Sammy Joe

03:39 pm: wow...haven't used this thing in a while
73 weeks to be exact...

Sooo you may be wondering what is momentous enough to pull me out of Livejournal hibernation? Well its not that I really WANT to pick this up again, I'm kind of done with the whole blog thing especially since I may have to author one professionally (maybe I should practice then...) but I was just falling asleep last night with some random thoughts that I felt the need to get down in some manner today.

Really its a question that I ask myself and others. I am reading a really fantastic series of books called the Illuminatus trilogy. Here is the thing, they are really amazing, but they're also a weird blend of conspiracy theory, scifi, fantasy, occult mysticism, philosophy, drug cultural references, anarchism, libertarianism, and all of it is written in a strange Joyce style stream of consciousness.

To make it harder, the point of view frequently bounces between not only different characters, but different timelines and places, making the whole thing extremely different to unravel in your mind. It also mixes reality and fiction in an almost unintelligible way unless you are REALLY up on your history.

It is also chock full of things that would NOW be considered pop cultural references but back in the 70's when it was written (by two authors, one of which was a close personal friend of Dr. Timothy Leary) the stuff was really really obscure. Nowadays every Tom Dick and Harry has heard of Cthulu, but who really knows about Yog Sototh? More importantly, who did in the 70's? Even today the stuff is pretty obscure (who has read the Principia Discordia here?) and yet the whole thing comes across as a hard to describe hard to read hard to place STROKE OF GENIUS. The book slaps me in the face every few pages with some possibility I hadn't even considered, and I'm usually really good at figuring out stuff wayyyy before it happens in books.

What I'm TRYING (and failing at brevity) to get at is that I ended up asking myself the following question last night.

Do you ever read a book, play a game, or watch a movie that either through sheer complication of plot, obscurity of reference, or loftiness of philosophy you are totally convinced that you are like the ONLY person in the world who really gets it?

Like...have you ever read a book and loved it so much, that you were loathe to recommend it to anyone else because you are sure they wouldn't get as much from it as you would? Or perhaps your just afraid they won't share your opinion and you'd have to argue the point? Or maybe you'd just be wrong to like it?

Is it just ego that would lead someone to believe this? I like to think that I'm not being egotistical in the manner, but every time I want to tell someone about this amazing book I'm reading I end up catching myself and almost FORCING myself to say "I don't think you'd really like it" because you know that they wouldn't; at least not on the same level that you do.

Thats what keeps happening with Illuminatus. There are various people in my life that I would totally recommend it to, but it is a project to read and even on that level, that ends up further limiting the people I would recommend it to.

The same thing happened to me with Stephenson's Baroque Cycle. You KNOW its brilliant, your just not sure that anyone else that you know would really enjoy it, or at least bother to slog through 3000 pages of picaroons and scientists set during the enlightenment era.

Here is something else...if you read something into a work that the author TOTALLY wasn't intending on having come through it, does that make you really smart? Or really dumb? Or neither?

Like, if you met an author and said "I really liked the Oedipan thing you had going on in this work" and the author is like "WTF? Your a sicko" Were you smart for picking up something that they weren't intending? Or were you fooled by patterns into seeing something that wasn't there? Sometimes it just irritates me when people try to convince you that an author meant something they obviously didn't. (can't everyone see I'm right? j/k)

WHEW! Now that I got that out...I should proooobably update everyone a little bit on my life over the past 73 weeks.

Lets see...

1. Got hired by Andy Borans at a Shabbat dinner to go be the chapter consultant for the west coast.
2. Did that
3. Met girlfriend in California
4. Went to Israel on the AEPi trip (best Israel trip EVER)
5. Got switched out to the NE region for the fall
6. Got promoted to Director of Information Management for AEPi and pulled off the road
7. Moved to Indianapolis

Still with the girlfriend (: (though that is tough, being so far)

So now I'm in Indy and its cold out, but life is good and I just got paid.

Oh! My mom also killed off my little 5.5 gallon reef tank while I was away on the road. So I splurged and started up a 30 gallon one here in Indy!

I have to go get crabs for it tomorrow though, I have a major algae problem! I don't plan to add any fish till after I get back from winter break in Vegas and Cali though, because I certainly wouldn't be able to feed them while I'm gone. The crabs and any corals I add though will just be photosynthetic or feed off of plants so it shouldn't be a problem for them to be left alone once I get my auto top off unit

Ta ta for now

12:02 pm: Now I know how New Orleans must have felt
So...in weathering my second major flood while living on main street Manayunk, we got hit...really bad.

It turns out that the worst flooding in Philadelphia county was pretty much my house and the street I lived on.

