in my life

More weather updates from the weekend: I drove to Haifa for a friend's birthday on Friday morning, and this is how the drive went:

1. drizzle drizzle drizzle
2. 30 minutes of crazy downpour, the kind where I slowed my drive to a crawl cause I could barely see past the sheet of water
3. lightly overcast sky, with lightning occasionally striking in the distance (including a memorable rod directly into the ocean)
4. Haifa - alternating rain, sun and hail
5. Driving back - about three minutes when it was hailing on the car while the sun was shining?(??)
6. the Tel Aviv-Haifa drive is on a coastal road, and there was a ten minute stretch on our way south where on our right was the ocean, brilliant sunlight flashing off the waves, and on our left was a dark gray cloud storming over the hills and town of Zichron, occasionally hitting the ground with lightning, but with the setting sun lighting it up in yellow from outside, so it seemed like sections of the cloud were kind of... glowing from within. WITH LIGHTNING COMING OUT. It was pretty spectacular.

Meanwhile, I read this What It's Like Living In Boston Right Now piece, and gah. *hugs* to everyone who is currently in the cold, especially if you don't have the supporting infrastructure.

Speaking of people from - sorry, Vermont - frozen wastelands, I met sabra_n last night! It was so much fun hanging out, and I wish it was not a rainy gloomy suburban weekday where restaurants and cafes closed at midnight, instead of later. I could have easily stayed another couple hours. Why do I not live closer to all you guys irl, sigh. In any case I am always happy when you come to visit :-) More people should do that.

*

I went to see Tzippi and Buji speak on Saturday night, and by that I mean Tzippi Livni and Buji Herzog, current leaders of the opposition... in a sense. Only typing this did I just realize just how much calling politicians by their nicknames, ie Tzippi, Buji, Bibi, makes it sound like this country is being herded by a bunch of cats. Anyway, it was rather pointless; they basically try to say as little as possible so they can get as many votes as possible without scaring anyone away. I hate that their campaign slogan and entire strategy is "It's us or HIM." That said, what can I say, I hope it works.

*

In hockey news, a retired (=had career ending concussions) NHL player, Steve Montador, died yesterday at 35. It's, well, first of all, sad. It's being investigated because of his age, and I have no idea if this will be officially associated with his history of concussions, but I'm sure it will spark some kind of conversation about violence/injuries in the game. I... really don't have anything to say about the topic, other than I'm curious to see if and how it unfolds.

In other hockey news, I must have watched Patrick Kane's shootout goal from last night about 10 times now and don't show any indication of stopping /o\

Well, I've been talking about he beautiful weather we've had recently, and the storm is finally trickling in. This is one of the most bizarre storms I can remember.

The set up was yesterday, which was probably the spookiest night, weather wise, I can recall having witnessed. The temperature wasn't that cold - the wind was dry and actually a little warm - and as the day progressed, the winds grew stronger and stronger, causing messy whirlwinds of leaves and litter all through the streets. By night, there was a sheen of hazy dust in the air, making everything blurry; black sky, but huge glowing auras around streetlights, tall buildings disappearing into this weird alien haze as they climbed up. Sand was visibly blowing on the roads near the ocean. We parked our car in Jaffa, on a high parking lot by the sea, over the port, waves crashing against the wall; when we got back to it two hours later, the parking lot was in the midst of getting flooded, ocean water visibly creeping towards our car, which was parked in the back. This wasn't just the tide, or a regular nightly occurrence, but a product of the wind, chucking ocean spray in increasing volumes. Walking against the wind was a struggle, and the wind was polluted with sand; just two minutes of walking outside made me feel like I had a mask on my face, and I could taste the salt on my lips. From two freaking minutes. And the sounds were just -- eerie: rustling leaves and faraway banging and clanging, sheets of tin rumbling in abandoned houses, the crash of waves. It was a dray, warm, dark and stormy night.

This morning, my car was covered in a thin sheen of sand and dust. Like, all over. The winds continued to grow over the day, and the sky is basically a weird shade of yellow - not dark, not light, just kind of yellow-beige, growing stronger and stronger. And then just a few minutes ago it started to hail. I don't even know, this is just - bizarre. When I opened the window, I felt a warmish, dry wind, combined with gusts of freezing air. Let's just say, I would buy this weather in a dystopia movie. And now that hail has paused - not even five minutes. I... am curious to see how this continues to develop.

