Work

Well, today was my last day. Now I just sit back and wait for two more paychecks to arrive in account... because it takes two weeks for them to do the processing and stuff. So one payment should be in Thursday, and another two weeks from then.
I learned things working at the Embassy. Like the fact that nobody really has a filing system. THey say they do, and they may think they do, but if anybody else has ever done their job before them, no real system exists. Mostly because nobody has the time to devise a sytem when they have other things to do, as any job does. Well, except a file clerk, I guess.
Two, I couldn't stand an office job. I just feel so inactive and useless sitting behind a desk all day. I got stuff done, but it just felt like less of an accomplishment because there's nop physical evidence for it when it's all on a computer.
Oh, and we've sorted out travel plans. Everything should proceed as was originally planned now. Hope to see some of my friends while I'm in Fairfax.

Travel Update

well, my plans haven't changed. But there's been some trouble with my parents' tickets. It's complicated, so I don't want to bore people with the details, but the point is that I'll probably have to drive to Fairfax on my own, and my parents will come over at some other point... Not sure when, exactly.

Travel Plans

Speaking of people travelling, I'll be flying back to the States on the 5th of August, arrive the 6th in Newark, fly to Cleveland, then to Erie, PA. Stay with my grandparents for a while, then drive down to Fairfax on the 9th with my mom, who's going to a writers' conference. I'll be housesitting for my uncle, which should be nice. So yeah, Fairfax people, mark your calendars.
I want to see you again, but I'll only be around for less than a week, so e-mail me and we can make plans. I leave on Sunday the 15th, after my dad gets into Dulles on the 12th.

Monday=bad

So, yeah... I forgot to turn my alarm on last night. Or open my nice make-everything-dark shutters. So I didn't realize what time it was until my mother knocked on my door at 6:50 this morning, giving me ten minutes to get ready for work. I managed, but I feel like I was a tad less well-groomed than usual. And still mostly asleep.
But it's all because I didn't sleep well. And why is that, you ask? Because my mouth hurt. Because I was at the dentist again yesterday. More fillings. Ouch.
Oh, and I really haven't really seen my father much in like a week. And probably won't any time soon, since he's in Washington by now getting ready to testify before the House Foreign Relations Committee on Israel's disengagement from the occupied territories. It's a good chance for him to give the agency the good press it deserves, and something of an honor, as its the first time anybody from USAID has been asked to do this sort of thing, I'm told.
But yeah... he was busy with meetings all last week, as some very important politicians were out here. And now he's in DC for like, two days.
In any case, it's my last week of work, too. So um... yea?

Happy Birthday, Dad!

I know you're really busy this week, what with a zillion things going on, but we'll find time to celebrate somehow.

Pop-Pop

My grandfather has cancer. A form of leukemia, I'm told. He's been undergoing chemotherapy this week, and that's really taking a lot out of him right now. He'll have three weeks until the next round, and I hope he can get some of his strength back in that time.
It's scary. But Pop-pop's always kept himself in pretty good shape and been active, so he has that in his favor. But I'm still worried, of course. My thoughts are with him, and with Nana.

< insert Star Trek reference here >

So long, James Doohan. I always liked him. And I don't mean Scotty. James Doohan was a nice guy. I was watching this documentary on Trekkies (yes, I'm a geek), and he was talking about the letters he got over the years. And he said the most memorable one was from a girl who said she was going to kill herself. He wrote her back and said he wanted to see her at this convention he was going to. She showed up. And he said he wanted to see her at his next convention, too. And this went on for a while. Eventually, he lost contact. Years later, he heard from her again, and she thanked him.
Like I said. A good guy.

Fear me!

Tracking you through the internet for over one year.

ouch.

