I typed this post up last night and then didn't post! So pretend you are reading this yesterday. I will put in ETAs where necessary. Sorry for sucking at this journal thing, 9 years in. Ahem.

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I'm going to see Les Mis tomorrow! :D :D :D It is possibly my favorite musical ever, I don't even know. I've only seen it once, in 1999, an Israeli production starring Dudu Fischer, and I am 100% sure I'm overhyping it in my head but what can you do other than keeping reminding yourself that. There's just something about the music, or the cast, or that image of red flags and barricades that gives me chills even when I watch it on youtube. We're going to the Beit Zvi Academy of Arts production, so it'll be low cost and the stage will be small and the actors will be young, and still I am looking forward to it like, as they say, whoa.

eta: I got back from the show and it was SO FANTASTIC. It was a small stage and they cut a few bits out and the translation was not perfect, too formal and stilted or ridiculous at times, but all of the singers were so good, and especially the big medleys or big chorus numbers that have such a chance to go wrong with a non-professional cast -- "One Day More" and "Master of the House" and "Lovely Ladies" and "At the End of the Day" etc, they were all so fantastic and beautifully in Sync. And Valjean, oh my god, I have never on youtube or in any live or recorded Les Mis soundtrack I've ever listened to heard such an amazing version of "Bring Him Home", which is usually a song I don't even like in the OST, but oh wow. I would absolutely not be surprised if on the day the actor, Idan Shemi (apparently an Israeli Idol contestant 6 years ago) auditioned for Beit Zvi, the faculty decided that by god they were going to put on a production of Les Mis because they need this guy to play Valjean.

Okay, so yes. I enjoyed that <3 For all you musical/Hebrew fans, have some youtube clips of Les Mis in Hebrew:

Harel Skaat singing Empty Chairs at Empty tables
Jessica Ouzen singing On My Own or Chani Dinur singing the same song
Chani Dinur singing A Little Fall of Rain with uh, someone as Marius
Adi Arad singing Bring Him Home, or if you prefer Dudu Fischer
One Day More from I don't know when
Master of the House from the 1988 production
Last Do You Hear the People Sing

Or heck, here is a playlist of the entire 1988 Israeli OST

/eta

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Yesterday I went shopping with marina, so now I have a dress to go to my boss's wedding to next week. (You may recall that I went to my boss's wedding exactly a year ago. This is the new boss's wedding. Apparently managing my office is good for your love life?) After marina left, I walked around the streets of Tel Aviv center a little bit. I am a city resident, I thought! And yet most weekends I'm so exhausted or lazy I don't even leave my apartment on Fridays before 7PM. It was time I experienced some mellow Friday afternoon city life, the busy cafes, the speeding bicycles, the sunshine, the pre-summer breeze, the things they turn into songs and credit sequences.

After wandering through a secondhand/antique open air market that apparently materializes in Dizengoff Square on Fridays, I stopped at a bistro/cafe for a late lunch. I had a pen and paper pad, and lacking any reading material, I thought hey! Writing! I can do it! But my phone was dead and apparently I can't write any fic without a million wikipedia checks first, so I didn't even know where to start.

In the neighboring table, an old guy in a blue shirt was flirting with the waitress. He was soon joined by another old guy, wearing another blue shirt, and an equally leering gaze. Over the course of the afternoon at least 6-7 old people wearing various shades of blue filtered into the cafe, men and women both. Most of them knew each other, some introduced themselves for the first time; I felt like I was witnessing the reunion of a secret order.

A jazz trio started playing, bass and drums and piano wafting out the open windows. I moved inside so I could get a better look at the musicians, nice looking guys my age in shorts and flip flops as the season dictates. One of the blue-clad old men sat next to me. "I used to be a drummer in Paris," he said. "I speak English, French, Arabic, Moroccan. No Hebrew. You are very beautiful. An Artist? A teacher?" He pointed at my pad of paper. "Just writing," I said, thank you, smile, no, I don't want a drink, no really, no really, I'm driving, oh, you were an engineer, the King of Morocco drove your car, and now you live in a big house in Jaffa with five cats. He was probably around 65. He returned to his table a while later, to be replaced by a new blue-shirted man. "You're sketching," he noted. I had switched to sketching by that point; my pad had during the course of the previous conversation filled with lines like okay and then Kaner tries to errrrrr Ha ha right so this is IMMENSELY awkward. "I teach illustration. Do you want my number?" No thanks, I smiled. I just finished taking some art classes in the Tel Aviv Museum, I don't have time for more. Yes, I'm sure, but if you have any tips I'm all ears. He left. A few minutes later a blue-shirted old man sat down next to me. "Can you copy this for me?" he asked, and handed me a note that said Snow and Ashes. Sure, I said, tore a page from the notepad and copied the phrase. "You should watch it," he said. "Look it up on the internet. Fascinating documentary." Thanks for the recommendation, I smiled, staring intently at the bass player. The man went back to his seat. "It's about cheetahs," he continued from across the room. "You should look it up."

