I Think Of You More As A Monkey

Feels like forever since my last post.. It was three days ago. Lately quite a bit has happened. I saw Of Mice And Men at the Steppenwolf with my class. It was amazing and it really made me want to read the book. There were so many.. hmm.. subtleties? I saw it last week so I’m trying to remember. But I liked it a lot. Oh yeah, I saw some of my friends from another school there, too. WEEIRD.

And here’s that video from New Zealand I mentioned before (a little late, I know). Good times..

Other than seeing Of Mice And Men and studying for the Constitution test, I’ve been mostly preparing for my Bar Mitzvah, which is THIS WEEKEND! Tomorrow is the dress rehearsal.. Oh my God. Speech: check. Suit: check. Torah: learned. Blessings: learned. Awesome video: made. Personalized yarmulkes: ordered. Surprise awesome party favors: also ordered. Uh, I think I’m prepared. No, I am prepared (I’ll just keep telling myself that). But I really am..

Today we went dress shoe shopping because when we bought our suits about two weeks ago, Sammy was already too whiny and gelatinous as it was; we couldn’t spare another hour looking for shoes that actually fit a thirteen year old. So we went to DSW today and spent more than two hours looking for a pair of shoes that were not too classy, too dorky, too small, too big, or too expensive. And after going to three stores, it was a success. I am wearing Hush Puppies and Sammy is wearing Converse.

On Tuesday I had a meeting with the Rabbi (yes, the cool one) about my Bar Mitzvah speech. It went really well and my “d’var” is looking very good. At first, I was kind of disappointed at how short my speech was, and I didn’t think it had enough of my personality in it. But I reworked it and I’m really liking it now. The meeting was mainly for him to get some tidbits about my grandfather and I for his own speech. It ended up with a lot of philosophical conversations and stories about Nelson Mandela and mustard seeds that relate to Buddhism and yes, the secret of life. Every time you talk to this dude it’s like the Age of Enlightenment happened again.. inside your brain.

I’ve been really stressed out this week. Overly stressed, maybe (probably). But – and again I’ve been saying this a lot lately – you’d think things would be slowing down now (end of the year, everyone’s lazy). This is not the case. April has been one of the busiest months of the school year, with a big school performance coming up (May Mayhem), the infamous Constitution test, Independent Study, and oh yeah.. My Bar Mitzvah. Sorry I’ve said that like five times. IT’S IN… one, two.. THREE DAYS, OKAY?

THIS IS WHAT I FEEL LIKE.

Finally, I just wanna say that the 3/4 of a year or so spent on my Bar Mitzvah training has been totally worth it. It’s been really hard, and really fun (at times), but most of all I’m just thankful that it’s going to be over soon! This experience has really been great. No wonder you’re supposed to be “a man” after this.. I’m so excited.

WHY DOES THIS NOT EXIST?!

I have to go sleep up for my dress rehearsal tomorrow.. Wish me luck!

DAD: Do you guys think of me more as gone or home?

ME: That’s changed a lot of the years.. Now, home. Then, away.

SAMMY: I think of you as more of a monkey.