Things don't look too great with the new student association. About a week and a half ago I attended a meeting with the people heading the whole thing, and all they did was yell at each other. I feel a bit deceived, since it seems part of what I was told (which I later told people at the stands, believing it was true) was false. Even if we get more than half the students to sign up, we still have no guarantee that we'll replace the current association.

Last week there were elections to the student council of the current association. Because of rules put in by the old council, the new council won't have much power to change anything. People have to be in the council or in another high position in the association's executive branch at least six months to be eligible to be elected chairperson or department head - so even though the new council elects the new execuitves, they won't have anybody new to choose from. It's like saying that the new government after a parliamentary election must be from the outgoing coalition!

Anyway, I still hope that somehow either the new council will be able to make changes from within, or the new association from without. I know four people who were elected to the new council - three of them are good people (the guy I voted for from my department, a friend of mine and one guy who is also active in the alternative association) and I don't like the fourth one very much, but it doesn't mean he's corrupt, though I'm not sure how much he'll work hard to better the system.

Wow, it's been a month since I last posted. I'll make it up by posting a long entry this time:

It's been a busy week. I don't think I've written anything here about our university's student association being corrupt, and that a new one was created. Anyway, a few days ago the president of the university met with the heads of the new association and told them that if more than half the students join them, they'll become the official student association. So on Wednesday they started a campaign to sign up people - they set up stands in the university's entrances and in the Student Center. I volunteered to be in the stands twice - Thursday and Sunday. You know those irritating people that stand at all kinds of places and try to get passersby to sign up for something? Well, that was me two days ago, and will be me again tomorrow. We stood at an entrance from 2 PM to 4:30 and signed up about 300 people. That's quite a remarkable number considering the fact that at that hour on Thursdays people are hurrying to get home (since there are no classes on Fridays).

On Wednesday I was at a friend's birthday party (the same friend I said I'm interested in but I now don't think I have much of a chance with her). A day before the party she and her roommate went door to door in her building so people will know about the party and won't complain about the noise. Half an hour before the guests were supposed to arrive, two of her neighbors, an 80-year old Russian couple, showed up with a cake and 100 shekels as a present. They had misunderstood and thought that they were invited to the party. They don't speak any Hebrew. Lucky for the birthday girl, another friend of ours was there to help her set things up and she knows Russian, so she talked to them. But they felt awkward - they didn't want to insult them and tell them to leave. The Russians ended up staying an hour. When I arrived I thought they were my friend's grandparents or something, though I found it odd that they were there.

Well, I told Naomi what's bothering me - the fact that I feel like she asks me for favors way too much. I mean, some favors are okay, but she asks for the irritating type (see Nov 2 post). So she said she's sorry I feel that way, and I hope she'll be less of a pest now. She sounded a bit insulted but I think she knows I'm right. If she decides she doesn't want to be good friends like before that's fine with me. If she still wants to be good friends without the nagging part that's okay too (though I doubt the nagging will end here).

There's this other friend of mine I'm interested in, but I have a feeling it might take a while till this goes anywhere, since she's not a very close friend and I don't have too many chances to be just with her. But I'm not all determined about her - if someone else comes along the way that would be good too (not that I'm a Don Juan).

Yesterday I attended a family gathering at my uncle's house. The occasion was the birth of his two granddaughters a few weeks ago (each from a different daughter). It was a nice party, though my weird step-cousin urged me to get a girlfriend and knock her up, which was pretty odd. Another cousin and I were talking to her and she said her husband claims she isn't "active enough on the way to getting pregnant" - and I said "stop! I don't want to hear this!" She thought I was shy about sex, but that wasn't it at all, and my other cousin found it funny because he understood what I was talking about - my step-cousin and her husband are big fat slobs. But instead of insulting her I preferred to just let her think I'm a puritan.

The babies are beautiful. Another cousin of mine brought his 4-month old son, who looks like he's on steroids and reminded me a bit of Jay Leno. At least he has beautiful blue eyes.

Naomi continues to be a pest. Today she wanted me to go get her key duplicated because her roommate doesn't have a key and he has to go somewhere so she gave him her key. He said he'd leave it with the neighbors but she wanted me to duplicate it so they'd both have a key. I said no. It's something either she or her roommate should do, not me. And now she called me because the neighbors who have the key aren't home and she asked me what to do - I just said wait a bit more. They'll probably show up sometime. I'm not responsible for her not being organized.

