Jonathan in Israel

moving

2005-04-01T04:04:00.000-08:00

This is just to announce that I will be moving my blogging to myspace.com. I was having some trouble with the accessing of my blogger account and it was becoming too much of a hassle to deal with. At myspace.com it will be easier to post pictures up as well. If you go there now you will be able to see some recent pictures. I am sure that you dont have to be a member of myspace to view my profile and pictures. If you just type in my email (yonib103@hotmail.com) it should grant anybody access to the profile. Thanks for reading. Shalom.

trickin' the dog

2005-03-23T15:47:00.000-08:00

Does anybody else out there have the problem where you get really tired but cant fall asleep? I am in that condition right now. I worked two shifts at the coffee shop today and I'm desperately wanting to fall asleep but am unable to. I gotta go easy on the red bull at work. I guess I'll write a blog. The last couple of days have been a little tough for me. It started the day before yesterday when I was sent on a rare audition to one of the bigger ad agencies here in Israel. The job was to be for a catalogue for a very successfull clothing company named Castro. The first audition at the ad agency went really well. They came across as being really into working with me and so I thought for sure I would get the job. I had just worked with the same ad agency on the lotto job and that had turned out great so that only made me think even more that I would be chosen for the catalogue. The second part of the audition was a meeting with the head designer at Castro's corporate offices in Bat Yam, a suburb of Tel Aviv. That one did'nt go so well. On the way to the second audition I kind of got the feeling that it was'nt going to be a favorable interview. It probably was because in the taxi next to me was a model from London who looked very similar to me and was also named Jonathan. Dont misunderstand me though because it's not that I think they confused the two of us. Clients often hire multiple models for shoots and I know for sure that it was'nt just a one model shoot. What made me think I would'nt get the job was the fact that the two of us had very similar looks (shaved head, darker skin, light eyes) and it would'nt make sense to hire two of the same type of model. When we arrived at the offices together the designer and the other Jonathan had obviously worked together before and after greeting each other gayly the designer glanced over at me and gave me the,"Who is this guy and what is he doing in my studio?" look. Thats always better than the, "What the hell is the delivery boy doing in my studio? Does'nt he know that deliveries are to be left downstairs?" look but it's still not quite good enough. So after he acted surprised at finding out I was actually there for a casting he gayly gave me some clothes to try on and do a test shoot in. You get the picture. I did'nt get the job. It was a $2500.00 job also so I was kind of bummed. Ahhh... rejection. I got rejected again today at another audition but... oh well. I really feel that my modeling career is pretty much over anyways. I am really tired of dealing with all the people in this business. I dont feel that my agency is representing me well and I have learned some pretty bad things about them recently from hanging out with some of the other models. Of course, with any type of talk or gossip you have to choose what to believe or not believe based on the hearsay of others which is not always a reliable thing to do. I have become pretty good friends with some of the foreign models though and I think their observations and judgements are'nt totally inaccurate regarding the agency. Some of the stories I've heard have really made me wary of how I conduct myself in this industry. Altogether I am happy to be getting out of my contract soon.
Next topic. As I said before I worked at the coffee shop today. I had the oppurtunity to do some extracurricular work there as well that was a little out of the ordinary. The owners of the coffee shop have a dog. Thats an understatement though because it is a lot more than just a dog. It is a huge doberman pinscher that reminds me of a fanatically overexuberant child with boundless amounts of energy and absolutely no control. It's hobbies include barking (incredibly loud) directly behind elderly customers engaged with their hot soup and frantically snapping at the little dust particles created by sunrays. The dog is sick though it shows no signs of being so. One of the owners, named Michael, came in with the dog today. He was carrying a pill the size of a big pill and was visibly upset. He had been trying everything he could think of to get the dog to take the medicine but had had no success. "He knows! He suspects everything I do! I cant get him to eat the pill! I even shoved it as far down his throat as I could but he just threw it up!" I thought to myself, "I would probably throw up too if I had something shoved down my throat." but I did'nt say anything. I also thought, "I could get the dog to eat the pill." I've always felt that I have been pretty good at relating to animals. So thats exactly what I did. I smothered the pill in butter and took some plain white bread and balled it up in my hand. I took another piece of bread in the same hand and started to approach the dog who was preoccupied with rooting up the flowers in front of the shop. By then everybody working knew what was going on. They all were watching, wanting to see if I could trick the dog into eating the pill. I had an audience so I had to act. I stood in front of the dog but waited until his attention shifted to me before I started to eat the bread. I figured I would work on the most basest of instincts. The desire to have something that is someone elses. Slowly I began to chew. "MMmmm... mmm...Hmmm...mmm,... such good bread." I mumbled to the dog. He understood every word. His jaw muscles quivered in anticipation and his mouth watered with such earnest longing. I had him hooked right from the first second but I wanted to have a little fun with him so I kept going. "Do you want some bread little doggy?" I cooed. "Oops... I dropped a little piece." He reacted like a rattlesnake and it was gone in an instant. All that was left was a quickly drying little wet spot from the dogs tongue where it had licked the pavement in its mad scramble to get the crumb I had dropped. The rest was easy. I just kind of flipped the ball of bread with the pill in a high arc toward the dog and it was snatched out of midair and gone in two chews. The dog was medicated and Michael was very happy.
At the start of this blog I wrote that the last couple of days have been a little tough for me. This is true but not just because of the modeling stuff. I am mentally prepared to be rejected alot in this business so you've got to believe that I dont base my happiness on getting modeling jobs. There were over fifty people at each of those auditions so I am definitely more prepared not to get the jobs than to get them. In fact, every time I do get a job the thoughts and feelings I have are something like these. "What? Are these people crazy? They want to pay me this much money to stand over there?' or " I cant believe they want to hire me!" or ... you understand. I hope. It comes as a surprise and shock to me when I actually do get work. So then. What is bothering me? It's really a combination of a lot of different things. Some of them I am still trying to figure out but some are obvious. I miss my family a whole lot. My dad and mom are the ones I think about the most. Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever see them again face to face. My brother and sister too. I think about them just as much as I think about my parents. I love you guys. I would like to share with everyone about other things that are stressing me out but I dont think this is the right forum to be completely open in. Tell me though if you all, out there disagree with my reluctance to be open. I know it is ultimately up to me but I would like to know your thoughts. Got to cut this post short. One more thing though. I have some pictures up on a photo hosting websight called flickr.com. I am not sure how all of you can access my pics. I think maybe by typing in my email address (yonib103@hotmail.com) on the site you can see them. I try and add more pics every few days so check them out if you're interested. Thanks everybody, and dont be afraid to make those comments on my blogsite. I'll tell ya'll. It's like Hannuka when I see those comments... like opening a Christmas present when I read what people have to say. I mean it. Shalom.

