I don’t know!

I wore my Emory shirt to school today. About 15 people asked me, “Wow, does this mean you’ve made your decision?”

Every time I go to synagogue, or see family members, I get the same questions: “Do you know yet where you’re going next year?”

NO!!

I wore my Emory shirt because I was looking for a long-sleeve t-shirt, and I didn’t feel like wearing anything nice. And I like it, too. (The yellow letters really look nice on the navy blue.)

I don’t know where I’m going next year. I’ll find out around April 1. I’ll keep you all updated, I promise. And as soon as I make a decision, believe me, you’ll know.

If you’ve asked the “where I’ve been accepted” question since December, it hasn’t changed. So don’t bother asking again.

I know that everyone is asking because they’re curious and they care about me, and I’m definitely asking all my friends the same questions. But it just gets to be a lot sometimes.

I gotta go now. I need to fill out financial aid forms.

An extreme makeover…?

Ok, I’ll admit that occasionally, the show Extreme Makeover happens to be on TV when I’m in the room and occasionally, I’ll happen to glance at it.

During the whole show, they take these really ugly people and do everything possible to their bodies to un-uglify them–haircuts, exercise plans to lose weight, plastic surgery, makeup, new clothes, tanning, etc.

The best part, though, is at the end. The ugly people have been “in hiding” for months while they undergo all the surgeries (though we, the lucky viewers, get to see them wearing the casts on their noses, etc). But for this special occasion, the ugly person gathers her family, friends, and everyone she’s ever met in her entire life. Then, everyone prepares for the ugly person to enter the room. Drum roll. She comes in, slowly. First, you see her feet, then the bottom of her fancy dress, then her friends’ reactions. (“Oh my gosh, she looks so beautiful!”) Then, we finally see her. The TV show even shows the “before” picture next to the beautiful “after.” It’s dramatic.

In my mind, that’s what I wanted to do to my website. I sort of created that little blue, ugly page with a few links on it as just a quick placeholder. I always knew I’d update it into something beautiful.

That hasn’t really happened. Until a few days ago, that is. I had an idea to make my website look like the walls of my room (every inch of my walls is filled with pictures), so I played around in Photoshop a little. My dad helped me update my website with its new look.

But it’s not all done yet. There much to be done to the site to make it complete. Since my life is so hectic, however, I don’t know when the next time I’ll update it is.

So, unfortunately, I’m going to unveil my website with a cast on its nose and without makeup. Eventually I’ll add more pictures, a nicer design to stuff, more pages, etc. But I don’t know when.

Enjoy the new design. And if your picture isn’t on the banner, it means I don’t love you.

(Sorry, some of you can’t detect my sarcasm on the computer [or sometimes even in person]. That was sarcastic. I love everyone. Well, almost everyone…)
www.lialehrer.com

Book summaries for the extremely lazy

Going through old e-mails, I came across a link my dad sent me (http://rinkworks.com/bookaminute/). Basically, it’s Sparknotes of the Sparknotes. Really really short summaries of well-known classics, sci-fi, kids’ books, and movies.

These are really funny, so I thought I’d share a few with you.

Classics

HAMLET, by Shakespeare

Hamlet: Whine whine whine…To be or not to be…I’m dead.
THE END.

JULIUS CAESAR, by Shakespeare

Caius Cassius: Brutus, we’re plotting to kill your best friend Caesar. Wanna help?
Marcus Brutus: Because I love Rome more, I will.
(They all stab Caesar.)
Julius Caesar: Et tu, Brute? In that case, I’d better die. (dies)
(The nation mourns, and everybody commits suicide.)
THE END.

A TALE OF TWO CITIES, by Charles Dickens
Doctor released,
Marquis deceased,
Darnay acquitted,
Monarchy submitted,
Marriage announced,
Darnay denounced,
Places are switched,
Blades are twitched,
Seamstress cries,
Carton dies.
THE END.

THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA, by Earnest Hemingway
An old man catches a fish that’s too big for his boat. The fish gets eaten by sharks. Then he goes home and DIES.
THE END.

THE CATCHER IN THE RYE, by J.D. Salinger
Holden Caulfield: Angst angst angst swear curse swear crazy crazy angst swear curse, society sucks, and I’m a stupid jerk.
THE END.

THE COLLECTED WORK OF VIRGINIA WOOLF
Virginia Woolf: Life is beautiful and tragic. Let’s put flowers in a vase.
THE END.