I got word of the impending flood on tuesday night and took off work so Dave and I could spend the entire night moving everything of value off the first floor and promptly passed out for the night. Waking up early, Dave let me know that we needed to pack bags and really get ready for what was coming in.

At about 11 am the fire department knocked on our door and told us we had to leave NOW as we were being evacuated.

Long story short, I'm currently homeless and living at my moms for an indetermenant ammount of time.

More to come later

09:25 pm: Bye bye Jessica
My Kitty has died...

She's had a big growth growing on her leg for quite some time, and it was sapping her energy. She had a good long run though, she was 18.

I saw her the day before my birthday, and I knew in my heart I wasn't going to see her again after that...I was just thankful she made it till after my birthday, though its gonna be bittersweet every year from now on, and I will always remember her. She was an awful good kitty.

Bye Jessica Furful Caviar Zitin...your black fluffieness will forever be missed by those who knew you.

02:25 am: Looking for some catharsis...
So...do you ever find yourself in a situation where no matter how hard you try to just be your usual jovial self and have fun and ignore the problems of the world and the problems of your life (however truly trivial they may be) you find that the situation simply does not lend itself to you being truly happy?

Tonight I found myself in a situation where I am normally at my very best, laughing, joking, dancing and generally being amused with friends. However I found myself unable to fully give myself over to this because certain things weighed heavily on my mind.

Do you ever want so hard just to be THERE for a person that they begin to pull away from you?

Do you ever find that trying to help isn't the best thing to do?

Do you ever find that just being yourself (which we've all been told to do forever) isn't necessarily the easiest or even right thing for the situation at hand?

Do you ever go home and walk outside and just stare at the river by yourself for a half an hour and just let an untapped stream of consciousness flow forth into the night?

Do you ever wish poetry didn't seem such a pretentious thing to partake in so that you could feel more at ease expressing yourself through it?

Do you fear the future and mourn the past?

Do you find that sometimes you are unaturally adept at picking up your own mood and other times simply helpless to do so?

Do you often find yourself asking questions with no answers? Or do you find yourself asking questions of other people just to try and confirm your not totally nutso?

Do you often begin a sentece with a conjunction even though you know its totally improper grammer?

Do you sometimes get into an LJ post and really lose track of what you were doing and then just let it go into randomness?

Sigh...yeah, its been one of those weeks.

Some subtle reminders to myself.

I am finally, officially, 100% switched of majors at Drexel. I've been taking psych for quite sometime now but finally got all the paperwork finished and no longer have to worry about the hassle of explaining the whole business. For the record...I only switched majors ONCE.

I aced my intro to personality midterm, so since she drops the lowest of 3 test scores and I did well on the first test I no longer have to go to class! I think...we shall see.

I still need my article for Ludo's class, and interlibrary loan hasn't gotten it to me yet, grrr.

I found out the unfortunate news that AEPi doesn't have any open positions for next year, so I need to figure out what I'm going to be doing. Thankfully I have a very good job which is part time right now and truly wants to accept me with open arms as a full time employee...I don't think its a career, but its something till I can find something in the Jewish/Israel advocacy world.

I met with my advisor this week and was able to determine that I in fact CAN and WILL graduate this summer. I was kind of nervous about it for a while because I was unsure of course offerings, but it looks like I'm gonna be ok. That is a HUGE weight off my shoulders.

Anyway...I'm gonna be fine, sometimes its just really really nice to have someone to cuddle, cause there are times when thats the only thing you want in the world, and its just not an option.

However I hate finishing on a down note...so to bring up the jocularity

www.googleidol.com LOVE THIS SITE! The Genie in a Bottle video is precious

11:21 am: I've been Nudged!
Ok...so a friend (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE) just nudged me to post. Um...I guess I don't really have anything super post worthy recently.

We shot a lot of the magic video, it came out...ok. Its not as good as I was hoping, but I think its better than I actually expected. We're going to keep working and soon enough we're going to have some sort of finished product.

I went to an awesome magic lecture yesterday, and while one of the things I got was screwed up...I am confident its going to get taken care of.

So...today is MISERABLE here and my pants are currently soaked. However, I'm grateful that I finally got my jacket replaced from EMS and now I have a nice nifty new North Face shell keeping my upper body dry.

I woke up and was confident today was going to be horrifically shitty, because the insurance company is trying to fuck me again, my thing from yesterday was screwed up, its rainy, my parking lot was full, and traffic was bad.

