blackat_42

Today, unfortunately, my cat has returned his 9th incarnated soul to his maker. After surviving through the course of his liftime a 20 feet drop straight on his nose, being run over by a car, scarred and marred by street cats and having the tip oh his tail cut off due to some rare infection, he was finally defeated by nature's most cruel and inevitable killer- Time, (or, to be exact- total kidney failure) and had had to be put to sleep. I didn't get a chance to see him or even take part in his burial, because of work and stuff... Sorry...

This entry is dedicated to:
THOMAS
1993- 2007
MAY HIS NINE SOULS GAIN ETERNAL REST
WHEREVER THEY SHALL WANDER.

MICE IN HEAVEN- BEWARE!

The sky is cloudy, it's not raining all the time but there's a beautiful strange grey white cover blocking the sun, the sidewalks seem cleaner and the grass is growing rapidly. If only we had some rain at summer, it would all look different here.
Already two weeks working as watchman for the Auntiquities Authority, the job's ok, could get kinda boring sometimes but for that man has invented the MP3 player, but it's nice to walk around and go to places and not be at the same spot every day. Better for me than to sit in an office all day I think, at least for the time being. So far didn't find any treasures, just watching the piles of clean muddy earth, no ceramics or bricks or anything to suggest earlier occupation in the area, just cables carrying electricity, phone, water, oil or information crisscrossing the country, the veins of modern society, allowing us humans to be connected to our resources, or else we'd have to live like prehistoric cavemen, and have no archaeology to dig up.

Hello to you all my devoted readers... Haven't logged on much lately' I'm aware of it. I've finally found a job at the Israel Antiquities Authority, as a field supervisor, to see that nobody's digging up anything they're not supposed to and ruining years of ancient history for the sake of constructing another shopping mall (which we just don't have enough of, right?) or something like that. On Sunday I'll be going to work with Alla from the lab, who also started working there a few months ago.
Also digging at El Wad terrace on Fridays, so finally I'll have something to do, that's great.

Placing a foot in my diary again. I haven't been writing for how long now.. hmm, fuck it, what does it matter anyway? So I'm here again to pay a visit and keep contact with those who still take a peek once in a while just to see that I haven't got a bloodiest tiny goddamn thing to write or that I want to write and share with this expanding forum of interesting and interested people all around the globe (my personal thanks to the three and a half devoted people who still glance once in a while)
Current Status- Last time I checked... still unemployed, in the meantime translating a paper here and there. I am at a transition point in my life, feel rather lost and I haven't got a fucking clue what to do or what I want to do with the rest of my life. My great romance with Archaeology is getting near the end (Song playing in my head- The End, by The Doors, from the film Apocalypse Now) I want to take a whole new path, but where does the trail begin? The Yellow Brick Road towards a P.HD in Archaeology has turned brown and the bricks have crumbled and fallen apart. It's not that I don't like it, but just can't see myself in it for the rest of my time. I'm checking my options, A future in translation, becoming a teacher, something international maybe, like working for a certain company's connections or something, and lots of other ideas floating in my head, not coming to a stop, settling down. I feel now almost the exact same feeling I had when released from the army- lost, unsure, insecure, waiting to be engulfed by the huge beast called life, the being that contains everything that there is, was and will be. and end up lost forever. But on the other hand, I feel released, on the verge of something new, better. If I feel down now, it can only go uphill from here, it better. As my friend Michal called it, the downfall before the rise. And again thank you for your support! Hope it is indeed so.
To the future!

In case you're worried, or glad, I'm still alive... (Unless you were hoping I was hit by a truck or something and blinked out of existance).
I have been accused ruthlessly and unjustly of having been consumed entirely by this monstrous machine called television, The Destroyer of the Healthy Minds, but it is not so. The semester is nearly ending and I find myself trying to finish assigments which were due to, hmm half a year ago- again! I never learn! I have decided not to do a thesis eventually, maybe I'll write more about it some other time, just don't feel like it right now, lots of French homework and catching up to do since the strike is over, and stuff to read, and right now I'm sitting at the lab writing instead of working so I'll stop at that for now.
Until my next entry, whenever that will be...

