Reacting

So since I am obsessed with my girlfriend, naturally I would talk about her a lot. Since she goes to a different school, nobody knows her - that is, nobody who didn't go to middle school with us.

Yesterday she came to school with me because she could, and the reactions were quite amusing.

Physics class

Person: Betty?
My girlfriend: Yup!
(he looks extremely confused)
Him: But...don't you go to, like...BU or something?
My girlfriend: Yup!
(his expression grows more confused)

French

Me: Hey everyone, this is Betty, she's visiting -
Another person: BETTY! HEEEEY!

On the Way to Advisory

Betty: Hey, Jeff!
Jeff: Hey, Betty - wait, what are you doing here?

On the Way Out of Advisory

Betty (to someone from middle school): Hey!
Him: Hey - oh, Jesus Christ.

On the Way to Lunch

Me: Hey, Kate, this is Betty!
Kate: Wait - you're Betty? You're real? She's real! Oh my god! She's real! She's pretty! Oh my god! I ship it! I ship it!
(She tackle-hugs Betty)

Generic Reaction Which Wasn't Really Amusing, Just Expected

Someone: Betty! Hi! We missed you!

Chorus

Super-Chill Girl from Frosh play: Is that her?
Me: Yep.
Her: Cool. That's nice.

Math

Mathy person: Hey, you're in this class?
Betty: I don't even go here! I haven't been here all year!

Just Dance

Recently I have begun to really miss modern dance.

Of course, the reason I didn't take modern this year is because it's on Friday at 4, which is a really uncomfortable time.

But I've started to just turn on some music and dance to it sometimes - often Hebrew music, since I feel really strongly connected to it. That's really crucial for me - a strong connection to the music itself, not only to the words.

And it's wonderful when I start to feel almost possessed by the music, just letting it carry me where it will.

I personally prefer modern and improv to classical, because I have not yet reached the point in classical where I can dance without thinking. Modern often requires a more relaxed posture, which I quite like.

So I have realized - if I'm feeling down or undecided or irritated, I should go find some empty space, turn on some music, and dance.

Friday

I haven't updated in a while...hmm...

Friday was One School One Book. Guess what it was, and what made my summer infinitely more awesome?

The Fault in Our Stars. Which I finished in January. And loved.

So I got to talk about it the whole morning. And then I got to go to a panel called "Humor and Irony: Can Irony Save Us?" which I enjoyed quite a lot even though some were disappointed. There were two professors on comedy and one stand-up comedian on the panel. They talked about the ways irony can help us, but they also talked about how it sometimes hides us and hides our opinions, which can be dangerous.

Then there was a wrap-up video, which included part of this Vlogbrothers video. I was so, so excited after that. People were looking at me funny. Did I care? Not at all.

Then of course there was math and wellness, which felt rather boring after the morning, but you know, what can you do.

Then there was play practice. My practice was from 4:15-5:15, so I had two hours to sit around in the hallway. In the first hour, a pretty-much-friend of mine and I lay on the floor and looked at the ceiling and discussed random stuff while the rest of the group talked about weight and body image. She was picking at the linoleum tiling when -

Her: Oh, I picked up the floor.
Me: What? You mean it feels like you picked up the floor?
Her: Look. (She held up a green linoleum tile)
Me: Oh. Well then.

She was going to put it back when I stopped her, tore a piece of paper out of my notebook, and got out a pen. My side of the paper said something like

DFTBA!

Shira Abramovich, Class of 2016
September 21, 2012

And her side said

Hi!
F*ck

I don't remember what else she wrote, but in her words, "I enjoy writing curse words on random stuff." Then we stuck the paper in and squished the linoleum back into place.

So that's that. I went to my friend's house for dinner later and borrowed two books from her dad's enormous comic book collection.

And it was a lovely Friday.