On the bright side again, I managed to register for the Sci Fi class for thursday nights, filling out my schedule in the absolute best way possible, I am working with the insurance company to not get fucked, my parking tickets just got taken care of, and I've decided I'm just going to chill at drexel all day instead of trying to go home in this mess. Today definitley has the potential to not suck (:

11:12 pm: So...lets see

1. My g/f and I broke up
2. I have no money
3. I have an innordinate ammount of papers to write
4. I miss people I haven't seen in forever and still don't have the time to do so
5. The heat doesn't work in my room
6. My car got hit on THANKSGIVING and theres a big dent in the back
7. This weather flipflopping is fucking with my sinuses
8. I miss my magic cards
9. I'm not going to Israel this winter


Conversely

1. This is a good chance for me to try and be single again and meet new people and not be held back by anything at all
2. I'm getting some money from some relatives...plus insurance money...plus chanukkah is coming up
3. The term is almost over and those papers will just be bad memories
4. I'm going to make the time to see people over break
5. I sleep with my socks on and that helps...we're getting it fixed soon
6. My grandfather is obsessive about cars and offered to get mine fixed because I can't afford to
7. By the time the weather actually gets cold cold I should have my jacket back from Northface
8. The insurance company is going to pay me like 3 grand for my magic cards. I'll deal with finding a new hobby
9. I get to be home for new years eve for once!

Plus the progress that Zim and I have made on our original magic is astounding. For two young minds (one who was only introduced to magic about 4 months ago) to be creating cool original stuff is an awesome feeling. Our project IS going to work, and it is going to be awesome, and we are going to gain some increadibly small measure of notariety. Chances are it'll get more people to know my name than my Inquest writing gig did though...anyway, Marc DeSouza...big professional magician guy, likes what we're doing. He thinks we've got good material (which we do). Now we just have to figure out how to be entertaining too...hmm thats a toughie. Btw, anybody got a blacklight they don't need?

I haven't updated this in forever. I felt the need to vent, its been one of those weeks. I should do it more often...its kind of cathartic. I like that word too. Its right up there with deluge, absconded, spelunking, quixotic and slake. Those being my favorite 5 english words. Not my favorite word overall though. That would be german..."Die geschwindekeitzbegrundzung" "The speed at which you are not allowed to go past" literally...it means speed limit. I love german.

I also love sign language...I need to brush up (:

Speaking of backwards smileys...its good to know that some people's habits stick with others (;

Also on the bright side...my haircut looks good, and I'm doing well at work, plus conclave is coming up and I get to help out with my very own Israel Advocacy program...I'm super psyched. Also, according to a psych teacher of mine, I display natural leadership qualities...wahoo!

While I'm stuck in this stream of consciousness...I just wrote a 5 page paper on absinthe...a really good one, in 1.5 hours without having to do any further research. Sometimes I scare myself with how much pointless crap is jammed in my brain.

Has anybody ever heard of an old stage act called the "Georgia Wonder"? I'm reading a book on it. It was this really cool 14 year old girl named Lulu Hurst who accidentally discovered certain physical principles of leverage and force deflection that allowed her to seemingly out muscle much bigger and stronger people in certain tests without breaking a sweat. NO one (even her) could explain it at the time and it was attributed to a mysterious "force" that she could control. Later on she would study physics at college and figure out the logical physical explanations for all of her abilities. Really cool stuff...why don't more people know about stuff like this? How much cool stuff like this is out there that I don't know about?? See...already need more useless crap.

In honor of the direction this post has taken...please post atleast 1 useless fact (not some random personal thing...but good trivia) with your reply or comments.

Thank you...come again

Sam

02:57 pm: My review of the New Harry Potter Book
J.K. Rowling is an increadibly, amazingly, ridiculously talented writer.

SHE'S ALSO A RIDICULOUS FUCKING BITCH!

How could she do this to us?

On a side note a number of my predictions either have or are on their way to coming true. IM me to discuss.

It also peeves me that there is only 1 book left...she's crafted far to complex and interesting a continuity to just let it die like that. There should either be the continuing adventures of Harry or like...the life and times of Dumbledore or something like that. It would work fine as a comic...let some talented writers take the reins and run with it!

06:35 pm: Damnit I hate moving...its a damn good thing my new place is sooo amazing!

09:17 pm: Wow...I haven't done something like this in for ever!
1. Total number of films I own on DVD:
A frickin lot...lemme count. 74...not including 6 seasons of Stargate SG-1, the entire series of Robotech, 2 seasons of Aquateen HungerForce, all of Invader Zim, and all of Ren and Stimpy.

2. Last film I bought:
I think I bought my sister Napolean Dynamite, and myself Hellboy and A Mighty Wind.

3. Last film I watched:
Well...Alexis wants to watch the Abyss but we haven't yet. I watched Baseketball relativley recently...