I don't know why, but I finally gave up to social consumption necessity and connected to cable TV. Now after almost two years without a television, I have 6 movie channels, 7 music channels and dozens of other news/ entertainment/crap channels I don't need and 260 shekels less in my account every month. And that's after I wrote some, what was it, ten entries ago that my life is just fine without a goddamn television!!! As long as I don't make it a habit, I'll be ok.. I hope... It sucks being a consumer.

Helped Iris today with harvesting a field of wild barley, with a prehistoric sickle blade (Made only recently, but in the old fashion way) near Dammon prison, a highly guarded facility for security prisoners, located on a very pastoral clearing on the top of the Carmel (No Riots were recorded). Then went to Osphiya, the Druze village to buy some baked food, a Pita like bread made from whole wheat dough, with cheeze, zaatar, and the best- lamb meat, mmmmmm.... so we decided to buy a few more for whoever is in the lab (thinking of the benefit of our ever hungry starving friends) and it was very cheap and much better than any food sold on Campus (If it can be called "food") and almost everybody were in the lab today, and also Mina, my supervisor, who came back from Rome for a day just to fly to London the same night, that's called living!
I got this cool Mp3 cd from my friend Rachael, with, among other good stuff, the new album of Bright Eyes, which I just read about in the paper the same week and thought about downloading it, so no need to bother now. I keep downloading shit from the internet, especially new albums but can't always find the time to listen to them properly, but it's always good to gather some more new stuff to save for a rainy day, or when you're too bored with everything you are used to listen to and try something new.
Thesis proposal going very slowly... or is it? I'm not sure. Yes, I'm still at That stage, don't laugh. Some days I just don't feel like even getting near it, other days I stare at the computer/papers trying to figure out what else to change and other days I sit and write and change stuff as if possessed by a spirit determined to finish writing the proposal... Oh, well.

It is now I think the third week of the student's strike, enacted in order to lower our, the students, tuition, who in the meanwhile, are not studying and paying tuition, while Olmert doesn't really give a fuck whether anyone in this country is getting any education, why, as long as the money goes to the government cause everybody already Paid the tuition, who cares whether you study or get your degree or have to do the whole fucking semester again next year when you just want to work a full time job and earn money like a normal human being, but I am not complaining this is done for our own good, it might pay off in the long run, sometimes you have to cut off a few limbs in order to save the whole body, so be it.
So in the meanwhile there's time to work in the lab, help Iris with her experiments of reaping wheat fields, going to field surveys or take a day off for a short trip to Old Acre (Akko) and eat Hummus (The main reason for a trip to Akko) and read stuff you didn't have time for earlier. Just read Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle" (Add immediately to your must-read-before-I-die list), it has elements of Science Fiction, but it depicts reality, religion, science and mankind's inevitable fate in the most accurate sense. I thought about reading this book something like a year before, until I found a cheap second hand copy (10 Nis) at the SF Convention in Pesach, just a few days before Vonnegut passed away leaving mankind literary treasures as funny and cynical as they are also serious and important. When a famous artist/musician/writer dies, you always want to reflect on his life's work which you haven't yet fully grokked when he was alive. I regret now not buying more of his books at the convention, since they had more of them there. Still at Vonnegut, if you have added Cat's Cradle to your list, add also "Slaughterhouse-Five" and "God Bless You Mr. Rosewater".

The sound outside is the pattering of rain.
The last that'll be heard here until half a year from now.
Try to remember the sound, To let it linger...
It is also the sound of a free car wash.

