super talkers mean to monopolize my attention , its just that they can't help it or its the only way that they will have a long conversation with someone.

The Maccabeats - Purim Song

i realize that many of you have seen this one already, but im sharing it anyway. its really cute. i wonder if they are going to have a pesach one?

The Purim song and dance by St.Petersburg Hillel (I gotta feeling)

i thought i would share this catchy tune from russia with love and hamantashen!!!

happy purim!!

HAPPY PURIM!! dont eat too much or drink too much!!

certification

i was in herald square again this week---- near macy's  thirty - fourth street and i saw through the window of mrs. fields that there was a moslem food certification right next to a jewish kosher certificate. im not sure that the kosher certificate there is a valid one, but it was fun seeing the juxtaposition of these two signs.

purim greetings

purim will soon be upon us. i have always loved purim . i wonder if the charedim will soon be calling megillas esther  megillas mordechai because they so want to hide women . this of course would be ridiculous because the name esther already means hidden so no need to hide her  more.
one of the reasons ive liked purim , aside from shalach manos and hamantashen is because a woman is a central part of the story of purim. now that i think about it intermarriage was a part of the purim story. after all achashverosh did not convert to judaism. then again, marrying a gentile is not one of the three cardinal sins in judaism- killing, idolatry or adultery so i guess to save the jewish people its ok to marry a goy. the funny thing is as many times as i have studied the story of purim i never remember discussing the intermarriage component. if it was discussed it must not have been much because i have zero recollection of such a discussion. i am surprised that the less ritualistic branches of judaism haven't had a field day with  this one. then again maybe they have but because im frum i haven't heard them do this.

pass away

dead, kicked the bucket, expired, passed away . these are all terms for someone who has left this world. i prefer using the term passed away instead of died. perhaps because it somewhat sugarcoats the reality. they passed away. and where did they pass away to? no one living really knows where to exactly . i guess this is another reason i like the ambiguous  nature of the phrase passed away. they aren't here anymore, but they passed away to somewhere else.

there is no barometer

was the holocaust worse than blacks slavery in the united states? was the brutal murder of the holtzbergs in mumbai the worst murder in mumabai during the weekend mumabai was terrorized two years ago ? was the murder of the fogel's in itamar worse than the japanese tsunami this weekend? DO NOT leave any comments as to which you think is worse. i wasn't aware that there was a contest of who can suffer the most. everyone who has endured any of these tragedies have suffered . trying to minimize someone else's suffering is irrelevant. these were all  devastating events where people have suffered immeasurably. life is not a pity party where the one who has suffered the most wins a prize for suffering the most. and tell me who really wants to  be the one who has suffered the most? 
may there be an end to all suffering and to those who feel the sick need to compare suffering just to make themselves feel better.

who knows me best?

i always wonder who knows me best, my good friends or those who read my blog?  some of my  good friends do read my blog, so i will include them as my blog readers .i think that those who read my blog probably know me best. a lot of people assume about me instead of listen to what i am actually saying.  a lot of my friends suffer from narcissism and insist on interrupting me every time i speak so i know they arent listening to me when i speak they are just waiting to tell me whatever piece of nonsense they are waiting to interrupt me with.
i can tell from the comments on this blog that there are people out there who get my point of view and are listening. thanks . its good to know.

memories

i have a freakishly good recall  for names , places and memories. it can be a blessing and a curse. its great to remember good things, not so great to remember the not so good moments of life.
i don't know if it it would be better to have a poor memory but since i am used to having a good sense of memory i don't think that i would like not being able to remember things .
the weird  thing about having a good memory is that people think that i pay more attention to names and faces than i really do. its not that im trying extra hard to remember people's names  i just happen to remember them.
a lot of people think that i am more of a tv watcher than i am because i remember many celebrity names. i watch a lot of movies but not much tv , its just that i remember those celebrities  that i like.
i remember a lot of trivial moments in my friends' lives that sometimes they jog my memory for things that they want to remember about themselves.
id like to forget more about relationships that i have had that have not gone well, but alas i remember them all too well.

