"i think your favorite tactile senses are soft and fuzzy and crispy and
crunchy" -ds, 05/29/05

new day, old bike, new to me

day 1 of learning how to ride a bike. yes, you heard it here: sarah is
finally going to learn how to ride a bike at age 26. probably a good
idea since my supervisor hopes that i will be able to lead mountain
biking trips this summer. hehe. first JF replaced the gear cables and
the balloons inside the wheels. then my heroic roommate LW took me to
riverside park just before sundown for some lessons. i know soon i will
be able to do it. but right now - it's just really tough! i am a big
wimp and, i'll just say it, it hurts my crotch! i look forward to the
day that i can finally do it. i shall be patient, however. i think i
can do it.

chan chandler is going to give me a bad name

uh oh. who knew there was a guy named <<a
href="/http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/05/07/church.politics.ap/index.html">chan
chandler<</a> A pastor in North Carolina said of him the following:
<<blockquote> <fontfamily><param>Arial</param>Members of the
congregation said Chandler told them during last year's presidential
campaign that anyone who planned to vote for Democratic nominee John
Kerry needed to leave the church.</fontfamily><</blockquote>

recycle your electronics!!

am super psyched about this. we need more awareness and action on this issue; it is so ridiculous how some people obsess over recycling cans or paper, but don't think twice about trashing batteries or televisions.

just got this post on the koe email list:

Electronics Recycling Drive, St. John the Divine @ 112/113 & Amsterdam, Thurs. May 12, 3-8PM. Taking PCs, TVs, VCRs, fax machines, cell phones, pagers. NOT taking stereo equip., radios, cameras & small appliances. For more information, please call 212-865-9595.

photo post test

so i saw this new feature that lets me post to my blog via email. i'm testing it with text and a photo. it's my latest friendster photo. i think it's from this past fall sometime. great hair day right? crap i don't know how to make it smaller...

clean sleep

i actually feel like i'm staying at someone else's apt. not the gross apts with mismatched couches that i have had the pleasure of crashing on, more like somone who has a clean apt. just anyone.

5 megillot final in 9.5 hours or so. my final final!
excited for a big day - lunch with my bro, my favorite (ef), plus je and lw who are always fab to be with. did i just use the word fab?
then 5pm interview for camp ramah job as stated in earlier post. then dinner with cousin ag and maybe even bz, followed by concert in east village with cr!!

nyc is cool. always things to do. why was i ever thinking of leaving? it's all here really.

shiny floors

it's a miracle. my room is clean. my clothes are clean. my alarm clock is plugged in and set! no more cellphone for my alarm. my modem and router are neatly on top of my deak. this time really i'm going to make it happen. and craziest of all, my laptop is plugged in and set up at MY DESK - not just by the couch in the living room. seriously i am a real person again. how come i had to wait till the end of the semester to become a real person, huh?

hopefully the fact that i scrubbed the floor on my hands and knees will keep me from waking up with a sore throat from all the dustiness.

AND I HAVE A WORKING PRINTER. it's only been about 10 months or so since i bothered to replace the cartridge. i am invincible! now i can do anything. i really think so.

now i just have to go through the 9 boxes and 3 shelves of random shit, throw stuff out, file stuff, put in binders...make some real decisions! oh yeah and probably give away some clothing. so hard! must stay strong. i can do it!!

must help bz think of clever blog title. minutes from crawling into super clean bed...

sarah washes and folds!

after being inspired at wc's apt last week, i have decided to do my own laundry. after months of not feeling that i had an extra 2 hours in the day, i think it is time. also it will be too expensive for me to wash my comforter at the cleaners', so i may as well take some other laundry along with it.

really what i need to do is get rid of some clothing. on the one hand, if there are things i haven't worn in over a year, i should get rid of them. on the other, many belong in a 'new york sarah' category - perhaps i will need them again one day should i end up in an office.

must sort. must mimimize. strive to be more like wc and ab. without curling hair...

pesadik restaurant!

...she'hechiyanu, v'kiyamanu... my first time eating out at a k for p restaurant! so cool! meet ab for dinner after 'work' at the Teva office. now that i think is real freedom.

am excited to get up early to make some quinoa for pot luck lunch at 'the office'
will i go to brooklyn for a play? will i go to queens for matzoh lasagne? or will i go to the limmud meeting? i feel like chilling. taking it easy. deciding at the last minute. sarah is on the path to chillitude. thanks for the tip, ab.

my bed is calling me...

online passover animations rock

50 cent does the 10 plagues - Shabot6000

the newest jib jab - matzah rap

everyone's favorite - passovergreeting.com

pesach vacation on the couch

well now that i have the time to be checking other people's blogs, i figure i can start mine up again. i'm really not going to spend the whole week on the couch...and it's not even like i go back to classes once pesach is over. it's all a dream really that i may not wake up from until classes start in sept...

i only have one final left - 5 megillot & jonah, may 4 - and besides that just a few part time jobs over the next few weeks. i have a ton to do though ... apply for summer job (camp ramah in the berkshires), apply for fall job (probably Derekh Torah), a few more classes for west end synagogue, and a few small projects for Teva. oh yeah and there's also cleaning/organizing my room, finding a summer subletter, and finding a new roommate for aug. 1. now that is some serious business.

maybe if it doesn't rain on sun i will make it to the brooklyn botanic garden.

here's a highlight from tu bishvat photos:

Shirley and Liz!

aaron on the dij

yakir, chana, joe, sarah
(yes i know they are from jan 25 and that was 3 months ago)
for the rest, click here.
more photo links as they arrive!

breezy sunny afternoon

i really feel like i am on vacation in my parents house. not that i feel like i'm a guest, but i feel like i do when we stay at a house on the beach...long lazy days relaxing, reading, visiting with each other. granted there are late night phish shows in between, but now that i have a full day where i'm in charge...it's just really great. tonight i'll have another bbq with my family, then soon it's time to return to the nyc for shabbat.

sunday i head to long island to hofstra university for the caje conference. i'll be representing the melton research center and jts press at the shuk part time and the rest of the time attending classes, workshops, concerts, israeli dancing...it will be jam-packed with activities.

just got an update from lw that the tor (my sister's pet turtle) is eating well. she is being such a good auntie feeding him this week. i really miss the little guy. here's an old photo for those of you who haven't met him yet:


yesterday spent the afternoon with grandma g. we had thai for lunch (she's had thai food 3 times at the same restaurant and always orders the same thing). we did some errands and went to the ma'ket (since we were in ba'stun that's what they call it). i need to start making a list of all the great things grandma g has to say. here's quote #1:

"In the evening, I like to take a peach or a nectarine."

I love it! Take a peach! It's great! I've got to start using that.

6 hours until phish

so as of yesterday i've been officially blogging for two weeks. i hope to keep it up for at least the month of august. as for the fall semester, which starts after labor day (and therefore the hazon ride, we shall see what things look like when i'm trekking up to freedman three days a week for teva stuff.

i have a few hours to shower and organize some dinner before i head down to the tweeter center, ahem 'greatwoods,' for phish's 4th to last concert ever. i think i i will be making some grilled tofu and veggies for the ride.

wed. will be lunch with grandma g, perhaps after a visit to grandma c. thu i have plans to have dinner with zs and it looks like i'll find myself on the chinatown bus by early fri morning. not many other plans; mostly chiling in the 'hood and at my parents house...relaxing and surely saving $$.

btw, if you are reading this blog, i would love to get a comment or two from you, even if it's just: "hi, i'm reading your blog"
making a comment is easy to do-just click where it says "0 comments" and you can add your own.

peace.

chinatown midnight

my brother is due in on the chinatown bus in about an hour. last summer he once picked me up around 2am (since, you know, the subway stops running at 1am here in boston!), so i really owe him one. would be somewhat easier if i wasn't also waking up at 7am tomorrow (tue) to drive mom to work and borrow her car for the phish concert, but ah well...he's my brother and he needs a ride. it happends. this is why we should all live in new york. so we can be out super late and be independent about it.

yet as i see myself getting older, i think there will be a time where i don't plan on being out after 11pm, let alone 1am. so, nyc is not forever...but surely it is still for right now. nyc: i'll see you at the end of the week!