HUCKLEBERRY FINN, by Mark Twain
Huckleberry Finn: (Goes rafting. Goes home.)
THE END.

Science Fiction

HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER’S/SORCERER’S STONE, by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter: I thought I was a lowly child; instead, I’m a wizard.
Hagrid: Harry, here are some secrets I’m not supposed to tell you.
Harry Potter: (saves the world)
THE END.

Kids’ Books

MADELINE, by Ludwig Bemelmans
Once there was a girl named Madeline who had her appendix out, and everybody visited her in the hospital.
THE END.

CLIFFORD, THE BIG RED DOG, by Norman Bridwell
Emily Elizabeth: I have a big red dog.
THE END.

THE RUNAWAY BUNNY, by Margaret Wise Brown
Bunny: I will run away.
Mommy: Sit your tush down.
THE END.

ARE YOU MY MOTHER?, by P. D. Eastman
Little Bird: Are you my mother?
A Bunch of Animals That Aren’t His Mother: No.
His Mother: Yes.
THE END.

IF YOU GIVE A MOUSE A COOKIE, by Laura Joffe Numeroff
Don’t give anything to anyone.
THE END.

THE GIVING TREE, by Shel Silverstein
Reader: I can’t believe you cut that tree down, you jerk.
THE END.

MOVIES

THE LION KING, directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff
Scar: You killed your father.
Simba: (runs away)
Nala: We need you.
Simba: (runs back)
THE END.

TITANIC, directed by James Cameron
Leonardo DiCaprio: Your social class is stuffy. Let’s dance with the ship’s rats and have fun.
Kate Winslet: You have captured my heart. Let’s run around the ship and giggle.
(The ship SINKS.)
Leonardo DiCaprio: Never let go.
Kate Winslet: I promise. (lets go)
THE END.

YOU’VE GOT MAIL, directed by Nora Ephron
(Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan fall in LOVE, and it is HEARTWARMING.)
America Online: Please note how our program was used in this movie.
THE END.

I hope you enjoyed these brief summaries. Now, you don’t need to read any of those books or see any of those movies. See the website for more short summaries.

Finally, a stress-free weekend

What an awesome weekend I just had (“ahhhsome”). It’s amazing how much fun you can have when there’s no stress from school and homework!

A summary:

MOVIES I SAW:
-Spanglish: Really cute. It almost made me like Adam Sandler.
-Coach Carter: I loved this!!! It was so great, and it made me feel so happy.
-The Frisco Kid: Haha. A movie about the classic Jewish concept of taking a Jew and taking him out of context. Pretty funny.

RESTAURANTS I WENT TO:
-Graziano’s
-Flat Top (I LOVE this place)
-Cheesecake Factory
-Zia’s
(Plus, Kiddush at shul, and a nice Shabbat dinner with my family.)

CDs I BOUGHT (I had a nice gift card to Barnes and Noble)
-The Best of Eric Clapton: The Millenium Collection (“LAYLA!”)
-Queen on Fire: Live at the Bowl
-Paul McCartney: Wingspan
-Soundtrack from I Am Sam (it’s 100% Beatles covers)

CLOTHES I GOT (with another gift card): skirt, jeans, shirts

Lots of fun phone calls (including a three-way call with Daniel and Nathan).

Random fact: Ellie’s mom’s car has heated seats. Mmmmmm.

I also watched Super Nanny on TV. Wow. What a weird show.

Did you notice all the
italics, etc? That’s html, baby.

A picture is worth…

Looking at old entries, I’m noticing that my Livejournal is a lot of words and not a lot of pictures.

SO…I thought I’d provide you all with some nice pictures to look at, along with the stories they bring.

Below, you’ll see Rachel, Elyse, Rebecca, and I in Cracow, Poland, posing with a native Pole. Of course, after we took this picture, this crazy Polish man came screaming after us to pay him. His eyes lit up when we gave him an American dollar.

Here we have Michelle and I riding donkeys in the north of Israel, wearing the “traditional” donkey garb. (Does anyone know why we dressed up like that? I must have slept through that.)

Rachel and I on a camel. The best part was that the man who was “operating” them, as I describe it, looked like a camel. I mean, he REALLY looked like a camel. He could (and might) have been one in a previous life.

Ari and Nathan had their own toga party in Arad:

For more pictures, visit my website, www.lialehrer.com, and click on “Israel Pictures.”

