cutting great neck

...and yes, it was sunny in philadelphia (not san diego sunny)... if you can call immitating the dying screeches of roadkill in order to survive blustering, jagged winds the ideal counterreaction of sunny.

because that's how sunny it was in philadelphia.

sometimes i could not feel my hands, my nose, my face, my feet.

but more details coming.



so we stopped at this beautiful little town called princeton, new jersey.



yes--the home of princeton university--which was SO FUCKING amazing! princeton is so beautiful, more reminiscent of a quaint brownstone town on the hills of cornwall or a french nobleman's estate. it's enormous, and it's beautiful and the atmosphere is so small-townish but it's still buzzing with energy and you see all these students walking around and eating and wow. it's just astounding, princeton life.



9% acceptance rate.



oh shit!

on the drive there we plugged in a george brassens CD and i nearly spasmed. george brassens... is amazing. here's a video of la mauvaise reputacion .

driving up to philly and the sun comes out. it's beautiful, looks like the skycrapers are climbing up and trying to kiss the sky.



walked over to independence hall, about ten blocks over from our hotel. it was chilly but not too cold and the sun was out and all the people were out on the streets walking, lunching, working, looking about.



we went inside, to the place where our forefathers wrote and signed our constitution... and i can't even tell you how beautiful the feeling is, to know that the most important moment in the history of the world happened at the same place where you are standing, where the most ingenious of people gathered hundreds of years ago to bring about a set of principles and beliefs that would change your, everybody's life, and push human advancement and liberalization further than even before. the hall where they signed the actual thing is huge, the walls high and blue, the soft pale light pooling in from the windows across thirteen wooden tables. mmm.







walking through the liberty bell exhibition was also touching. the bell embodies the american standards and continuous struggle for freedom, for equality. just knowing that the exhibit and the independence hall (plus a guided tour) are free to the public was so enlightening, knowing that history is open and that even the poorest of the poor are allowed to learn--that america's utmost treasures, its princples and its lifelines, are transparent to the world.



we went to the constitution center, which was amazing, and then we cross over the independence mall to the old city. which was sorta empty but kind of lovely, too.








and then we had some chinese red bean cake.

and then we walked up and down philadelphia in search of dinner. we saw indian buffet(no, diarrhea), pizza (pizza in quaker-land? ha!), seafood (schmaltzy), french (expensive and as dull as duck), wandered through some gritty parts of town... until we settled on the first place we saw. yes, well, apparently dinner for us was the usual--middle eastern deliciousness: the place called "sahara". couscous, shwarma, shish kebabs.

sweet, sweet baklawa.



and then, with our stomachs as jam-packed as 5th avenue during a pride parade, we toured down across the street towards the naked chocolate cafe adjacent to our hotel.

aztec... hot... chocolate... cinnammon goodness...




fell asleep at around 9 p.m. or so?
[wow]

the next morning, we turned around the corner and came to city hall. an ornate white "monstrosity" that, in my opinion, was quite fabulous-looking. like a wedding cake. marble and beautiful and subtle, flowing, lush. i liked it.





we climbed up groggily (elevator-rode) to the top of city hall and took some pictures.




and then...
began...
our journey.

an approximately mile-long track from city hall towards the philadelphia museum of art: yes, THE philadelphia museum of art, a severe walk that was routinely punctured with dying animal noises (as mentioned in the beginning of this post) and sickly, pneumoniac chuckles. we were giddy as hell, fighting against the wind, along the way humming the Rocky hymn--GOTTA FLY NOW! oh please, we almost soaredd from the fucking blazing wind--both my palms were clenched into blood-red fists that burned like ice and my face felt like someone fucking slapped it and i was about to die, DIE HEAR ME DIE!

but we made it... in the end.

oh, and also, there was this huge police funeral nearby. immense. the whole philadelphia police force probably showed up.






and no thanks to any well-toned oscar-winning fatso who actually made it to the top of the stairs of the art museum.