*

The restaurant I went to last night was Blackout, a pitch black restaurant operated by and at the Na Laga'at Center, which is a cultural and education center for deaf/blind/deaf-blind and the general public. The staff are all blind/visually impaired, and it was a pretty amazing and delicious experience.

I went with two friends. The evening started with a drink at the bar, deciding on the dishes we wanted to order outside, and our waiter then leading us into the restaurant, the group of us walking hands-on-shoulders, like a conga line. He introduced himself, asked to learn all of our names so he could then address us by name throughout the evening (most obvious way to distinguish between us), and seated us all at our table, explaining what was in front of us, recommending how to pour ourselves water from the jug without spilling anything, and telling us to feel free to ask him anything we want at any point. If we want to call him, just say his name.

The space itself really was pitch black; as the evening went on I found myself closing my eyes more and more. I ordered a salad for my starter which I mostly are with my cutlery, and a fish (fillet) as my main dish, which came on a bed of roasted eggplants and cherry tomatoes, olives and labane. It was a complete guessing game of what my fork would latch into for any given bite, and at around the halfway mark I just sidestepped cutlery and ate the rest with my fingers, first feeling up the dish to kind of get the general shape of what was in front of me and finally just digging in, ending with literally licking my plate, it was so good. Dessert was also delicious, and our waiter was kind and conversational (he works here on the evenings the restaurant is open - four times a week - while also having an office job at the center, teaching clay work, being a medical massage therapist and a night travel guide.) It was really interesting to also learn the small details about how such a restaurant operates: each plate came in a different shape, to help differentiate between them; waiters' carts had little bells on to indicate where they were; each waiter was in charge of a few tables, and was stationed relatively close to them, so they could hear when they were being called. And considering that whenever our waiter handed us a dish, or a napkin, or a drink - considering that he either placed it on the table in front of us with perfect accuracy, or handed it to us in a way that included brushing fingers but minimal skin to skin touch (in a situation where, you know, touching strangers has potential to be uncomfortable), it was overall just an incredibly skilled staff and super well done.

Overall it was an awesome experience, would go again, do recommend :-)

Three people at work have had birthdays, and I am on my fifth piece of cake. That would be separate cakes, not five pieces of the same cake. I'm dying. They are all delicious beyond words.

Last night, I woke up at 3AM from a rather uncommon thunderstorm. I have an a/c unit right next to the window over my bed, and woke up initially from the sound of water just drilling down on it like crazy. For the next two hours, lightening kept going off at the rate of paparazzi and the thunder was basically one non-stop ongoing roll, and I finally managed to fall back asleep around 5AM, into the most bizarre dream about The Good Wife.

I dreamed it was late season 6; I had accompanied the law firm on a trip to LA where Alicia met her new lawyer boyfriend who enjoyed riding his bike along the grassy hills, and now the entire firm, along with Peter and myself, were on a corporate retreat/vacation on a gorgeous rooftop beach hotel. I did a walking tour of the place, saw the pool, the fancy catering, the sunset, then somehow found myself in Alicia or Kalinda's bedroom where they were... talking? Or maybe Alicia was talking happily with her boyfriend? And then everyone was called to the restaurant/lobby where Cary was sitting with a bunch of associates and Kalinda at the main dining table, and they were dramatically revealing this epic corruption conspiracy that had apparently been building since season 1, and this entire time they had been working undercover to solve; it framed both Peter and, surprisingly, Alicia's boyfriend. Then we (I am honestly unsure who "we" were at this point) went grocery shopping for snacks at night.

.....I blame the thunderstorm? Actually, I blame the fact that so many people I know IRL have been catching up - my sister's started watching from S1, my coworker started watching S1 maybe three weeks ago and has just caught up with the S5 finale, so I've been surrounded by this fandom and... really enjoying it.

Meanwhile: I haven't watched Supernatural in years, but I had to watch their 200th episode, titled 'Fan Fiction', which took place with Sam and Dean investigating disappearances adjacent to a high school production of Supernatural: the Musical!, a drama club fan musical based on the "fictional" novel series based on their lives tat exists within the show. I don't come with any baggage regarding this show, so for me it was a super enjoyable hour of television made up of meta and fanservice and genderbending and fangirls and ~subtext~ and hilarious lyrics, including my new favorite song about "a single man-tear rolling down my cheek".

MEANWHILE IN HOCKEY: like, okay, I enjoy Patrick Kane with frustration tears as much as the next person, but I'm okay with the Hawks starting to play like the champions they are IN THEIR HEARTS again. So like, if they could win tonight, that would be super great.

*

LAST, since we are heading into winter which is banana season*, a question: so when you were a kid, what were you taught about the brown spots in bananas? On the bananas themselves, not on the peel. Were you told to eat them or not, and what they are made of?

*in Israel, bananas are a winter fruit. As are strawberries and oranges. I know this will be weird for some of you :-) I still can't fathom strawberries as a summer fruit in some places, what even.

This is literally what it looks like outside right now:


current view from outside marina's window
So yeah, it's mudding right now. Not very heavily, because apparently these are overall pretty wimpy clouds, but the combination of sandy winds and rain lead to some pretty dirty rainwater. And this is just what it looks like the the center of the country, with sand that I assume has travelled from the south; I can't imagine what it looks like in the desert right now.

Plus it is snowing in the north! I kind of love that tiny as this place is, the Big Storm brings snow and sandstorms on the same day. And yet I would rather be where the snow is. I have a feeling the car would come out cleaner.

Oh hey, Day 6 of Hanukkah ALSO brings us:

--a light shower of rain, which I am pretty sure is the first rain we've had in over a month.

--Adam Lambert's new acoustic EP. OMG, how is his voice so amazing? Let me tell you my favorite parts:

...okay ALL OF THEM. Online songs are Whataya Want From Me, Aftermath, but the other three are also so great. There's Soaked, which I always skip in the CD but wow, such a great version, and Music Again ("my eyes baby eyes" ♥_♥), and I adore this version of Mad World -- sure, it's not usually an upbeat song, but his voice is just a pleasure to listen to. I wish I could see these live. He sounds like he's having so much fun.

--me finishing to read all of natacup82's Panic fic at her fic journal. The Holiday AU! And other great things.

Raaaain! Real rain now, even :D Half an hour ago marina was all RAIN! on chat but there was nothing here; I guess the storm must have traveled here, because a moment ago it was pouring. although the sky is clearer now, I see.

Mmmmm rain smell. It rained on my a bunch of times in the States this summer, DC and Baltimore and NY, but the smell outside right now reminds me of Oberlin more than any of the other places; it must be a city/country thing.

I woke up today with a grape branch (sans grapes) tangled in my hair. This is, I admit, very troubling.

Aaaaaaaand the dog is still afraid of thunder. HOW SO CUTE.

ETA: ( Read more... )

Aaaaand it's started raining again. In the middle of summer. Still unbelievable.

I'm still not caught up on comments, sorry! I walked around on the hills outside town yesterday and took some photos and I shall post some when I am not backlogged. Thank you everyone for your birthday wishes! ♥. On my bday evening I went out for a burger with friends (rad, I know), where I was subjected to an entire ten minute conversation mocking me for not wanting to eat off my roommate's plate because she had a cold, but hey, guess what, I woke up the next morning with a sore throat and a headache anyway. So I spent the last three days feeling pretty blah, but at least my head feels good now, and my sore throat's been replaced by a runny nose -- the kind where I use up three rolls of toilet paper of the day and I really need to buy myself some Kleenex, because my nose is all red and scratched up.

But enough about my nose. For anyone interested, I'm offering 3000 words of podfic, yours or someone else's as long as there's permission from the author, over at help_haiti. I would love to offer drabbles too, but I hesitate to commit; sadly there is much school this week, which is also the last week of the semester, eeps. I am in denial about that.

The weather over the weekend had been amazing. I want to complain about the lack of rain -- I love winter, and water falling from the sky is good for the water tax (in the long run) -- but I can't bring myself to, because the weather was amazing: warm, gentle sun and this intoxicating scent of blossoms in the air, because our garden seems to think it's springtime; sitting outside yesterday morning I felt like it was April, like the world was taking that quiet early afternoon nap before the Passover guests arrive. I wish there was some way to bottle it up and keep it.

With no actual spoilers, now, my thoughts on the past week's TV:

Chuck: disappointing, and then awesome (literally, lol)
HIMYM: ♥! Also (okay tiny spoiler but I assume you've seen it or don't care) Barney mouthing that suit was really hotter than it had any right to be and I may or may not have imagined the rest of that scene with Adam Lambert filling out said suit... anyway.
House: part lol, part :/ However, ( spoiler for character death. You can guess which. )
NCIS: LMAO at surprise!Alon Abutbul! I love it when they spring Israeli actors on me out of nowhere. Of course, he was playing an Arab, because that's what Israeli actors are good for in Hollywood, but anyway he's awesome so that was fun, even if he only had a 3-line speaking role (he played the dad Prince).
FNL: ♥♥♥

Aaaand also American Idol (last season): basically everything posted about Adam this past week had made me lol, from his music video (....lol) to his favorite tweets to that Vevo commercial. In addition, I've just caught up on the results of the ontd_ai/ontd_startrek charity contest and aw, I totally ship the comms now. I'm also filled with bizarre respect for the fact that they managed to get Kris Allen to tweet Adam Lambert the word "poop"... for charity. Please, fandom, never change.