Life, the Universe, and Everything

1: Let's start our being animals club meeting! I'm gonna be a monkey!
2: I'm gonna be an...elephant!
3: And I'm gonna be a lioness! Look at mah hair glow like a lioness, I'm so scary! You're scared of me, you're scared of me! Rarr!
1: It's gonna be hard to drive like this. I'm a monkey, I'm a monkey! Look! Bananas! Let's veer off the road and attack them!
3: Look at me, I'm scary! Rarr, rarr, I'm scary! Aw yeah, you are so scared!

---

1: You're ruining the innocence! So young! So young!
2: It's a chair!
1: It can't say no, how does that make you feel, huh, the chair can't say no! It doesn't have a choice!

---

1: Want to have a look at my toenail collection?

---

1: I have a seizure every time anyone says "um." * seizure *

---

1: My pet turtle died and you're laughing! You're not supposed to laugh at that!
2: Well, you have to admit, it is a funny story...
1: How can you SAY that?!
2: Um, your friend fed it sulfuric acid instead of water! That just doesn't happen!

---

1: I'M TERRIFIED OF SHOES! AHHHH!

---

Girl: You know that time when...umm...we were at your house and your brother was there?
Boy: Um, um...yeah?
Girl: I, well, I, um, may or may not have made out with him...
Boy: ...
Boy: You're SIX YEARS OLD!
Girl: He started it!

---

You see, my friends, I have found the answer to life, the universe, and everything. It is not forty-two, oh no. The answer is - get ready for it - IMPROV.

Why is anyone impersonating animals? Improv. Why did someone's friend feed a turtle sulfuric acid? Improv. Why did a six-year-old make out with someone? Improv...or something really, REALLY, wrong.

Beginnings

So high school started this week.

Or, should I say -

OH MY GOD, HIGH SCHOOL STARTED THIS WEEK.

Well, aside from its inevitable enormity and whatever, it looks like it will be pretty good, actually.

Crazy? Almost definitely. Fun? Looks like it. Adventure? Hopefully.

"Reunion"

There was this thing. At the art center.

They called it a reunion but it wasn't really, it was just an invitation to come and make art with other people. And eat pizza. And ice cream. And it was brilliant.

I was the first one there and then this other girl came and we were talking and laughing with the teachers. We made a plan for what we were going to do on the giant canvas that was provided. Then we started to paint and some other kids arrived. I went downstairs to see my friends from ceramics since I wasn't attending this week. We ate pizza and ice cream and went on painting.

I did not feel at all emotionally attached to the painting that I was doing with the second girl who arrived. The other people were also doing a giant one. It was amazing not to give a damn at all and just go wild with color. Ours ended up as a real explosion of hues, and quite abstract too. The canvas was absolutely enormous. I've never done something so large-scale.

So. Much. Fun.

I talked with the girl about middle school and high school and social things and it was kind of fun because we had the same opinions on a lot of things even though she's a "popular kid" and I'm a "book/YouTube nerd." It's amazing how fundamentally similar humans are.

When I signed my name at the end of the evening, I looked at our work and kind of liked it. It definitely wasn't my favorite thing I ever made but it wasn't bad. Creating it was almost like letting go, just letting everything out, with vast brush strokes across the enormous space.

It feels good not to be attached, almost like floating, like being on a ship in the open sea. You choose what ports to enter, which ones you want to explore, and where you want to stay. "I can see...perfectly in this cracked darkness." ~ Paper Towns by John Green

Book Survey

1. Favorite childhood book?

Define "childhood." But anyway, when I was younger I really liked Boxcar Children books by Gertrude Chandler Warner (some name, right?). Then I read Harry Potter and I couldn't read anything else for two months. After that I liked pretentious award-winning books. I still do, I guess.

2. What are you reading right now?

Physics for Future Presidents by Richard A. Muller, The King Must Die by Mary Renault, various Batman comics, and rereading books from my library.

3. What books do you have on request at the library?

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by I-forget-who, various Batman comics by various authors, etc. 

4. Bad book habit?

Insisting that I must keep reading even when I'm exhausted and my mind starts to wander so that I read whole pages and don't register a word. 