salt n pepper

2005-03-17T07:29:00.000-08:00

I just returned to my apartment from an audition a few minutes ago. It was for some clothing catalogue. There was probably around fifty people auditioning for the job. Guys and girls. I think my audition went alright. I feel that I do better at auditions where there is a lot of people. Maybe because the expectation for getting the job is so low that I relax a little bit more than usual. Two nights ago there was a restaurant opening in a suburb of Tel Aviv called Rishon Letziyon. The owner of the restaurant had some connection with the owner of Karin Models so a group of us including me went to the opening. It was a journey of about 15 or 20 minutes by car and on the way I saw 4 billboards of me for the lotto job I did. It is a pretty funny picture of me. I am trying to get it up on the blogsite so all of you can have a good laugh at it but I am not the best with computers so it might be a couple days. The restaurant was nothing remarkable. We all sat around for a few hours not doing anything really. I provided a little entertainment at one point when I took the salt shaker and slid it toward Tricia, the girl across from me. The table was really slick, perfect for playing on. The object of the game is to slide it and make it stop with a portion of the salt shaker hanging over the edge of the table. One point for each time you manage to do this. Tricia, who is from Canada, is an experienced curler. You know, the winter olympic sport where you slide those things on the ice and the guys with brooms sweep up in front of the thing to make it go where they want it to. She was pretty good but when it was all over the score was tied. After a while of playing everyone else seemed to get involved also but their game consisted of trying to slide the shakers to the other side of the restaurant instead of the table. Every couple minutes the loud clunk of a salt or pepper shaker hitting the floor would be heard over the music. So that was my night out. The next day I was thinking about how much my lifestyle is going to change in the near future. I wont have the freedom to go out like I did the night before or to do much of anything I want to once I am in the army. Thats ok with me though. I was mostly thinking about it in terms of how cushy I have it right now. I mean, here I am going out to openings for restaurants with models and some of the people in Israeli entertainment when in less than 2 months I am going to be living in the dirt an IDF recruit has to live in when fresh into the army. Thinking about all this made me want to go wrestle a bear or swim in rough oceans or something like that. People here say that no matter what, everyone experiences some level of shock when first going into the army. I want to keep my shock at a minimum though so I am trying to be as conscious of what I do and where I let myself go mentally as possible. So today I ran a few miles for army training. I have been running regularly but today was special. I started running with some weight on my back. I took my backpack and some plastic shopping bags to the beach where I filled the bags with sand. I ran about 3 miles with about 25 or 30 lbs. on my back. It was pretty hard because the weight would bounce alot from the steps of my running. I plan on incrementing the weight I will be carrying and distance running in the days and weeks to come.
I worked last night at the coffe shop. One customer came in the entire night. When she ordered her cup of coffee, in confidence I went over to the machine and made her the wrong cup of coffee. After making her the right one she drank it and must have been satisfied because she ordered another. There should be more people in the shop tonight because Thursday evening marks the beginning of the weekend for Israelis. I work soon so until the next time, shalom.

