Quick Updates on Some Things

1) Nice things that have happened because of this blog:

a) One of my readers, who worked in East Jerusalem at an organization that helps victims of domestic violence, needed to hire a grantwriter who speaks English and Arabic, and remembered my post about Liz. So, guess what? Liz is back in the country! She got a job through the blog! She stayed with us for a couple of weeks before finding an apartment in the neighborhood of Ossawiya, on the other side of Hebrew University's Mount Scopus campus. Once she gets her first paycheck she owes me dinner. :-)

Liz has a running joke about how her Arab neighbors in Hebron (back when she was living in Palestinian Hebron) couldn't wrap their minds around her being an atheist (agnostic? I don't remember), and put her in the "Communist" category in their minds. Now she will be living with non-religious Arabs in her new apartment. I am trying to convince her to start a blog called The Communists of Ossawiya, but so far she's not persuaded.

b) Lila has been adopted, by one of my blog readers who recently moved to Israel. Congratulations to Lila on her adoption, and congratulations to Alexandra P. on your aliyah and your new cat!

2) Something new in my life

I started teaching again, at Ramah. This year, for the first time ev-ar, I've got an AP class! AP Language! I'm so excited, first because it's basically a Rhetoric and Freshman Composition course, so we are studying all non-fiction, all the time! This is my profession! Non-fiction is what I do. Second, I only have 4 students. Grading will go by in a snap. I cannot put into words how much I hate grading papers, even though I've tried. Third, it's 4 talented, motivated students. And fourth, I got to learn all sorts of interesting new things myself, because I have to teach about them, like the Aristotelian Appeals and all those logical fallacies like Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc. I've wanted to learn and teach about the logical fallacies for about 10 years -- and simply never got around to studying them until now, when I have to teach them. I love this kind of thing. Logical-Mathematical Reasoning, represent!

3) Something about to be new in my life

Rehearsals start tonight for Fiddler on the Roof. Woo-hoo!

4) Something that gives me faith in the universe

I went on three dates! With the same person! :-) No, it is not "going anywhere." For important reasons which I need not disclose here, we agreed mutually and amicably that getting into a relationship would not be a good idea at this point. However, he was nice, and emotionally mature, and articulate, and pretty cute, and he really really liked me (I got flowers! Hello, how much do I deserve flowers? How much of a crime is it that I almost never get them?) He didn't do anything ridiculous, nor am I hurt about being "rejected," because that's not what happened. So, I feel good that we met, and it's OK that we are not going out anymore, and all is -- well, good! Nice to know there ARE still "normal" people out there.

5) Artemis: The Good News

Artemis is healthy and active. It appears that everyone in the neighborhood knows her and thinks she is cute. She follows me to Emek Refaim every day. She snuggles in the mornings. She loves her mouse-on-a-stick. She has funny little habits: for example, sometimes I give her some canned food which is chunks of (processed) meat in a sauce, and she licks off ALL the sauce and leaves the meat behind. I gave her leftover cholent and she licked up everything, so carefully, AROUND the barley, and left the grains.

Over the last few weeks she's been gradually moving out of her kitten food and into grown-up cat food. In a couple of days the kitten food will be completely gone, and she will enter a new gastronomic stage of life. Our little girl is growing up!

6) Artemis: The Bad News

Artemis has been scratching and biting more than she used to. The back of my hand has several ugly scratches in it. I had to put on gloves to brush her. We think that maybe it's because the cold weather is putting her in a bad mood, or perhaps some other home she visits in the neighborhood has children who are all over her and so she doesn't like to be touched. Be that as it may, I can't brush her at all unless I hold her by the scruff of the neck, and I have to be super-careful to stop scritching her at the first sign of annoyance (twitching ears, moving tail, etc).

The last couple of days she's gotten a little better about it, and more inclined to be scritched for a long time. So I'm hoping this is just a phase.

On a more disgusting note, I don't know what she is eating when she goes outside, but the last few days she's had terrible gas. You do NOT want a cat to fart while you are holding it. Eeeeewwwwww.

7) Something that keeps me sane

Over the last couple of weeks I've had breakfast or lunch several times with various friends. It feels a little "Ladies Who Lunch"-y, but that's when we have time: during the day, when all the poor people who work "real" jobs (that is, jobs with a regular salary on one hand but a boss on the other) have to be in their cubicles.

Anyway, it feels good to be making time to be social and see people I like very much. Indeed, I get by with a little help from my friends!