Odds and Ends

* My roommate has started a new blog, a pictorial guide to things people wear on their heads in Jerusalem. She just started it but there are a few posts up. Click here to see.

*Over Sukkot my roommate and I each hosted a friend: she had her friend Elizabeth over for a couple of weeks, and my friend Lisa came in from New York and stayed with us for 3 nights. So we had a Liza, a Liz, and a Lisa. Very confusing, but fun.

* It's gotten cold and rainy here. I have to close my windows even during the day or my room gets too cold to function. At night I'm using two blankets. Today I'm wearing a sweater and boots and I needed an umbrella. We went to daylight savings before Yom Kippur, so it suddenly - BAM! - gets dark at about 4:45 pm. Quite gloomy.

* Can I just say that I know I'm supposed to be grateful for rain, and be glad that we have the blessing of water, but in my heart of hearts I'm not and I'm not? I mean, I know we need the water. I know. But . . . really? Truly? I don't like rain.

Please don't hate me for saying that.

* Lately I've pitched stories to: Glamour, Real Simple, Written By, Hadassah, The Jewish Week, and First. Awaiting answers. Pitched to, and was rejected by, O, Writer's Digest, and NYTimes Magazine. Coming up this week, pitches to the New York Times, Destination Weddings, Reader's Digest. Wish me success. Due to the recent downturn of the dollar against the shekel, and a few other things, I've become what is known in some circles as a Poor Girl. New work would be great.

*It's confirmed, this Spring I'll once again be teaching part-time (2 sections of 11th-grade English) in this program. I'm really looking forward to it. For the first time in my life I can re-use lesson plans from a previous year! Woo hooooooo!

*Liz is back in the Holy Land -- I'll let her announce herself where she's living, since that is a story and a half in itself -- I've convinced her to start blogging! We're taking the advice of one of you good readers and having her simply guest blog here at Chayyei Sarah. If she likes it and starts blogging a lot, then she'll start hosting her own blog. If it's an irregular thing, you'll be able to read her stuff here. More to come when she sends me something!