Three Days to Go...

Thus begins the countdown to the beginning of the end. Everyone I see has been asking me the same questions: "When do you leave?" and "How do you feel?"
I leave on Thursday, take Amtrak down to LA (yes, it's long, 28 hours of long), and leave LAX on Sunday for a non-stop (that's right, no stops whatsoever. at. all.) flight to TLV (Tel Aviv-Yafo). The TLV airport is not actually in Tel Aviv, as LAX is in LA and PDX is in Portland. The airport is actually called Ben-Gurion International and is named after Israel's greatest pioneer and first prime minister. It is just outside of Tel Aviv, on the main highway from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem. But, who cares? I'm just splitting hairs, nitpicking, insisting that everything be perfect, or at the least accurate. I'm such a stickler. The thing is, Israel is so small (think New Jersey or smaller - about a one hour drive from West to East) that 'just outside of Tel-Aviv' is not Tel-Aviv at all, and moving a green line one mile to the East is the difference between fomenting hatred and violence, and families and children living in the midst of violence and hatred.
The answer to the second question is more complicated, so I will give a shorter answer. I feel great. I feel happy, sad, bold, scared, ballsy, terrified, shaking in my booties, excited, nervous-excited, anxious-excited. I imagine myself standing on the edge of an enormous precipice (sp?), about to leap off and soar into the unknown. I feel as though I am leaning over the edge, trying with all my might to see what's going to happen, to get some glimpse of the future. It is both sunny and bright, and covered with a think pea-soup-like fog at the same time.
Furthermore, I am on a schedule. I am ready to jump. I am in the crouching position, muscles tensed, my mind focused on one thing - taking the leap. BUT I CAN'T, because my ticket says Thursday, 5:10pm. Frustration!!!! Will it never end??!!
And I know that I will look back on this time and miss my parents and my friends and (gasp!) Eugene and the pets and my family. I already do.
But I am ready. It is time. I am ready to follow my dreams.

By the way, this is the one I am going to miss the most:

This is Gracie, my cute, little, adorable 1 yr old cousin. She is the only person (don't tell her) for whom, if she asked me to stay, I would. This photo was taken at her birthday party last weekend.

Just to let you know

So...I just learned something, in case you wanted to know. 'Blog' for those of you who are, like me, not as quick on the uptake, is an abbreviation for 'web log'. hehe.
I'm glad we cleared that up.

Sukkah!!!

Yes, it has finally happened. Joanna has built a sukkah!
I slept in it the first night, ate lunch in it a few days ago, but I am a weenie when it's cold outside and haven't been out to eat or sleep in it since. Thus I am moving to the Mediterranean, where it's warm, most of the time.

For information on what I'm talking about:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukkot

Been Down So Long...

Welcome back to me! I haven't blogged in like forever!
Hey!
Wait a minute! Now, before you start with the accusations (You're so lazy, Joanna!) and the assumptions (You just don't care about your non-existent blog audience, do you?), I have some very good reasons why I have been away for almost three weeks. I wanted to get on my computer, sit down in a nice coffee shop somewhere and write you some nice posts. I wanted to tell you what was going on, but I couldn't. Why? You might ask.
Because some mean, crazy, stupid people broke into my house and took off with my laptop. From my desk. While. I. was. sleeping. in. my. bed. three. feet. from. my. desk. Creepy, huh?
They also grabbed my purse with my cell phone, wallet, and some nice chap stick from my best friend Jena, and my dad's wallet from the kitchen counter.

By the way, if those creeps are reading this, GOD. will. give. me. justice. You will reap what you have sown. You need to find a new hobby other than ripping innocent people off for your fix. Get a job.

Anyway, I'm mostly over it. It isn't the loss of material possessions that gets me down (although I loved that purse, and there were some pictures and peoples' contact information that are now gone), but the fact that somebody entered my house, was in my room while I was sleeping (ick!), and violated the safe space in which I live is too much for me.

By the way, if anyone I know is reading this who wants me to have their contact information, send it to me at jscheyer at comcast dot net (jscheyer@comcast.net). Send a phone number, address and email. I have nothing. I have none of the numbers that were in my cell phone, nor the addresses and emails I had transfered to my computer from little scraps of paper.

Well, that's it. I'll try to post some pictures of my sukkah - the first I've ever built! Yay me!