4. Five films I watch a lot or that mean a lot to me:
The Boondock Saints
True Romance
The Sting
The Prince of Egypt
Leon the Professional

5. Tag 5 people and have them put this in their journal:
Alexis
Bri
Jay
Ian
(Anyone else who wants to)

02:50 am: I've decided I'm going to obsess about Movie Themesongs for a while (not cartoons for a change)
What are your faves? I'm going to start rattling some off...feel free to post at will with more. These are unless otherwise noted either the main theme or the most prominant theme from the movie. They aren't necessarily in the best to worst order...but these are the order they come to mind, so maybe they are. These are all scores...I'll start a list for movie songs later.

1. Starwars (all of it)
2. Indiana Jones
3. Back to the Future
4. Pirates of the Caribbean
5. Lord of the Rings
6. Requiem for a dream
7. Spiderman
8. Superman
9. Batman
10. James Bond
11. The Sting (The entertainer)
12. Starship Troopers
13. Topgun
14. Terminator 2
15. Robocop
16. Gladiator
17. Braveheart
18. Dragonheart
19. The Godfather
20. Charriots of Fire

Well...there's 20 for now...what does anyone else think?

11:36 am: To update briefly and say some things that I guess my blog readers probably need to hear.

Hasbara this winter was one of the most amazing experiences of my entire life. My friends from that trip I felt such a connection to, and Israel is simply the most amazing place. I will never ever forget that trip. I look forward to hosting all of my friends in Philly at one point or another (:

So...last term I had kind of a motivational crisis and couldn't really make myself go to classes, and I was generally a bum and didn't have a good term (except for my girlfriend's caring help). I am now better though, and have new purpose in trying to get my ass OUT OF SCHOOL! I was also pledge master...which I think went relativley well. All the pledges seemed to think admirably of my job which stands for something, but brothers were upset that I was as lax as I was. I can't help it sometimes I'm a softie.

My dad moved to Florida. Its tough cause he got a job down there and kind of had to pick up and leave really quick. I do miss him a lot and haven't seen him since he moved. I'm hoping to get down there this summer or soon enough anyway and visit. Its a little bit convenient because he actually lives close to Alexis' dad down there. I miss you dad!

I really need a job. In the midst of applying to the old retail standouts (showcase and now EMS) I've taken up bartending school (as some of you may have noticed from the last post) and am absolutley loving it. Hopefully that can provide a decent part time income while I am finishing school...and ideally a job after school till I find something better.

I've discovered that one of my greatest joys in life is helping other people with THEIR problems, and I've seemed to do that alot online this past term. Maybe psychology really IS the right thing for me to be going into. I do love the fact that I've made a difference for a few people out there. If you know who you are...thanks for letting me help (:

Plans for today include
1. Dropping Alexis, Lauren and Michelle off at the mall so they can go dress shopping
2. Schlepping my ass back to cityline to go to bartending school for a class
3. Picking them up
4. Doing my FAFSA
5. Practicing my flair (ALWAYS!)
6. Presumably theres something going on fun tonight.

Tommorow Alexis and I were going to see Aliens of the Deep at the FI (which I get cheap because I'm a member!) but she actually has her first day of work at Ben & Jerry's CONGRATS! So we will have to wait. Instead I may go out to showcase or something. We'll see.

Shabbat yesterday was wonderful...I'm going to miss all my Temple peeps who will be gone over the summer. Thankfully one of my best temple buds Andi will be around though! As will Liz I think. This summer is going to rawk.

Btw...I will freely admit that I have actually caved in and started playing Dance Dance Revolution on a random basis. It is an amazingly fun game.

And now off to shower

02:29 am: Yeah...its been a while...a long while...I should probably talk about lots...but I'm gonna start it off real quick with some one liners.

Just had a fantastic night with Alexis (:

I'm currently going to Bartending school and I am absolutley loving it

Getting my butt in gear and going to classes this term

Also spending lots of time practicing my flair for bartending. I can currently catch a flipped bottle on the back of both my hands, and do lots of fun flips and catches behind my back. Tom Cruise...eat your heart out.

Aced my midterms

Going to see Hitchikers Guide tommorow instead of practicing with the flair team...which was in fact a tough decision...

Probably have bursitis in my wrist (and have for years), but I'm seeing a hand specialist next thursday.

Sick of Matzos already, can't wait for Mastori's bread.

Pissed off about this whole TO renegotiation thing.

Family guy coming back is going to rock America's socks off

I <3 Robot Chicken

I can't wait to get a bartending job, I'm having so much fun learning it.

Kevin Smith gave Episode III a sterling review...I actually have faith again. Don't let me down Lucas!