Imagine Festival 2004: NYC

the jcc in manhattan will be hosting the environmental summit portion of Imagine: Festival of Arts, Issues and Ideas:

New York's first annual Imagine Festival, of Arts, Issues and Ideas coincides with the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City. The Imagine Festival is hosting over 125 events that mix artistic and educational activities through a series of concerts, performances, screenings, forums, town meetings and other extraordinary cultural happenings. From August 28 to September 2, 2004 we will come together to share our intelligence, creativity and passion at numerous venues throughout the city.

the jcc venues include:
Panel - Debate on Environmental Future of U.S.
Down to Earth, Film Screening
Film screening- World Premiere. The Forest For the Tree: Judi Bari V.S. The FBI

view from the 5,000 acre granite pile

during the 'tute, made it to new hampshire's mount monadnock early thu. morning. likely the second most frequently climbed mountain in the world, after Japan's Mt. Fuji

tute comes to an end

so many memories and so many moments to reflect on. i shall share just a few here.

longing to connect with people i hadn't seen in days, months...that first hug
new faces, instant acceptance, sincere eye contact
standing room only rockin ma'ariv
blessings to give and receive, in the form of a song, a wink, a smile
circling around the buildings, skipping over and around canada goose poop
jamming and singing, drumming and dancing
a moonlit hike to a field of milkweed...too bright to look up
wandering with teens after 'scream and run'
sababa! is this a five foot ash?
meal to meal, up ramps and down stairs
gang for a day: 'rhymes with orange'
late night puff in an outdoor amphitheatre opens the circle
up before dawn to hike in the rain to a mountain peak that showed us where we came from
slippery rocks, sweet blueberries, moments of prayer
havurah moss, rock tripe, FBI's and leaf funerals
plenty of time to twist spirals into bracelets and rope
spinning worm torah into something meaningful
dancing for hours straight on less than no sleep
reviving the cowboy song
embraced my second soul on shabbat
tore myself away from singing on high, to catch a bissle of rest
awoke to rooftop style in a chapel
stood witness to my students passing on group games, survival skills, tree identification...
the final wandering as the moon waned; yet a stronger spirit in each step
a moment of precious sleep before i was sharing final hugs and being boston bound

only child for a day

so even though the tute is over, i'm still in new england...slowly making my way south...luckily i'm not going to be plopped back into super charged nyc (don't worry nyc i still love you i'm coming back at the end of the week! well be together in time for shabbat)...right now i'm chilling in lexingtang (sk's name for lexington, ma) with my parents. it's fun being an only child for a day. my brother is in nyc until tomorrow night; my sister is on a backpacking trip until sunday. anyway i got to choose exactly what i wanted for dinner. we grilled vegetables and yellowfin tuna and ate on the porch under the clouds and hemlock trees.

showed dad the badgers. two days until phish@the tweeter center with BZ, EH, RC, CG, HKB, and more...

also must find time to take grandma to lunch.

worm torah

if God is a silk worm, then the whole world is made of silk; God is in everything because everything came from the material of God.

SHAMIR POWER!

routine out of routine

in some ways i'm spending the week doing what i usually do, just in a different venue...
-leading hikes for kids
-pointing out names of trees constantly
-planning services with bz
-engaging in philosophical/political/spiritual discussions
-crocheting kippot
-Jewish text study
-connecting with funky Jews from all over
is there anything else i do? can't think of it at the moment...
(okay, chilling out with LW and AL i can't do here but that's different...)