My Life in a Nutshell

Blogger hasn't been liking me for most of the day - apparently, we have worked out our difficulties and Blogger is my friend again (I bribed him with chocolate - works every time). This isn't going to be a terribly well thought-out post anyway, because I just don't have much to say these days. What's going on in Israel is awful, and that's where my thoughts are much of the time these days. But I'm almost to the point of oversaturation with it now - how many more times can I hear about the rockets pounding the North, how many more innocent people are going to be hit, how many more poor kids who have had guns thrust in their arms are going to suffer? It's my people and my homeland that is being affected and I really care, but I can't do much, and I'm far away and it's hard. So I just keeping davening and paying attention and caring and hoping it will end soon, with peace. Because it's all I can do. I think I'm also a little undirected because I've been out of school for a month now, and without school, I kinda feel a bit aimless. It's nice to not have the stress, but I've kind of made getting my degree my purpose in life at this point. The attainment of my graduate degree will lead to the career I hope will last a lifetime, so while I do have a life outside school (really I do), I do focus on that and like taking classes in pursuit of that goal, because it makes me feel like I am achieving my goal, at least in one realm of my life. So while it's nice to not be so overwhelmed with work, I'm kinda ready to go back. Another month until I get to do that. In the meantime, I have been taking some Jewish education classes for the past month, which concluded last night (really, what am I going to do with myself in August?). They were really interesting classes with a very diverse group of students. I took the classes at a left-wing Modern Orthodox institution, and it really was fascinating to see the mixture of people who came. What was even more interesting was to see how religion charges people so much and how each person there had a different agenda, very much based on their prior experiences with religion. It was a world I hadn't really experienced before, and I got a lot out of it. There is a huge world out there, and I think most people really bury themselves in their own little corner of it. I want more (ok, now I have the Little Mermaid song in my head). I'm moving in a week and a half and I have a ton of packing to do, but little motivation (what's new?). I'll be living alone for the first time in 4 years, and I am really, really looking forward to having my own space. And decorating (I've already been spending way too much money on stuff for my new digs). Ok, that's my life in a nutshell (or a blog post, but that seems way too literal).