How can a person break up with someone who isn't his girlfriend? I'm fed up with Naomi - I've discovered she's a bigot (she hates Arabs and doesn't think much better about Sehpardic Jews) and she nags. She treats me like a boyfriend-replacement, getting annoyed when I go somewhere with other friends and without her. I need to get her a bit off my back. I can't wait for either me to get a real girlfriend or for her to get a boyfriend.

Thank god I didn't go to Italy with her - I'm sure she'd drive me crazy!

School started with a weird strike. The national student union, headed by my university's former head of the student association, declared a strike in all universities and colleges, except for Tel-Aviv University and a few small area colleges. My university was officially one of those where the students were striking, but a group of "dissidents" (a rival student organization that opposes the current student association as well as the national student union, because of a long story that goes all the way to a Knesset member who used to be chairwoman of both our university's and the national student organizations), a few hundred out of all the 16,700 students, according to the media, broke the strike and went to classes. Some classes took place as scheduled, some were conducted just partially and some were cancelled.

Anyway, I didn't go to the university. I was supposed to have two classes today - in one only a quarter of the students came so there was only half a lesson that was mostly just an introduction, and one was completely cancelled.

I made a cake today for no special reason. I just felt like eating something tastey and unusual. So I made a chocolate mousse cake. I had almost made an ice-cream cake but decided against it.

Succot will be over soon, and we'll have to take down the Sukka we built. It came out nice with all kinds of leaves from the garden instead of just palm tree leaves (the tree is too high now). Maybe I'll paint the metal frame of the Sukka for next year. I don't really feel like doing that.

My nephew had his first haircut yesterday. My sister had already cut his hair a few times, but this was his first trip to the barber. He wanted me to come see him getting the haircut, but he was scared of it. At first he was hysterical, then we explained to him that it's just like his mother does, but better. My sister was worried that he'd become hysterical if they'd sprinkle his hair to make it wet, so she wet his hair from the sink herself. So he sat on her lap, but kept asking if it's over and making sure the barber won't use the hair dryer, which scares him. He seemed nervous even after it was over. It was pretty traumatic, but hopefully next time will be better.

Normal kids are also nervous the first time their hair is cut, but I think they get over it after the deed is done. But for an autistic kid like my nephew, even as advanced as he is, the fact that a stranger cuts his hair in a room full of other strangers is very scary, and it's a trauma for them. But once it becomes routine, maybe he won't have a problem with it.

It's the middle of the night and I can't sleep. I don't know why. I really need this vacation to end, since I'm getting too bored. I have too much time on my hands and I'm thinking too much about Rachel (I guess I have a tendency to get hung up on women). I haven't heard from her in a while, but that's okay, since she doesn't check her e-mail very frequently.

I've been thinking of starting to read Amos Oz's "A Story of Love and Darkness", which is kind of his autobigraphy, but it's very long. I've also thought of continuing to read The Lord of the Rings, which I started a few years ago but found it too boring (too many goddamn scenery descriptions). All I've been doing is surfing the internet.

I put up a picture of myself at hotornot.com and I didn't get such a high score so I just got pissed and deleted myself from there. People are idiots. I know I look good and I don't need strangers to rate me.

Pure boredom...

Well, it's Yom Kippur now. I'm not fasting.

Ever since I realized Rachel was flirting with me I can't get her out of my mind. It's weird. Was she just doing it for fun, or is she to some extent in love with me (after all, she did tell my sister at one point that I'm a wonderful person - sounds like admiration). And she ends every e-mail to me with "I miss you guys", something she does not write to my sister. She could be adding the "guys" to seem less obvious. Who knows. Whatever it is, I'm not interested in her. At least, I shouldn't be. I know so many reasons not to be. I guess it's my penis taking over my brain or something.

At least there's no way I'll see her before the summer, so things won't go the wrong way because of my current confusion. School starts on October 26 - hopefully I'll just find a normal girlfriend around my own age, who lives in the same country as me and has no children...

Today I realized one of the reasons why I had such a good time in Italy, after my sister told me she just realized what bothered her about the trip - she said Rachel kept flirting with me constantly. I guess I noticed it, but I wasn't sure she really was flirting. But I did know, deep down, that it was indeed flirting.