So, I've been to the dentist a lot lately. I had lost a filling while we were in Taba over the 4th of July, so I went in to get that fixed. Turns out there was a whole lot of decay in the front six teeth on top. Why just them, he had no idea. But the thing is, I was at the dentist in Fairfax like, 2 months ago, and he should have spotted it and done something. So anyway, he fixed themissing filling, and was worried I may need a root canal, because the tooth was so soft from decay that my nerve was actually exposed.
Ick.
Thankfully, It's been feeling pretty well, and I didn't really need the painkillers he gave me. I was there again yesterday, too, because, as I said, bunch of work needed doing. That was excrutiating. Two fillings, and they were both pretty big. And the novacaine injection was in a place that was really painful. It still hurts, actually. That's all I really feel the need for painkillers for, though.
I have two more appointments to get more work done. And then I should find someone up in Meadville to see more often than every six months--like, every three months or something. I can get a recommendation from the Hooples or Libby, see who they go to.

But in other news, we were out of town this weekend visiting distant relatives who live here in Israel. It was fun, actually. Kinda felt bad, because we left Rosie alone in the yard for 24 hours. But then dad made the decision to spend the night up there at the last minute so there was no time to get her a spot at the kennel or ask somebody to watch her. She was fine when we got home, though. Very excited to see us, as usual, but fine.

um.. things

so yeah... there was a suicide bombing last night in Netanya. That's maybe an hour from Tel Aviv. SOmehow, I'm not worried, though. I dunno... there's just an entirely different mentality here. They're used to this sort of thing, horrible as it sounds. And they take it in stride. And seeing everybody else not panic makes it easier to stay calm myself.

Batman!

Saw Batman Begins yesterday. It was actually quite good. The direcor does a good job, outside of fight scenes. Those were too dark and close to be able to tell what was going on.
And I think they made a good choice in picking villans. Neither the Scarecrow nor Rhaz Al Ghul is really a physical villian. They're thinkers. And that makes for a better character than just someone Batman needs to hit repeatedly until they fall over.
And there was even a reasonable explanation of why crimainals are afraid of a guy in a bat suit beyond 'he's mysterious and bats are creepy'.
Although, I admit I couldn't help getting annoyed at the complete incontinuity among the now five Batman movies. But there's precedent for that, so I can't really blame the director. I was kinda bugged by one thing more than any other- his parents get killed by some mugger who then gets killed later in the movie. In teh first Batman, you see them get killed by the guy who later becomes the Joker. I felt like that was too important a detail to alter like that. But I'm a geek, and probably just being too picky.

oh, also, the post-counter on my Blogger dashboard finally decided to keep count again. I now have 421 posts (excluding this one). Until today, it said I had 350 for like, the last year. GO figure.

misc.

Well, what's been happening this week?
Not a whole lot. Had dinner with my dad on Thursday. May or may not go to Jerusalem tomorrow. My parents are still trying to decide. I bought some postcards, and will send them out sometime next week.

Oh! I know. Animals. Animals seem to be big this week. Adam got chinchillas and Jess bought herself a third rat.

Also, I've found myself becoming hooked on sudoku.

thanks to Adam for the link!

I know it'll never happen, but I still like the idea of ironic comeuppance. If the people who make the laws actually had to suffer the consequences, we'd have very different laws, I'm sure.

ah, long weekend... Egypt!

Spent the long weekend in Egypt on the Red Sea. Was a nice time, staying in a really nice hotel on the beach. Getting there was a bit of a hassle, though. There aren't any flights from Israel to Egypt because... well, politics, really. So we flew to Eilat, which is near the border and took a cab to the border, then walked across. Of course, it's not that simple. Had to go through one set of border control to get out of Israel, and then another to get into Egypt... checked our passports eight times (I counted). And the fact that we didn't have visas for Egypt made for a hassle, too (we didn't need them. Just a special stamp for where we were going.) And then having Diplomatic passports threw the people off--I guess they don't see too many of them.

But once we got there, it was a good time. Slept a lot, and read a bunch. Went down to the pool in the mornings, then came in for the afternoon. It was wayyy too hot to be out at that point, like 110+. Not that it stopped some of the other people at the hotel. But then, they sat out there all day and turned bright red, so I figure they'll be horribly uncomfortable and probably get melanoma later, too. God bless SPF 30.

ooh! and I saw lionfish! From about five feet away. Didn't want to get too much closer, all things considered though. We Had a little one in our aquarium in Jakarta. And I talked my parents into going to the underwater observatory in Eilat on our way back today, which was fun.

Oh yeah... happy Independence Day, too. I nearly forgot.