Twins?

"Look, it's MAK in blonde!"
"You could pass for twins! One the dark twin, the other, the light twin!"
"You are so alike! The way you, walk, talk, act!"
"So which is the mother, and which the daughter?"
I've heard all of these comments and more when my mother and I go out. Especially people who know either of us well comment on how alike we act, and walk, and talk. My mother is blond and green eyed, I am dark haired and eyed (my father's side). Now don't get me wrong, I love my mother and sometimes it is very funny how people react to how alike we are. Some people get thrown off by my dark hair however, and say we look nothing alike, which is also amusing. I will be talking to someone who knows my mother well and they'll say, "I can't believe how much like your mother you are! In the way you talk, in the way you move your hands while speaking, how you emphasize your words..." I think you get the point. My mother and I are very similiar. Now what's funny, is that my brother could not be more different. He inherited everything from my father's father. His looks, his likes and dislikes, the way he acts, and what is even odder is that he never knew our grandfather other than as a baby. Family heredity can be very funny that way.

One of my most favorite poems ever!

I have mentioned before that I am not really a poem person, I am for the most part not all that into poems. But this poem has always had an affect on me. Everyone has probably seen it before at one time or another, but i feel that it can never be emphasized enough.

The Dash

I read of a man who stood to speak
At the unveiling of a friend
He referred to the dates on the tombstone
From the beginning to the end.

The first date was that of her birth
The second he recalled with tears
But he said what mattered most of all
Was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents all the time
That she spent alive on earth...
And now only those who loved her
Know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not how much we own;
The cars...the house...the cash.
What matters is how we live and love
And how we spend our dash.

If we could just slow down enough
To consider what's true and real,
And always try to understand
The way other people feel.

So be less quick to anger
And show appreciation more,
Love the people in our lives
Like we've never loved before.

Let's treat each other with respect,
More often wear a smile
Remember that this special dash
Only lasts a little while.

Have I Mentioned...

that my family is nuts? So during lunch, my mother brought up that she thinks that we should get Wish (our dog) a sheep to herd, because after all, he is a sheepdog. She mentioned that she had seen on Drudge that in europe they are breeding less wooly sheep. My brother said, "Why don't they make a disease that the wool falls off while they're young?" My step-father said, "Yeah, Chemotherapy!" "Then there would be glow in the dark lambchops!" Then it somehow urned to giving people radiation so they would glow in the dark and would be found quicker. Yeah.....My family has very strange conversations.

Memories

Some make you laugh, others make you cry, but what are we without them? I was looking through my pictures from seminary, some of which were very random, others made me laugh from remembering. For example, one of the pictures is of two of my roomies sleeping, and I started laughing because I recalled that one of the girls cellphone would always ring early in the morning. She somehow slept right through it. Come to think of it, so did all of my other roomies, I would wake up and lie there thinking "Answer it already, so I can go back to sleep!" Fun times. Another picture of my roomies, brings back memories of a particular clean up night when two of them pretended to be russian cleaning ladies, and had a blast. Another cleaning night when the girls of my dira swept all the garbage into a pile in the main apartment, and danced around it like a bonfire. Another picture, showing my bed and the posters on the wall (showing animals of course) also showing my roomies scarves hanging from my bed. Made a lovely curtain.
Sometimes it's good to just take out some photos and take a stroll down memory lane.

On To A Completely Different Topic

Today was pretty interesting, I went out with my brother for lunch, just the two of us, and we have not done that in a while, despite the fact I see him every day, and I almost got towed. Or so I was informed by a man whose car I had parked behind. See, the problem is the restraunt that we went to does not have all that many parking spaces and so you have to be rather creative about finding one. Or, you can park several blocks away, which I was loathe to do. So I parked behind the store, where it was a towing zone, however, I place the blame on my brother, because he said there wasn' room to get a tow truck in there. In any case, we parked we went inside and ate, we came back outside and in the process of my brother trying to talk me through backing out while not crashing into the truck, first the truck driver said he would move, because i probably wouldn't make it, and then the other guy came over and said he was gonna have me towed, to which I assured him (at least three times) that I was TRYING to leave. In any case, my brother got back in the car and said he felt like an idiot, and I finally got out of the oarking lot and the rest of the day went normally. Interesting day, no?

New York and Florida: How Different Are We? Part 3

In Shidduchim: Ok, maybe this is just me and the class I went to school with, but there isn't as much pressure to get married so soon. My class had 40 girls in it in highschool. Of my class now, only 10 are married. Also, I don't feel as much pressure, but that might be in part because neither of my best friends are. They aren't even dating at the moment, they're too busy with college. So I never feel the pressure that some of the New York bloggies talk about, most of the girls are fine with waiting, and trying to get a little further along before settling down. Take me for instance, I won't start going out till this semester is over. (If I survive it, that is.) Ok, I need to work on my paper now, so I may or may not put up more later, if I can think of anything. Actually, if you guys could suggest something it would be much appreciated!

