Day of Reckoning

The day of reckoning and has come and gone. I was pretty nervous. My heart pounding so hard I thought it would jump out of my chest. I took a few good deep yoga breaths (thanx Ren) and it really helped. Somehow my legs got me up to the podium. It passed quicker than I thought it would. There was one question - asked in a bit of an obnoxious way - but I think I answered well. I'm happy it's over. Now I can focus on Pessach cleaning! Yeh!
Volunteering is not going quite the way I expected. The hospital library was a disappointment. I spoke to a librarian from Weizmann Institute and asked her about volunteering. She didn't sound too enthusiastic. Why is it so hard to find a place to volunteer? But, my friend spoke to the head librarian at Weizmann and made me an appointment to speak with her Monday. We'll see how that goes.
Tonight Adam and I are going out to celebrate the end of the presentation era. Lots of meat, sorbet and maybe a drink that comes with those little umbrellas in it (for me, of course. not manly enough for my man). Yum cocktails.

Counting down

Three more days until the big conference where I do my thing. I feel pretty confident that the presentation is good. Now I need to figure out what to wear!
The kids are counting down the days until Bubbe and Grandpa arrive. Two weeks and three days. That means that I don't have much time for cleaning... After this presentation I have to get to work.
Book update: I did what I usually never do and put down the leper book. Too much for me. I've read a few books since then and the one that sticks out in my mind is the "Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night" (or something like that). It is from the point of view of a kid with Asperger syndrome. Very interesting.
Purim was fun. We dressed up as punk kids. I think I looked a bit more goth then punk. Adam looked fantastic! I donned the fishnets and Docs for the get-up (Carrie!!!) and a good time was had by all.

The bat, the witch and the baseball player

It's Purim time again. We love Purim. But I love it most once it is over and you look at the pictures and have the great memories. It's a lot of work. The kids need their costumes ready to wear to school. There are Humantachen to be made, mishloac manot, the great big seudah (feast), the parties...it's all fun but it ends up being tons of work for the adults. As you can see above I have a witch, a bat and baseball player. Y was suppose to be a clown but didn't happily paticipate. We'll see if he changes his mind for the actual Purim. Adam and I still haven't finalized our costume. Tune in to find out what we will be...
The volunteering did not work out. Too bad. I went to the library and spent a few hours there. Not much to be done. Plus I was frustrated being there seeing all the books and journals haphazardly laying around. Not in order. They don't have any bookends!!! So what if most of the journals and books can now be found on-line. Hardcopy is still important and should be taken care of properly. I might go back to just fix things up a bit. But not today.
I have been working on my presentation. It's in a week and a half. Someone stressed me yesterday by telling me I can't read the lecture. I knew that already but didn't really care. If I am doing it in Hebrew I am going to read it for the most part. But now I'm not so sure what to do. I will try practicing as many times as I can (it does get boring after a while) and maybe in the end I will know most of it by heart. Maybe not.

Volunteering

I did it. I called Kaplan hospital and volunteered my services. The librarian said I fell "out of the sky" from G-d since right NOW she is in need of a volunteer. Funny how things work. I actually walked into two other libraries today. One children's library and the main Rehovot library (where I changed books for the whole family) and it was on the tip of my tongue to ask in both places about volunteering but something held me back. I think I will get the most experience in the medical library. It is small with only one librarian and she will need me to do real stuff besides just shelving and covering books with plastic.
I can't get into the leper book. I don't know if it's the subject or the writing. Maybe both. But now I have four books from the library to read. I just usually don't stop reading in the middle of a book.
Obama is handing over $900 M to Gaza. How do you like that? Supposedly, won't go to Hamas. Who is he kidding? Check out Andy McCarthy's blog about it. Good reading.
Gotta get the kids...Have a good one.

addictions

Our family addiction has become stupid computer games. We all sit like zombies matching colors and bombing tiles. It's quite pathetic but we can't stop! We need an intervention. I have to honestly say though that when the kids are home and I need to be around (with partial mental capability and concentration in case something happens or someone gets hurt...) and not buried in a book or lazing in the bath, playing stupid computer games work well. But there does come a point every day when I threaten to erase all games from the two computers because I can't stand seeing everyone attached to the screen. The kids barely ask to watch TV anymore because they are all entranced in the game. Sad.
I'm also becoming addicted to my one (I know that's not much but for me it is) cup of joe every morning. Except I still get the shakes if I don't eat a proper meal at some point after drinking the coffee.
The day of my presentation is creeping up. Three weeks tomorrow. Five pages are translated. I seriously think I am going to have to just read it. There is no way I will freely be able to speak in Hebrew and express myself properly. Although I think that presenters look stupid and are boring when they read off of cards instead of speak to the audience. Now I am going to be one of those stupid, boring people. I should have listened to Chana from the get-go and not agreed to do it. What am I getting out of it anyway besides just terrible nerves and stress?
Maybe I'll just imagine all those professors and librarians sitting in front of the computer playing matching games and I'll be ok...

Bonsai

We bought a bonsai on Friday. Farmer from the South has been selling his goods at the kid's school to try to make a little extra profit. It looks great as our table centerpiece. Hopefully by the end of the week it will flower.
It's still raining. Rain glorious rain. We walked in the rain to shul yesterday. It was wonderful! It wasn't really cold and when we reached our destination we found Shaya in his undershirt (and pants) standing happily in the downpour. The only problem is that water-wise we need another two months of this, at least, but there is only one more day of "showers" on the weather report.
It's been quiet. Restful. The rain does that, has a calming effect (or is it affect? I do get confused between the two). Except for when the kids start acting up and making me crazy, of course.
I finished March. It was good but depressing. What account of war isn't? But truly, I have first hand accounts of such things over here, don't really need a book to tell me the horrors of war... So, I started a new "lighter" novel about a leper colony. I can really use some more uplifting recommendations of what to read.
Vacations. A few of my friends are out and about all over the world. I would love to go away. Grab Adam and run. Italy, Ireland, Scotland, Turkey...I'll keep dreaming.

Blister in the Sun

All is well in Sharyn's world. I already missed a blog day but believe you me that you didn't want to read whatever I would have posted yesterday. I was cranky. Real cranky. But today is another day. Kids are all in school, I went to work. Life is good.
Domestic question: WHY does my laundry always come out with lint/detergent on it? You would think that after 12 years of laundering (unfortunately, not money) I would have figured it out by now. But, no. Always the dark items have stuff on them. My kids walk around looking like poor, neglected. They really don't care but I do.
Last night Adam and I watched "The Wrestler" with Mickey Rourke. Is that really his body? and Marisa Tomei - wow! she looks fantastic (age 44). The critics all gave it A's. We enjoyed it. So, I was asking Adam afterwards this question: When a woman performs in a strip club for whatever reason (needs the money, enjoys it, whatever) it is thought of as shameful or embarrassing (for her family, kids, many people in the world, etc...) BUT when a woman performs as a stripper in a movie as an actress and the entire world sees it, that's ok because she is an actress and it's "art". That really bothers me. A woman does what she has to or wants to do and it should never be considered shameful. You with me?
Two of my fb friends had baby's this week. Congrats to them. I didn't feel any twinge inside. That is good.
Still working on "March". I like the writing style.
I'll leave you off today with a video (need to use the link. I still don't know how to get it actually onto my blog) for all you ol' time Femmes lovers. How I would have loved to see them in concert.
"When I'm a walking I strut my stuff..."
(If you're a real die hard check out "Kiss off" too. LOVE IT!)