Shabbos

So, we went to my sister and brother-in-law's for shabbos in Woodmere, it was so nice. We went to their shul, Aish Kodesh, which is SUCH a nice shul. Physcially, it's beautiful. The doors are bronze, and very detailed, the mechitza is made out of one-way mirrors, so that the women can see what's going on, and the Aron is beautiful. The nicest thing, however, was the everyone sang together. No one groaned when the chazzan tried to sing... they sang with him, enthusiastically. And when the Rabbi spoke, people listened. Tzvi went to a mens seudat shlishit at the shul, and he said everyone sang there too, and people crowded around to hear the Rabbi speak. It was just a really nice change.
Of course, it was also great spending time with my sister and Michael. They're always fun.

Accent: New York, I suppose... but not a strong one.
Booze: Sea Breeze, Black Russian
Chore I hate: Cleaning the bath tub
Dogs/Cats: Big fluffy dogs. I hate cats, except for Zoloft - who sheds like crazy, but is just as her name suggests.
Essential Electronics: My beautiful baby ibook.
Favorite Perfume/Cologne: Hanae Mori
Gold or Silver: Anything silver colered
Hometown: Staten Island, NY.
Insomnia: All the time (said in the voice of the kid from the sixth sense)
Job Title: student
Kids: None yet. And no, I'm not pregnant. And for the next 15 times you wonder, "Is Minna pregnant?" No.
Most Admired Trait: Ummm.... I take tests really fast, people in my class hate it cause I make them nervous.
Number of Sexual Partners: Just my baby.
Overnight Hospital Stays: 1. When I was a baby, I spiked a high fever, and convulsed while I was eating corn, so I choked and turned blue. But my daddy saved my life.
Phobias: spiders.
Quote: Like a midget on a urinal, you gotta stay on your toes.
Religion: Judaism
Siblings: 1 sister and 2 sisters-in-law and 3 brothers-in-law.
Time I usually wake up: Mondays and Tuesdays - 6:30. Wednesday - 8:30. Friday - 8:00. Thursday, Shabbos, and Sunday - whenever the phone rings, or Tzvi wakes me up.
Vegtable I Refuse to Eat: Tomatoes. I love tomato sauce, but hate the texture. Avocados too. Are avocados veggies?
Worst Habit: Laziness
X-Rays: In camp, I popped my knee cap off... They x-rayed that. It was gross... all the liquid that is usually under your knee camp went in to the rest of my leg.
Yummy Foods I Make: 40 clove of garlic chicken... I made that this shabbos, it was really yummy. Turkey Salad. Tollhouse Cookies. I don't know... generally if I follow directions, the food comes out good.
Zodiac Sign: Aquarius

Boro Park

If you don't know what I'm talking about, read this first: Arrest Sets Off a Protest by Orthodox Jews
What is there to say?
On one hand, I can understand the beginning of the argument. The guy was deaf, couldn't hear the cop, and the people who stood up for him were right - considering the circumstances, I agree that there was use of excessive force.
But talk about excessive force. Burning a cop car?
It makes me sad because they should know better. They should know that they're going to be judged based on the fact of their Judaism. That people will see it and think poorly of Jews. How could someone burn a police car and not think of the chillul Hashem that they're making?

My name is jewchick, and I am SO grateful that I am not an alcoholic.

I'm taking a psychiatric nursing class, and one of our assignments is to go to an open AA meeting and write an observation paper. So, today was my trip to the AA meeting. It was exactly how it sounds in books, or in movies. There were the guys who have been sober for 25 years, the guys who just got out of rehab, and the guys who were drunk yesterday. They talked about everything that's gone on. The guy who spoke told about getting high and drunk in highschool, then on his job as a construction guy working on elevators (which, by the way, doesn't make me feel very safe), about losing his wife and his daughter. He's been sober for two and a half years, and just got back with his wife three months ago. It made me really happy that his story had a happy ending.
The most interesting thing to me was my reaction. Going in, I was like, "okay, this is a little scary, but it'll be fun - even, maybe, funny." After sitting there, and listening to everyone's stories, I feel totally different. It was kind of a bittersweet experience - hearing about the guy who was contemplating suicide was really sad, but everyone's reactions to him were sweet. They all reminded him that he was at the meeting, which meant that no, he doesn't want to kill himself, he just wants the pain to go away. And while everything out of everyone's mouth sounded completely cliche, you know, "a day at a time," or whatever, it was cliche in the most honest, most sincere, most caring way.