Videon Snobs

OK, so I'm a bit obsessed with the Heath Ledger story and have spent the majority of this morning surfing the various websites for more information. The latest news that the maid called Mary-Kate Olson for advice is ridiculous! The man was not breathing! You don't call a friend in California, you call 911. You know, even in celebrity PR, we learn that you have to trust your instinct and deal with a scandal later. I'd rather save a dying client and deal with the media fallout later, than try to protect a potential media frenzy by delaying a life saving procedure like dialing 911 to do something stupid like try to protect his privacy. And, had any one of my previous employers instructed me to do otherwise, I would have refused. I don't need something like than on my conscious.

It's interesting, but this part of the story reminded me of something I dealt with while in College. My boyfriend at the time and best friend were roommates in college and my best friend has epilepsy. Before they moved in together, my best friend's Mother told my ex that if he ever finds my BF in the middle of a seizure then he should call her first before calling for help. Sure enough, a few months into their semester, the ex came home late at night and found our BF in the middle of a seizure. He didn't call his mother but called for Hatzolah instead. Well, when our BF's Mom found out that the ex didn't call her first, she had an absolute shit fit. Bottom line, I told the ex he did the right thing. What the hell would his Mother have done 45 minutes away by car when the BF needed immediate medical attention? Nothing. Sometimes, people are so scared about the reputation or fallout from these types of experiences, that they make bad choices. My BF's Mother's request, from the beginning, was absolutely ridiculous. She was hoping to protect her son from having people discover his condition (which he is able to control with medication, so that it's not really public knowledge) and in the end, she neglected his basic need for emergency medical care. Fortunately, my BF is healthy, married and no longer my BF (I blame his wife, she never liked me, but that's a blog posting for another time). As for the ex, well, he's an ex for a reason. Nuff said.

Yesterday, an angel named Ellen came to our apartment and did the most incredible cleaning job EVER! I love her. I told Pidgeon all day how much I love her, she did such an amazing job. Granted, she was here for 6 hours (and that cost us a pretty penny) but it was well worth it. You wouldn't know there was work done in this apartment, she was that thorough. I need her to come back next week to help finish up the rest of the apartment, and I'm really looking forward to that. We still don't have any heat in the apartment, and our upstairs neighbor is dicking us around so I'm pissed. We need her to let in our workers because half of the unit is up on the roof and is only accessible through her apartment. I left two messages asking to organize a time, and have yet to hear back from her. I left her another message last night, trying to appeal to her human side, and explaining that we are freezing in the apartment without any heat. No response. We had scheduled the workers to come this afternoon and now I'm going to have to cancel and once again, Pidgeon and I won't have heat for another night in the apartment. It's a really crappy situation to be in, but it's our reality. If she doesn't get back to me soon, I'm gonna find a locksmith to break into her apartment. Seriously. It's ridiculous at this point!

So, with no heat in the apartment, Pidgeon and I went out to eat again last night. This time, we went to Marvad Haksamim on Emek. It's a GREAT little restaurant that has some great Yemenite/Israeli food. We split a hummus with meat (yummy) and a Saloof (I think that's what the bread is called, it was great and spongy), then Pidgeon got the chicken shishlik with rice and beans and green beans. I got the chicken nuggets, french fries and green beans. The green beans were so salty, I took a pass on them, and then we both did something amazing. We didn't clean our plates and were able to bring back leftovers that will be another meal for us today. I sent Pidgeon to school with his leftovers today since he will be class from 10:00 - 4:30 and I plan on finishing my food for lunch. That is, if I ever get out of bed today. We have a mini heater in the apartment and it's on in this bedroom and keeping me warm. The rest of the house is absolutely frigid so I'm trying to stay in the areas of the house I can keep nice and toasty. 