A whole week with a very attractive woman hitting on me. Not bad at all. Very good for my ego. Who knows what would have happened if my sister wasn't with us. But I'm glad she was, since getting involved with Rachel - a single mother who lives on the other side of the ocean, and who is five years older than me - isn't such a good idea. I am a man after all, and I'd certainly be tempted to think with my penis rather than with my brain, if such an opportunity would have occured. And she's too good a friend, and from too religious a background, for a one-night stand with her.

I gotta admit though, my sister made my day when she said Rachel was flirting...

Yesterday we retruned from Italy. It was a great trip - we were in Milan, Como, Venice, Verona Bolzano and the Dolomites, as well as an excursion into Innsbruck in Austria.

The first day we arrived at Milan's airport and went straight to Como, without going to Milan itself. We walked around the town. The next day we picked up Rachel, our American friend, from the airport and then took ferries to Tremezzo and Belaggio in Lake Como - it was beautiful. The next day we went to Venice and spent two days there. It was great there. My sister stepped on a pigeon by mistake (the pigeon is fine) in Piazza San Marco and we kept ducking when the pigeons flew close to our heads. They were fascinating and disgusting at the same time. On the fifth day we spent 3 hours in Verona (very nice) on the way to Bolzano in the Dolomites. The dolomites were beautiful - that was the best part of the trip. On the sixth day we decided on a whim to take a 2 hour train ride to Innsbruck - it was worth it just for the great scenery. On the last full day we went to Milan and stayed at a hotel near the airport.

We had a great time wherever we went - only in Milan and Innsbruck it was a bit unpleasant. In Milan the subway looked disgusting and a little kid looked at my sister's pockets, ready to pick them, but then noticed Rachel was looking at him so he went away. In Innsbruck we saw two teenagers wearing army boots, black clothes and shaved heads. In Italy when we were asked where we were from we said that my sister and I are from Israel and Rachel is from the States, but in Austria we said all three of us were Americans. Somehow all three of us felt uncomfortable there.

This was a great trip, even better than my last trip to the States, but somehow I wasn't sorry to come home this time. It was exactly the right amount of time.

My flight to Milan is tomorrow morning. I leave for the airport tonight. How exciting! Our American friend will join us on Sunday.

A few days ago we saw a report from "60 Minutes", broadcast on Israeli Channel 1's "Roim Olam", about a 14 year old autistic teenager named Tito, who despite the fact that he cannot talk well, he can communicate beautifully through writing. His mother devoted her life to him and made him capable of amazing things. He writes about what it's like to be autistic. After we saw the report we downloaded some of his writings from the Cure Autism Now Foundation and my father read it aloud to us while we sat in the living room. It was like poetry - Shakesperean poetry. His writing abilities are much better than the average person, and he writes about the feelings and thoughts he had - a window into the world of autistic people. He wrote a book and my sister ordered it.

This can help us understand my nephew and understand how to teach him things that autistic children can't do easily. Seeing Tito on TV and reading his writings makes me feel very positive about my nephew's future. I think he'll be even better than Tito, because he speaks fluently. His autistic ticks are much less frequent than they used to be, and from what I saw on TV, his hand ticks are much more subtle than Tito's. I don't think he'll be cured from autism - he'll always be autistic, but he'll be able to function on his own and be happy, and that's what is important.

I got my last grade for the year today - a 91 on the "Law and ethics in the media" course. So far, I have an 86.1 average, which is excellent. Even an 86.7 average just in the political science courses.

One week and two days left till my trip to Italy. How exciting!

I saw Naomi yesterday. She looked sad, but seemed better than when we spoke on the phone. Now I know that her father is the person who is sick (I don't understand why it took her so long to tell me that), he's in a coma, and the odds are against him. She was happy to see me.

Before my trip to the US we decided that, since our birthdays are one week apart, she'll buy me a present here, and I'll buy her a present in the States, which will be both a birthday gift and a memento from the States. I got her a teddy bear with "I love NY" on it. I gave it to her yesterday, along with a self-produced postcard (a picture of me in the States, which was taken with a digital camera and printed, and I left white space next to it and wrote that this was instead of a real postcard). She really liked both the teddy bear and the postcard.