And a last note, for my government: please STFU and stop being utter tools oh my god. Also please fire the entire Foreign Affairs ministry (oh my god, please). Aside than the fact that they are idiots, I love Turkey and it produces some of the best Idol fanfic on the web so I am taking this personally, so if they could stop making me feel embarrassed by association, that would be great. The only good thing that came out of this affair was Assi Cohen bringing out his impersonation of Foreign Affairs Minister Liberman on this week's Eretz Nehederet again, lol. (link and link, in Heb.)

I told myself I was gonna be good and get all my reading done on time this semester, and already I'm behind in one important class. And I haven't been able to read my flist as thoroughly as I like, which means I've been skimming and not commenting much, which I feel bad about, and I'm still behind on replying to comments. I'm sorry! I miss having actual conversations with you guys. I'm gonna try to be better about it. (I'm also behind on fic I want to read, but I'll make it up at some point soon. Not at the expense of school stuff. Hopefully.)

I was a teensy-weensy bummed tonight, but then it started pouring outside. Not long, only for an hour or so, with just a spattering of thunder. But now my window's half open and the air smells gorgeous: dark blue and cold and wet, with a loud wind that intensifies in waves, making the leaves rustle and blowing gusts of fresh post-rain air into my bedroom. I can't help but feel peaceful with that.

Yesterday I watched Taking Woodstock. The first thing I did when I returned was check if anyone had nominated it for yuletide, because it would have been criminal had that movie not been on this year's list; thankfully, some kind soul had nominated it, and now I can only hope fic will actually be written for the movie, because oh, that movie ♥. I feel so lame trying to articulate why I loved it, but it was -- lovely. It was a very small, private story about a very huge event. It sweeps you in and makes you roll with it. It's got a great scrips with fantastic characters and really great actors. Demetri Martin was charmingly dorky and thoroughly sympathetic as Elliot (Eliyahu) the lead. Liev Schreiber is great as Vilma, Emile Hirsch is fantastic as Billy (short spoilery clips), and Imelda Staunton and Henry Goodman are just amazing as Elliot's parents, the Teichbergs. What neither Quentin Terentino nor Edward Zwick were able to make me enjoy in in Inglorious Basterds or Defiance -- that victorious, vengeful do not mess with us, motherfuckers feeling that's supposed to come with certain Holocaust/post-Holocaust plots -- this film made me feel in one brilliant two-minute scene, and it didn't make me feel dirty feeling it, just proud.

Anyway. Awesome movie, can't wait for the fic, and oh wait, one last character (because you save the prettiest for last) -- sigh. Jonathan Groff as Michael, guys. Call me shallow, and I will reply... yes, I am. But unf. When my sister was in NYC last summer, she kept raving about the guy who played Claude in the Shakespeare in the Park production of Hair. She went to the play three times, couldn't get enough of the guy, and kept trying to covert me to the dark side even though I'd never seen him act in anything.

Well, after seeing the actor play young Woodstock producer Michael Lang in this movie, I can admit with a full heart to being a convert. It's a little worrying as I'm half convinced his whole role is a metaphor for Jesus or something -- nobody could be that cool all the time -- but whatever, I'm just waiting for the fic now. Far out, man. Far out. (See him smile! And talk! And move!)

Hope everyone celebrating had a happy Halloween last night! I miss Halloween; it's a pretty freaking cool holiday. I posted the story of my first acquaintance with it a couple years ago, but as it is ~seasonal and all, I shall c/p. ( If this seems familiar, it's because you've read this before. )

Weather getting cooler and cooler. Last night I wore a sweatshirt (over my shorts and tank top) + added a thicker blanket to the single sheet I usually sleep under. Drinking a cup of coffee outside, the coffee gets cold much sooner. It's 7PM, and cool enough for me to roll my pant legs down.

*basks*

Still haven't seen last night's episodes, waiting for tonight. Also NCIS! Wow, September.