quick note

2005-03-13T07:48:00.000-08:00

Well. Here I am. It's been a while since my last posting so first I should say sorry to all of you who check my blog regularly to see if I have written anything. The only one I know of for sure is my sister. Sorry Deborah. I did'nt mean to neglect the site for so long. It's just I have been quite busy lately. Modeling has not been keeping me busy at all. The modeling season is basically over for male models in Israel. Duck season starts in a couple days. I have been on one audition in the last 3 weeks.
So the question is, what is keeping me busy? I got a job. A real job in a coffee shop just down the street from my apartment. Besides coffee they have a menu which, though not very big, serves pretty good food. In addition they also have a small bar with a unextraordinary selection of wines and liquors. It's actually quite a refined little place. I have been working in the kitchen doing dishes for the last week. I also trained in the bar for two days and tonight will be my first day of going solo behind the bar. All the rest of my shifts this week are behind the bar except one. I'm very pleased to have gotten this job. I would have gone crazy sitting around for the next couple months waiting for my army service to start. I make about $4.20 an hour but I seriously would have worked for far less just for something to do. I dont have much else to write about other than that. I will come up with a better posting than this in a couple days. Oh yeah. One last thing. I went and saw the movie Sideways a couple nights ago with some of the foriegn models. I had absolutely no idea what the movie was about before seeing it so when it became evident that it was filmed pretty much right on the central coast it made me a little homesick. I felt if I were to leave the theatre and walk outside I would soon be walking up the steps of the Dowtown Center movie theatre. It was a little bit of a strange feeling. Whenever I go to movies here I always feel that way. It's just that this movie made me feel it more than usual. Oh well. I'm here.