Alexis came to my grandparents for Seder...it was wonderful. My fam loves her

In other news..."they" appear to have discovered cold fusion, go THEM!

And in an increadibly nerdy wrap up to that...I have 2 trays in my gaming case which are currently full of dice...custom fitted into foam trays...its hot

Not as hot as my Alexis though!!

hehe

Sam

P.S. I hope to start updating regularly now

P.P.S. Survey question...I think that Cari from Sex and the City is a selfish and fundamentally not good person...anybody else have opinions?

08:46 pm: Some quickies

Last week I went to Philcon (the philadelphia geek convention) and had a great time. After the masquerade (which sucked yet again) my friends and I went to cruise the parties and happened across a "semi private" party for the Science Fiction Writers of America, they started grilling us as to why we should be allowed in, which they wanted to do but needed an excuse. I noticed an open bar so I tried to think real hard and remembered that I freelance for a magazine! So they let me in, and the party was kinda silly and random. However, the night ended up being really cool because I ended up meeting and chatting it up with the writer of one of my favorite comics! I ended up meeting Jolly R. Blackburn who created and writes The Knights of the Dinner Table. It was truly surreal and very very cool.

Later we ended up going to a party hosted by a magazine where they had another open bar, and these cool glow in the dark cups. I ended up meeting this nice woman named (I believe) Rebecca Marcus, and we ended up chatting about jewish life on the mainline for quite some time. Ended up playing some games and then coming back heres to Drexel.

Had a wonderful beginning of the week (;

To top it all off...in 3 days I will be on my way to Israel for the Hasbara Fellowship! I'm amazingly excited. Gotta get off to pack!!

Later all...wish me a safe one.

Sam

12:32 pm: Damn Straight

You scored as Jewish. You are a Jew. You are a Jew. You understand that there is something basically missing in the teachings of religion and so-called "spirituality" today. The continuity in time and dedication of the Jewish faith make the most sense to you. You may be drawn to Judaeism out of a jaded opinion of the world today, but hey, it can't be a bad thing to be one the chosen people. </td> Jewish 85% Christian 75% Catholic 65% Buddhist 60% Anarchist 45% Cult 45% Religion created with QuizFarm.com

01:37 am: An end to the debate forever
Just so you all know...I've been touting the FACT that the little chocolatey things you put on top of Ice Cream are in fact called Jimmies for a long time. In order to back up that story, I referenced the history of my first girlfriend's family the Born's. The patriarch of which, Samuel Born invented the confection and they were named Jimmies after the man who operated the machine making them. Some of you didn't believe me. Well spy this folks. http://www.justborn.com/news/press_ami5.html Damn Straight. I think I'll go have some ice cream with Jimmies. After I find some lactaid...damn jewish digestive system.

12:41 am: Today was useful...bunch happened, but first of all...damned internet, drexel sucks. I just typed all this shit out and network crashed and lost it. So you'll get less this time.

1. Went to DP with some brothers...ate lactosey stuff...got ill
2. Deposited checks ate the bank
3. Finally picked up my crashpad at EMS
4. Had fun falling on it
5. Class was cancelled because prof didn't show up
6. Won in all 3 of my fantasy leagues for the first time ever. I'm solid out in front in the most important right now, and am guaranteed at least my money back. Solid.

Break was nice...didn't get to see my friends from home but I did get to go to Mitch Hedburg and Stephen Lynch with brothers. It was fantastic...Mitch was a little off but I still loved his stuff. Lynch though was ridiculously funny. He's way better live...duh.

I"ve been feeling weird lately physically...kinda tired and drained a lot, and I wake up with headaches...I hope theres not something wrong with me.

I've been really confused about a lot of stuff I really can't help and wish I could. I kinda wish for once evrything would just go the way I wanted it to. Oh well...not much to do but wait and pray.

Btw...also been working on the menorah for donation to hillel a lot. Nuri and I finished up basically the whole construction and the first coat of paint...and it is going to be awesome. We're going to be wiring up the electrical when Blumberg shows up, its gonna kick ass.

I also worked at the Penn Soup kitchen a few weeks ago, that made me feel really really good about myself. I"m considering making it a weekly endevour.

I need to mail my jacket to California because its not waterproof anymore. Hopefully The North Face will give me a shiny new one. If not my dad said he'd give me his. I think he just wants an excuse to buy himself a new one.

Thats all for now...I'm off to the Kiksters to hang

later!

03:00 am: Randomness
So...I really really really need to start writing again. Cause I suck. Thought I"d get down some random thoughts while I was being all up and not doing anything.