[FLYING HIGH NOW]

oh, and yes. we made it too.



and... enter pictures.






a few hours later...

took a bus to reading market terminal.



from there on, the pictures explain it all.



food. food. food.

we've been waiting for this one ever since we arrived on the shores of pennsylvania: the philly cheesteak.




mmmmmhmmm.

pastrami sandwich and a picke.

mmmmhmmm.



returned home via car straight afterward.

and that's where i am at the moment. it's 11:18 p.m. and i'm about to collapse. had a good week, wanted to watch film tonight though... eyes gruesomely pink now, however, so sleep it is.




i'm sorry if some of the photos got jumbled up. they were probly were. jesus, i'm tired. and thirsty. and kind of hungry after writing about all this food.

shout-outs to aleksandra and obama. you're on my thoughts tonight.

label me: america, college, food, happiness, movie, music, night, obama, philadelphia, travel, video

february 5 2009

what makes today a good day:



1) i got a part in the play. and it's not such a tiny part either. it's about a 50-line part, so i'm super excited to play it--plus, i'm supposed to be BLACK [mr. gellert must have looked beyond my pallid qualities into my inner soul] which physically and spiritually brings me even closer to barack obama. also, donald--my character--is aleksandra's [I LOVE YOU] husband/boyfriend. and they're really crazy. and then during our first read-through i had so much fucking fun! mr. gellert made fun of my accent and everyone laughed though i didn't understand what was so funny because i don't have a strong accent and nobody even knows i have an israeli accent and i never tell them it's an israeli accent and whenever i do tell them they don't believe me. and i really like my character :)



2) today was my first layout/late night in the guide post. stayed until 9:05 p.m. so basically everyone really liked me and what i did with my page. it was incredible. indesign is so incredible, i love designing newspapers and i really hope that finally my newspaper design skills would be put to good use. i want to be editor-in-chief of the guide post later in life. yay.



3) i understood the math for my math test tomorrow. oh shit. i need to be studying and NOT doing this!

and that's probably it.



~~~


had a hard time falling asleep for the past few days. i'm lying in bed. thinking about life. mmm. and i try to fall asleep, but can't. took long, long nap yesterday afternoon. i guess, sleep is not really an escape for me, it's more of a -- more of a well-controlled and troubling addiction. i hate trying to fall asleep. for the past few months i've been able to just pop right onto my pillow and doze off the second my ear touched the satin. so i'm really uncertain about what had happened to me over the past week.


i have also had the weirdest dreams. last night... i don't remember the dream from last night, though i do remember the dream from the night before. somehow israeli uncle & aunt & cousins came to visit us ... and our house was weird. well, for one thing, i went to pee into a bathroom in a room which exists in the house i live in right now but there were two toilets, both of them marvel, one of them for pee and one of them for poop. and i subconciously knew this. no idea how. and there was this huge bathtum behind the toilets. the dining room was weird too. and it was... i don't remember so well.

and the night before that, i dreamed that all of gilboa came to visit me in ny. it was so bizarre because i never give so much thought to gilboa, well not enough to have an entire gilboa-oriented fantasy anyway, but i clearly remember seeing dannielle and katya there and it was in the dark and it was cold and everyone was embracing each other and i remember seeing danielle and katya from far away and screaming their names as if we just saw each other again after a lifetime. and there were more people there too. i vaguely recall seeing faces illuminated by fire that had nothing to do with california or gilboa. people from my current life. who, i don't remember, but i remember thinking about it when i woke up.


~~


from now on my afternoons will be basically filled. oh shit. and with school and all. oh shit. i've still got some hw. oh oh ohhh shit.



exactly a year ago was super tuesday. it seems like time has flown by. hillary clinton--i still miss her infintiely, but am somewhat joyous that things turn out the way they are.

here's my picture post taken on a warm san diego winter night from super tuesday 2008, when california chose clinton by a 8% margin. i love democrats.

label me: drama, dream, friends, gilboa, guide post, life, obama, play, politics, sd, sleep, social life

10:20 pm January 19 2009 Monday


today

i have been so involved in myself.



i concentrated more on the blog than anything else.

i woke up late. i watched the end of an old, black-and-white movie. a mysterious one. the maltese falcon.



i stumbled on a hill of snow. i fell. i lurched forward, trying to catch my balance. i fell. i fell. i fell, and i stood, and when i returned my fingers, my hands were burning, burning.



it's martin luther king jr. day. i feel good. i feel optimistic. tomorrow is the big day.



i'm listening to cat power, to mazzy star, to clair de lune, to tutim. i feel so empowered by their language, so learned from their musings. i want to read the last exit to brooklyn.

it's on my night desk.

i have swimming tomorrow. i don't like sports.

i plan on throwing up. on killing myself. on getting out into the biting, stabbing cold.



snow. up to my ankles.

night.



"my young bride
why are your shoulders
like that
of a tired old woman"

label me: music, obama, snow