i liked it better when beirut was just a drinking game...
date: july 18th
from: me
to: my high school buddy who just up and left a perfectly stable life in LA a few months ago to move to israel and try to find work as an advisor to the members of the knesset
so there's been a lot of coverage about bad things going on in your part of the world. bombings and the like - even more so than usual - and a city called beirut that isn't faring so well these days.
which made me wonder (and worry) - - how are you doing? and how are things over there?
----------
date: july 21st
from: him
to: me
hey,
i'm glad you wrote. i'm doing surprisingly well.
jerusalem is quiet, for now, and while the north of the country has emptied and many people are in bomb shelters, it's peaceful here.
joel [another friend of ours] and i were on the beach in tel-aviv the other day. it's surreal. he's here because his younger sister lives here now and just married yesterday.
i don't know what to make of it. virtually everyone here supports the government's goal of removing hezbollah's threat from our northern border. the thinking goes that whether through inaction or inability, the lebanese government allowed a monster to grow in its backyard. when that monster attacked the neighbors, it shouldn't be too surprising that the neighbor wants to clean house. the death and dstruction in lebanon is horrendous, but i feel that if the lebanese are unwilling to tame hezbollah themselves, they shouldn't be surprised to see israel doing it.
on the normal life front, i'm hoping and praying for two job offers to come through. i should know by week's end. i fly back to the states for a few weeks in mid-august, so i'd like to have it resolved before i leave.
________________________________________
Things just feel more and more cartoonish these days, don't they?
---
My least favorite page in People magazine, I decided, is the one where they proclaim "Stars are just like us!" and have pictures of Demi Moore buying toothpaste with her hubby.
(I just went through two issues at the hairdresser's on Thursday while I got my hair cut and highlighted, because there was nothing else to read. So much to my chagrin, I'm now all caught up on Nicole Richie's hookups and Christie Brinkley's shady soon-to-be-ex-husband's shenanigans).
But I was thinking about that particular section as I read the e-mail from my friend in Jerusalem. I kept on thinking, "Israelis are just like us! They worry about job offers too!" and, "They go to the beach on weekends too!"
I know, I know, it's not exactly funny. But it is - because it's so absurd.
Especially coming from me, checking my e-mail from my hotel room in Miami while dusting the sand off my calves... That's right, I'm back in Miami Beach. This time, on business (mostly).
---
I took a dip in the ocean earlier this afternoon with this guy I interviewed a few days ago for a job at my agency.
We have to pretend we know each other from a difference circumstance, though, 'cause his colleagues are here and they can't know that he's trying to leave them for greener pastures. I had a whole story cooked up too, in case anyone asked, about how we actually met at a bar one night and how I was trying to pick him up but got totally rejected, but then he tried to pick me up the following weekend, and then we ended up good buddies instead....
But nobody's asked and I guess it's just as well.
And not that this matters, but I was slightly attracted to him, until about two hours ago when he took his shirt off and I saw angel wings tattooed on his back. I'm not quite sure what exactly it says about him - and no offense to anyone else who might have thought that this was a good idea - but I just can't dig it.
I left him to have dinner with my friend Allison and her roommate at a place called Cafeteria - which we found out has amazing mac 'n cheese but awful red velvet cake (meaning it rates about a C+, in my book).
Now, the funny thing about Cafeteria is that it's a satellite to a restaurant by the same name in NY that I have never bothered to go to - even though it is a block and a half from my permanent residence and we pass it all the time when walking the dog.
(I wonder if they have better red velvet cake up there?)...
---
Allison and I parted ways in the front of my hotel a few minutes ago. She was on her way to get tattoo#3 with her roommate (we shall find out tonight if she went through with this!) and I was on my way to tuck myself in bed, call my boyfriend and get some work done.
But before I get to my to-dos, I just realized that I need to go get toothpaste. Which I don't mind doing, because, if you remember, even the stars have to go buy toothpaste every once in a while - according to People magazine.