Public Service Announcement

Apparently, the free moment I was wishing for the other day (was that yesterday? It seems like so long ago) has come.

I (and by “I,” I mean my dad) set up an Outlook e-mail for me so that maybe by the time I’m 40 years old, people will stop e-mailing me at my AOL address.

SO…please start e-mailing me at lia@lialehrer.com. Yay!

Second semester, here I come!

And thus ends the worst semester of my life.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of 4 AP classes, it was the epoch of editor in chief of West Word, it was the season of USY regional board, it was the season of college applications, it was the autumn of hope, it was the winter of despair, I had everything before me, I had nothing before me, I was going direct to Harvard, I was going direct the other way–in short, the period was such a horrible period that basically, I am relieved that it is over.

I had my last finals today, symbolizing the end of the first semester of my last year of high school. And what a semester it has been. Lots of ups and downs, and not a lot of cruising.

A reflection on the half-year:

CLASSES
-They’re really hard. AP Biology, AP European History, AP English, AP Calculus. I wish I had more time to study–but if I did have more time, I don’t know if I could handle the magnitude of material, and its lack of interest to me. Honestly, I don’t care about 15th-century European monarchs, or how cells communicate with each other.
-In English, however, I have developed a very effective system: don’t read the books. I pulled off this semester with a 95% by reading Hamlet pretty extensively, but either barely reading the other books or reading their Sparknotes (oh, how I LOVE Sparknotes!). As long as I keep up my fairly good writing skills, I should be fine.
-Calculus is more enjoyable than I thought it would be. Maybe it’s because I love my teacher. Who knows.
-I would love to not get another C in Bio next semester. But then again, who cares about 2nd semester grades?
-Shoot…AP tests.

NEWSPAPER
-I love this year. The staff is great. Being EIC is awesome. I wrote some killer columns, and I love all the articles I write. Interviewing people is really fun and really interesting.
-It’s great having friends in high places–the principal, her secretary, the Superintendent, the deans, the department directors, the union representatives, the school board members, the club sponsors, etc.
-The late nights and Sunday workdays are less-than-ideal, but they’re not horrible. I can handle staying at school until 1 a.m. two nights a month. I mean, it’s not like I would have used those nights to study for Euro anyway.

USY
-Regional board is great. I don’t think I ever realized how much I enjoy SA/TO. Everything we do is so much fun.
-I love the other board members–it’s so cool how we’re all best friends.
-I like being so closely involved with the USY, Kadima, and Schechter conventions.
-Of course, I could do without the four USY meetings in two days deal. And how almost every weekend for the rest of my life (well, until April) is a USY convention. But the conventions are a lot of fun.
-BHUSY is also really fun. Since I’m the Honorary Past President, I don’t have any real responsibilities (if I did, I don’t think I could handle them), and I love all the cool things we do.

COLLEGE APPLICATIONS
-Eight schools is a LOT of applications. It took a long time, and I was literally working until the last minute (you should have seen Nimrod and I, the day before New Year’s, working on our applications).
-It’s nice to know that I’m already accepted at two good schools. I’d really like to hear about the other ones though.
-My counselor hates me for not doing my applications earlier. She can shove it.

OTHER CLUBS/ACTIVITIES
-Band is nice, as usual. It’s good for getting my mind off academics for a while. I stopped taking private lessons this year, which is also nice, though I’m not playing as well in my etudes (maybe it’s because I don’t practice…?).
-I stopped going to WHO (West Helps Others) Club after the first meeting. Oops.
-Israeli Club hasn’t met in a while. It’s sort of gotten more and more dorky each year. But I feel obligated to support this club that supports Israel.
-This year, I started tutoring on a regular basis. I love it. Whenever I feel bad about not knowing the material in an academic class, my spirits are lifted when I can teach a 7th-grader how to read Torah. I love every minute of it. (The best part is when the 7th-grade boys crack their voices, then cough and clear their throat, embarrassed.)
-I thoroughly enjoyed Aerobics gym this semester. I think I’ve gotten more exercise these past 5 months than in the past 18 years.
-Is there anything else? I have trouble keeping it all straight.

JUDAISM IN GENERAL
-This year, I started being Shomer Shabbos and keeping stricter kashrut. I like it a lot. Really, whoever came up with Shabbat was brilliant–forcing us all to build in a special time for relaxation into every week.