stage dance club bombing

2005-02-26T12:03:00.000-08:00

A bomb exploded in Tel Aviv last night. I was home about to go to bed when for some reason I wanted to see what was on tv instead. The images of flashing lights, bloody faces registering shock, and emergency personnel running to help the wounded were on every channel. They were familiar images to me but now I felt something I had never felt when in the U.S. Instead of a feeling of detachment from what was happening I realized I could walk ten minutes and be a part of it. Instead of letting all the nameless faces pass immediately from memory I was looking to see if I recognized anybody. Instead of thinking, "Those poor people. I hope they will be ok." I think of my roommate and his friend who had left the apartment only twenty minutes earlier. I pick up the phone and call him. "Do you know what happened?"
"Yeah, I heard."
"Alright." I say. "You'll probably be expecting some calls then, huh?"
"All night and into tomorrow." He replies matter of factly. His family and friends always call him to make sure he's ok. I stay up and watch a little more of the news. Then I go to bed. Ten minutes later, their night ruined, my roommate and his friend walk through the door with snacks and a couple of DVD's. I did'nt get much sleep after that because true to his word he is on the phone for the next few hours at least.
Today I decided to go and see for myself what 66 pounds of explosives strapped to a fanatic can do. It's a beautiful day. The sun is doing what it does and making a slight breeze come in off the Mediterranean. There are alot of Israelis out enjoying the pleasant weather. As I walk toward the site of the attack I cross paths with two girls from my agency. After greeting them I say, "So you're ok. Hows everyone else?" Katiana the girl from Norway answered, "Oh, everyones fine... just a little bit scared. I was at that club only six days ago with Gogo (Gogo is the owner of my modeling agency) and when I told my family that, they freaked out a little bit but now they're ok."
"Do they want you to go home?" I ask.
"Yeah they do but I told them I am staying," she replied. I thought to myself as I walked away that it was good that she was'nt afraid to stay.
When I arrived at the club there were alot of people milling around the site of the attack. The area was fenced off with police barricades and the people were crowded up against them as if getting ready to watch a Christmas parade. I had to experience this fully so I made my way up to the barricades also and took in the scene. As I began to survey the site my first thought was morbid. "I wonder if I am going to see any blood spatter anywhere?" I did. On the signs above the sidewalk was the unmistakable deep red color of blood. It looked like some graphic artist had taken a paint brush that had been dipped in red and violently flung the paint onto the sign as if to indicate that it was no longer a place of business but a place where people came to die. On the ground the evidence was everywhere. The club was located next to a minimart that had been completely trashed by the force of the blast. Bags of chips, cans of soda, plastic containers of candy and other refuse was mixed in with broken glass. There was a pile of debris that had used to be the shelves and display racks on the sidewalk in front of the store also. Inside the barricades were three or four Israelis doing a slow job of cleaning up the mess. For some reason I had a strong urge to offer to help them clean up but I was sure they would have said no. There was a woman among them taking pictures of the aftermath and every once in a while she would ask them to move in or out of the shot. They would use these times as excuses to stand around and gawk at all the people gawking at them.
After checking out the scene from as close as possible I wanted to get a different perspective and so I moved back about twenty feet. I probably stood in the same place for close to fifteen minutes straight and just observed what was happening around me. To my left was a news crew from Fox news prepping to do a live shot of the scene. I overheard them speaking English. The field reporters name was Mike Tobin and he was going over with his producer where the best place to set up the camera was. I listened for a moment but they said nothing of interest. Another couple minutes went by and then I noticed the cameraman moving to set the camera up right next to me. His hat reminded me of Crocodile Dundee. I had heard him speaking English so I asked him, "Are you from the States?" "No," he said, "I'm from here. Where are you from?" I answered and we talked for a moment before being interrupted. A chubby kid was getting dangerously close to the camera so he had to be told to back off. "Man can you believe some of these parents bringing their kids to see this stuff? I'll tell you. I was at this bombing a few years ago just up the street from here. It happened at around one in the morning and you would'nt believe it but these parents would bring their kids to check it out. It was crowded to so they would, you know, lift them up on their shoulders so they could see the bombed out area better." He demonstrated by raising his arms above his head to place an imaginary toddler on his shoulders as he said this. "I could'nt believe it. One oclock in the morning, out there with kids." "Yeah , pretty crazy." I said. He did'nt hear. I had seen enough and so I went home. Shalom from Israel.

smile you just won 20 million shekels

2005-02-25T10:20:00.000-08:00

I've had an interesting last couple of days. I had wanted to post a note earlier but sometimes I get so caught up in my ultra exciting existence that the time eludes me. I had started multiple updates but did'nt get around to finishing them. This ones finished.
I'll start with a modeling bulletin. I did'nt get the Versace job that I spoke about before. I definitely feel ok about not getting it though for a couple of different reasons. The Versace job would have been a two day shoot on a yacht in the Mediterranean which would have been nice except that I cant handle being on the ocean very well. I get seasick quite easily. Another reason is that I received a different job for only a little less than what I would have made for Versace. This job was for the Israeli lottery. It only took four hours to do so that was a good thing. The job went very smoothly. The people I worked with were pleasant and on the set everyone was focused and relaxed. At this job it was necessary for me to be very expressive with my face since the shot was shoulders or neck up only. It was going to be as if I had just won 20 million shekels in the lottery. Some of the shots turned out really funny. I'll try to recreate them sometime for the blogsite maybe. One of the guys said I was reminding him of Jim Carrey in the movie The Mask. I dont know. So everything was sababa. (cool in hebrew) In other modeling news I recently turned down two jobs. One was for a tv show and the other for a sporting goods catalogue. They wanted me to leave my clothes at home.
There are no new army developments for me unless I count what went on last night at my house as a development. My roommate, who is in the army, had half of his 30 man team come over for excessive amounts of drinking and other activities. It would have been a good time to take advantage of a friends place but I did'nt have a friend to call so I rode out the storm. They were celebrating thier recent change of status to active duty soldiers able to carry out missions. I wish I could tell you all some of the stuff they're doing on these missions but that can't happen. In my next post I will have a nice story so stay tuned. For now I am outta here. Until next time. Shalom.