New York and Florida: How Different Are We? Part 2

I'm not sure how many "parts" this will end up being, until I run out of things to say I guess. Anyways, back to topic. I was actually talking about the whole thing with my mother on shabbos about how different schools are in NY as compared to Florida, specifically South Florida. The girls' schools all have a much broader...range? of girls than any NY Bais Yaakov.As for the boys' schools, I can't really say because I don't have that much idea, I just know what my brother tells me and he's not exactly un-biased. Neither am I....but that is neither here nor there. I think that the major difference between the communities is how much the central community varies. While down here we have several shuls all within two to three blocks of one another, we still count the community as a whole, no matter which shul you go to. Ok, I just re-read that last sentence, and I'm not sure that I'm getting myself across very clearly...gah. How do I say this? The actual level of frumkeit within the community varies from ultra-orthodox to very modern orthodox, which is why you won't see some of the issues that are in NY down here. Take the tznius issues for example that has everyone up in such a fuss. (Not that I'm not upset by it too) but down here it doesn't have quite so much of an effect, maybe because Miami is a bit more relaxed. I know that when some New Yorkers come down for winter they wear things they would not wear in NY, and that they don't feel so closed in. All right, I'm not sure that I'm making sense anymore, so I'll just post this now, and continue when I'm more sane. Again, please feel free to tell me if I have things wrong.

New York and Florida: How Different Are We?

Y'know, I read a lot of blogs, mostly from New York, and it really leads me to wonder sometimes. I mean, Florida and NY are on the same continent, in the same country, right? But in some things we might as well be planets apart. Take schools for girls for instance. There are tons of BYs all over NY and not just BYs but other schools as well. Here in Florida, you have a total of three, no four choices: the BYM, the Lubavitch girls school. or another girl's school, that's a "wannabe" Bais Yaakov. In BYM itself, there are such a range of different girls, there's no one "type". I went to the same seminary as one other girl in my class. With the new yorkers you could tell they were all from NY, same with the Baltimorians, same with those from Lakewood, but with me and this other girl. we are such opposites no one realized we both came from Florida and had known each other since fourth grade. Another difference of NY and florida, also about girls, it does not really matter so much down here when a girl wears a jean skirt or not, we have such a diverse little community, no one is going to comment. Ok, not quite so "little", we havethe largest community on the East Coast outside of the North-East area, and we're still growing. Anyways, I think you see where this is headed. More comparisons another time. Feel free to comment and tell me if you feel I'm missing something.

What to Post About?

I know I have not updated in a week, but to be honest, there isn't that much to post about. I had a stats test this evening, which went ok, not entirely sure how I did, but whatever. I have a paper that's due in 4 days, I have another paper due the 26, I have other tests coming up in the next couple of weeks, and I left my camera at a wedding. Fortunately a friend saw it and called me, but I haven't had time to go to her home and get it. What else....my brother is taking his driver's license test tomorrow, which is exciting. Course, he has no car of his own, but if he needs to go somewhere, now he can borrow a car, for a short while. Oh, and I decided I hate driving down to Miami Beach on Valentine's Day, add that on my list of holidays not to drive down to the beach. The others are: Memorial Day, Fourth of July, several days before Christmas, the day before Thankgiving....I think you get my point. Lots and lots of traffic. Feh. Oh! I almost forgot! I'm seeing my aunt (my mother's sister) on Sunday! She's coming down here because she's in a play. What play? Not the slightest clue, all I know is she's in a play. I'm just excited that I get to see her because I haven't seen her in years, the last time she was down here with my cousin, I was in Isreal and so, of course, I did not get to see them. I don't really have anything else to say now, except it will hopefully not be another week before I post again.

What is Abnormal Behavior?

The Sociocultural definition: Behavior is abnormal if it deviates from societies norms mores.
Advantages to this definition: It allows for smooth social interaction.
Disadvantages to this definition: It's saying conformity is normal, and there are no "sick" societies.
What brings this up? This post by the Brooklyn Wolf on Tznius. Would you say that we are heading toward a "sick" society, that needs to be healed? In places where conformity is equal to normal, anyone not from there is considered not normal and will be shunned because of the way she dresses. There is a reason psychologists don't like using that definition. It very much limiuts what could be considered abnormal, and it allows for society to dictate what normal is. And in a "sick" society, that is not a good thing.

School is the Epitome of All Evil

One of CJ's favorite sayings, and I tend to steal it from time to time. This is one of those times. I'm not sure if I'll survive this semester, I feel so swamped. The tests I've taken so far, I haven't done as well on them as I thought I had after taking them, which is really frustrating. The one test that I did do well on was my statisistics, and that only relatively well, compared to what I was expecting. Sigh. Well, it was the first in each of my classes and I wasn't used to the style of my teachers. Yeah, I'll just keep telling myself that. And this is only the beginning! As the semester goes on it's gonna get harder and harder. HELP!!!!
Okay, thank you all for reading that I really needed to get it off my chest. That, and I can't think of anything else to blog about because school is taking over my life.