Thursday, 7 September 2017

I got up early this morning and set right out on my walk. I met my friend, Hannah, and we finished the walk by going up into the hills a little before heading back to my place. I took several pictures, including a couple of the beautiful full moon of Elul (the Hebrew month before the High Holy Days). One is today's pic of the day:

After getting refreshed a bit at my place, enjoying petting Pascal (who sat on her lap twice), and listening to my music, Hannah headed on home.

I watched 2 episodes each of "Friends", "Modern Family", "Two and a Half Men", and "The Big Bang Theory", all of which I enjoyed, even though I had seen a couple of them previously.

I had my usual salad and slices of cheese in a tortilla for lunch.

In the afternoon, I submitted my final project for my online class, "Pro Tools Basics". It's a production of me singing Avinu Malkenu with orchestra backup. If you'd like to listen to it, click here.

I taught only 2 units of Berlitz today: 6:30-8:00.

I walked a total of 4.5 kilometers today.

Wednesday, 6 September 2017

I started waking up early but stayed in bed and drifted in and out of sleep for enough additional time that I actually got up fairly late and didn't go out for a walk. I just didn't feel that energetic.

Before my first lesson, I did some grocery shopping at the local market.

I taught 4 units of Berlitz lessons today: 10:00-11:30 and 2:30-4:00.

In the afternoon, I spent some pleasant time with a friend of mine who also paid for my late lunch.

I watched 2 episodes each of "Two and a Half Men", "Friends", "The Big Bang Theory", and "Modern Family".

I walked a total of 1.1 kilometers today.

Today's pic of the day is of a beautiful tree that grows between some of the garden apartments not far from me:

Tuesday, 5 September 2017

I got up early this morning but didn't go out for a walk. I felt a slight catch in my back, but not at ALL like yesterday morning.

I ate breakfast early and then walked down to Maccabi to return my 24-hour Holter heart monitor.

From there, I walked down to the bank and then over to the pet store to get a mouse for Goldfinger.

I returned home by bus with the mouse and relaxed at home for a while before heading out and taking another bus over to WIZO.

We really had a nice time at the WIZO English speakers' meeting today. Several people were there who hadn't been in some time. People told about favorite movies or ones that they really liked for one reason or another. It resulted in some fairly lively but very friendly discussion. Afterwards, I returned home again by bus after yielding to my bougainvillea addiction and taking a few more shots, including today's pic of the day:

I had a large salad and two cheese-and-tomato sandwiches for lunch.

I taught 6 units of Berlitz lessons today: 3:00-4:30, 5:00-6:30, and 7:00-8:30.

I walked a total of 3.5 kilometers today.

Monday, 4 September 2017

I got up quite early this morning, but I didn't go out for a walk. First, I had a lot of pain in my back, which was totally unexpected (I didn't feel it until I actually got up). Luckily, a couple of pills of Optalgin really got rid of almost all of it. Second, I had to eat breakfast early so that I could get down to Maccabi by 8:20 to get my Holter 24-hour heart monitor. I walked down, but I had to take a taxi back in order to arrive in time for my 9:00 lesson.

Today's pic of the day is of bougainvillea that I saw on my walk down to Maccabi:

I had another problem this morning. When I opened my freezer door, a whole bunch of ice that had been building up in there for some time suddenly fell out onto the floor, so it was apparent that my refrigerator wasn't really working properly. I had to take time right away to clean up some of the worst of the mess, but I didn't have time to contact my landlord until later in the morning. In the evening, he came to look at it but hasn't decided quite yet what exactly to do. It's still cold enough in the refrigerator part that I don't think my food will spoil, but nearly all the ice in the freezer has now melted.

I taught 5 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-9:45, 12:00-1:30, and 5:00-6:30.

I continued working on my final project for "Pro Tools Basics", and now it's really sounding quite nice. As I mentioned, it's me singing Avinu Malkenu with orchestra back-up. I haven't submitted it yet, because I want to listen to it after an elapse of some time to see if I still am pleased with it or if there are any more tweaks I want to make to it.

I had a large salad and 2 snhitzels for lunch.

I just relaxed for much of the afternoon. In the evening, I watched 2 episodes each of "Modern Family", "Friends", and "The Big Bang Theory".

I walked a total of 2 kilometers today.

