Sunday, June 29, 2008

Ann Coulter on Donny Deutsch

After watching "White Girl" by the BBC on YouTube, this headline caught my eye:

Ann Coulter wants Jews "to be perfected" from the Donny Deutsch show

I rarely swear, but this is warrant enough for a "W-T-F!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wnPHFSdrME&feature=related

Quotes from the clip:
Ann: "The more Christian you are, the less tolerant you would be prepostrous..."

Donny: "I should not...we should just throw Judaism away and we should all be Christians, then?"
Ann: "Yeah."
Donny: "Really?"
Ann: "Well, it's a lot easier. It's kind of a fast track."
Donny: "Really?"
Ann: "You have to obey."
Donny: "You can't possibly believe that? You can't possibly believe that. You're too educated..."
Ann: "Do you know what Christianity is? See, we believe your religion but you have to obey. We have the fast track program."

Donny ":sputtering:: Put you at the head of Iran. C'mon, you can't believe that."
Ann: "The head of Iran is not a Christian. I don't know if you've been paying attention."
Donny: "That's why Israel left the Arab World--no Jews?"
Ann: "Um...No, we think...we just want Jews to be perfected."

Ann: "We believe the Old Testament, but ours is more like Federal Express."

Donny: "If Ann Coulter had any brains, she would not say Jews need to be perfected. I'm offended by that personally."

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Back at school

Well, the 2 weeks at home were a bit rough. Jewish drama+family drama (*because* of the Jewish drama) were more than enough to deal with. I told a friend--well, someone I know from school--about said drama and I should have re-worded it a different way. -sigh-

But I'm back at school now. While at home, I found out I have in-state residency for next year, so tuition will be lower for me. :-) I signed up for my classes, but am a bit concerned because I'm the only person enrolled for them. I know it's almost July, and that classes start in September, but still. If they cancel my classes, I have to get *more* signatures, run paperwork around and then be allowed to sign up online. oh boy...just hope they don't get cancelled.

I got a letter from school on Friday, saying that my residency status needs to be verified. I need to give them a copy of my license, plus a copy of my '07 tax returns, and proof I filed them. That will take ahile since I sent them to my dad on the other side of the country!

I also need to find my insurance card. I had to go to the hospital for stitches last week. Unpacking my suitcase I cut my hand on a piece of glass from the picture frame packed in my suitcase. I went to visit my parents and brought the photo with me, but on the way back it must have broken in transit. I went to the hospital with Rabbi X since I was staying with her and we got back from the hospital about 2 hours later. I now have 5 stitches in my hand. I have to keep it dry and will be able to get them out this coming week. I haven't been able to use the hand at all, so writing and at work especially, has been a bit difficult. When I was younger, I was able to write with my lefthand, except everything I wrote would be backwards--to read it legibly, you needed to hold it up to a mirror!--at the hospital, I told them before I wrote it that it might not be legible, and my signature was atrocious! Writing with my non-dominant hand takes me back to elementary school. Yes, it's that bad. But I'm looking forward to my stitches being removed, and am excited for the rest of the summer!

Friday, June 13, 2008

Being Home-Day 2

Well, I travelled 2.000 miles or so to get home and it's been a bumpy ride so far. Only Day 2 and already my parents want to sit down with me about my behavior. -sigh-


Yes, I've been short and a bit snippy with everyone, but I thought my hints about my eating habits that I've been dropping for a few weeks now were obvious. I was completely mistaken. Apparantly, my Dad (who's Jewish) thought I wasn't as serious about it as he originally thought. For example, my parents both buy Glatt poultry at Trader Joe's for some reason. Neither keep 2 sets of dishes, but have kosher food in the house. After my sister+my dad wanted to "have a little chat" with me, my dad understood that I was serious about my "dietary restrictions."

He's said, "Now I know the symbols matter to you, I'll be checking everything." The symbols. I told him I keep OU, CRC+Chaf K. Now before he opens something he asks me if it's fine. I went on a hekhsher hide-and-seek in the pantry and found which was and wasn't with a hekhsher. I told him, "Look, set me up with lettuce, hummus, and tunafish for the week and I'll be set."


-sigh-

Before I get into today, let me just say that I woke up to a nice surprise: My dad+grandparents had strung up "Happy Birthday" banners since my birthday is exactly one month away. We went to go get my phone fixed since it wasn't working since last night. I'm waiting for the replacement to come in the mail so it looks like I won't have a phone for a week or so.

And then there's the clothing issue... -sigh-

I mean, yes, I choose to dress more covered now than in high school, but it's only adding long skirts and more 3/4 tops. That, combined with my "dietary restrictions" my dad's called it "extreme." My response was that I'm not Szatmar; far from it! My sister used Pysch 101 to tell me how I might feel better about myself if the clothes I wore weren't as plain as they are. "Something with lace or some nice detail," she said. I'm fine with what I wear on the weekends. As I work a manual labor job, I wear not-so-nice clothes because of the work atmosphere: painting, moving heavy furniture, carrying heavy equipment...My work clothes consist of paint-spattered t-shirts and jeans with holes around the knees. I don't wear nice clothes to work because I get messy, whether I'm up on a bridge or painting sets. Seriously...I'm fine with the clothes I wear and I'm fine with the ones I'm in right now as a matter of fact, which are jeans and a Crew-neck t-shirt. Yes, it's fitted but not tight. The jeans are actually a bit loose on me. Maybe 'cause they're stretchy, I don't know. -shrugs- But Shabbos is my one day to dress like a girl, skirt+top that are dressy without showing skin. My sister said that I don't have to show skin to be dressed nice, though my clothes could add some detail without being so plain.

