Hi

So enough of the bullshit...

Hope all my readers are enjoying themselves and their lives in Philadelphia. I just finished a conversation with my friend Eli from Hebrew U, and our catching up really got me thinking. I had some really good times up there. I try not to reminisce too much, but hindsight is always 20/20, no?

Anyway, I'm going through a perpetual state of "I need a job I need a job I need a job." I am really getting tired of feeling like I constantly need a job, so if anyone's hiring, please let me know! I write, I interview, I teach, I tutor, I twitter (well not really, but I'm on it), I drive. Whatever you need, let me know, I'll send you a resume, and we'll talk. But enough of the shameless plugging. Back to the blog!

Today I decided to go for a walk around the neighborhood to catch some fresh air and clear my head. To spice things up I took a different route than usual, walking to the playground I used to play in as a young child, then to the train station, then to the walking bridge on Mountain Ave, then crossed the driving bridge to Montgomery, then down Ashbourne to New 2nd, which I took the rest of the way home. The walk was very pleasant, as I am still very pleased to be able to walk again while wearing two shoes. At one point during the walk, three high schoolers on Mountain were walking their dog about 50 yards ahead of me. They stopped at an intersted, and strangely, instead of making a turn or continuing forward, they stopped, turned around and started walking back towards me. They passed me and gave me a "Wuddup" look, then kept going. That, oddly enough, made me grin.

Something else strange happened yesterday down in South Philly. While walking to Bitar's, a delightful Lebanese grocery store that makes a damn good falafel, I bump into my friend Brit, an old neighborhood friend. She was sitting at Geno's with an older woman, who turns out to be a contractor helping her open a coffee shop. After greetings and niceties, I tell them where I'm headed. The contractor nicely warns me that the Bitar's very well may be closed. Bitars does have unusual hours and often does close early, so I told her that if it is closed I'll grab a slice from Slice, a pizza spot across the street from Bitar's instead. Luckily, Bitar's is open, I order a falafel, some Baclava and a Langer's pineapple juice, and head back, eager to sink my teeth into the deliciously hot middle-eastern treats.

On my walk back from Bitars, I see Brit and the contractor still sitting at Geno's across the street. Seeing me, they inquire if Bitar's was open. I give an enthusiastic "Yes!" and hold up a fist in excitement, and continue on back to the house. As I cross through Gino's, I absentmindedly kick one of the tables screwed into the ground, then brush my bag against the steel cover of one of the cheese-orange pillars that holds up this establishment of racism and death. As I turn onto Latona St., a small side-street adjacent to the cheesesteak shop, a bald middle-aged man with a pot-belly and popping eyes emerges from a door and starts following me down the street. I don't think much of it, as this kind of thing happens all of the time in they city. I turn onto 8th and walk up onto the stoop of 1229 and call AJ, a newer member, to let me in. He doesn't pick up so I instead give my other friend-named-AJ a call, to talk about any job possibilities he may know of in the Philly area. Strangely, while all this is going down, the fat man had stopped at the corner of Latona and 8th and has been staring at me standing on the stoop calling the AJs the whole time. After I spot him, he hops into a white SUV parked outside our house and, after a couple minutes of idling, drives away. Not even 5 minutes later the white SUV drives back in front of the house, with the fat man still in it! This can only mean one of two things -- 1) The man was suspiciously following me. 2) The man driving the SUV was lost. It's probably 2, but 1 is still a very distinct possibility. In the words of Todd, "Whatever!"

Ok, I've had enough of this salty rambling. Fun times ahead -- tomorrow night will be the joint Heymish-Minyan Merkaz service and a meat dinner. Good times! and Good Shabbas!

-Ben