in my life

I love The Daily Show's Operation: Silent Thunder videos. They've been getting a lot of press, haven't they? (And much of it comprised of astonishment over the fact that one can find humor in a war zone. Yeah, like soldiers are known for having no sense of humor whatsoever.)

Today's big 'aha!' moment: I've finally figured out how to play fetch with my dog! See, she's kind of (very) stupid, and I say this in the fondest way possible. Her one self-appointed mission in life, it seems, is to bark psychotically whenever she sees us about to take out the trash, and then run frantically to the fence above the big garbage container outside, to presumably guard us from the garbage container monsters.

When it comes to fetch, she understands the concept of catching, but of ever returning the object? Not so much. She just waits for you to come to her and then runs away, hoping you'll chase her. As if I got a dog so I could stay in shape.

But!

Today, I noticed two tennis balls lying around, where previously there was one. I threw her he one ball; she chased it happily, caught it, and returned to one meter away from me, holding the ball between her jaws. I then threw the other ball behind her. You could see, for just a moment, the conflict in her eyes: is there enough room for two tennis balls in my mouth? Can I run and still hold one? Or - and this is actually far more likely - tennis ball!, forgetting she was even holding one in the first place. In any case, she dropped the ball and chased the second, returned that one to me, dropped the second at my feet when I threw the first away again, and so on and so forth.

I might also mention that a tennis ball is about the size of half her face, which makes this that much more adorable.

Oh, Angie. So easily distracted.

( picture of curled up doggie here. )

It is 12:00 Friday noon, out of two tests this week one went great and one went horribly bad, and I can feel it's going to be a spammy day. Will try to make some of it meaningful.

In the meantime, ( two doggie pics, )

--and I've made a list of all my fics. And that is all.

ETA: Purple hearts? Still? Really?

I was having such a good time at "school" that I wan't anxious to get home at all- I was happy, of course, but coming home didn't have that burn that usually accompanies it when in the army.

My family presented several surprises for me upon my return. A bowl of summer fruits- peaches, grapes, apricots, cherries that I dreamed of dearly during Shavuot at the base. New curtains for my room. My sister passing her driving test (2ndtryrulez).

A puppy.

During the past 48 hours I have been reduced to no more than five minutes of normal speaking before reverting back to baby-talking the most adorable, mild mannered, well behaved little puppy on earth! Angie/Daffy/Polly/Sandy/Mandy/Pita/Tzvika (that was my uncle) Is the sweeeeeeeetest little puppy ever! Isn't she? Isn't she?

I have become mush.

In other news, I am now officially a cadet. The tests went fine; my team is made of 14 wonderful, intelligent, talented people who like getting into discussions and, get this: reading aloud the words of Hebrew songs out of a songbook if they liked the lyrics, even if they don't know the tune. Very special people.

I think things will start becoming difficult next week, when we're completely over the reception and getting accustomed. So far, it's all been very cheerful and campus-like, and even colorful- with everyone, being from myriad corps, walking around with berets on their heads, from a bird's view we look like M&Ms.

Because of the tight schedule there's hardly any time to read the paper, if we get any at all, which is quite fine by me, because it's getting uglier and scarier by the day. I was in the room with a friend when a good friend of hers, a 19-year old classmate from school, called her and, pointing out the infamous picture of soldiers crawling in search of body parts in the sand, said, "The guy in the corner turning his head? That's me."

There's a new demonstration of 'passive resistance' that I heard of - every day between 6:00-6:05PM, you flag both sides when you drive, to support pullout from Gaza. I hope by the time I see cars again, in two weeks when i'm home- streets will be blinking.