Cats. Laser.

This is my first time trying to post a clip uploaded to youtube. Hope it works.

You didn't know?

I haven't been tagged by noorster, but in lieu of real content (which has been sorely lacking, I know), here are few things you may not have known about me:

1. I have an irrational fear of driving through a car wash. I have no problem with being driven through a car wash, but the idea of being behind the wheel, fitting myself on that little track and being pulled through? Can't do it.

2. Another of my irrational fears is having my throat slashed if I lean my head back to sleep when riding on the subway.

3. I hate, hate, hate waiting for luggage at airports. I can literally feel myself age as I watch the bags go by. I can spend hours doing NOTHING and not have any problem with it, but 15 minutes waiting for a suitcase makes me homicidal. For the past few years I've travelled almost exclusively with hand luggage.

4. My first camera was a manual film camera that my dad was no longer using. I took it on a class trip to Eilat in 6th grade and the resulting photos were without exception fuzzy and unfocused.

5. I had really bad acne from the time I was 14 until I was 27. GOOD TIMES. Love you, Accutane. Call me!

6. My favourite job ever was that of a call quality monitor at a call centre. Every day I eavesdropped on dozens of telephone conversations, giving out marks. Lowest mark I ever gave: 8/100.

7. On the day I was born, my parents had to drive through the Gaza strip to get to the hospital.

8. My first cat was called Nadia. She had shown up as a kitten near our house on the moshav and there were a bunch of kids around. We brought her a bowl of milk and much to my parents' chagrin, she wouldn't follow any of the other kids home. She disappeared a year or two later, I think. Today I know not to give kittens milk. It apparently gives them the runs.

9. I once worked for two competing banks at the same time. The gig lasted 8 months, until suddenly bank number 2 decided it wasn't ok with employing the competition. (There was nothing covert about the second job. I was running cheques through a machine so that they would clear people's accounts overnight.)

10. The first time I skipped class was in first grade. I had missed the bell after lunch so I just decided not to go in. I hung out in the ravine right by the classroom the whole period. I don't recall any particular fallout from this event.

Running

After a few false starts, I've started running in earnest. I have a training schedule and I'm sticking to it so far. I've been running regularly for three weeks now, slowly upping my distance. I'm up to 3.3 kms, and plan to hit 4 kms by next week. Oh, and I'm running a half marathon (location yet to be determined, somewhere in Europe) in May. And the NY marathon in November, if the entry lottery goes my way.

I should mention, by the way, that the 3.3 kms? Almost all uphill. No, really.