We also stopped by the Video store on Emek to drop off the movies we took out last Saturday night. Well, with the Oscar nominations recently announced, Pidgeon had a great idea that they already do back home at Blockbusters. He suggested to the woman behind the counter that they could set up an area with all the Oscar nominated films. We were looking for the Israeli film Bafour, which was nominated for a Best Foreign Film Oscar, and thought it would be great idea if everything nominated would be in one area. Well, this snobby woman responded indignantly that she absolutely HATES any Oscar films because they are the worst movies ever. I laughed as we walked out of the store. Interesting perspective from the adult working behind the counter of a video store. Everyone's gotta opinion in life; I thought Pidgeon had an excellent suggestion.

Meanwhile, Pidgeon has to hand in a final project next week and is waiting on an upholsteror to get in touch about building the chair he designed. I think the chair is very cool and it's really the ultimate TV watching chair. I begged him to had the upholsteror make a real-sized model so we could put it in our living room. That would be so cool! I'll take a picture of the model next week so you can see the brilliant mind of my hubby.

Well, I think it's time I actually get myself up and out of bed. It's cold in the apartment, but I still have a lot to do today. Here's hoping my neighbor will stop being a bitch and help us out! My skin is so dry from the cold that it's literally flaking off!

Cya!

 

Heath Ledger - A Tribute

I awoke this morning to the shocking news that Heath Ledger has died, at the tender age of 28. According to police reports, he was found by his housekeeper, naked and dead in the Soho apartment he was renting.  An empty prescription bottle of sleeping pills was apparently also found near his body, although family and friends are refusing to believe it could have been a suicide attempt. I worked with many celebrities back in my NYC life, but unfortunately never had the opportunity to work with Heath Ledger. I thought he was an extremely talented actor, absolutely loved his performances in both Brokeback Mountain and Monster's Ball, and I cannot deny just how enjoyable he was in 10 Things I Hate About You. In his memory, I fess up to liking that teen chick-flick. I feel for his daughter, Matilda, who is only 2 years old and will probably never remember him. At least, for her sake, there are enough cyberspace photos of the two of them together so she will have something to remember him by. Pidgeon and I were always planning on going to see the new Batman movie, set to open this summer. Now, even more so, we are looking forward to watching him play The Joker, which is perhaps his last role he ever filmed. The above photo is a still for his recent movie, Candy, I thought it was extremely poignant picture to remember him by.

On to brighter things - like living life!

Pidgeon and I moved back into the apartment yesterday and braved the cold (we still don't have a working heater) for the comforts of home. The house was a wreck, full of dirt and dust and pieces of stone, that rendered the living room area completely uninhabitable. With the rain falling outside, we decided to order in dinner, and just sat on our bed and watched the last episode of Heroes. We ordered from Yoja, and it's probably one of my favorite restaurants on Emek! We split 4 beef dim sums and 4 satay's, Pidgeon had the Hot and Sour soup and then we ended up swapping our mains as mine wasn't sweet enough and Pidgeon's was too sweet. I ended up with the Goya and Pidgeon enjoyed the Pad Thai. Yum! I used this Oriental tray that we got from Pidgeon's Grandparents so he could eat comfortably, and I spread a towel out in front of myself so I could dig in. I'm usually very against eating in bed, but when you have no other choice, you just deal with what you can deal with. At this very moment, Ellen our new cleaning lady, is scouring the kitchen/dining room/living room area. I asked her to clean what she can see today, and will hopefully move everything back into the Mamad from the other bedrooms so we can clean the other rooms next week. I'm hopeful that life will be getting back to normal before I start school next week!

We spent the past two days at Pidgeon's parents house, so he could heel in comfort. He was a very good patient, and really didn't make too many demands on me, although I was very happy to do whatever I could to help. The first night, I kept waking up thinking that he was moaning from pain, and so I would wake him to see what was wrong and it turned out to be nothing. I think that's why he slept until Noon on Monday. He's starting to get some range of motion back into his shoulder, but it's going to be a while before he feels 100%. I made sure there was plenty of ice cream in the apartment and served him as much comfort food as I possibly could. 