5. What do you currently have checked out at the library?

Not including movies: All-Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder, volume 1 written by Frank Miller, Scrawl: a novel by Mark Shulman, Batman: Haunted Knight by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, Batman: The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, Witness for the Prosecution, and other stories by Agatha Christie, Bad Boy: a memoir by Walter Dean Myers, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Now and Forever by Ray Bradbury, Tamar by Mal Peet, Batman and Son by Grant Morrison, Batman: Battle for the Cowl by Tony S. Daniel, Batman: Dark Victory by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, the aforementioned Physics for Future Presidents by Richard A. Muller, Gilgamesh, translated by Stephen Mitchell, The King Must Die by Mary Renault, The Batman Handbook by Scott Beatty, Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman, Catwoman: When in Rome by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, and A User's Guide to the Universe by Dave Goldberg and Jeff Blomquist.

That makes me look Batman-obsessed. Batman does not rival the magnitude of my other obsessions.

6. Do you have an e-reader?

Yeah. A nook.

7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?

It depends on the book. At the moment I am reading several less-engrossing books, but if they're really interesting, I'll figuratively swallow them whole one at a time. (Honestly, my throat can only take so much.)

8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?

No? I don't think?

9. Least favorite book you read this year (so far?)

Uhhh...I don't know...I haven't read bad books, really...

10. Favorite book you’ve read this year?

The complete works of John Green. They're good enough that I bought them. (I read Looking for Alaska in late 2011 but whatever.)

11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone?

Often, I guess, but out of my comfort zone sort of is my comfort zone, if that makes any sense. Like I said, I like award-winning books, so I do read those. And I'd like to be well-read, so earlier this year I read Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing which was great, even though I didn't understand every word. I would like to read the great classics as well.

Also, my friend is going to a pretentious high school next year and I said I would read all the books on her summer reading list. Which admittedly are only four. But damn, they're high-end. Gilgamesh, The King Must Die, Physics for Future Presidents, and Gulliver's Travels. So yeah.

12. What is your reading comfort zone?

Everything except erotica and most sci-fi.

13. Can you read on the bus?

Yeah, usually. Sometimes I get queasy, but not often. 

14. Favorite place to read?

On my bed, on the couch, or on the front steps.

15. What is your policy on book lending?

I am horrible at getting books back to people (it once took me five years), so if someone asks I'll lend it to them but I'll be sure to try to get them back.

16. Do you ever dog-ear books?

No. I am big on libraries and not buying books unless I really love them or I just should, so I try to preserve them as they are. That said, I did take a pencil and correct the it's-instead-of-its in Physics for Future Presidents. That is something that the next reader will benefit from, and will let me stop freaking out over it.

17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books?

Not usually. But see the previous question for a special case.

18. Not even with text books?

I wish I could. But most of them belong to the school. It would make it so much easier if I could write in them.

19. What is your favorite language to read in?

English. I ought to read more in Hebrew, especially as I've got some good books that aren't translated. I hate reading translations if I have the opportunity to read the original. I'd like to reach a level in French so that I could read all sorts of French literature.

20. What makes you love a book?

Good writing, believable characters, compelling plot.

21. What will inspire you to recommend a book?

1. If I really like it or 2. if I would like to discuss it with someone. Why else?

22. Favorite genre?

Middle-grade and YA fiction. No vampires.

23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?)

Nonfiction/biographies or maybe more classics.

24. Favorite biography?

I prefer biographies of fictional characters. ;) Not really, I just don't read very many biographies.

25. Have you ever read a self-help book?

Unless you count The Feelings Book from American Girl, no, I don't think. 

26. Favorite cookbook?

I am not in the habit of reading cookbooks. However, The Crêpe-Makers' Pact by Julie Crabtree has some recipes in it. That was an enjoyable book.

27. Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or non-fiction)?

Paper Towns or The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, or maybe The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

28. Favorite reading snack?

Anything?

29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience.

None that I can think of, but I'll come back to edit this if I do.