Photo op

2005-02-22T02:44:00.000-08:00

I would love to be able to start posting some pictures of my life here but I dont have a camera. If anybody reading this has an extra digital camera laying around, than feel free to donate it to me. Also I wanted to clarify about questions regarding my reasons for serving in the Israeli army. If you have a question for me, leave your personal email address on the jonathaninisrael website and I will answer your questions as well as possible. Thank you much. By.

David

2005-02-22T01:11:00.000-08:00

"No dude! I dont know exactly where it is. Just keep going down Allenby street and you'll hit it eventually. Make sure you're going south though and dont be afraid to ask people along the way. I'm trying to sleep now so I'll talk to you tomorrow alright David." I pressed the end call button on my cell phone and looked at its dull green light just before it winked out. 2:30 in the morning. Back to sleep.
I had met David earlier that day at Karin models, my agency in Israel. There was a group of foreign models (foreign to Israel) coming to work the new years fashion season here and he was among them. He was one of 3 guys and a girl from England. The others were from Canada, France, Hungary, Czech Republic, Norway and Holland. English was the spoken language. Usually in a setting where I am meeting alot of people for the first time I like to be silent and observe. It was quite easy to do when David was around. He was able to get everyones attention through his ramblings on the metaphysical and his travels to other dimensions of the universe and how fish dont have any feelings and... by that time everybody knew he was a little bit crazy. He then proceeded to get everyones telephone number including mine as a precaution in case "something happened." I should have thought at the time that, between the 3 Jonathans, there would be some confusion that David might not be able to get through. I did'nt though and that's how I came to hear his voice at 2:30 in the morning. "Oy mate, you 'appen to know where the club is?"
That was the first day and night of knowing David. Over the next week or two various incidents I heard about or witnessed only served to reinforce my belief that he was a little off. We were at an audition in a t.v. commercial producers office when a woman became very upset with him. He had brought a container of hummus and a loaf of bread and had made a tasty mess on her desk. She had been doing the interviews in another room and when she came into the office immediately asked, "Whose is this?" The problem was that she said it first in Hebrew and so David, not knowing Hebrew, just kept munching on his snack. Since it was obvious by then that the food belonged to David she told him to leave the audition and not come back. I felt bad for him because she kicked him out in front of all the others waiting for the audition also. On a photo shoot with a swimming pool as a backdrop he was the one who became upset. The photographer was the object of his anger and it was'nt long before the photographer was in the pool still clutching his ruined camera while desperately treading water. On another job he saw a pair of sunglasses he wanted so he asked the stylist if he could have them. The stylist said no but he took them anyway. He did'nt get much use from them because shortly after taking the shades he broke them and was discovered and had to pay for them.
It was time for David to go home. By now it was being talked about by the other models that he was a schizophrenic or had some other mental disorder. A few hours after his flight left, much to the shock of the other models at the models apartment, he wandered through the door emptyhanded and went to sleep on the couch. This is what happened. He had been on his way to the airport when he started to get a feeling or hear voices that were telling him to stay in Israel and to not get on the plane. The thing that most freaked him out into staying was seeing his name on signs everywhere he went. David is, of course, a common name in Israel and lots of streets are named after King David so it makes sense to see the name David. He arrived at the airport but it had already been decided in his mind that he was not getting on that plane. Instead he catches the next bus back to Tel Aviv Central Bus Station and from there began to make his way back to the apartment. It's about a one and a half hours walk from TACBS to the apartment and he was getting tired and did'nt want to carry his bags and suitcase anymore. You know what I am going to write next so think about this instead. In Israel you must think like you are in an airport or some other high security location at all times. Imagine the country of Israel as one giant airport terminal and behave according to the security standards and regulations that govern airports and you'll be fine. Security is very visible at all times in Israel. (invisible also) There are armed guards at all restaurants, bars, clubs, malls, and stores. Anywhere you find people there is security. They carry guns. I dont mean in the holsters either. The guns are carried loaded, ready to fire, with two hands gripping them. Thats how security conscious they are. It's justified. Unattended bags are'nt left alone for long. In the cities it's not uncommon for forgotten bags of diapers and melons to become victims of the bomb squads expertise. I am guessing that his bags lasted no more than ten minutes before they were picked up by some homeless person or disposed of in some way by the police. He had left them with the thought that he would come back and get them after a little nap. So there he was stuck in Israel with nothing except the clothes he wore. The story ends about now. The owner of the modeling agency drove him to the airport the next day and personally walked him to his plane which made it to England where his father picked him up from the airport. I hope he's ok.

