Bringing y'all up to speed...

Well, I've been back in the states for two weeks, just about. But I guess I should start from the beginning...
The driver who offered to take me from my apartment to the airport in Israel gives me a call about an hour before he's supposed to come. He's a friendly guy, and despite the fact that I was told not to go with him, because he tends to drive people (pun intended) a little nuts, I decided to go with him anyway. So, he calls me:
Him: Hey, jewmaican, dude, I gotta ask you a question...
Me: What's up?
Him: well, you wouldn't mind if I picked up another passenger, would you? I mean, there's plenty of room, and this person is really nice.... ( I thought I knew which direction this was heading, so...)
Me: Ummm, this passenger wouldn't happen to be from the opposite sex, would she?
At this point, he starts floundering and telling me that nothing will ahppen, etc. Not that i was terribly concerned; I'm not afraid of girls...
So, he picks me up with this girl, and he has a built in DVD player in his car. They're watching Friends, and the volume is pretty high. Did I mention that my place is in one of the more charedi 'hoods in Jerusalem? Anyway, we left without further incident, and the driver kept trying to spark up conversations in which we'd all get involved. Every five mintes or so, he'd glance int he rearview at me, and either wink or wiggle his eyebrows at me. I found out later that this driver has matched seveal couples in his car. Weird, but very funny...
Arriving back in my hometown, it was a comforting sight to see that almost nothing had changed. That's what I love about Cleveland: it stays the same, for the most part. Some people need the hustle and bustle, but not I. I love the midwest, and the fact that it's boring as hell there. Not that I'm boring...or am I?
Of course, you know that you're just a tiny bit- just a teensy bit -sad when the two happiest people to see you are the guy who runs the music store and the comic book shop guy. But yeah, they were both very excited to see me.
Speaking about things geeky, I had a total session the other day when King Kong came out on DVD. It was great! I really had a blast watching it.
I'm really sad.
Aside from all that sadness, I did take a small trip to the NY/NJ area. I had some people to see and places to go. One of my friends got engaged and the vort was this past motzei shabbos. I saw all my friends who I hadn't seen in a while, and it was great. I saw Karma Dude, who my faithful readers know as Karma Dude, my biggest fan (who posts a comment on every single entry, I might add...).
Oh yeah, and a milestone? I drove through Manhattan by myself three times this trip. I know to the big tough New Yorkers it doesn't seem like a big deal, but you know what? For me, it was a rite of passage. Screw the bar mitzvah; this past motzei shabbos, I became a MAN! Not that I'm not a good driver; I emerged unscathed, but I'm just not used to that kind of traffic. Mind you, it was exhilarating to be assertive in such a way; flipping the bird in every direction was also definitely a plus...
Other than that I've been helping prepare for the coming chag, and I hope to update before the chag at least once more...
Peace.
Originally posted Friday, 7 April 2006