Last post for a while

So, some things have recently happened that have opened my eyes.  I'd rather not say those things, so all I'll say is is that it could have been really bad for me physically, and thank G-d it wasn't.  But, I've realized: why are we here?  What is man's purpose on this earth?  We're not here to do whatever we want, to make "social ladders", and then climb them, but we're here for a reason: to do G-d's will.  After some much-needed reflecting, and the bad memories of a certain roommate busting me with movies on my iPod, I have come to a decision: I am giving up wifi.  I find that I'm beginning to lose people's trust, and more importantly, my own trust.  Anyone who knows me well will know how monumental of a choice this is for me personally, but I'm only doing what I feel needs to be done.  But, because of this choice, I will no longer be able to blog from school, and will iy"h continue from home.  Farewell, and thanks for reading.

Postscript: I just want to say thank you to everyone who helped me through these past few hours, starting with my parents. You guys are the light to my dark room.  I love you so much.  Next are the Ben-Lapids, who I'm staying with while my hosts are out of town.  Thank you for understanding when we accidentally set off the alarm trying to get in.  After them is Mendel Andrusier, who talked me through everything.  And, last but not least, everyone else who told me how stupid what I was thinking of doing was.  You guys have all helped me tremendously, and to all the unmentioned people (you know who you are-but I don't) I'm sorry for not mentioning you, but I can't really remember who else helped me.  Again, farewell, and thanks for reading.

The Final Countdown (part 3)

The next story is one that has a long history behind it, and I really don't want to get too deep into it.  So, all I'll say is that my roommate and I have had a pretty rocky year.  So, he ended up getting kicked out of our host's home, and I have a room all to myself!  But that was supposed to be an entire post...  I guess I can try to fit another story in here...

Ooh, there is the time I lent my friend my copy of The Hunger Games...  So, basically, I lent my friend my copy of The Hunger Games to read, and he didn't really end up doing that.  He had it over the ski trip, and apparently, his host had gone into the rooms over the trip, and cleaned the rooms of any food that they didn't approve of.  During cleaning, my copy of the book was found. Needless to say, it got taken away, and I thought I wouldn't get it back at all. Well, now I know to never underestimate the power of begging.  I didn't really beg as much as I asked, but regardless, I did make a request to have it given back.  I got it back, and took it home, where it is now.

The Final Countdown (part 2)

So...  The story about Nesanel cutting his leg open...  

We were walking home from school a bit later than normal because of a farbrengen (Hasidic mini-party).  Nesanel liked to do parkour, which is also known as free-running- it involves using everything around a person as a kind-of obstacle course, and just jump off of things.  On the way home, Nesanel was doing a somersault on the lawn of an apartment building, while I was on the phone with my mother.  All of a sudden, Nesanel stands up and starts limping back to the school.  He said something along the lines of "I cut myself, it hurts so bad, owowowow."  I ran ahead of him,  throwing my backpack down on the ground.  I ran into the building, and yelled "Nesanel tripped and cut his leg or something, and it looks really bad."  He hobbled in, howling in pain, and I was debating wether I (or someone) should call 911, because at first it didn't look all that bad.  Then he sat on the floor.

Once he sat on the floor, we could all see ("we" being myself and a rabbi or two) that it was all that bad.  On our way in, Nesanel and I nearly ran a woman who was holding flowers over.  She started getting really mad at us, and I just yelled "Can't you see he's bleeding!" at her, and she just took one look, and immediately took over.  She was there to help set up for the principal's son's bar mitzvah, and when she yelled for someone to get a tablecloth and they went to get one of the colored ones to be used for the party, she yelled "Not those!!!"  So, someone got a plain, white tablecloth, and we elevated his leg under the tablecloth.  Someone had called the paramedics, and I was instructed to go direct them where to go.  As I was doing so, I was trying to call our host family, but no one was answering.  Needless to say, I left multiple messages.  

Eventually, he got taken to the hospital, and I was left standing outside with a group of people.  One of them looked at me, almost hyperventilating, and asked if I wanted a hug.  I didn't.  He said "No, I think you need a hug", and then began hugging me.  Well, this set off a chain reaction of multiple people dog-piling me and trying to hug me.  They finally got off of me, right as the firemen finished giving my friend a ride in the fire truck. (Another story for another time.). I told him what had just occurred, and guess what he did?  He hugged me.  It began all over again... 

Nesanel is now fine, but he had to get 32 stitches in his right leg, and is still gaining feeling in his kneecap.  One of the paramedics had told us that the cut was about an inch deep, and about (I think) 7 inches long, and that it had almost hit an artery.  We later went back to look for what had cut him and we found it-a rusty old nail.

The Final Countdown (part 1)

So...  This is it. The final stretch. Those last few game-changing seconds of the Blackhawks game (GO HAWKS!!!). The last lap. And any other last-minute-metaphors that I don't know. This is my last month as a freshman.

Well, I can't really say its gone by slow, but I also can't say it's gone by fast.  So many things have happened that have made this first, crucial year of high school unique to me and probably many other people around me.  For starters, there's the time that one of the people I board with, Nesanel, cut his leg wide open and I saw it happen...  And then there's the time that my roommate got kicked out of my room (and how I now have an entire room to myself).  Oh, and there's also that one time I lent a friend my copy of The Hunger Games and it got taken away...  But, to save all the readers the trouble of having to read one long post about the hundreds of things I neglected to mention before, I'll post each story separately later today.

My latest break had so much happening, it's hard to fit it all into one post, but I'll try.  I flew in on Tuesday morning, at about 9 am.  Straight from there, my father took me to get my haircut, and to visit my Bubbe.  Then we ran some errands, and by the time I got in the door, I had so much pent up energy that I had to run to get changed and get on my bike and just ride.  When I returned, I found a new Wii-U game sitting on my bed, one that I had been asking my father to get for me for a very long time!  I played that for a few hours, and then Skyped with my birth-family for a while (hey guys!) and before I knew it, it was time to get ready for shavuos.  

Over those next two days, I just... Slept.  I think I caught up on those lost hours of sleep caused by not going to sleep until about 12:30 am...  So I slept most of yontif (sorry I wasn't there to daven ma'ariv on Tuesday night, Mr. Weiss!).  Then, on Friday, I had multiple appointments, and then I had arranged for my counselor from camp (GO KAYITZ!!!  KAYITZ 2012 ROCKED!!!), who said he was supposed to leave by 5, but he really left at about 5:45. 

 Over shabbos, I met up with a friend who said he was going to be out of town, but came in to see me (thanks, by the way).  And that was my break!  Stories to follow...

On Mivtzoyim

So, remember how we had Josh, the guy who didn't want to put on tefillin at all? I'm standing in his store right now, and his partner said that he put tefillin on with his dad yesterday! That is making huge progress for him, since he was adamantly opposed to it about one month ago! Anyways, have to go put tefillin on people now! Have a good שבת!