On Monday morning, I left Pidgeon for a few hours, and met his Aunt at Shuk Ramla. This is an outdoor market in the Talpiot area, right on Pierre Koenig Street and off of Rivka, that has some very interesting items. I tend to over do it at the Shuk, so we put myself on a 70 shekel budget and I was off. I took the car and parked by our apartment and then walked to meet his Aunt. She warned me right away of the rampant pickpocketers in the Shuk, and so I shoved my meaty upperarms into the tight handles of my hand bag and tried to keep my valuables close to me. At one both, this old woman stumbled into me and grabbed my back really hard. Immediately, after I yelped in pain and she apologized for falling, Pidgeon's Aunt told me to check my valuables as that's the MO of many of the pickpocketers. Fortunately for me, all was there, but I was extra vigilant moving forward. Personally, I'm not a fan of the Shuk, as I can't stand the overcrowding, the pushing, the thick cloud of smoke that hangs over ever area, and the filth. But, they did seem to have a number of "good" items for much cheaper. I decided not to tell Pidgeon's Aunt that I wouldn't buy clothing there. I also haven't bought clothing in Israel, period. I find that a lot of the material just isn't very durable, and so I'm keeping to wearing what I already own. Although, my JCrew long-sleeve t-shirts have taken quite a beating and I definitely need some more ASAP! 

So, are you wondering what I spent with my 70 shekel? I bought (at the insistence of Pidgeon's Aunt who kept yelling at me to go ahead and treat myself) a pair of Dolce and Gabbana underware (I don't think they fit and haven't tried them on). That cost 10 shekel. For 3 shekel, I bought Pidgeon black Kippa clips as he ran out of his old kinds. Of course, now he tells me that the bobby pins I gave him a few weeks ago were much better, so these we'll just have to put away for a rainy day. For 30 shekel, I picked up a copy of the Hebrew version of Erik Carlisle's children's book The Catepillar. My niece loves that book in English, so we bought one for her birthday in Hebrew and sent it home with my folks. I'm hoping that now we both have the book in Hebrew, we can do a webcam book reading with her. The leaves me with a couple more shekel to go. And, for 30 more shekel, I bought 2 sponge baskets that suction into the sink. I hate that I have no where to put my sponges and they get filthy if I leave them on the counter. This way, I can put them in the sink and they can stay cleaner longer! There you go - I overspent by only 3 shekel and it was well worth the trip. That being said, I don't think I'll be going back there once a week. It's just too much for me. Although, it's good to know I can get other items like children's toys and house decorations, on the cheap.

We stayed up pretty late and watched the Christian Slater indie flick The Quiet Man, which we both really enjoyed. And then, it was off to bed. Pidgeon was in more pain so he took some Advil's, but we both slept very well. 

Yesterday, we spent the morning sleeping in and just cleaning up. Pidgeon was finally able to shower and I got a good look at his wound. It's a little bruised and swollen, as the surgeon predicted, but looks like it's on the mend. This morning, the swelling had gone down significantly, which was great to see.

With Pidgeon on the mend, and the work in the apartment coming to an end, I'm finally able to think about school. My new schedule sucks but once again, I have no control over the system. My first semester starts on Sunday and goes until April 11th (Pidgeon's birthday). Then, we have a break until May 18th until second semester. During that time, there are exams for classes that have exams. Fortunately, my classes this semester are all paper courses, which makes me very happy. The second semester goes from May 18th through July 31st. And that is really, really crappy as the weather in Bar Ilan from May until October is absolutely sweltering! It's going to be hot, hot, hot! Oh well, hopefully I'll be able to stay cool and just suck it up for the one day a week I have to be in school.

Well, it looks like I better get started on my readings. I have a huge reading list for my Holocaust Literature course and I managed to get my hands on the Nicole Krauss book Man Walks Into a Room. Hopefully, that will be a decent read.

Till tomorrow!