radical islam

is it just me, or do you find this disturbing?  senator peter king is blaming the entire muslim community for the radical muslims in the united states and trying to say that they are to blame for homegrown muslim terrorism in the united states and that they refuse to cooperate with law enforcement officials. i am sure that there are some muslims in the united states that fit this description but it is not an accurate description of all american muslims. this i know for certain. i do believe that radical islam is a problem in the united states but one cant blame all muslims for this. to me this is VERY dangerous. not every muslim is a radical muslim especially those muslims who moved to the united states simply to have a better life just like any other ethnic group.what if they blamed all jews for everything fraud that occurs in the united states or all irishmen for alcholism in the united states?

imagine...

imagine if  united states senators banded together and demanded that the  jews  rid our communities of ponzi schemers.
 a jew is more likely to stab you in the back monetarily than physically . neither are acceptable morally or religiously (as if these were separate issues! lol)
it would be dandy if the rabbis would get up to snuff and encourage everyone to be honest in business, but i don't think that the american government should be sanctioning such measures. we ourselves as jews should be mandating this.
this is just a thought.

echos of the past

lately i've been attempting to chip away at the clutter in my apartment. its time consuming and weird. when i flip through old papers and find old receipts its eerie. i spent this much on that three years ago?  scar-ry . i've gone through old greeting cards that i have saved from relatives who have passed away. its heartwarming to read them but hard to throw away . it would have been easier to have thrown them out years ago when i still had the possibility of receiving another card from them.
rifling through clutter is also frustrating. no matter how much i toss it still seems like a mess. then again its kind of like weight gain and weight  loss. it takes awhile to accumulate and just as long to get rid of.                                         all of the purging of clutter i have been doing lately has had an impact on my spending habits. the more stuff i buy the more i have to reorganize and toss later so i haven't been buying as much stuff.

apologies

sometimes when people apologize i feel like they aren't really apologizing, they are just trying to get me to say that what they did  was okay that i should accept them for who they are even though they have  hurt my feelings . sometimes this is true. sometimes it isn't.. once someone tried to apologize to me and i didn't think that they would really listen to me . i didn't think that anything would change so i didn't express myself. so many times before i was told to suppress my feelings because of others  that i figured if i had said something that it wouldn't make any difference. because it usually did not make a difference.   maybe it would have. maybe it would not have. now i will never know.

everyone should say i love you

take a moment to appreciate those who are important to you in your life. tell them how you feel. don't let the moment pass . don't let it be too late,  sometimes it can be too late.

chaim charlie irwin estevez sheen(berg)

charlie sheen is unhinged . i used to watch the show two and a half men and think that his character was an amped up version of the real charlie sheen. apparently his tv character is a toned down character  of the real charlie sheen. too bad. the man has been drugged up involved with prostitutes and physically abusing women for quite awhile now. most recently he decides to "out " the real name of his show's producer charles lorre. apparently lorre's real name is charles michael levine. charlie sheen called him chaim levine and managed to say the chet in chaim quite well. we all know charlie sheen's name really is carlos irwin estevez so one would think that it wouldn't make much difference what chuck lorre's name is or isn't. and of course all of hollywood changes their names. name changing in general is no crime.
of course all of the chaim calling is just because charlie sheen's reckless conduct prior to the name calling has created a situation where the show had to get rid of him. two and a half men is one of the most popular network comedies . i don't think that they would get rid of charlie sheen if they didn't see any other choice. money is money.  people are greedy.
so now charlie sheen resorted to name calling. his ex wives don't want him to see his kids , his dad wanted the show to shut down months ago so his son could get help. charlie sheen goes on a media frenzy. he looks crazier than tom cruise bouncing off the walls when he was being interviewed with matt lauer. the only pity i have for charlie sheen is that he doesn't realize the depths of his insanity.
if charlie sheen knew anything about judaism he would know  emor  me'at veaseh harbeh - say little and do much.
silence is golden. the less you say the better you appear.