Life is pretty good I guess. School sucks but I've been rock climbing a lot and its been great. I'll write about some of my rock climbing antics later as I will with a bunch of the stuff in this post.

I got my 5th little brother this term in AEPi. That is a little ridiculous, Dave Lewis and I were the first people ever to do it this term, and boy was the big brother night great. It was one of my fattest nights ever. It started before the ceremony with Saslow and I going out to buy GTA San Andreas for him and us stopping at Wendy's forgetting that we'd be taking our little's out to dinner. I opened up the night with a Classic double biggie sized with a coke and 10 nuggets. Followed it up with a Pat's Cheesesteak...a huge slice of pizza from Lorenzo's and sweet potato pie at KFC...it was painful...

I spent today at Nuri's place with Max, Rob, Greg and Blumberg building our second giant PVC Menorah. We're going to wire this one for electricity and hopefully will be displaying it somewhere nice and public for hanukkah. On the topic of Hanukkah I also got the Hebrew Hammer on DVD...its fantastic.

Shabbat at Temple this week was phenomenal...saw tonns of people I hadn't seen for a long time including Tiffany and Caleb (from birthright) and it was really cool. There were about 90 people there. Hopefully our next dinner on the 3rd will be nearly as good.

I'm going to Israel this winter!!! Dave Levy and I got accepted on the Hasbara Fellowships program for this winter. We'll be learning about Israel Advocacy in Jerusalem and meeting some HEAVY political hitters over there. As our tenative schedule stands we're going to be meeting Shimon Peres! THE Shimon Peres...and I'm really really pumped. Hopefully its going to be as amazing as I'm hoping.

I guess I"ll mention it since I haven't posted in forever. AePi delta rho (drexel) has 17 pledges. I'll repeat that...17 pledges. Thats ridiculous. Considering the most we've ever taken in a year was 21...we're on a hell of a start to try and break that record.

Miss some people and wish I could see them more conditions permitting. Alayna, Ryan, Becca, Jenna, friends from all over, I wish I could hang with all of you. Aron...you'd better get out here soon...the left coast has had enough of your antics!

Pledge Adam is currently passed out on my floor...and I'm about to go pass out in my bed...its that time.

Night ya'll

09:52 am: Welcome Freshman
Its that time again! Back to school is upon us (yes I know we're way later here at Drexel than the rest of the world) and there are some happenings of note to point out.

I finally finished my freaking co-op job which was just torture in these past few weeks. I'm really going to miss 2 things about it though. The people I worked with were wonderful for the most part and I really had fun with some of them. I'm also really going to miss the pie, the cafeteria had wonderful pie...sweet potato usually, my absolute favorite.

My last day at work I had a huge lunch in order to prepare fo rhte impending Yom Kippur holiday, and also had a ton of cake from my going away party. They also gave me flowers (potted flowers...I gave them to my mom) and it was just a really wonderful send off. I'm going to go visit Waverly in the future. Right before sunset for Yom Kippur I went over to Elissa's apt and she made this wonderful dinner of Lemon chicken, corn, potatoes, and noodle kugel. It was wonderful and I STUFFED myself before we headed back to the house to meet people to head off to Kol Nidre services. That being the first time this year I really met any freshman it was pretty cool. On the way down to services I made friends with a whole bunch of new Jewkids like myself, some very cool guys and girls. After services a bunch of people headed back to chill at Elissa's place and I offered to walk my new friend Caryn back to Calhoun and instead of heading inside we just chilled and sat on the steps and talked for like an hour...she kicks ass...we're friends now. We ended up going back to Elissa's place and seeing everyone else anyway, which was very fun. Fasting for the holiday started sucking almost as soon as Kol Nidre was over. We were at Elissa's place and I saw a big bowl of chocolate and almost forgot that it was Yom Kippur and indulged...but I was saved at the last moment, I was really hungry from the get go.

Got up for the next day and went down to Penn for services. Yasher Koach to my boy Matt who had an Aaliyah and did great. A bunch of us left right before Yiskor which wasn't great because we missed the end of the services, but I was fasting and I wasn't doing well. Came back to the house and ended up meeting up with my friend Slava from my birthright trip which was a cool mini reunion and we came back to the house and ended up watching Once upon a time in mexico which kicked ass. Played some trivial pursuit later which I won (were you in doubt?). Breaking the fast ended up just being pizza on the porch of the house because we're not allowed to let freshman guys in yet (stupid formal rush) but it was really fun, everyone seemed to enjoy it, and I'm writing this as I'm getting ready to head off to the Hillel bagel brunch which should be awesome this year. I'm pumped for a great year with Hillel and AEPi and I'm really excited in general for school (cept for those stupid fucking classes...).

