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Hey, Happy New Year! 
As part of my New Year resolutions I posted something, so please visit:
iritka-pillowbook.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-year-resolutions.html

It's not that I don't like livejournal, but I decided to try something new.
So, please visit my new blog...

http://iritka-pillowbook.blogspot.com/

Disclaimer: not a feminist post
 
In the summer my university turns into summer day camp for kids. That's the way of the academic institution to make money even in the summer, it lets using its lawn and facilities for summer camp activities. So from morning till noon the university is full of 5-10 year old children with their 12-15 year old camp instructors.
Yesterday I had a TA meeting in my university and after that headed towards the library. On my way I spotted a group of young kids aged something around 6, playing some game with their instructor in the shadow of a tree and wearing what first appeared to me as a pink uniform. It was a bit puzzling, since in Israel the practice of school uniform, even during the school year, is almost extinct, but I thought that maybe the bright colour makes it easier for the instructors to find their flock. However, when I got closer I realized it was not a uniform at all. It was just that all the girls in the group, including their instructor wore pink outfits. The boys, who were a minority in the group, actually wore differently colored clothes (mostly sailor-themed) which proved me wrong about the uniform assumption. I strained my eyes to spot a girl, who would were something other then pink, but alas, there was none. And that made me wonder, once again, about these girls equals pink, boys equals blue equations.

( more pink...  )

There are numerous art galleries in Tel-Aviv, small intimate places with very high rent. Sometimes I make some time to go and see the new talents, but for the most part it is either abstract "no mood" art or some stuff connected with our political situation. And well, I feel so sorry that people in this hot country, and especially those in Tel-Aviv trade "heart" for "mind". Paintings should have heart in them, feeling, mood. Well, at least that's what I believe. Anyway, all this rambling is occasioned by me stumbling upon this artist, who is showing in SFM Gallery in New York. We are not NY, I thought. But I probably shouldn’t put down our artist, I’m sure there are some whom I will like. And anyway, everything is a matter of taste. So I’m posting some art by Aleksandra Nowak, a polish artist showing in NY.
( see the art...  )

It was raining in Israel today! Unbelievable event of summer rain in this infernally hot country! I'm so excited and decided to take it as a positive sign in my own life (as if universe cares about my life, but a person is allowed to feel herself one with the universe once in a while, doesn't she?).

Anyway... Have a great day everybody!

To fathom the Way of Poetry is to still the disordered trembling of a restless heart. It is to achieve tranquility and peace.
                                                                                                                      Mujū Ichien (13^th century)

I was planning to post these pictures for a month now, but didn't have time or will... Anyway, I must write an essay in Japanese and it really makes me suffer, so in between Japanese sentences I decided to post the pictures from my trip to Berlin during semester break. Posting them reminds me that I actually had a holiday despite feeling completely exhausted and not remembering having any vacation. The thing is that my exhaustion derives not from physical fatigue but from mental weariness. Anyway, as some of my good friends are saying, what make us feel bad are not the circumstances around us, but what we make of them and feel about them. So, I'm trying to be positive, despite being completely terrified of my life and uncertain about my future. Ooops, I've sidetracked. Sorry. Here are some pictures.

So, wherever you go...

( Read more... )

This post is inspired by something _nukes_  wrote in her journal. As I read her post (which really made me smile) it reminded me of something I have been thinking about quite a lot over the past few years, how people (me not excluded) fail to take somebody else's perspective and see everything through their own prism, completely oblivious to the fact that the person they are speaking of or talking to is a completely different person, motivated by different set of values/ psychological makeup/ circumstances etc. It is quite difficult to understand other people, but when we judge or consider other people's actions we probably shouldn't "put ourselves in their position", but just look at "them in their position" or at least remember that "I" might be quite different from the "other", even when this other is a friend/family member. Of course this reality leads to feeling of loneliness and alienation and yes, it is the human condition, it is valid today as it was valid so many centuries ago. Here is what Murasaki Shikibu, a court lady in 10^th century Japan writes in her diary (translated by Richard Bowring):

 

"I have many things I would like to say but always think the better of it, because there would be no point in explaining to people who would never understand. I cannot be bothered to discuss matters in front of those women who continually carp and are so full of themselves: it would only cause trouble. It is so rare to find someone of true understanding, for the most part they judge purely by their own standards and ignore everything else".

So, today, something that totally made me laugh. I have to admit that I have never actually read Terry Pratchett. When I was younger I wasn't aware of his existence, and when I got to know about him, had already too much other things to read. But I guess one day I will definitely get to read properly some of the stuff. Well, anyway, all my knowledge about Pratchett comes from a friend of mine, and she sent me this quote this morning to make me smile (it's from Wyrd Sisters).

The setting: some faraway kingdom, not too splendid a court, but there of course porters and a court fool. A witch comes over to visit the king and nocks at the door. A porter and the fool have the following conversation:

"There's a knocking without", the porter said.
"Without what?" said the Fool.

"Without the door, idiot".

The Fool gave him a worried look. "A knocking without a door?" he said suspiciously. "This isn't some kind of Zen, is it?".

My friend sent me a link to this... I just had to put it in my journal.

Dare, change...