Welcome to the danger zone

Some old thoughts

2008-04-01T00:59:00.000-07:00

They say that you know you are getting old when your friends start passing away. What if your friends are 77 years old? Are you supposed to feel old?

Mosko Alkelay died today.

I got a chance to work with him for several years on stage at Habima - The Israeli National Theater. It was a long time ago, I was much younger, but I knew even than that I am getting a chance to meet, work and learn from the pillars of theater and sociaty. Mosko, Shmulik (Mula) Rodenski (rest in peace), Lia Keining have taken me under their wing at a time where acting was not about making money and being famous for the sake of being famous, but when theater was just art, for them it was a calling. "Be careful not to get this bug" told me Mula one day as we were chatting, "once you do, you will never get rid of it, and there is no money in it" he said and laughed in a hearty rolling laugh that was only his.
Years go by, but certain sayings, insights, memories always stick with you, making you who you are, allowing you to remember those important people in your life.

Mosko Alkelay died today. He was a friend, a mentor, a fellow actor... and 77 years old. Funny... the fact he was decades older than me never seemed to matter when we talked, when he gave advice, or a different insight into the sub-text.

So no, I don't feel old, I feel fortunate to have known such great people and to have been treated by them as an equal. I just hope I was smart enough to listen, in my young years, and to have kept some of their knowledge and wisdom with me, so that at some point, in some situation I will find myself repeating words, sentences, quotes I know aren't my own, only to remember how fortunate I was to learn them from such great people.

Smarter than a 3rd grader? Not really...

2007-12-05T01:24:00.000-08:00

So much has been said about the importance of education about how teachers are overworked, underpaid, and definitely undervalued. So much has been said, but is anyone listening?

In Israel, for example, a teacher strike has entered its 48th day. Yeah, you read it right; 48 days teachers have been on strike and for what? Not for stock awards, or pool tables in the teacher lounges, but for smaller class rooms and more hours to invest in students.

I don’t want to go on a rant, but schools and class rooms have long stopped being a hub of education and of mentoring. They instead became a babysitting facility, a place parents can deposit their kids so they can go about their business. Parents no longer expect teachers to educate and broaden their kids’ horizons but to keep them out of trouble until they get a chance to make some time and deal with them. But that time never comes…

I say, if you can’t educate your kids and need someone else to step in then A) You shouldn’t be a parent (but that’s a different rant) and B) you should provide that ‘other’ person, who is willing to do the work for you, the tools and backing to do so. Instead we are seeing parents leading the charge against teachers for not feeding their precious babies, education, with a silver spoon. Sending their kids with lawyers threatening teachers with law suits if they don’t fix their grades or act nicer to them (all actual cases, for REAL).

Wake up folks!

Parents: to use a well beaten cliché: “You can’t make an omelet without breaking some eggs”. You can’t educate adolescents without giving teachers authority, respect, and your full backing.
Governments: here is a cliché for you too: “You are only as strong as your weakest link”. Invest money in education. These kids are you future. They are your leaders (and not just those who go to private schools), they are your society and they are the reason your nation will prosper or fail. Invest in teachers, invest in classrooms, invest in our kids and you will be investing in our future.

You don’t believe me? You think we are investing enough in education? Then take a look at this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juOQhTuzDQ0 maybe you will learn something too…

Couldn't have said it better myself

2007-10-11T13:42:00.001-07:00

Just came across the following article and I LOVED IT!
http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/commentary/theluddite/2007/10/luddite_1011
The article is about a recent RIAA suite against some poor women (Jammie Thomas) who is a single American Indian mother of two making a measly $36,000 a year who now owes the recording industry $222,000 in damages (not counting court fees and appeals). All this b/c she wanted to download some song (!?!). Alls I can say is WTF!!!

Long flight.... longer night

2007-08-25T15:37:00.000-07:00

It was a loooong flight, 18 hours and 5 min to be exact (yes, I was counting), from the time the plane started moving at Sea-Tac to the time it stopped in Israel.

Luckily it was a relatively easy flight. Well, the fact that I didn't sleep the night before really helped I guess :)

Why didn't I sleep?
Well... that's going to be a long story... :)

On Thu I get to my place (with the help of lovely Amanda :)) at about 8:30pm and almost instantly get a call from Kevin (my building manager). Seems like there is some leak in the building and they have traced it to my side of the building and wanted to see if my apartment was also getting water in. "No" I say, as I step into my kitchen to look around, "oh... wait..." I continue as I step into a puddle of water, "I think I know where the leak is coming from...".
Looks like my water heater tank started leaking and left unsupervised, the water decided to take a look around the building (luckily, to me, though, not around the apartment :)). I guess I should have listened to my cat that was intent on telling me something as I walked into my apartment, but all I could think of was "Awwww... she knows I'm leaving and she misses me already...", yeah... no!

Anyway, Kevin (my building manager and a cool dude!) stopped by, looked at the water heater tank in my apartment and said he will look for a plumber to come in asap. Cool, but what do I do until then? Especially with a flight leaving in 12 hours?

The next few hours were spent trying to slow/ pause the leak while cleaning existing water out of the kitchen. The good news, my kitchen has never been cleaner :), the bad news, every 20 secs the puddle went back to its original size.

At about 1am (after everyone left) I proceeded to try and empty a 15 gallon tank with the use of two small plastic cups. I managed to fill two buckets before I decided this was just not going to work. I txted Kevin and said: "The water keep pouring... need to get someone in asap or the building will be flooded". I then went downstairs with scissors in my hand ready to find and cut some hose and use it (hell, I'm not going back to the plastic cups!). I managed to find a hose lying around in the yard (what are the odds of that????) and took it back to my apartment. 15 min of meddling with it trying to make it fit the little 'overflow' tap on the water tank I hear knocking on the door. Kevin got my message and alarmingly jumped out of bed and came to take a look (oh, I forgot to mention he lives in the building).

When Kevin saw me with the hose all over the floor he asked: "oh, do you need a hose? I have a new one at my place". DOH! Within min the new hose was plugged and pumping water to the sink. Tank was empty 20 min after and finally, 5 hours after I got home, the floor was, again, dry.

It was 2am, and I (again) had to clean the kitchen, pack for the trip, make sure my cat has enough food/ water/ etc and that the plumber would have enough space to work w/o messing up *everything* I own.

To make a long story short, when Kojo picked me up for breakfast and a ride to the airport, I was after a very cold shower (water HEATER tank, remember) and w/o a single sec of sleep in me.
Which... takes us back to the start of the story :) each airplane I got on I fell asleep within seconds.
...and which is part of the reason it's 2:30am here in Israel, and I'm still working on my web site :P

Well, there you have it, that's the story of my latest flight :)

Oh, and there goes my "I'm not going to be one of those that blogs about their life" statement. Good call Erik ;)

First Blog

2007-08-22T22:03:00.000-07:00

Ok.... they did it again....

It all started with myspace.com, Erik, Cam and Tom made me get one, the pressure was intense and I caved in. A month later the word was out. Myspace is out, got to get on facebook. Why I asked, Amanda is on there. That was good enough for me. I became a facebook ho.

But do you think the pressure stopped? Hell no! The pressure continued. This time it was.... yeah, you guessed it: need to get a site, so we can link it off badfastdanger.com.

So... we sat and thought about a decent and acceptable site name. We couldn't find anything... and that's where dangergil came to life. I forget who came up with it, but my guess will be Erik :P

But... DON'T PANIC
I'm not one to blog about his life and share my insights with the world. What am I going to blog about then.... good question, and I'm open to suggestions, so feel free, use that 'comments' link and make a suggestion :D

Keep it danger, keep it real.