more interviews [and no job...]

[theyellowhobbit]

1. Why shouldn't I hate Teen Girl Squad with a passion?
Because it's sooo good! Ok. Real answer? You can hate whatever you'd like to hate. But what did TGS ever do to you? It's not like they killed your stuffed manitee or something. I'd reserve the passionate hate for something more heinous.

2. Who reaches things on the top shelf in your house?
That's easy- I usually just go on a chair to get things. Jon can reach the top shelf. Most of the shelves are reachable, the only time I ask other people to get things for me is when something is buried deep in the freezer and I have no clue where it is. Then I ask mom, because she actually knows the location. Good hobbit homes don't have top shelves. My future house won't have one. or we'll put pesach stuff there.

3. What do you like to cook besides cookies and deli roll?
Lasgna, that cranberry chicken...actually, lately I've just been making things like pasta, or things you can make in the oven like blintzes and little hot dogs. I like making real hot dogs, too, when the plastic wrapper isn't left on...

4. What is your favorite pattern to crochet on a kippa? (And will you teach me to crochet kippot at some point?)
I like the Jerusalem one I made, because it looks harder than it is, and impresses everyone, which is always a plus. Otherwise, I'd say things with 3 or less colors are nice because there are less strings to get tangled. Sometimes the pattermakers are nice and don't have every color in every row. I also like doing names. Really, the patterns aren't so different, it's just a matter of when you switch colors.

I'll teach you when you actually have time to learn. We might have to rip a hole in the space-time continuum for that one. If you ever have an hour or even a half hour, stop by 4214.

5. What was it like becoming shomeret negiah?
A lot easier than you would think. Think about it. It wasn't like I was actually "getting any" since I didn't have a boyfriend, and I didn't randomly hook up with guys at Penn like I occasionally did in NFTY. And after the Ben thing, I was slightly traumatized. I mean, it did mean having to give up hugs and cuddling, but I had already given up cuddling, and you know why. The hugs weren't so important because I had girls to hug me.

Though it is annoying now not being able to get back massages from Ari and Josh. Not too many females give massages, and to tell you the truth I'm usually afraid to ask you [multiply the number of times I actually do ask you by 15 and that's the number of times my back hurts] because you'll bite my head off. Or you've just been gymnasticing. Or something. More Penn girls need to learn how to give massages. I'd gladly be one of them. As long as there are others who will give me massages. Speaking of which...stupid barrington with no massages.

Sometimes, though, I do feel repressed, and wish I could shed my Orthodoxy and go to a club and hook up with a randm guy, but I know it's not what I really want, and I'd feel guilty for ever. The one time I did break shomer nagiah and let a guy hug me [an Orthodox guy! I'm not saying who, but you know him] I felt incredibly guilty. Probably because I enjoyed it.

Sometimes when I'm feeling really depressed I find myself wishing that my basheret, whoever he may be, could instantly come over and hold me in his arms and tell me everything is going to be ok. But I wouldn't be getting that even if I wasn't shomer. So I'm not really losing anything besides massages by being shomeret nagiah.

I wonder if this answer will change if I get a boyfriend...

1. What book has been the most influential in your life and why?
The Torah. Because I'm not feeling very creative right now, and because it is all of God's written laws, given to the Jews to interpret and follow. And I follow those laws. And ever since I started following them, my life has been very different.

2. I know you've wrestled with your faith at times. What keeps you coming back to Judaism?
Well I don't think I ever left it. I mean, even when I was uber-depressed and hating God and everything, I still was keeping all the laws and everything. Even when I doubted God's existence, I never doubted that I was supposed to follow Jewish law. Weird, ain't it?

3. Where do you think of when you think of home?
Jerusalem. Though I don't really have a home, in the idealistic sense of the word- a place I always feel comfortable going to, where I can be myself and stay as long as I'd like. Israel is the closest, but It's not like I have a permanent residence there yet. And Penn has too many problems. Hopefully my apartment with Ilana will be home-y. And Barrington has never been home. I never enjoy being there, and I'm always guarded around my family.

Once upon a time NFTY [reform youth group] was home. But once I graduated and visited them at senior kallah [last event of the year, the sunday after mother's day] it was weird. I felt completely out of place. It was sad to realize that no matter how many pretty speeches people can make about NFTY being forever, it no longer was my home.

4. If you could eliminate one thing (rule, law, ritual, observance, etc.) about Orthodoxy, what would it be?
Kol isha. [the rule that a man cannot hear a woman singing.] It's really only supposed to be when a man is reciting shema. And then of course people had to make it stricter, so women can't sing in front of men at all [except for ones in their family, or their husband]. And of course singing is my major form of expression. And I hate how I always feel so confined and stifled. No other Jewish law makes me feel so restricted. Not shomer nagiah, not kashrut, not tzniut. It's only kol isha.

5. If a male hobbit exists, how would one spot him? Does he have a distinctive habitat or set of behaviors? Are they averse to certain colorings? Discuss.
To qualify as a male hobbit, one must be 5'3" or under. And male. A male hobbit is be proud of his shortness. He lives in between massive stacks of books and balls of yarn hidden in boxes. A male hobbit knows how to knit, but does not admit to it. He wears greens and blues, and is adverse to preppy colors, such as pastels. He likes to sing hobbity songs, and has a good sense of pitch. He is in no way shape or form an engineer, and if you hand him a MEAM book he will either burn it or throw it into a pool of phirannas.