Coming up tonight? The Jewish Dairy Holiday, where we stay up all night and eat ice cream while we study.
(Don't most High School students do that anyway?) ; D
But wait-- Shavuot isn't just about eating dairy and studying, it signifies something greater than that! Shavuot is the Jewish holiday that celebrates our receiving the Torah (otherwise known as the old testament). The story goes that Moses went up to Mount Sinai where G-d gave him the 'Ten' Commandments and the Torah, it is said that Moses spent 40 days on the top of that mountain, learning these commandments by heart, and then G-d dictated to Moses the Five Books of Moses (or the words written in Torah scrolls). SO, this is why we celebrate Shavuot, to acknowledge the day when we were given the Torah.
Now, why the dairy? We eat dairy because it is said that 'the Torah nurtures us like a mother's milk nurtures a baby', so to be even more nurtured on the celebratory day, we stay up all night and study Torah (so that the Torah may 'nurture' us) and we also eat lots and lots of dairy (I guess to symbolize that we are being nurtured by the Torah). I feel bad for those Jews who are lactose intolerant!
Anyhow, looking forward to ice-cream until midnight!
To any Jews: HAPPY SHAVUOT! To all others: I hope you learned something about Jewish tradition!
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Monday, June 6, 2011
{this post has no name}
Let me tell you, there is absolutely NOTHING better than watching Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightly for the one hundreth time, after dinner.
Then again, theres nothing worse than how tired one feels after staying up till 10:30, just to watch the best movie ever made.
Given this tiredness, I am quite unable to formulate comprehensive words for this blog post, hence: I might as well shut up while I'm ahead...but seriously, you should watch that movie!
Then again, theres nothing worse than how tired one feels after staying up till 10:30, just to watch the best movie ever made.
Given this tiredness, I am quite unable to formulate comprehensive words for this blog post, hence: I might as well shut up while I'm ahead...but seriously, you should watch that movie!
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Top Tens of spring
As spring comes to a close, I figured, everybody else always posts lists of some of their favorite things, so why not me? Therefore, dear readers, you are about to learn some of my favorite things about spring.
Top Ten Favorites of Spring
(not in any particular order)
1) The first flowers of the year
2) The smell after a rainstorm
(Unfortunately, people--me included-- don't usually take pictures of others playing in the mud, hence: I have no picture for number 3)
3) Putting one's feet in a nice slick mud puddle or in the dirt of a freshly hoed garden bed or the fresh mowed lawn
4) Having to wash ones feet before bed, due to how dirty one got them while playing outside
5) Actually, just playing outside
6) Lilacs.
7) Changing one's wardrobe from long to short sleeves,
8) Hearing children's laughter, wafting around the neighborhood...laaaaate into the evening,
9) Lying in the grass (or on the sidewalk) watching the birds (especially chimney swifts-not pictured, those are geese!),
10) Smelling the fresh earth and looking forward to summer!
What do you like about Spring? What are you looking forward to in the Summer?
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Done, done, and done!
Whew!
That was really annoying to do, but just because I love you, I changed my blog. That said, I would love to hear what you think of it, so if you have any suggestions, any *compliments*, or anything else that you'd like to say, feel absolutely free to tell me (as long as criticism is creative and not harmful*)...I'd especially like feedback on the colors and the text font/size. SO please, please, please let me know if you think I Should change anything (because it wasn't that hard to do).
Thanks I <3 you amazing people
XOXO
*Creative criticism: I love that color of purple, it reminds my of elephants eating green bananas!
Joking! Creative Criticism: I really like ___noun_____/ How you did____noun___.
However _____noun___is really hard to read/____noun______might look better in __color__
you get the idea, criticism should be counter parted by a (sincere) compliment...and no, I'm not fishing for compliments, as long as you say it nicely, say whatever you like [see elephant comment above].
