Benedict XVI

...Or haven't you heard? That's the name that Cardinal Ratzinger, of Germany, chose upon being proclaimed pope. A hard-lined conservative, according to MSN AND Fox News...

What does this mean for us? Who knows?

Inerestin' that he was born in 1927-it means that he was about 13 or 14 when Hitler was at the height of his power.

In other news, I have one final down, three to go...

Happy cleaning!

It's amazing-I didn't want to study, so I spent two hours instead, cleaning the microwave and the toaster...it's actually quite helpful to have finals the week before Pesach...;)

Etymology for Defen

I couldn't think of a new word as you'd requested, but this is my coolest new Latin discovery:
Condolence-from "con," a suffix connected to the word "cum," meaning "with" and "dolor, doloris", a masculine noun (the second word is the noun in the genitive form) meaning "pain, grief."
So if you give condolences to someone, it's because you are with them in their grief. It just makes the word mean a bit more when you understand it-that's what's so cool about language!

An answer for Stx

This is an al regel achas (on one foot) reply to Stx's comment on my rant a few posts ago.

"What do people say to you, random people, that makes you NOT feel like that?"
It's funny. It always starts the same-asking what I'm doing, etc. The people who make me feel comfortable are the ones that are, I suppose, idealists like me. They hear what I'm doing and encourage rather than critique. They think about what I'm saying and share what they know with me, rather than judging me. (And yes, we all think that people judge us, and probably most of the time they aren't, but it still feels like that)

"Have you ever met someone who just made you feel comfortable? Made you NOT feel fake, but at the same time not stripped of your mask--because you never needed to put it on in the first place?"
Um...yes/no. It's a loaded question. I guess I should split it, but I'm not sure how. There are people that make me comfortable. I'm just not quick to trust. Even my close relationships are ones that grew from superficial (yes, dear) to real. I always keep the mask on at first, because I (like most people) fear hurt. I don't want to expose who I really am upon first meeting someone, because I put too much store on what other people think. There are times when I drop the mask quicker, though. And there're people that I've known for years that still don't know me.

"Examine them. Analyze their actions."
Caring, honest interest, acceptingness. I hate it when people ask how you are and then don't wait for a reply-if you don't want an answer, don't ask the question. At least pretend to be interested! I consider myself a listener (a blabber too, but generally a listener). People who listen and make a good show of it make people much more comfortable. IMHO

"And figure out how you can act in the same way towards others...And let us know what you've discovered as well!"
IY"H I'll try.

Thanks.

Sky is BLUUUUUUUUE and random thoughts

Happy beautiful day! It's amazing what a difference a day makes. Yesterday was rainy and dark-it looked like someone (or rather, Someone), had colored the world gray with a crayon. In keeping with that, I had an awful day! I actually got to the point of tears before I realized that one completely destroyed dinner would not destroy my life and burst out laughing...;)

Three random things I noticed this week (there were four, but I can't remember the last one now):

1. Disclaimer: I'm not trying to make a statement, I'm just trying to point out an interesting fact. People use terms like homophobe and Islamiphobe (I saw both in quick succession) to describe people who hate these groups, and yet hatred of Jews is not a phobia, it's just an anti-ness...

2. People are all wired now-I find it a bit frightening. Walking around campus, everyone either has their Ipods or their cellphone wires in their ears. I saw someone I knew and called her name, but she didn't answer because she was wired-seperate from the world, focused only on what was being fed directly into her brain. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I don't know.

3. A sign: "Conversion Questions? Meet with the experts: Reform and Conservative Rabbis" and dates and contact information.

Just inerestin'

Hope your day is as beautiful as mine, and have a wonderful Shabbos!!

All the world's a stage...

...and I'm an actress, remember?

Having to eat at different people's houses every week, I discovered that I've made a script that I present as 'me'. I have some parts of my life (history, acting ;) ), that are extremely not typical for a frum girl, and I inevitably get asked the same questions no matter where I go. I realized this past Shabbos, when I was going through my life story yet again, that I've memorized it-and not only the words, but the presentation as well. I always pause for affect at the same moment, I initiate the same questions because I'm leaving my 'audience' hanging. What's real and what's an act?

Sorry to make this a personal rant. I normally try to stay away from my personal life, unless there's a lesson in it that I can share, but this's something that's been weighing on me all day.

Nothing Special

I'm just excited. Happy, thrilled, etc. But not for a really deep reason..I'd just like to share with y'all that I've just handed in the last paper of the semester. The end (of this semester, at least..) is in sight!!

Now if I could only get that internship at the Library of Congress...