Last night I played beerpong for the first time in a very very long time, and well...I still got some clutch left in me when I need it. Only unfortunate thing was that we were drinking High Life...its a little heavy for pong, and I wasn't so happy when I woke up because of it. Oh well...feeling better after drinking 2 Nalgene's of water, and I'm psyched for bagels and whitefish.

Fantasy Football Update
2-0 in AEPi keeper League
1-1 in Aepi redraft league
0-2 in Aepi dynasty league (I'll be happy if I go .500 in that league...I'm not so happy with my team till they show me something)

Eagles Update
The Birds soar into Detroit 2-0 and looking amazing, I really don't want to jinx it, but they're just looking really solid on both sides of the ball. They could be the only 3-0 team after this week, especially since the Pats are sitting.

Music I'm listening to update...
For those of you who have never heard of them Town Hall is an absolutley amazing local band. I've been listening to their first album nonstop the past few weeks and as I happen to have seen them a few times and know a bunch of the band...I happen to be in on the fact that their new album is going to be 10x better. They're CD release part is at the World Cafe on 30th and Walnut on Oct 21. I'm totally psyched for it. Everyone should go.

Sam

10:43 am: wow...I suck at blogging recently
Yeah...so people are getting on my case for me to update. I can assure you all right now that if I ever have any blogworthy happenings in my life I will let you all know about them. As it is my life has been sepctacularly uneventful recently. And I haven't even had any good rants or musings to prattle on about. Maybe its just that time of year. As it is...I hate my co-op job right now and am bored to tears which is partially why I'm forcing myself to write this now. At least I'll feel somewhat productive. As for recent developements in my life? Not much.

Football season started and thats something to keep me talking/interested/occupied half the time. I've got 3 fantasy football teams and I lost 2 of my 3 games this week. Those can probably be attested to mediocre performances on the parts of some of my players and ridiculous performances by my opponents...so I can only hope its not a growing trend. Chances are I didn't draft nearly as well as I thought I had and I'm going to flounder in fantasy mediocrity this year. Well...that could happen...or my suprise players could be right an I could kick ass. Heres to hoping. On another football note, I went out and bought a proper Eagles Jersey finally. Went out and bought a Black Owens Jersey at Modells (on sale for $50!!) but really wanted a green one. On a whim I discovered that the sports collectable store down stairs was selling the green ones for just $4 more so I went and got that and returned the black one. I'm also thinking about taking my 53 jersey with no name or numbers on the back (that I got for 5 dollars) down to the embroidery place to see if they could make it a proper Hugh Douglas jersey on the cheap. If they can do it for 15 or less I'm sold.

Speaking of Terrell Owens...did you see that game on sunday!!! Looks like the birds are off to a great start this year, and the monday night game vs Minnesota is going to be a huge test for them. Heres to hoping they're all they seem to be and that we don't have any more season ending injuries...

That actually reminds me of a funny moment during the high holidays last year when during his sermon the Rabbi at Har Zion mentions that we should have said a Mishaberach (prayer for the sick) for the Eagles season. Its just funny because tonight begins Rosh Hashannah (thats new years for all the little goy friends out there) and I want to say Shannah Tova to all of you. A good year to you...a sweet year to you...have some apples and honey yo...

Now that I've gotten myself back into a little flow and I've found a good topic I'm going to go off pondering for a bit. Jews...

Many of you may have noticed...and many of you may have not, that judiasm is slowly being transformed in our society. Whereas it was once taboo, or even deadly to be, its kind of an exclusive club now. Mind you...I grew up in a remarkably jewish town and it wasn't really that special there. I didn't really understand until my first year of college that the world ISN'T 60% jewish. However something definitley is happening. Look at the preponderance of "cool" jewish stuff.

1. Jewcy.com
2. Heeb Magazine
3. The Hebrew Hammer
4. www.yarmakulebra.com (maybe blasphemous?)
5. www.jewishmayhehm.com

Interestingly enough...the trend seems to come along with the upsurge of the internet's pervasiveness and popularity. I noticed a bit more of this yesterday as I was bored at work (another developing pattern). I discovered the site www.jewishmayhem.com which was linked to by www.jewsweek.com which I think I found from www.jewhoo.com. Actually now I remember...I found jewsweek because of a link from a newsletter I got for being a birthright alumni. It was by Shmuley Boteach (author of Kosher Sex) about how he met Michael Moore and discussed his views on Israel where Moore admitted that he's actually pro Israel and believes that the Jewish people are the most opressedp people on the planet.