Which means that I'm a star too.
Cheers.
from: me
to: my high school buddy who just up and left a perfectly stable life in LA a few months ago to move to israel and try to find work as an advisor to the members of the knesset
so there's been a lot of coverage about bad things going on in your part of the world. bombings and the like - even more so than usual - and a city called beirut that isn't faring so well these days.
which made me wonder (and worry) - - how are you doing? and how are things over there?
----------
date: july 21st
from: him
to: me
hey,
i'm glad you wrote. i'm doing surprisingly well.
jerusalem is quiet, for now, and while the north of the country has emptied and many people are in bomb shelters, it's peaceful here.
joel [another friend of ours] and i were on the beach in tel-aviv the other day. it's surreal. he's here because his younger sister lives here now and just married yesterday.
i don't know what to make of it. virtually everyone here supports the government's goal of removing hezbollah's threat from our northern border. the thinking goes that whether through inaction or inability, the lebanese government allowed a monster to grow in its backyard. when that monster attacked the neighbors, it shouldn't be too surprising that the neighbor wants to clean house. the death and dstruction in lebanon is horrendous, but i feel that if the lebanese are unwilling to tame hezbollah themselves, they shouldn't be surprised to see israel doing it.
on the normal life front, i'm hoping and praying for two job offers to come through. i should know by week's end. i fly back to the states for a few weeks in mid-august, so i'd like to have it resolved before i leave.
________________________________________
Things just feel more and more cartoonish these days, don't they?
---
My least favorite page in People magazine, I decided, is the one where they proclaim "Stars are just like us!" and have pictures of Demi Moore buying toothpaste with her hubby.
(I just went through two issues at the hairdresser's on Thursday while I got my hair cut and highlighted, because there was nothing else to read. So much to my chagrin, I'm now all caught up on Nicole Richie's hookups and Christie Brinkley's shady soon-to-be-ex-husband's shenanigans).
But I was thinking about that particular section as I read the e-mail from my friend in Jerusalem. I kept on thinking, "Israelis are just like us! They worry about job offers too!" and, "They go to the beach on weekends too!"
I know, I know, it's not exactly funny. But it is - because it's so absurd.
Especially coming from me, checking my e-mail from my hotel room in Miami while dusting the sand off my calves... That's right, I'm back in Miami Beach. This time, on business (mostly).
---
I took a dip in the ocean earlier this afternoon with this guy I interviewed a few days ago for a job at my agency.
We have to pretend we know each other from a difference circumstance, though, 'cause his colleagues are here and they can't know that he's trying to leave them for greener pastures. I had a whole story cooked up too, in case anyone asked, about how we actually met at a bar one night and how I was trying to pick him up but got totally rejected, but then he tried to pick me up the following weekend, and then we ended up good buddies instead....
But nobody's asked and I guess it's just as well.
And not that this matters, but I was slightly attracted to him, until about two hours ago when he took his shirt off and I saw angel wings tattooed on his back. I'm not quite sure what exactly it says about him - and no offense to anyone else who might have thought that this was a good idea - but I just can't dig it.
I left him to have dinner with my friend Allison and her roommate at a place called Cafeteria - which we found out has amazing mac 'n cheese but awful red velvet cake (meaning it rates about a C+, in my book).
Now, the funny thing about Cafeteria is that it's a satellite to a restaurant by the same name in NY that I have never bothered to go to - even though it is a block and a half from my permanent residence and we pass it all the time when walking the dog.
(I wonder if they have better red velvet cake up there?)...
---
Allison and I parted ways in the front of my hotel a few minutes ago. She was on her way to get tattoo#3 with her roommate (we shall find out tonight if she went through with this!) and I was on my way to tuck myself in bed, call my boyfriend and get some work done.
But before I get to my to-dos, I just realized that I need to go get toothpaste. Which I don't mind doing, because, if you remember, even the stars have to go buy toothpaste every once in a while - according to People magazine.
Which means that I'm a star too.
Cheers.