30. How often do you agree with critics about a book?

I try not to read reviews because they influence me. I know it sounds a little crazy, but their opinions will make me vaguely question my own.

31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews?

I feel that if I don't like it, I don't have to say I like it.

32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you choose?

French, German, or Russian. Just because I love languages.

33. Most intimidating book you’ve ever read? 

Can't think of any right now...

34. Most intimidating book you’re too nervous to begin?

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. I read a little bit and it creeped me out.

35. Favorite Poet?

I love poetry, but I don't have a favorite.

36. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time?

Around twenty.

37. How often have you returned book to the library unread?

A few times, just because they were 1. on hold or 2. overdue and not renewable.

38. Favorite fictional character? 

Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, Margo Roth Spiegelman, Hazel Grace Lancaster, Pudge Halter, Severus Snape.

39. Favorite fictional villain?

Severus Snape or Draco Malfoy. Amazing characters.

40. Books you’re most likely to bring on vacation?

I bring anything I can on vacation! Probably things I'm reading or am looking forward to reading.

41. The longest you’ve gone without reading.

Perhaps a month. It did not end well.

42. Name a book that you could/would not finish.

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein. But my brother has recently read/listened to it and I can't let him out-read me. 

43. What distracts you easily when you’re reading?

My thoughts. They are extremely loud.

44. Favorite film adaptation of a novel?

Hugo. We are calling The Invention of Hugo Cabret a novel, right?

45. Most disappointing film adaptation?

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It did not scare me like it should have.

46. The most money I’ve ever spent in the bookstore at one time?

Over $100, at Strand Bookstore in New York City. That's the only place I allow myself to buy books without having read them yet. 

47. How often do you skim a book before reading it?

Never. Ever.

48. What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through?

Slow plot. I can't deal with it!

49. Do you like to keep your books organized?

I used to. But since I just decided to give away a lot of my books, I haven't really kept them organized. I don't really have too many because of my commitment to not-buying-until-I-have-really-thought-about-it-long-and-hard, so organization isn't all that important, I just need them to be on the shelves.

50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you’ve read them?

Keep and lend.

51. Are there any books you’ve been avoiding?

Twilight. I REFUSE.

52. Name a book that made you angry.

Mockingjay. Just - so depressing and screwed-up. I felt horrible after reading that and I was already not the sanest of people, so that's definitely not good.

53. A book you didn’t expect to like but did?

Harry Potter, funnily enough. I had been avoiding it for a while because people had told me it was "scary" and "hard" so even when it was recommended to me, I didn't read it. Until my fourth-grade teacher read it aloud to us. Then I couldn't stop reading it. Still can't, really.

54. A book that you expected to like but didn’t?

Again: Mockingjay. WHY, Suzanne Collins, WHY?

55. Favorite guilt-free, pleasure reading?

Rereading books I like. And I don't really read except for pleasure - I mean, I try to enjoy even assigned books. That said, I'm not a great fan of textbooks.

Throwin'

I always feel the need to clarify this. In ceramics, the term "throwing pots" does not mean we're all chucking vases at the walls; it means we're making clay pots on the pottery wheel. Just making sure everyone knows.

This week I'm attending Afternoon Ceramics at the art center nearby. I skipped it on Monday in favor of a day at the beach with my friend but yesterday I arrived for class in clothes made for turning brown with clay stains.

I have attended something at the art center for at least one summer or vacation per year since fourth grade, except for last summer, when I did a five-week intensive dance program instead. But in any case, the teachers know me.

So I arrived about ten minutes early to find one of my former teachers digging in the recycled clay bin and slopping it onto boards to make it dry into clay that's fit for working with instead of just muddy slip. I offered to help because I love getting dirty in this way, and I needed to get my clean clothes flecked with clay already. "You grew a lot," she says.

While doing that I realized that someone who had been with me in the pottery classes I'd attended two years ago was in my class again. We reacquainted ourselves with each other and remembered our jokes. Since we've both been to Israel it was mostly about the messed-up-ness of security and terrorists in airports and trying to drag pottery wheels into the airport. It's probably the best time I've had in an organized class in a while.