So Passover's long vacation is over, just in time for the great student's strike, just giving me time to finish all the stuff I thought I'll do on the holiday but didn't cause why spend all your free days on studying?
Last week I went to Holon to the annual SF convention, Olamot, where my good friend has given a lecture about J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan, and another lecture about children's literature. Good to hear some new interesting stuff about a subject very dear to me' from my literature studies, about, when was it? two years ago already... time flies so quickly... then I discovered I don't have any money left and returned to reality, that's because I didn't get my goddamn research scholarship on time, as usual, it was Supposed to be in my account at least 3 weeks ago, so that got me very pissed off.
The rest of the time I spent either relaxing or excavating, watched "The Last King of Scotland" with a friend I have'nt seen in a long time, great movie, very recommended, Whitacker definitely deserves the Oscar he has received, watch it while it's still at the cinema. Also I had time to read Chuck Palahniuk's (Author of "Fight Club") Lullaby in two days, excellent book, once you start reading you can't stop. Not enough room here to elaborate on the plot, but the style is amazing, I really love this kind of writing.
I went down to the city to get a parking permit so I won't get fined while parking under my house, got all the forms, but of course I had to run to a lawyer's office to get a paper signed that I actually live here, say goodbye to 120 shekels (*$@#%#*) that's after I've already paid to a different lawyer that the car I'm using is actually used by me, if it would just say that on the form I would have just signed Both at the same time, for chrissake, so now, after paying 161 Nis plus a lot of sweat, I can finally park in peace. Whew!

Leaning on the window
of the bus
climbing up the mountain
watching the view
roll by
listening to country/ folk
music
on headphones
arriving soon
at the university.
If only it was
a thousand miles
further away...

19:00 P.M currently occupied with... adding an entry, again, instead of working. Just checking, I'm still here. It's been over a week since my last entry, hasn't it? Well, nothing new or exciting to tell, only here to waste some more time.
Thesis proposal going very slowly, but it's in progress though, given it to a couple of people in the department to read, still more to be fixed but at least I know what.
I find time being so hard to manage, giving enough space to do what you have to do AND find time to do other stuff too. Some days you just don't feel like doing anything that has anything to do with your studies. There are days I don't even feel like doing my French homework, and I really Want to study French. Can't wait till I can read Camus, Celine, Perec and other great writers/ philosophers in the original language. It's always good to know another language, but I guess English would always remain my favorite.
Well, enough time wasted for now, back to work.
logging out...

The Mind is
a tangle of
roads tunnels paths corridors doors vestibules thresholds
crossroads lanes bridges intersections ladders
images colors rays lights storms seas oceans
through which we
dream love remember ponder hate suffer recognize
perceive receive admit deny accept refuse delight
adore abhore object recount aware concentrate
A mess
A mesh
through which seeps recollection
recognition
remembrance
awareness
into
a
pit
of
infinity

some things are remembered
others forgotten gone deleted disappear vanish

memories stored and memories lost erased forgotten forever vanishing
into haze disintegrating
link and unlink
routes crossable
or barred blocked concealed hidden latent vague
right way wrong way
right mind wrong mind
there is no right mind wrong mind
has no right or wrong right or left
only a mind
containing everything
that there
is
was
were
will
be.

Came back from a pub, very tired and ready to pass out, when I remembered again there is a full lunar eclipse tonight. I viewed it just a few minutes before its peak, when the moon appears very clearly, although dark, as a three dimentional orange sphere floating up there in not so far away space.
I wonder how many people know there's an eclipse tonight, and of those, how many really care? It's something that doesn't occur every day so it's worth a peek. I figure that if every one in this area, would take a minute, not the whole eclipse time, but just one whole minute, stop whatever they are doing, and look at the sky, than maybe the world could be a better place.
For some reason, the song "Brothers in Arms" by Dire Straits played in my head as I watched the moon... subconscience?

Working on thesis working on thesis workingonthesis workingonthesis workingonthesisworkingonthesisworkingonthesis..... In the meanwhile, a CD recommendation:

Just listened to The Walkmen's remake of "Pussy Cats", an old and almost forgotten record from 74, by Harry Nilsson and John Lennon, recorded while on Lennon's hallucinated "Lost Weekend". Influenced by lots of alcohol and drugs, they made a beautiful record. The Walkmen took the whole album and recorded it as it is, and in a short time like the original, whose creators are now both dead. I Haven't actually listened to the original yet, I think it was released in a limited distribution, so it's kinda hard to find. The Walkmen did a great job and the album sounds fresh out of 74, in 2006. Definitely worth a hearing. The Walkmen is one of the most promising bands of this new century.