update

2005-02-20T00:05:00.000-08:00

Hello to everyone. The first thing I want to do is say thanks for all the comments and response to my first blog. It means alot to me that some of you out there are taking a real interest in what I am doing here. The response I have gotten so far has made me realize how much I really do miss you all and that I should have started doing this a while ago. Its already evident to me that there is a possibility relationships with some of you will be even further developed through this weblog than they would if I were back in California living a short physical distance from you. I have really been learning the value of relationship here in Israel since I dont know very many people. Keep up the comments. I love hearing from you.
Modeling and army update. Today I have an audition for a catalogue job for Versace which, I of course, hope very much to get. Versace is a big name in the fashion industry so it would be sweet to work for them. I think I have a little bit better than average chance of getting this job because I did a fashion show on television for them a couple of months ago and the Versace Israel rep seemed to like me. We'll see. I received notification from the army that they will not change my entry date back to March 6th. That means that May 3rd is now the official date that I have to report for service. At first I was a little upset about having to wait the extra couple months but now I am ok with it. It gives me more time to prepare. I will learn the language that much better and who knows, maybe the Arabs and Jews will be friends and having fish taco nights together by then?
Well, I would love to write more right now and I would have written this alot sooner but my roommates computer is not able to connect to the internet right now. I am at an internet cafe and my time is almost up and I dont have any money so I will have to continue this another time. I have lots of cool and interesting stories to tell also so I am looking forward to writing more later but for now, thats it. Shalom.

first blog ever

2005-02-14T18:33:00.000-08:00

My name is Jonathan and I am from the central coast of California. San Luis Obispo County to be specific. I recently moved to Israel and am now working and living in the city of Tel Aviv. Lately, I got to feeling pretty bad about my not keeping in touch with my family and friends back home. I really love and miss alot of people in SLO and I know that it's kind of up to me to keep the lines of communication open. I was reading this guy Kevin Sites' weblog about his experiences while working as a news broadcaster in some of the hotzones of the world and I thought to myself, "I could do that." I dont know if I can keep it as interesting as his but I'll try. I also want to let everyone know that they should feel free to respond and ask questions. Any topic you might want to discuss is fine with me. If you have questions about the situation in Israel than I'm sure I can give a good answer and if not I'll make up something interesting. Or not. I am pretty sure that most of the people who will be reading this know that my main purpose for being here is to serve in the Israeli army. As of right now my new induction date is May 3rd. I recently wrote a letter to the army office requesting that my original induction date of March 6th be reinstated. It's pretty tough on me to have to sit around and wait so much. I have always been an impatient person. Just ask my mom. I have been keeping a little bit busy with my modeling work. I recently filmed a Coca Cola commercial in which I was one of the four principle actors. I also did my first ever hand modeling job which was a total crackup to me. If you have ever seen the movie Zoolander than you know what I am talking about. (J.W.) It was a little strange but I did'nt mind in the end since I was getting paid. I could have done without the hand makeup though. It made my hands really sweaty. I have also been trying to stay in good physical shape in preparation for going into the army. Along with going to the gym and running, I tried playing basketball recently. Most of you who know me know that I really enjoy a good pickup game of baskeball. They dont exist in Israel. The mentality of middle eastern men is not programmed to facilitate the undertaking of cooperative game playing. I guess thats just another way of saying that they argue alot. The game went something like this: We would begin play and on average would score maybe 3 baskets before something like a close call or (Who am I kidding? It did'nt even have to be near a close call for these guys.) a hard foul would happen. Then everyone would erupt and start screaming at each other. Even the guys on the sideline not in the actual game would get involved. What a nightmare!! One time, this guy became so flustered over a call that he mistook the basketball for a football and punted it a good 80 yards off into the distance. So of course someone had to go get it. Now think for a moment about how long it would take for someone to jog and retrieve a ball someone else had kicked out of anger. You would imagine that the guy who kicked the ball would have had enough time to cool down a little and lose some of his temper right? Not this guy. The ball kicker sees the ball retriever jogging back onto the court with the ball so he runs over to him, knocks the ball out of his hands, and kicks it again. By the time the game ended we had played 15 minutes and argued about 25. So that was it for me. I "played" one game then took off. I did'nt mind so much about what happened while playing basketball. The reason I am here is because I love Israel and Jewish people. So I can look past a bad bball game. I think thats it for now. My first blog. Let me know what you people think. Should I write about more serious things? Do you want to know current events in Israel? Do you know why the Jews are fighting amongst themselves so much right now? Do you care? Shalom from Israel.