That was really annoying to do, but just because I love you, I changed my blog. That said, I would love to hear what you think of it, so if you have any suggestions, any *compliments*, or anything else that you'd like to say, feel absolutely free to tell me (as long as criticism is creative and not harmful*)...I'd especially like feedback on the colors and the text font/size. SO please, please, please let me know if you think I Should change anything (because it wasn't that hard to do).
Thanks I <3 you amazing people
XOXO
*Creative criticism: I love that color of purple, it reminds my of elephants eating green bananas!
Joking! Creative Criticism: I really like ___noun_____/ How you did____noun___.
However _____noun___is really hard to read/____noun______might look better in __color__
you get the idea, criticism should be counter parted by a (sincere) compliment...and no, I'm not fishing for compliments, as long as you say it nicely, say whatever you like [see elephant comment above].
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
new blog format?
For those of you who are slightly sane, please do not take offense at the following post, it seems that I've finally gone crazy!
It's kind of depressing, given that I will soon be needing to create a new blog (because I'm no longer homeschooling), that I am only now thinking of giving my blog a tiny bit of a makeover...but, I figured to heck with it! why not?And just in case the world 'ends' again sometime in the near future, at least when we're all dead I can tell all the other dead people that I was productive, and I made my blog look nice...of course if I hang out with Vctorian people in heaven, they won't know what a blog is, but at least I can feel superior!
Okaaay, now I really am starting to write like Edgar Allen Poe, I'm talking about dead people! (I hope i don't have a fever...)
Nope no fever, anyhow, as long as we don't all die I the near future (which I certainly hope we don't), you can look forward to a possible change in my blog! Yay!
Sorry about that strange post, it seems that I'm feeling slightly out of sorts today...must be the heat!
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Reaction Paragraph to "I Write Like"
While on the plane to visit family last week, I wrote a reaction paragraph to my 'I Write Like' experience...It actually came out quite well, so I figured that I'd post it!
When somebody reads my writing, usually, they don't immediately after say, "oh! You write like Edgar Allen Poe!" In fact, people have never told me that I write like Edgar Allen Poe. I don't even want to hear that I write like him. To a happy anti-depression person who hated morbidity, like me, that could even be seen as an insult!
So when the computer analyzed my writing and told me that I wrote like Edgar Allen Poe, my sensible reaction was: "Ummm, WHAT?!?!" Maybe I was overreacting, but I write like Edgar Allen Poe? I don't think so!
But then I began to notice a similarity: we both use a lot of adjectives...however on second though, so does Jane Austen.
Hmmm, Jane Austen, now there's someone who I might enjoy writing like. It's not that I have anything against good ol' Edgar, but--to put it frankly-- he is morbid, I am not!
I briefly wonder what other authors I might write like. After being told that I write like a famous Canadian blogger and the woman who wrote gone with the wind, I'm still not quite satisfied. I think of long gowns at tea, and immediately I have an idea:
"'It is a fact universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.'
As I opened the novel by Miss Jane Austen, I felt a thrill tremor through my body. How exciting it was to read a novel by one of the greatest female novelists of all time, and even more exhilarating: to memorize each line that Elizabeth Bennet, her sisters, Mr. Darcy, Mr. Bingley, and of course Caroline Bingley
This was in fact my sole reason for reading Pride and Prejudice as many times as I had, I could not get enough of dear, prideful Lizzy, or handsome, prejudiced Mr. Darcy, and of course I treasured reading about their intricate and convoluted relationship.
Somehow, I could identify with Elizabeth, who wasn't as beautiful as her eldest sister, but would certainly be considered a beauty. She who judged harshly (though not without reason) but who was also a compassionate, loving, and loyal sister. I envied the relationship between Elizabeth and Jane Bennet and how protective they were required to be towards their youngest sisters, and I felt a connection with all of their family, no matter how foolish and unabashed the two youngest sisters and their mother were.