I decided to answer this in a friend's journal so now I've caught it too- the Blog Bird Flu!
If you answer this I will:

1. Tell you why I friended you
2. Associate you with a song/movie
3. Tell a random fact about you
4. Tell a first memory about you
5. Associate you with an animal/plant
6. Ask something I always wanted to know about you
7. show you my favorite user pic of yours
8. In return, you must spread this horrible epidemic in your own livejournal !

Thesis proposal at final.. or.. almost final stages. A few more repairs, smooth the edges, and off with the first tiresome step of academic regulations. Can continue working on the real thing which ain't gonna be much easier I guess, but what the hell, worry 'bout it later. It's amazing how I do everything at the VERY LAST minute.. second... split second actually, just before my supervisor flies off away for a year without having it confirmed and signed... Maybe it's because there's just about a million more interesting things to do or stuff to read, keeping your focus away from the goal.

Did you ever wonder what is it that makes us pull ourselves to Mcdonald's or any of the other fast industrial junk food corporations, stuff ourselves with ounces of redundant fat and chemicals, and than feel bad afterwards, having a block of cement in the stomach, some extra kilograms and a great feeling of disgust? You just can't help Craving for a juicy burger, cause when you're Very Very hungry what could be more satisfying than to sink your teeth into a chunk of industrial processed meat, which tastes Exactly the way it should, the same as the last time you had it, or the time before? (hopefully that wasn't very recently) Maybe it's because it Really tastes good, or better than anything else you can get on Campus, or Maybe, they're just... hmm...
There must be something very addictive about these juicy delicious and so terribly disgusting burgers, think about it. You know you're gonna regret eating it but you eat it anyway. The big food companies are poisoning our bodies and our minds alike!
By the way I haven't watched "Super Size Me" yet...

Food for thought: Fast Food, or food that makes you need to fast?

It occurs to me, every once in a while, as one of those rare specimens who does not own a television (actually I have one but disconnected) and thanks for that, that I am oblivious to what is happening around in the world, and thanks for that too.
My reasons for not connecting my TV: Ending up spending the evening staring blindly, drooling, over mind numbing reality programs where out-of-nowhere low lives who claim to have the voice of Freddy Mercury, guitar skills of Jimmy Page and the perfomance of real rockn'roll stars, humiliate themeselves in front of an audience of millions just for this one moment of "glory"- hey look mommy I'm on television!
I've realized that not having to watch the news makes one more calm, in a sort of peacefull state of mind, regardless of the crazy shit happening all around.
I get pieces of news from the radio or internet, and that's enough.
It's amazing, this dichotomy between our everyday life and what-the-hell-is-happening-out-there-in-the-world! You sip your morning coffee listening to peaceful Saturday songs, and then- the news- angry mobs in Jerusalem, Ahmadinjad, Nasrallah and co with their ceaseless threats of extinction, whole fucking mess, and now, seriously, do I give a damn? Do others? Not really, and for a good reason too, it doesn't really matter as long as all the crap outside doesn't hit us in the face in the shape of a 767 jetplane crashing straight into our house, or an atomic blast in our back yard. For what can we really do about it- practiccaly nothing. The really big issues of the world like wars and peace, atomic disasters and World War III are not up to us, the simple people struggling to live our simple lives, and have the peace to sit at Saturday sip coffee and listen to the radio, oblivious of the rocket which is losing altitude just above our heads.
Sorry for all those who's mood/ day / year I have ruined with my cynical fatalistic notions, after all, I wouldn't be posting this entry now if instead of listening to the radio I would just play a record or listen to the birds chirping outside in the cool air.