my friend yoni who goes to nyu freelances for the washington post, and two of his pictures are on their website right now: it's numbers 16 and 17 in the gallery. he said he used skills attained in gadna (israeli military training that we all went thru for a week while we were on our skool's post-graduation four-month program there.) i wasn't surprised to hear that -- after all, he won the award for best male soldier. i, on the other hand, contracted a bacterial infection while there and was put on codeine; my memory of the week is kind of a blur. one evening, we were gathered up late, unexpectedly, for a simulated covert operation. we had to creep around in the bushes and try to get the jump on another group. our leader gave us the order to lie in wait and prepare to pounce, and i promptly fell asleep face down in the brambles. needless to say, i didn't win any awards.

oh, israel stories. i have plenty. like when we went snorkeling in eilat, and i jumped in, pretending to be as brave as my friends, only to remember, once helpless among the waves, that i hadn't gone swimming in years. the water was cold, the mask rubbery and constricting -- worse, the other pier was leagues away but the current flowed singlemindedly in that direction ... i grabbed the rope that you weren't supposed to touch and clung to it, trying to keep from panicking and putting my feet down on the coral (altho i have to admit, that was not my first concern). as folks passed by me, i waved and smiled like a politician. finally it dawned on some of them that i am a colossal doof and they alerted a lifeguard -- Gabe, a co'nellian -- to rescue me. i apologized the whole way as he swam, w/ me under his arm like a package marked Return to Sender, back to the pier from which i'd so blithely jumped.
it had always been a fantasy of mine to be rescued from insane circumstances by someone i'd fall in love w/. the summer i was at cty, i was always looking for the opportunity to be plowed down by an arty skateboarder. never happened. this could be it, i thought excitely -- but gabe was gay, i was soon informed, so even that was a bust. ah well.

what a tagent. :-) anyway. the peace rally this morning went off fine. people spoke and other people listened, withstanding rain and intermittent republican viewpoints. everyone wore a white armband that looked like a bandage. i contemplated getting one myself and decided i didn't want to til i could figure out exactly what it stood for.
no one particular speech swayed me; i'm still not too sure what i think. ben has made it clear that he's not a pacifist. i'm pretty sure i'm not -- i'm against violence but i don't think it's always wrong.

i just saw on blogger's main page that babblebook has
fallen to the last spot on the Of Note list. i knew this day would come but it saddens me nonetheless. so to the thousands of strangers who have streamed by here in the past few weeks (and i know you have from sitemeter even tho you don't leave comments) i just wanted to say thanks for looking. it's been damn cool.
feel free to stop by again when, in a week or so, i'm back to writing to entertain my loyal six-person fanbase.
ani in anticipation:

"'cuz you've been gone exactly two weeks
two weeks and three days
and let's just say that things look different now
different in so many ways

i used to be a superhero
no one could touch me
not even myself
you are like a phone booth
that i somehow stumbled into
and now look at me
i am just like everbody else

--superhero