June 17, 2009

Before I say anything else, I just want to let everyone know that I'm posting all of these on a blog, so if you miss any, you can look them up at this address: http://escapefromkipple.blogspot.com/ --I will post this address at the top of all entries from now on.

It's been a while. I basically gave up on going to Israel because I have no funding and no one will help me within the Jewish community in Atlanta, stating that it is "unethical to help an individual" whatever that means. I have a $1500 deposit to hold my place in OTZMA due Monday. Let's just say that for all of my cynicism, I remain dichotomic: I hold the world both dear and repulsive simultaneously, hopeful and hopeless, etc. etc. People disgust me but they also make me happy. And let's just say that help and good will comes from anywhere, even unthought of and surprising places. For the first time in a while, I believe that I will be putting my faith in people for once. Not people I thought I would be putting faith into, but people, nonetheless. We'll see how it all plays out.

Either way, I've been praying hard and hoping more than I've hoped in a long time. My letter with my plea for help funding my year in Israel has gone out to a million people and people are responding for once. I am hopeful. I work and then I wait.

What's playing in the background? Jackson Browne: "Late for the Sky"
I saw him in concert three years ago with my then-friend James at the Philadelphia Folk Festival. It was great. When I was there I happened to sit next to a woman who had a guest pass around her neck...issued to her by Jackson himself. She told me to send her a demo. I never did. But perhaps she'll remember me and listen and like what she hears.

For the past two weeks, I've been doing more than scrambling for funds for Israel. I've been going to the gym, trying out Zumba and Yogalates classes. I'm so sore but feel really good and, as usual, once I start, start shrinking so fast that it scares me. In eight days I've gone down one size. I still miss dancing. The Yoga instructor is an ex-Broadway dancer, out of Britain, who came over while performing with the show "Cats". We started talking about dancing and she said that she thought I was a dancer when she saw me just because of the way I move. That surprised me. I didn't think it was that apparent in ME. But I suppose so. Then we started talking about setting up ballroom classes at the JCC here, which would be splendid.

On other notes, I finally started working on my book, Early Silver, again. And reading for the Leo Baeck program. I've been slacking like no other on the reading. I read five books in three days of a series, just for fun. James Patterson. Seriously...not my favorite of eloquent writers but seriously good for brain mush food and entertainment. All a great procrastination technique to avoid Amos Elon's straight history text, The Pity of It All: A Portrait of the German-Jewish Epoch 1743-1933. I thought it was supposed to make things clearer, but now I'm more thoroughly confused about how the Holocaust came to be than ever before. I still have about 150 pages to go. I read 100 today. A record for this kind of book. But that's how I work when I'm on a deadline for school or work. Efficiently and quickly.

The temperature was around 95 today. Not too bad, actually. And it's supposed to start raining again next week. We've been getting extreme torrential downpours lately and we're almost out of the drought! Over the weekend, I took my first solo road trip to visit my friend Steve in Alabama and there was an AMAZING tornado-esque storm about two hours after I arrived. The air pressure was insane, thunder and lightning everywhere. Rain coming down with drops the size of me from the waste up. Serious rain. I loved it. The wind was so strong, trees were bent all the way over to the ground.

Playing in the background now: The Eagles, "Best of My Love"

Anyhow, I'll keep you posted. I leave for England in two weeks from today. July 1. Then, the adventure begins. After Europe, like I said, I'll either go on to Israel or pray that one of the jobs I've applied for comes through. I'm also applying for more in the meantime. I suppose I'll just have to wait. Until then...