I'd really forgotten how much fun it is to go somewhere with the intention of making art, to come with a group of people and get your hands so very dirty. I don't know if anybody else does this, but my friend and I start talking to the clay in the middle of conversations. Like, one minute we're talking about depression and then he says to the mug he's making, "Don't flop over, I'll kill you if you do," and we're talking about television. That doesn't happen without the occasional lunatic talking to random objects.

Today I'll go back and throw a few more pots. Ah, pottery. The most fun I've had in a while.

Choreography

I was thinking of not going to ballet today because I've got a blister between my toes from walking too long in my flip-flops after not wearing any ever. But the blister ain't that bad and it was the last day. So.

I came, expecting to have to explain to the teacher how I couldn't do pointe today because I had a blister, etcetera etcetera, when she asked the pianist to give us a few waltzes so we could do choreographies to them - though she called them "improvisations." I got myself a group of four and we did a short dance to the slower of the waltzes.

I think it was good. We finished first, so while the other groups were still practicing, I went and did some actual improvisation, which was immense fun.

We showed the dances, then the class finished early. I said goodbye to the teacher and pianist, as well as most of the girls. It's weird, this is like a softer, subtler version of the nostalgia I felt before coming here. Which is okay, because I guess that's what you're supposed to feel.

Silence and the End of Some Things

Ballet teachers will yell, some more than others. It is simply a fact of life.

However, today my teacher lost her voice. The class was literally silent between exercises. No one spoke at all. We communicated via hand gestures.

It's strange, but when someone in the room doesn't speak and uses hand gestures to communicate, we often feel the need to stay quiet. And today, there was no yelling, and barely any speaking. Just music and concentration. I came out of the class feeling relaxed and with a huge grin on my face. There's nothing like silence to help you get centered. It was almost like yoga.

---

Earlier today, I had my last geometry class of the year. And as usual, I was being loud and calling out and screaming answers. Of course, my math genius friend got everything first, but I got it shortly afterwards. Then, the teacher handed out the class placements for next year. If I were to stay, I'd still be in the highest math class - א'1 or I guess A1. You see? Calling out does pay.

---

I think I'm going to watch an episode of Doctor Who now and eat some ice cream. What a wonderful evening.

(By the way, see The Vampires of Venice - Season 5 Ep 6 – as well as The Big Bang - Season 5 Ep 13 – for the Doctor Who reference in the title.)

In Which I am a Five-Year-Old Teenager

Today we had a meitzav, or a statewide test, in math. One of the easier things I've done. I think I got at least a 90, which I like, because normally on math tests I don't get too far over 85 or 90, sometimes less. So that's nice.

And it was my last test here, as a friend of mine took care to inform me afterwards, before I went to buy a bag of chocolate milk (yes, they sell chocolate milk in bag-type things) to rejuvenate my utterly fried brain.

Then, in English class, we were talking about our plans for the summer, specifically so the teacher could correct pronunciation. Obviously she didn't correct mine, but after I finished saying that I was going back to America, seeing my friends, going to some art and writing camp-things, and possibly going to New York, she said that it had been really nice to have me in her class and for everyone to hear an American accent besides hers. She said I'd contributed to the class discussions (which I do think was one of the high points of being here, especially the calling-out part) and that she'd miss me. Then everyone clapped and I just sat there in the back of the class, embarrassed yet elated, tracing the "love" that someone had carved into the desk just for something to do.

Then math class got cancelled, which was brilliant because it chopped an hour and forty-five minutes off my school day and I walked home with some friends, making fun of two of our other buddies who were walking about twenty paces in front of us and couldn't hear a word we were saying. All mockery, and all pretty much that old rhyme, "___ and ___ sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in the baby carriage."

I suppose, deep down, I'm not more than five years old. It's becoming more and more apparent now. Oh well, being five is fun.