East Providence

 

they ate to me, they drank to me

 a waste of paper courtesy of the US postal service.

one time, two times

administration

Seder 2011

The color of money

The smell of success.

its good to be home

Today is the first anniversary of our arrival to the US. Everyone needs a home, Its good to be Home, after all  home is where the heart is.

A sad goodbye to a friend #2

Almost 4 years ago i posted a sad goodbye to a friend.

2008

Today we said a sad goodbye (with a smile) to our long time friend, the 92' Civic. we had our ups and downs, but it was a loyal companion that never said no to any job we needed it to do. it did have my blood pressure raised now and again. when it would not start for almost all the possible reasons in the book, and for a few there were not in the book. we spent a new england summer together with no air conditioner, and another summer with engine heat issues. but all in all, it had a good stereo, full trim, and a respectable puritan look, with some rust coloration, to suite, our anti consumerist stance. we spent 3 years, and about 25K miles together.

a few guys came over last week to check it out. Guatemalan construction workers. they came in a group of three, one translator, one mechanic and one guy who wanted the car. they liked it but never called back. then came this group. they called at 9pm, well after dark and said they want to come over to check it out. they were also three: a girl, her brother, and a mechanic friend, who took the car around for a spin and gave his all clear. this morning they came over with the cash and took her away. before they came me and tess had one last victory spin around the block, to celebrate our parting ways. with mixed feelings about this car, we said our goodbyes.

and once more i said a sad Goodbye friend.

Stupid Americans of the worst type a tribute to JB

After spending 2 full days in the suburbs, walking, and hanging around i have come to some profound conclusions. America does not really have an urban city structure. even where we live, not 5 minutes from the downtown of boston, is suburban, and low density like. the further out you go the more thinly spread the poeple are. the kids all mope around in their rediculesly low jeans, all looking pretty much the same with the same antics, of post avril lavigne hair style, and accessories, and the guys are all droopy and wear sports clothes. they all have pimples. but there is something amazing about the way these poeple lives their lives and grow up in the environment. it is a completely new way of human existence, not even 40 years old.this is perhaps the second generation of humans to grow up this way. this whole missconception of what is a city in the US leads to all kinds of strange behavioral patterns. its not that they are colturally deprived, or primitive even, not that they listen to bad music and watch bad TV and think its all the best in a very typical american way but that they are unique. there is something cute about this life style, however this cuteness comes at a very high price - the adverse affects of low density urban sprawl.

on the other hand, i went shopping in our local supermarket, located across from a huge projects complex, but also across from our trendy, rich yuppy american gentrified neighborhood. and so you can find all kinds of fancy health food options, vegan food and a large section of organic stuff, along side a huge selection of spanish stuff. you can guess how of the residents buys what and what side of the tracks they live on (did i forget to mention there is a railroad track, in a trench dividing the two parts of this neighborhood?). but what was amazing is that i met 2 poeple i know, by chance, we were all in there at the same time. just like living in some city center, where you meet the poeple who live around you all the time.

Now

Four comments about the situation

1. in israel the amount of times that yelled ferociously at someone, at the top of my lungs, with a crazy violent killer face and blood pumped veins was pretty high, considering i have yet to have ever done this in America. i guess its not that there were no reasons to lash out at poeple here, not less then there are in israel, but obviously there is something preventing this from happening.

2. i use the horn on my car very rarely, and i still use it far more then any one else around me.

3. there is something wrong with my legs, making it hard for me to walk or run.

4. today i needed some of my computer nerd skills, and in the end, even though i was not able to completely fix what i was trying to, i felt really impressed with my self that i was able to read and understand all those crazy instructions, then find more problems and solutions that called for installing a 5 year old version of internet explorer in order to send some file. some of this working wiht old computer stuff makes me laugh. not only am i old, but i know what this stuff is, because way back when i really knew what all this stuff was and how it worked. not really.

Avi Dichter slammed in Brandies University April 04, 2011

I shot a video OF Brandies SJP protested against murderer and war criminal Avi Dichter. It has 12K views on youtube by now, and was on most israeli media news websites. i had no credit for it, but thats not so bad. in the mean while i am feeling worse and worse. i cant escape the fact, i am participating. bigger car, bugger house, all kinds of things i do not need that are destroying the world. the only thing is that when i was a kid it seemed like this can go on forever, and now it is apparent to me that there is not a whole lot of time left for this kind of life. much less then any of us think. i keep hitting this wall when i think about the "next car" i will buy when i am grown up. i will buy a faster car or bigger car or any other car, and it will be just as bad anything i might be doing right now. this is the ultimate illusion, the one that seems to be so fake its gotta be real good for you.i am not sure i can take it for much longer.

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada