Back To Civilization

Here it is. Later than I had hoped to put it up, but here nonetheless. In this video, I made the trip from the beautiful Adirondack Mountains, where I spent a good chunk of my summer - about 6 weeks or so - back to the hustle bustle of New York City.

I hitched a ride with my brother, and my girlfriend also shared the trip. My brother and I took turns driving, and arrived in the Bronx, which is where my girlfriend and I got out and caught a 1 train heading downtown. That was the hardest part of the trip. The station in the bronx had no elevator, so lugging all of our luggage (I had one huuuge suitcase, my violin, camera [which I actually didn't end up using all summer because I just used my iPhone], messenger bag, and another small bag besides. Plus both of my tefillin [phelactories] Oy.), we slowly ascended the two long flights of stairs. Once we were on the train, utterly exhausted, we both collapsed into four empty seats, with ample room for all of our stuff. At 42nd Street, we found an elevator and switched to the NQR, taking elevators wherever possible.

At Union Square, we got out again, headed to an elevator to take us up to the main level, and then went about finding another elevator. We didn't find one because, as a woman who shared the first elevator told us, "There isn't an elevator to the street at Union Square." Well, as I found out a couple days later, that isn't entirely true, but Union Square station is sprawled out underground, and the elevator isn't anywhere near Union Square West, where we wanted to get out. It's all the way at the Easternmost entrance to the station. But it's there. Anyway...

Once we lugged all of our stuff into our rooms in our respective dorm rooms, I headed to the apartment where I resided at the beginning of the summer and proceeded to move all of my other stuff (with the help of my illustrious room mate) to my dorm.

I am now settled in and comfortable. Life is good. I may do an extra video soon about my new dorm. Keep watching!

Post postponed.

So just to let all the world know that I have not forsaken my beloved blog and its followers...

Because of Hurricane Irene (that was lame, wasn't it?), I wasn't able to get lots of footage of the city. But to be sure, I'm planning on getting all the footage I need, and making the video as soon as possible. Stay tuned!

My First Text Only Post

So the past week has been quite hectic, with many events following each other in quick succession. In spite of that, I have failed to find either the subject or the time appropriate for making a video. Instead, I decided I would give you a textual description of the goings on that have been happening around me.

First off, I'm back in the Adirondacks. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Last Monday, the day after my last post, a friend of mine got married. It was especially exciting because he was the first marriage of my high school class. Every member of the graduating class showed up. All twelve of us. The girl he married is actually also from Cleveland, and was in our kindergarten class (before the boys and girls were split up in first grade).

The next day, I left Cleveland for the Adirondacks. It was the basic trip, nothing exciting. I drove my shift, as did both of my parents. 'Nuff said.

On Thursday, my girlfriend arrived in the evening on a bus all the way from her room mate's house in Virginia! Loooong ride. It was crazy. But still, it's good to haver her. I'm just glad it went off without a hitch. Friday we went skiing/tubing. Yeah, we flipped her. Mwahahaha! She loved it (so she says).

Saturday (the Jewish Sabbath), was extremely relaxed. A long walk in the afternoon was the extent of the excitement for the entire 25 hour period.

Last night, apparently several members of the family heard coyotes howling in the night. To them, it sounded like they were screaming. I've heard them before, but last night I slept right through it.

Today it's raining. Looks like we're going into town to get some canned fun. Well, that's about all that's going on. Until next week or sooner! Keep watching for the trip back to the city, my crazy schedule and other goings on around NYU.

Water Fun Summer 2010

This is a nostalgia video. I found the footage on my hard drive and realized the purpose had been to make an exciting video for my blog. And then I never got around to it. Well! The footage is as good as it was then, so I edited it up (on my iPhone of course) and here it is! If I remember correctly, the day we took the footage was one of the last days in the Adirondacks for that year. My brother and I tubed, he went wakeboarding, and I may have went skiing, though that is not in this video.

Please enjoy our Water Fun from the Summer of 2010.

The VIC

In this video we're going to slow things down a little bit and show off the beautiful Visitor Interpretive Center (otherwise known as the VIC) located near Paul Smith's College in the Adirondacks.

This video was taken while we were still up in the Adirondack Mountains, and because of all the exciting things going on, I decided to postpone its showing for a while.

The VIC has much to offer in the way of beautiful trails, relaxing scenery, and the Interpretive Center itself. The Center is a beautifully constructed building, taking its design after the famed camps of the Adirondacks, which were owned and inhabited in summertime by some of the wealthiest people in America and indeed the world at one time or another. The building has a high ceiling, reminiscent of a Grand Room one finds in many of those old houses.

The Center often has educational projects going on, with a room there that tells the history of the Adirondacks, a cinema room for educational videos about the Adirondacks, and other seasonal tables showing some pelts, skulls, feathers and other relics of some of the species that inhabit the land in the area. The VIC is open year round. If you are in the area, you aught to check it out.

This is their website, if you're interested. http://www.adirondackvic.org.

Tisha B'Av

This video is a little more serious than some of my usual posts. This one deals with a day in the Jewish calendar known as Tisha B'Av (lit. "the 9th of [the Hebrew month of] Av"). It is a fast day during which we remember the destruction of both our temples in Jerusalem. Though they happened many years apart, both were destroyed on the same day of the year.

There are a few other things that Jews customarily do to mourn the Temples. We dip an egg in ashes before eating it (The egg is a symbol of new beginnings - it's round shape denotes the end of the old and the start of something new, while the ashes signifies the actual destruction of the Temples). We don't wear leather shoes. We sit on the floor or very low chairs.

On the night of Tisha B'Av, we also read Eichah/Lamentations. Here in this video, see Rabbi Shmuli Friedman expounding on the last phrase of Eichah, "Hashiveinu Hashem eilechah v'nashuvah chadesh yameinu k'kedem," "Return us to you, O G-d, and we shall return, renew our days as of old."

Going Home

After over month spent in the peaceful solitude of the Adirondacks, it is finally time to take my leave and return home to Cleveland, OH. Because I didn't actually come home for Spring Break last semester, the last time I was home was Winter Break! That was 6 months ago! I haven't seen this place in a long time. It's going to be good to be home. But first, there is still the obstacle of actually getting there. The trip usually takes about 9 to 9 and a half hours.

For the first 4 hours, my mom drove. Then we took a break, and I ended up driving the rest of the way home. The weather was perfect, so the driving was just fine. We put on some music, and the drive flew by.

In making this video, I tried to cut it down to the bare minimum length keeping all of the main points while discriminating against the 'fluff.' And once the whole thing was finished, I decided to go in and lighten the mood a little with a now and again running commentary. Please enjoy 'Going Home.'