Oh yeah, that was the main thing, my not having shorts for these 2 weeks I'll be in southern CA. In my suitcase the clothes I brought are: work clothes, since I've been living out of my suitcase the past week; 3 skirts, a pair of jeans, and a few t-shirts, with the obligatory socks+underwear.

So we started at Goodwill to find me shorts. I know everyone is just trying to help, but I know what I like, and am not going to wear low cut tops or shorts when I haven't for a few years now! I tried on capri-s which looked weird on me, found a wool skirt that was too tight, and ended up getting black warm up pants with zippers all over the place which I can wear for shows--since we have to be in "dress blacks" and all. :-) I didn't find shirts, but I'm fine with Crew-necks. I'll only wear a V-neck if I have something on underneath. Oh yeah, that reminds me. I told my mom how I didn't have shorts, and her response was,"(Insert my name here), you're a young lady; this isn't Victorian times!" I don't see what's so bad about skirts. I mean, yes, I may have more than a few floor length ones, but it doesn't bother me. I'm not hot in them, considering it's 100-110 right now where my parents live. But I've gone off on a tangent...back to my day.

After Goodwill we went to DSW to find me shoes. I like the ballet flat, slip-on kind. I was just looking at sneakers when my dad wanted to leave. Maybe we can go back later today and have another look. I didn't have socks on and wanted to being back socks to make sure they would fit. Maybe on Sunday we can come back.

My dad went to Trader Joe's later on and came back with food for dinner. Spaghetti and tomato sauce, both OU, Morning Star Farms veggie burgers and something else I can't remember at the moment. Morning Star Farms is OK (Circle K). I told him again the hekhshers I keep and he just looked frustrated. I'm thinking I should just "honor thy parents" and eat what he bought. Rabbi X told me that the hekhshers are there to separate the Jews from the non-Jews, and it's turned into a holier-than-thou thing with all the hekhshers that are out on the market right now. Think about it: Some Lubavitchers keep Cholov Yisroel+Rubashkin, others keep Rubashkin+Chaf K; Black Hats (or the Black Hats I know of at least) keep Pas+Cholov Yisroel. My rabbi from undergrad keeps OU+CRC, and Rabbi X at Hillel recognizes most hekhsherim just not plain K. Seriously, I agree with Rabbi X. Why are the hekhshers such a big deal?



PS: Apparantly, Oneg brand cheese doesn't exist on the west coast...or at least not in my area.

Midwest Flooding

Ok, I'm back. I haven't updated because my apartment had water damage from the storms earlier in the month.

6/4/2008, my apartment received water damage from the rainstorm. I arrived home around 7pm to find my carpet soaked and a small lake in the middle of my living room. I had spent 2 hours getting home for all the intersections towards my building were flooded, especially downtown. I called my landlady to let her know the extent of the damage. The tenant next door in apartment 3 offered to lend me a wet-dry vaccuum. I took several hardcover books to him for safe-keeping while I dealt with my carpet. I called my bosses between 8:15 and 8:30pm to let them know I would not be in to work the following day. I started packing up all of my things, putting clothes and shoes in garbage bags and putting them in my bathtub, for my town was expected to receive more rain over the next few days. I also took photos of the carpet: in the living room and back into the bedroom. I discovered that my backback, also on the carpet, was soaked, as was everything inside; including class notes and papers from last year which will be painstaking to replace. I started to vacuum the carpet and worked on it for an hour or so, alternating between vaccuuming and packing clothes. I then called a friend, K, to see if I could stay overnight at their apartment.

The next morning, 6/5, I arrived at my apartment to find it more of a mess then the night before. Things looked worse in the 9am morning sunlight. I started to vaccuum the carpet again and then a couple showed up with their wet-dry vac. My landlady had arranged for them to come to my apartment to vaccuum up the water. About 10-15 gallons of water were taken up from my carpet. Since it was a sunny day, I hung out outside and opened the papers and folders from my backpack, as well as course books and dictionaries, moving them as the sun moved higher then lower, throughout the day. By the end of the day the papers had started to dry, but most were still damp, unfortunately. Since the sun was already down, my apartment had started to smell, and the carpets still damp, I called K again to see if I could stay over. They agreed.

The next morning, 6/6, I walked to work, but not before stopping by my apartment to check on things. I also packed up all the dry food into bags as well as milk and steak I had in the freezer. Im case the rains flooded my apartment, I wanted things out so I could eat them later on. I grabbed some leftover matzah and munched on that during my walk to work. Over lunch I went home to grab a few more. Friday afternoon my apartment still smelled and had wet carpet, so I asked a co-worker if I could stay with him and his family overnight. I called Rabbi X to see if I could stay with her overnight, and she graciously offered to let me stay until the 10th, and her son later offered to drive me to school the following morning so I could catch the shuttle from campus to the airport an hour away.

Before I left school though, a lot of people--from Rabbi X to co-workers-- have been telling me I should not be obligated to pay rent for June. Someone at work who is also a landlord told me I'm obligated to pay since June 1st came before the storm. Like everyone I have bills to pay, but since I haven't been in my apartment since the 3rd, I don't see why I have to pay. The carpet is damp, it smells, and I haven't lived there for a week. I asked my landlady if I could pro-rate the rent from June1-3, and then 23-30, but she said no. I asked her what I'm supposed to do and she said I "could stay with a friend." Of the people I know in town, how many are actually around and how many I would feel comfortable asking if I could stay with them are two different stories.

Rabbi X and family members said I should look into going to the Legal Clinic on campus, or the Law School. I live down the block from Student Legal Services, but they close at 4.30. I'll have to go there the afternoon of the 24th after I get back. As much as I don't want to pay rent I don't want to sue my landlady, either.