This is a novel of which I cannot pretend to get enough, and which shall be opened, and treasured, many more times during my life and the course of history"
I click the analyze button and hold my breath...the image that pops up on the screen 1.5 secounds later? "I write like Jane Austen". My sensible reaction? "YESSS! I've always wanted to write like Jane Austen" [my father walks in the room] "guess what?! I write like Jane Austen!"
He's excited for me, I can tell...not bad being told that you write like one of the best female novelists of all time...it sort of boosts one's self confidence a couple degrees!
Still if I ever publish a historical novel, what are the chances that someone will tell me, "Oh, you write like Jane Austen!"?
After reading that last (morbid/depressing) paragraph, Edgar Allen Poe may be more likely.
When somebody reads my writing, usually, they don't immediately after say, "oh! You write like Edgar Allen Poe!" In fact, people have never told me that I write like Edgar Allen Poe. I don't even want to hear that I write like him. To a happy anti-depression person who hated morbidity, like me, that could even be seen as an insult!
So when the computer analyzed my writing and told me that I wrote like Edgar Allen Poe, my sensible reaction was: "Ummm, WHAT?!?!" Maybe I was overreacting, but I write like Edgar Allen Poe? I don't think so!
But then I began to notice a similarity: we both use a lot of adjectives...however on second though, so does Jane Austen.
Hmmm, Jane Austen, now there's someone who I might enjoy writing like. It's not that I have anything against good ol' Edgar, but--to put it frankly-- he is morbid, I am not!
I briefly wonder what other authors I might write like. After being told that I write like a famous Canadian blogger and the woman who wrote gone with the wind, I'm still not quite satisfied. I think of long gowns at tea, and immediately I have an idea:
"'It is a fact universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.'
As I opened the novel by Miss Jane Austen, I felt a thrill tremor through my body. How exciting it was to read a novel by one of the greatest female novelists of all time, and even more exhilarating: to memorize each line that Elizabeth Bennet, her sisters, Mr. Darcy, Mr. Bingley, and of course Caroline Bingley
This was in fact my sole reason for reading Pride and Prejudice as many times as I had, I could not get enough of dear, prideful Lizzy, or handsome, prejudiced Mr. Darcy, and of course I treasured reading about their intricate and convoluted relationship.
Somehow, I could identify with Elizabeth, who wasn't as beautiful as her eldest sister, but would certainly be considered a beauty. She who judged harshly (though not without reason) but who was also a compassionate, loving, and loyal sister. I envied the relationship between Elizabeth and Jane Bennet and how protective they were required to be towards their youngest sisters, and I felt a connection with all of their family, no matter how foolish and unabashed the two youngest sisters and their mother were.
This is a novel of which I cannot pretend to get enough, and which shall be opened, and treasured, many more times during my life and the course of history"
I click the analyze button and hold my breath...the image that pops up on the screen 1.5 secounds later? "I write like Jane Austen". My sensible reaction? "YESSS! I've always wanted to write like Jane Austen" [my father walks in the room] "guess what?! I write like Jane Austen!"
He's excited for me, I can tell...not bad being told that you write like one of the best female novelists of all time...it sort of boosts one's self confidence a couple degrees!
Still if I ever publish a historical novel, what are the chances that someone will tell me, "Oh, you write like Jane Austen!"?
After reading that last (morbid/depressing) paragraph, Edgar Allen Poe may be more likely.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
I'm still here {mostly} 2
I feel like I'm always apologizing for never writing on my blog...and I must say: its true, I don't often write on my blog, certainly not as much as I would like to...
So anyhow, I apologize, and instead of telling my excuse I'm just going to say that I do write posts very often when I can, but I am a very busy person, so sometimes I can't.
I'm going to leave it at that.
I just got back from a lovely trip to see some family and will hopefully have some cool pictures up as soon as I get them onto the computer!
So anyhow, I apologize, and instead of telling my excuse I'm just going to say that I do write posts very often when I can, but I am a very busy person, so sometimes I can't.
I'm going to leave it at that.
I just got back from a lovely trip to see some family and will hopefully have some cool pictures up as soon as I get them onto the computer!
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