Kosher Dinner, Anyone?

WikiMania 2011 in Haifa, Israel is supposed to be my first out-of-the-country travel. With school raging like lava from an active volcano, it swept away my hopes for this journey. I also have less money to spend for registration, accommodation and flights, this since my dad already sent green moolah for our tuition fees, without any left for my trip as a treat for my birthday.

What gathered my interest in this summit is Israel and its culture, history. It is with no question that J-s-s was born in Jerusalem and that many other Biblical events took place in this country. A rich repository of stories in this place is enough to awaken a cunning spirit.

Prior to passport processing, I researched a few facts about Israel as a part of my plan to be at least become no stranger.

Philippines is one of the select nations in Asia which could send off visitors to the Holy Land without visa. This was and is due to the existence of a huge Christian following in our country.

The Jews (an ethnoreligious group) comprises most of Israel. Contrary to popular belief, an Israelite may not be a Jew but a Jew is an Israelite. Jewish beliefs are commonly ruled in Israel and there are several laws in the Torah that has been adopted by the country. [Personally, I am still confused between the difference of a Jew from an Israelite from a Hebrew from a Palestine in terms of nationality, and it is a very interesting topic.]

Jewish food and its preparation is observed with a methodology called kosher. Kosher involves several laws in the Torah, which are also Biblical. They have a special way of slaughtering mammals and birds that are allowed to be eaten. They also forbid the consumption of dairy products together with meat or fruits/vegetables or in any combination should those be served together. There are strict rules like draining all blood from the meat and checking if there are bugs in the fruits/vegetables. [As I was thinking of eating in Haifa with all meals served kosher, I had the presumption that I'm on a very regulated and strict diet bordering on fasting.]

The food is what still remains on my mind, so I ask in the title of this post. If you need more enlightenment on these rules, read this. I was just really concerned with food as it is a primal need and its unavailability for variety concerned my unregulated diet. What if I was not accustomed to the taste? Would I have to endure? Questions which must be answered if I find a kosher-style restaurant in the area. I am still expecting that something will happen for me to be allowed to go there.

Les Paul Google Logo

There are a lot of information in the internet about the famous American country guitarist. If you want to be enlightened, click here.

I'm posting this because I was amazed by the guitar logo. If you try to play with it, you would notice that the strings are placed in no particular order, eg. do-re-mi. While trying to decode this cool thing and pressing on any of the strings, I found out a way to get a better tune.

Just press on the keyboard-like logo. It will turn RED.

Then, if it does, the keys to do-re-mi- are the second row of the qwerty keyboard, which are A-S-D-F-G-H-J-K-L-;. Cool, eh?

The best that I could make of this logo is the Do Re Mi song, just because this guitar has no sharps and flats. I would have been more generous for the notes but there are also a lot around the internet so I'd rather you check them.

By the way, be observation, the most number of simultaneous presses that you can make is Five. I wonder if it has something to do with the connectivity, that we have the guts to call this internet connection. Poor.

A Trip to Memory Lane

The clouds are foreboding. The windswept alleys are deserted. Dried leaves suspended in thin twigs remain threatened by the gust. A certain chill revolved in circles of dust. The lights of nearby houses flickered in an answer to the early darkness.

He was wearing his usual white shirt and wornout jeans. James thought that a walk in the dismal weather will not add to his already awful composure. After several failed attempts of lighting his freedom stick, he finally gave it up as a bad job. Treading the long alley on a windy and tumult weather was, he realized, not the best idea of a diversion.

In five, a huge rain droplet hit his forehead. It cannot be denied that the setting will yeild to a long and heavy downpour.

The surplus of dilapidated structures in their locale provided his temporary shack. His annoyance to the incidents prior was obliterated by the need to get back home. Seeing that he has no alternatives, he resolved to wait for the rain to arrive at an indefinite hiatus.

Apart from the sound of water reaching the open surfaces around, there was a unique silence. With that, he felt that his senses were magnified; He had an odd vibe that someone was watching him intently, scrutinizing his details as if it was beside him...

A brawny cat sprawled on the unpaned windows which intensified his feelings. The sound of its brisk movement made his heart skip a beat. It was a daunting split-second: He was not braced for it.

The blackness in his temporary shed appeared to have tripled in deepness. The cold, the jets of spills, the ramblings of the furry animal somewhere near -- all of these contributed to an ominous and fearful atmosphere. He started getting unnatural spine currents in his solitary outbreak.

There was a small screeching noise, like that of a ricocheting firework. The surrounding smelled a hint of fuel and gasoline. The sound slowly grew louder: its sound has overcome the rain. The typhoon had a brief calm at its eye. This must be it, I told myself.

All the braving in my spirit gave my run its top speed. But! The sound gets nearer but there is no evident source to where this might possibly come from until...

An explosion! It materialized on the exact place where I was hiding.

It looked eons ago, that three people died on a tragic car accident. It would have been four, had I not left that spot, as I'd get burned to the humongous fire. Actually, maybe four really, including the poor cat which alerted me and saved my life.

Deliberation 1

As weird as it sounds, deliberating on whether to use my Unlimited service on the phone is just one of the products of my thoughts.

I can never think of anything sane right now. Nothing preoccupies me yet there is a series of untold paranoia happening. I don't want to lose sanity.

I just created this to release my emotional stresses. I'm so tired of having no one to listen. I feel like my mind is going to explode with stupidity.

I have lots of numbers of BOYS on my phonebook stash. Some of them are really good friends whom I knew for almost a year now. I hate the way they respond to me so I thought of the first paragraph. I just felt like they are not the right people at this moment. I am still trying to find the right company and even so, there is a difficulty.

I'm logged in to one of the most notorious websites in sighting homo intercourse. Jeez, I sound sleazy. But I just frustratingly need a new life, a life away from my routines. A life filled with SOMETHING NEWs.

James promises that this time, there will be no taking backs. =)