Just a Few Things

1. Mazal tov to my chavruta, Nili Chernikoff, on her recent engagement to Ezra Auerbach.

2. Mazal tov to Chava and Marc Neustadter on the recent (while I was in America) birth of their first child, a girl, Rina Bracha.

3. How come I haven't seen anything about this in the American media? (Have you? Where?) This is important and interesting. I wonder if it's true. Though, a friend of mine recently pointed out . . . Rivka, close your ears . . . that if Hamas were to gain control over the PA, they might by necessity mellow out a tad. Terrorists who become bureaucrats usually have a hard time maintaining the same passions and ideologies that helped them get into power to begin with. Look what happened to Fatah when they became an actual government. Who ever would have envisioned them working on things like municipal budgets and democratic elections? Corrupt and two-faced, yes, but at least pretending to be real leaders who will do something constructive for their people like, say, work on peace negotiations with Israel and stick to their word. The fact that this is a farce doesn't mean that Hamas would be any worse for Israel than Fatah. It could end up being the same farce, with a different name. In theory. It's up to the Palestinians to decide whether we'll have to find out . . . . Speaking of which, I just want to point out the fact that there are election campaigns going on in an Arab, eh, governmental entity, is just a step short of a miracle. Let's not fail to look on the bright side of things. The fact that we really don't know whether Hamas or Fatah will win means that there is some measure of honesty in these elections. I don't know how much, but some democracy is much better than none at all. It might take another 3,000 years for the Jews and Arabs here to sort themselves out, but at least having an election, in which people are voting (including women!), is a step in the right direction . . . I hope . . . Maybe.

4. I finally caved and bought myself a blender. It crushes ice, it can handle hot soups, and it's pretty easy to wash, all things considered. I've been wanting a blender for years, as you know if you've been following my birthday and chanukah wish-lists, so for me this is a milestone.

5. Yesterday I got a kitchen burn on my arm, when I lifted the cover off a pot and the hot water vapor had an unfortunate and too-close run-in with my skin. I ran cold water over it for five minutes like a good girl and waited to see if any blisters or dark spots showed up. It was swollen and painful and red but otherwise looked OK. Today the red patch was much smaller and there was one blister - on a doctor's advice I put anti-bacterial ointment on it and a band-aid. It's not a big deal, but it hurt a lot yesterday. Thank God, skin is a wonderful thing that heals quickly. I'm just mentioning it because it was a bummer, spending time last night in pain and wondering how bad the burn has to look before I go to the doctor.

6. A friend here revealed to me today that she is a huge fan of Hoops & Yoyo (how come I never knew this? Is it like a secret society?), and she will loan me her Hoops and Yoyo plush toys. :-) Let the games begin.

7. I understood the entire manual for the blender, even though it was in Hebrew! Everything!

8. Yesterday I finished reading, for the first time, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, and got started on the next book in the Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian. I decided to read them in the order in which they were originally published, rather than the story's chronological order. Of course now I see how it is that Lion is a Christian allegory . . . but I'm sure that, had I read the book as a child, I would never have put the two together. And even now, I enjoyed it simply as an imaginative and exciting story. Question: would those who have seen the movie recommend it?

9. Part of the deal with my reading The Chronicles of Narnia was that Miriam B. agreed to read Watership Down if I read The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. You're on now, Miriam! Get back to us when you're done, OK?