Sunday, 3 September 2017

I got up quite late this morning, but I went out for a fairly decent morning walk anyway. I walked up into the nearby hills and took a few pictures, one of which is today's pic of the day, showing the beauty of the desert a few minutes before sunrise:

I did some grocery shopping this morning and went into town in the middle of the day on a couple of short errands.

For lunch, I had a beet, a salad, and weenies and cheese wrapped in tortillas.

I spent most of the rest of the day working on my final project for my online class, "Pro Tools Basics". I exported the MIDI tracks of my orchestral arrangement of "Avinu Malkenu" from Digital Performer and them imported them into Pro Tools First, assigning them to appropriate digital instruments there. Then I transposed the piece into a key that was more comfortable for my voice (really, really easy to do in a computer!) and recorded myself singing the song. I made a mistake in the first take, and it was also too loud, so I did a second take, which is much better. Now, I'm going back through the week 5 videos and refining the mix and adding digital effects. The end result should be quite nice, although I'm not there yet.

In the evening, I took the bus over to Hannah's house to go to our play-reading group, which she's joining. She had only been there once before, so she wasn't at all sure she could find the place.

I walked a total of 5.8 kilometers today.

Shabbat, 2 September 2017

I got up very early this morning and was already out walking by 5:00. I walked down to HaKhotrim, then up HaSigalit to Harim Road, which I followed to the outdoor gym. I worked out there for a few minutes before continuing along Harim to highway 12. I walked up highway 12 to the bicycle trail, where I turned right and walked over a little pass to Nakhal Shakhamon. I continued north on the dirt road until the first trail that goes off to the right. I took that and wended my way up to the table with an Israeli flag and a sweeping view of Eilat, Aqaba, and the gulf.

I took a few pictures on my way as it began to get light. Then I took several in the immediate area of the table, waiting for the sun to rise. When it did, I snapped some great shots of it and the flag.

I saw a total of 5 bicyclists during my walk through the hills, all but one of them at (or at least whizzing by) the table.

I took more lovely views as I headed back home by the most direct trail, including today's pic of the day:

I arrived back home just after quarter past seven.

After breakfast, I listened to my project for week 4 of my online class, "Pro Tools Basics", and decided it was ready. So I submitted it and then did the required peer evaluations of 3 classmates' submissions, thereby completing week 4. Then, I watched all the lecture videos for week 5 (the final week) and took the quiz, getting 100% on my first try. Now all that remains if the final project. If you'd like to listen to the results of the project I just submitted today (me singing "Achat Sha'alti" with a couple of MIDI back-up tracks), click here.

I watched 3 episodes of "Two and a Half Men".

I had my traditional Shabbat lunch of salad and my egg/rice frittata.

Other than a short trip for some groceries, I mostly just relaxed the rest of the day.

I walked a total of 7.8 kilometers today.

Friday, 1 September 2017

I got up a little late this morning but still went out for a short walk. I also worked out a bit at the outdoor gym. When I went by the bakery on my way back, however, I saw that they had not received the challah yet (or much of anything else, for that matter), so I had to walk back up there after my second lesson, whereupon I successfully got my challah.

Just before arriving back home (from my early-morning walk), I paused by the kikar near my place to snap 3 photos of the sun rising. Today's pic of the day is one of them:

I was scheduled to teach 5 units of Berlitz lessons, but the last lesson (2 units) turned out to be a no-show (the 4th in a row, in fact, for this particular student): 9:00-9:45, 10:00-11:30, and 12:00-1:30.

For lunch, I had a large salad, to which I even added a chopped up beet (cooked, of course), and 2 veggie burger, cheese, and tomato sandwiches with mayonnaise and old-fashioned mustard.

I watched 2 episodes of "Modern Family" this afternoon.

I got all the weekly chores done except for washing the dishes.

I did some more tinkering with my week 4 project for my online class, "Pro Tools Basics", today, mostly playing with varying the reverb. It's a recording of me singing "Achat Sha'alti", together with electronic accompaniment (a treble aah-choir "singing" the melody an octave above me and a bass ooh-choir plus bass strings doing a bass line below me). It now sounds pretty good. I'll listen again tomorrow, and, if I still like it, I'll submit it (if not, I'll tinker some more).

In the evening, I lit candles, drank a little sweet red wine, and ate some challah to welcome Shabbat.

I walked a total of 2.8 kilometers today.