Anyway...jewishmayhem is one of a number of expressions of modern day cool jewieness. Heeb magazine and the Hebrew Hammer were really the harbingers of this new revolution where its cool to be severely jewwy. I happen to think it kicks ass. I mean...just look at some of the tshirts you can buy now! "Everybody loves a jewish boy/girl" "Moses is my homeboy" "Nice/bad Jewish boy/girl" its really fun. If it keeps the trend up...I may need to start rocking the jew fro...

Sam

09:54 am: Its been too fricking long
(Warning...this post is going to be all over the place...I need to reestablish a writing style, and catch up for my long absence)


Alright...I'm back. Yes I know its been like a month (few days more actually), but I had some crap to deal with. Its all over now. Yes I am single, yes I am ok, yes we're still friends. Everything is alright now. I'd like to thank in particular all of the people who really helped me. My brothers of course especially Nuri who I talk to all day online every day. I'd also like to thank Lee for not telling me to kill myself...much. Thanks to Jessica, Gloria, Nikki, Deb, and all the other wonderful people who supported me by talking to me for countless hours online. Thanks a lot to Aron for always being there for me, as he knows I will always be there for him (good luck with everything troubling you).

Now that I have gotten that out (lol...soo expressive I know) its time to move on with my life/blog. Not that I think the two are actually intermingled in any way shape or form.

So moving on with my life has been easier than expected. It helped a lot that I had fantasy football this whole time. I have 2 of my three drafts out of the way, and am VERY happy with my teams in both leagues. I still have one to go tommorow, but that in a keeper league from last year. So I'm already pretty set with the players I"m keeping. That should help me A LOT. I'm going to be drafting very late in the round however because I finished well last year. Hopefully some of the players I"m looking for will fall to me.

I've also been going to the bars a lot more than usual. Not so much to drink away my sorrows or anything because I don't really drink that much...just going out and having a great time with the other regulars. Typically Tuesdays are New Deck, Thursdays Finnegans, and the occaisonal friday at Tiki Bobs, or Saturday at Brownies 23 east.

Thats a funny story btw. My boy Jason comes up to me at like 12:30 last saturday after the Phillies game and asks if I want to go with him to Brownies. He wants to go hang with this chick and he needs a wingman (plus he doesn't know how to get there and its right near my house). So unshaven, and wearing letters and flip flops we hop in the car and proceed to make the typically 20-30 minute drive in like 14 seconds. Anyway we got there and this chick was hanging with 2 other girls who really didn't seem to care that we were there. Jason and I got some beers and were just listening to the cool cover band. After a while they start playing Billy Jean by MJ and I react as I always do in a club setting when an MJ song comes on. I tapped Jason just to make him laugh and bust out a Michael Jackson dance Kick or two. I was going to stop right there but then as I look up all of the girls that we were hanging with are cheering me on to keep going. I choke down my embarrasement and put down the beer and bust out a whole little MJ routine. I do it for like 30 seconds or something and am about to stop when I look up and suddenly there are like 20 women surrounding us cheering me on. Apparantly there was a bachelorette party there and they all came over. So I dance for a bit and am going to stop again when one of the girls saunters up and starts dancing with me. The whole experience was kind of surreal and very much not what I'm used to. It was cool though (: Unfortunately I couldn't pull off the moon walk in flipflops...

I've finally almost caught up on my Stargate watching. After I made it through the 6th season I was out of DVD's so I had to download the whole 7th and watch it on my computer. This was pretty easy because it was just 1 huge Bittorrent file. Finding and downloading all of the current episodes from Season 8 and Atlantis proved a bit trickier. I have them all though and should hopefully be totally caught up by the time the new episodes show on Friday.

Speaking of Friday...I'm going to see one of my bestest friends from home Becca! We're going to rock the town...or chill out...or do something. But we're definitley going to hang.

Yesterday at work I accidentally deleted like half my buddy list in one fell swoop. I was on the setup window trying to put someone's name in and accidentally hit delete while my "buddies" group was highlighted...boom, gone like that. WHY ON EARTH WOULD IT LET YOU DO THAT!!! Luckily...I had left my IM on at home under linux which was the GAIM client. That way I was able to copy down all the names I deleted and reinput them, so they weren't completely lost...just a pain in the ass.

I finally got some Gmail invitations, lol. If anybody wants one shoot me an IM. Its really funny now that everyone is catching on as I predicted they would. Luckily I got in there early enough to snag SammyZ...good luck for everyone trying to secure unique and memorable Email addy's.

Google is going to take over the world...seriously.

And on that note...I'd like to send some love and luck to all those in Florida about to get nailed by hurricane whatsit. Best Wishes!!

I'll write more again...I promise...I'm Back

Sam