MISC.
-I cut 10 inches of my long, precious, shiny brown hair and donated it to Locks of Love. (Actually, I hated my long hair, and couldn’t WAIT for it to be long enough to donate. Sorry, Mom, I know you liked it long.)
-Stemming from a Biology assignment, I learned (well, began to learn) the art of making a website. Front Page is my new best friend. And once I get a free moment, I’ll update the silly-looking lialehrer.com. And also, once I get another free moment, I’ll set up lia@jlehrer.com to go to an Outlook account so I can get rid of this silly AOL sillyness.
-And, of course, I started up this Livejournal, as noted in the previous post.

SOCIAL LIFE
-Can you believe it? Between all of that, I have been able to [somewhat] maintain a successful social life.
-I love hanging out with all of you, talking to you on the phone, talking to you online, etc.
-I miss my Israel, Wheels, camp, college, and other random out-of-town friends a lot, but my weekly/daily/monthly phone calls with them really help.
-Thanks for being there and supporting me during this, the worst semester of my life…or was it?

So maybe this semester wasn’t so horrible. It was incredibly stressful, but most of it was “good stress.” I enjoyed most of the work I did, and I did have a lot of fun.

FUTURE PLANS
-Next semester should be hard, but not as crazy as this one (colleges won’t see it! Woo hoo!). I’ll do as best as I can.
-This summer, I’ll get a job. It will be my first summer home in seven years. I won’t know what to do with myself. I’ll go crazy with freedom.

Wow. That felt good to write. Almost as good as it felt to finish this semester.

48…49…50!

When Nathan reached his 500th Livejournal post, he held a celebration. When I read that, I
1) thought he had no life and was a loser, and
2) wondered when I would ever reach a milestone like that.

I probably will never get to 500. If you’ve noticed, I choose my LJ entries very carefully. I don’t fill it with stupid “Which brand of potato chip are you? I’m Pringles!” or “What percent human are you? I’m 48.6% human” quizzes.

But, alas, today I am making my 50th post. Nothing compared to Nathan’s 517, Lisa’s 93, Patricia’s 154, Potch’s 107, and Daniel’s 211 (who, I just learned, is on his OWN Friends list. Well, I guess if you’re not your own friend, you do have problems.). I am far superior to Dan, with a mere 27 entries; Jamie, with a pathetic 34; and my newly entered “friend,” Rachel S (one of my “silent stalkers”…until now!), with just 3 cute little entries. Aww.

Thanks to Dan and Nathan for making me start this up. I really like ranting, thanking, making Seinfeld-esque observations, sharing words of wisdom. And apparently, you like reading it.

Some comments (not LJ comments, but real live comments) I’ve received:
Jillian: “OMG! I check your Livejournal EVERY DAY! It makes me SO happy.”
Daniel Picus: “Your Livejournal is interesting and informative.”
Virginia: “You guys should all read Lia’s Livejournal. It’s so funny. Especially that one about the Californians and the snow brush. [Proceeds to retell the story, including the comments.]“
Stevenovick: “I set up my computer to get an e-mail every time you update your Livejournal, [because I am obsessed with it].”

According to my dad’s website (lehrercommunications.com) counter, I’ve had 39 visitors to lialehrer.com in the past week. Thanks for making me feel like I’m popular. I need that sometimes.

I feel like there are many of you out there that read this and other Livejournals, secretly wishing you had one. My advice to you: go for it. It will change your life (er…at least it will make my Friends page a little more exciting).

So, thanks for reading, thanks for commenting, thanks for caring. And have a pleasant tomorrow.

Computer talk

It seems like every time I talk to my very computer-knowledgeable friends (and I have quite a few of them), I realize how much I don’t know about computers.

Stevenovick told me today that he set up his e-mail to get a notification every time I update my journal. Now THAT is cool. And then he said that there’s another way to do that using Mozila Firefox (which this computer supposedly has, but I don’t see much of a difference yet between that and Internet Explorer). If you want something like that for you, talk to Stevenovick.

Sometimes I wish I watched TV. We got TiVo a while ago, and I guess you can e-mail the TiVo from anywhere and have it record a program for you. No more “Oh no, I forgot to tape Supermarket Sweep!” I almost want to record something from outside the house just to say I did. Too bad I never watch TV.

You know you miss Israel when…

…you’re shoveling snow, and you discover a piece that exactly resembles Israel. And you can distinctly point out the northern part of Israel where there actually is snow.

Too…tired…from…shoveling…and…the…cold…!!