After about five minutes an old couple sat down asked if they could sit down at my table. "Sure," I said -- I was taking up a good table all by myself -- but the Parisian drummer saw me clearing space for them and came back to the table. His bottle of Coke was still there. I said it's fine, sit down, and left my tip and left.

I like being out in the city. I like being approached. I like talking to old people! I don't even know if all of those guys were actually flirting or whether I was reading into it following my conversation of the old guy, but I wish I didn't feel the flirty vibes coming on so strong. Just before I left, I heard someone from one of their tables snicker, "There's a pretty girl over there, you can hit on her for me."

Still, it was a really nice afternoon.

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So last week I went to reserve duty. First of all, being still pantsless and having forgotten my boots anyway, I went in civvies, and was relieved to discover I wasn't the only one -- all but one of the girls were in civvies as well, and while most of the guys were in uniform, about 80% of them were wearing sneakers instead of boots. Awkwardness avoided!

I met one of my former COs there, who looked exactly the same and remembered me but didn't remember that she'd been my direct CO for 3 months, right after I'd finished basic training. Thankfully I did not feel subject to her in any way. I also met one of the course commanders whose trainees I'd instructed, whom I hadn't seen since probably 2004 and who still looks exactly the same, tall and skinny and baby faced. They both said I look exactly the same too, which I am skeptic about but will take their word for.

The day was basically a few briefings about the reserve unit they were looking to beef up, followed by personal interviews with command staff about which positions we were all interested in and were suited for. It seems like a low maintenance unit -- no more than a few days of reserve duty a year -- and interesting in that it involves cooperation with US military, and I'm curious and interested in trying it out; they'll call me back when they decide what they want me for and when, I guess.

Due to the nature of the unit, they also gave us a briefing on the structure of the US military, and a few basic notes for how to work with them.

Below the highlights:

Race/religion/politics: Don't get into it. Just don't. No matter how much a person is your friend, no matter how much you think a joke will come across, with the culture and language barriers, it won't. Don't.

Rank formality: When addressing US military personnel your rank and above, address them as [rank] [last name], sir/ma'am, or a combination of them both. First name based familiarity is allowed with personnel your rank or below according to your own judgement of appropriateness.

More importantly, the same rules apply to IDF personnel when in front of American military. Never call your CO or other command staff or rank above you by their first names, nicknames, last names, or however you're used to calling them regularly, if you're in front of Americans.

Discussion norms: Forget that you are Israelis and remember the rules of discussion you learned in elementary school. Don't cut into anyone else's words, and wait your turn to speak. Don't let everyone know what you think about everything all the time - speak about what's relevant when it's your turn to contribute. We're not saying you should shut up, but be focused. (and don't cut in.)

Fraternization: First, know that many soldiers treat overseas tours as "what happens on deployment, stays in deployment," married or not, and things happen, oh, we know that things happen. You're all adults and we're not here to preach any morals to anyone. BUT: be careful about it, tread gently, make sure you're on the same page, and whatever you do, stay within your ranks. No matter that you're part of separate chains of command, do not start anything with anyone who is beneath your ranks or above your ranks, and nothing with enlisted personnel. Follow US military policy on this one.

SO OVERALL this briefing was rather hilarious and made me go wow, this is seriously as seen on TV, and more than ever made me want to test that out in real life. If they call me back, I shall update as much as I am able.

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FINALLY, the LA KINGS guys :D :D :D Their success makes me so happy. You know who it makes even happier? One George Ryan Ross, who has not only bought and worn merchandise and gone to their last two games and tweeted photographic evidence, but has in fact tweeted more about them than I did, and retweeted tweets from the official @LAKings twitter which I'm pretty sure everyone agrees is the best official team twitter around. To summarize, that would be 4 retweets and 16 tweets recently overall.

OTHER FANNISH THINGS RYAN ROSS HAS TWEETED RECENTLY:

"fucking love sports night" # <-- in response to "I wish there was a secret season 3 of Sports Night that I could watch all of today."
"prob about 10-12 in a row" # <--number of Friday Night Lights episodes he's seen in a row (basically an entire season)
"well, we're not in one direction yet" # --< in response to someone else's "No, me and @thisisryanross aren't in One Direction.. But thanks for asking ;)"

Ryan Ross, best fanboy or best fanboy?

In any case, if you are interested in knowing who these LA Kings are, even just for the sake of Ryro's, uh, whatever, here is a long but pretty great primer. If you want to cut to the chase and read the most relevant pairing primer in that team, which is 100% enjoyable, I feel, outside of any slash context, read the The Not-So-Tragic Tale of Jeff Carter and Mike Richards, who were recently reunited on the lines of the LA Kings. I would not be surprised if Ryan Ross were their biggest shipper of them all.