I also told her about the fact that I'm going to Italy with my sister and our American friend. She didn't seem to mind. When she heard the friend was getting a divorce she got a bit scared and said that she hopes her husband isn't a madman who will think there's something going on between us and will kill me or something. It was actually amusing the way she worried.

I got a call from Naomi today. Now I know a lot more. She still didn't tell me what relative this is, she just said it was a close relative, from the nuclear family. She said she doesn't want to tell me who it is exactly, because it's too hard. This person had a simple operation half a year ago, and got an infection as a result. The doctors did not notice this and even when it was discovered, they underestimated the danger. Now he/she is unconcious and it seems that it is near the end.

She doesn't want me to tell any of our friends. So I'm writing this only here, where nobody can identify who I am or who she is.

I didn't tell her about going to Italy with my sister and American friend. It didn't seem appropriate.

It's pretty much official. I haven't heard anything from Naomi, and not for lack of trying. I assume our trip is off. I was a bit upset that I wasn't going to Italy, but then my sister offered that I come with her and our American friend (the one I went to the movies with) to Europe. We finally decided on a location after changing plans and cities a million times. We're going to Milane. So it turns out I'm going to Italy anyway.

Two terrible terrorist attacks today in the middle east, about 20 dead in each - the UN headquarters in Baghdad and a bus in Jerusalem. I don't know what the Israeli government is going to do. The Hudna is a sham. A cease-fire without the Palestinian authority fighting terror is nothing more than a temporary break in the fighting, not more. My first reaction after something like this is always to think the army should go in and blast the terrorists to hell, but it isn't that easy. I think we should respond, but in some kind of measured way.

Naomi sent me an SMS saying the situation is very bad and that she'll call me when she can. I hope she'll tell me more soon. I'm totally in the dark here.

I returned from the States last week. I had a great time. I must admit I'm sorry to be back. This year I had 5 birthday parties - one at home with my sisters before I left and then when I was at my relatives' house in New England they invited a different set of people each day and surprised me every day with a birthday cake - one day before, on, and one day after my birthday. Then about a week later, other friends of ours heard that it had just been my birthday so they also got me a birthday cake.

We did some site-seeing but we mostly saw friends and family. I attended my cousin's wedding - American weddings are very different from Israeli weddings, since we don't have the best man, bridesmaids and flower girl and all that. And we're much less official. It was my first time wearing a tie since kindergarten. I had a great time, danced a lot with two second cousins that I never met before. The two of them and one of their boyfriends might come to Israel sometime soon with the Birthright program, to tour, so I'll be their guide for my area.

My self-esteem and self-confidence rose during this trip. Everybody seemed to like me and be impressed by me. As a result, I came to the conclusion that I'm not interested in Naomi. I shouldn't chase around someone who isn't interested in me, and I'm not even sure we're a good match. I'm sure I can find a girl, which in a relationship with her we'll both feel lucky to be together. That doesn't mean I don't want to go to Italy with Naomi. We'll go, but just as friends, and neither of us will want any more than that.

In my trip in the US I went to a movie with a friend of mine. She's five years older, a mother of a 2-year old and now getting a divorce. We went just as friends, but I was attracted to her like crazy. She's smart, she's beautiful (looks much better than Naomi) and most important, she's a nice person. But she didn't know I'm attracted to her, and I didn't try anything. I'm too young to get involved with a woman who has a kid, besides the fact that she lives in the US and I live in Israel. Our families have been friends for decades, and we spent a few days with them. So I talked to her a lot, just because it was nice talking to her, and played with her kid a lot, just because I like playing with kids and he's a cute baby. She later e-mailed my sister writing I'm a great person. I'm happy to hear that she thinks so, though it doesn't mean she's interested in me. I'm not interested in her, either, just attracted to her.

And back to Naomi again - yes, I've come to the conclusion I'm not interested in her, but I'm still concerned about her. Yesterday she finally gave me a little tidbit about her problem - she said she spends most of her days at the hospital because of one of her relatives. She didn't say any more - not which relative, and not what diseas. Yesterday evening I called her and she couldn't talk, today I sent her an SMS message and called her once, and she didn't answer. I'm worried that something might have happened to the relative.