YES!!! This TOTALLY made my day.
Harry Potter still could happen in real life, ladies and gents!

I quote, from today's "Metro" newspaper, on page 2:
"Woman says she found python in her toilet
Python in potty. That's what a Brooklyn woman said she discovered as she was washing her hands in her third-floor bathroom one morning before dawn. Peeking out from the toilet were the eyes of a python, its 7-foot-long body hidden in the pipes, Nadege Brunacci said... Brunacci slammed down the lid, put a heavy box on top of the toilet and began calling for help, which came from her landlord and firefighters. Plumbers had to tear apart the downstairs neighbor's pipes to capture the snake, she said."

Is anybody else laughing hysterically?

Thoughts running through my head at 10:30pm...
my throat hurts. how on earth will i ever be packed and ready to go by tomorrow. i am exhausted. i have been sick for 4 days now and it sucks. i miss my mom. i can't believe i'm going to miss camp. what is jerusalem going to do to me. should i take my personal laptop or my work laptop. my throat, seriously, is killing me. what am i forgetting. when can i go to bed. why can't i freeze time to figure all this out.

BETRAYAL.

I have a renewed hatred of airlines.

Tbere aren't many people or things I truly hate with every fibre of my being. However, airlines top the very short list.

Need I explain why? Need I explain how awful the experience of traveling by air has become? Need I explain the abysmal treatment consumers receive from TSA officials, airline attendants, and all airport staff? Need I explain the sense of dread one feels when approaching the airport, wondering how long the line will be this time, how long the delay, how uninformed the staff?

I think Michael Moore's next documentary should be on the airline industry. Someone needs to uncover and display their dirty laundry - their customer service policies, their unethical procedures, and how they seem to remain the only business that has gotten away with treating their customers like cow dung while still charging them a small fortune.

I hate airlines.

NANNY NANNY BOO BOO

i know something you don't...

and if i wasn't such a prat, i'd just tell you.

OH MY GOSH!!!

Where have I been?

After a thrilling week in England back in May, I came back to a busy month at the office preparing for the summer. Now, I'm at... of all places for someone in her late 20's... CAMP. For 7 weeks.

I'll try to be better about this blog, I swear.

Thoughts from Terminal 7, Gate 4

1) I'm bored.
2) I'm tired.
3) It's too early to be awake.
4) Why would you wear 4-inch heels to fly?
5) Hasidic Jews fascinate me. How do they get their curls so perfect??
6) I hope that cute guy is seated next to me. My luck, it'll be the Hasidic Jew. Or the grandma who's falling asleep drooling on her blouse.
7) I'm bored.

Oh yeah, one more thing.

7) Whenever I walk by a piano, I have to check it out and see what brand it is. If that means walking across an empty room and opening the lid, I'll do it.

My friend Traci challenged me to do what she did on her blog and write 6 weird things about myself. She tagged 6 of her friends to do so, but as the only people I know who blog are already tagged by Traci, like Nick I'm also going to just do what Traci asked.

1) The toilet paper HAS to come out on top. Has to. I start to twitch if it comes out on bottom.

2) The top of the toothpaste tube is officially toxic waste to me if it has collected toothpaste gunk on it. If you use my toothpaste and you leave a TRACE of toothpaste at the mouth of the tube, you will suffer.

3) I hate it when my nails start to get long. Once I start seeing white, I can't rest until I have a pair of nail clippers and a file in my hand.

4) Shout out to Nick: I too find nothing funnier than farts. Not even poop. The whoopee cushion was the best invention ever.

5) Even if it's just chapstick, there must always be something on my lips.

6) I have a special voice I talk to animals with. It's sort of genetic. My whole family does it, and everybody thinks we're freaks, and we love it. It lets the animals know they're special.

Hooray for New York! (Yes, by some small miracle I was actually IN TOWN for the weekend!)
I spent Saturday exploring Brooklyn, first at the Botanical Gardens then at Coney Island. Here are some pics from the Cherry Blossom Festival, the tulip gardens, and Coney Island.

They say you shouldn't complain about the problem if you refuse to be part of the solution. What happens when you can't be part of the solution?

Two weeks of heavy construction work, and I'm ready for a nap. Phew! I just got back from 2 weeks on Alternative Spring Break with Habitat for Humanity. Let me tell you, it's the most fun you'll ever have. I drilled through concrete, used a power saw, hammered in a million and one nails, and got a nice tan. What a great growing experience, and what a terrific way to start seeing service differently. I felt proud to be Armenian, proud to be Christian, and humbled by the whole experience.

I had a somewhat unexpected conversation with my grandmother yesterday. I love my grandmother very much, and we are very close, and we "chat" a lot. Well, not as much as I'd like. But we share a unique, wonderful bond. But you know how sometimes you know somebody so well that you sort of know what they're going to say when they give you advice? That's what I was expecting from my grandmother yesterday. But she surprised me. She does offer her advice, and it's always good, but yesterday it was so honest and heartfelt and completely opposite of what I was expecting that it was one of the most helpful conversations I've had in a while. She's changed, too, and gained a different perspective, and that was also surprising to see. Go grandmom! It's been nice that in the different stages of my life, she's always been one of the people I could talk to. I'm so blessed to share this stage with her too.

Every time I start being diligent about posting here, something happens and I start slacking. Sometimes it's laziness, sometimes it's forgetfulness, and sometimes it's because I have nothing to say. I also didn't think anybody read this thing until 2 people recently said to me that they've been enjoying keeping up with me through my blog. So for those 2 people, and maybe for a few more, I will do my best to keep up.

I realized something recently that I can only talk about in a somewhat cryptic manner because, as we all know, whatever you put in writing can come back to haunt you. Those who know me well, though, don't need code language. You know where my struggles have been and you know where my passions lie. You have most likely heard me talk about it ad nauseum. One friend of mine in particular has listened to me talk about it more than probably anyone else, and she officially has been granted permission to kick my ass in 5 years if I'm still in the same place. What jarred me, though, is that I slowly feel myself moving toward action, finally. Not anything big. I'm starting with the mindset. In some ways, that's the biggest challenge.

It all comes down to where your heart is... and where your home is.

IT'S COMING JULY 21!!!

A screamer is someone who sees injustice and can't do anything but stand up and speak out against it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/europe/6281193.stm

Be a screamer.

Home sweet home...
After 3 days at a conference full of way too happy people, it's so nice to be sitting on my couch in silence...
I'm going to see the movie "Screamers" tonight, which is a documentary about genocide. Tomorrow's post may be a rather depressing one.

Today has been marked by a few wonderful moments where I've realized that I am so, so blessed with the most terrific friends.

It's snowing! (well, it's snowing here in Syracuse.) It's pretty, white, and crisp. Aside from the snow, there are 2 other great things about Syracuse.
1) One of my close friends lives here and we're hanging out tomorrow night. I miss her tons and haven't seen her since July.
2) The chat with DK. So needed, SO helpful.

Good things are always great in offsetting the bad or crazy stuff. In this case, the bad and crazy stuff is a lot of happiness. Yes, you read that right - this place is WAY TOO HAPPY. Apparently when a bunch of people who run camps for a living get together, they cheer and whoop and make merry at all hours of the day and night - over the stupidest things. For example: at 7:30 this morning (WAY too early for yours truly), at the registration table, I got a big hollerin' WHOOP because I was a first-time attendee at this conference. I hadn't even finished my first cup of coffee and already these people are doing an endurance trial of the hokey pokey. God help me. Tomorrow, I think one of them might end up wearing my coffee.

All of a sudden, I'm not so sure who I am anymore...