Elisheva+R.

Elisheva R.'s page

My name is Elisheva R. and I have recently reached an important milestone in my life: I received my learner's permit. However, despite having my permit, I will not be able to drive outside-of-state until I get my driver's license at seventeen. Now I will miss out on the perfect opportunity to practice my driving when we go to visit our relatives in Ohio, because the drive to Ohio is an eight and a half hour drive without traffic. On the other hand, this may be a good thing as I am not the best driver, so neither myself, my family, nor the car may last the trip. My favorite place to be is in the suburbs where my cousins from Ohio live, which is only rivaled by Walt Disney World. Another one of my favorite places is the library despite the mean librarians - and I have met some extremely nasty librarians. Whenever I go to the library, I always leave with at least three books. Frequently, I will go to the library with a list of books and leave with eight or ten books, none of which were on my intended list. Even though I am an avid reader, I do not have a favorite book; rather, I have favorite authors. My top two favorite authors are Tamora Pierce, who writes fantasy, and Roland Smith who writes action adventure, historical fiction and science fiction novels. Recently, I have been reading many novels by Australian and British authors like Isobelle Carmody(fantastic fantasy/science fiction writer), Allen Frewin Jones(amazing fantasy writer) and Marianne Curley. Unfortunately, Isobelle Carmody's and Allen Frewin Jones' books take an extremely long time to get published in America. Therefore I am waiting with baited breath for the next books in Isobelle Carmody's //The Obernewytn Chronicles//, as well as in the //Warrior Princess// series and //The Fairy Path// series, by Allen Frewin Jones, to be published here. Sadly, according to Marianne Curley's the //Guardian of Time// trilogy's book jacket, she died of cancer (but online says differently). Why do all of my favorite authors take such a long time to publish their novels or die before writing more books?!

One thing about my life that greatly annoys me is the fact that Murphy's Law rules my life. Whenever I wake up late, that is the day the bus driver decides to come on time to the bus stop (but I have yet to miss the bus this year). Even with the universe working against me, I still manage to get through the day unscathed. Instead of hindering me, Murphy's Law reinforces my values. I strongly believe in standing up for what I, and others, believe in and in fighting for what is right, no matter how trivial the matter. Also, I am always standing up for the rights of others, as well as my own. These beliefs define who I am. I do not take no for an answer. Sometimes I can be a bit rude when arguing my point as I am a very opinionated person. (At this point I would like to apologize to the two Israeli students whose wiki post I completely bashed.) Whenever I become involved in a discussion about a topic that I am very passionate about, I have trouble controlling my emotions. Needless to say, I am a very headstrong person who uses my enumerated right of freedom to protest to its fullest potential. I have protested everything from my elementry school's Sunday school, to the treatment of my fellow students/campers in school and camp respectively. I try to stand up against bullying whether the bully is a student, camper, teacher or counselor. During my first summer at Moshava, my bunk was terrorized by a very malicious girl. On the first day of camp, she purposely pushed a girl into a tree while we (the bunk) were running down a hill, causing the girl to break her arm and then denied pushing the girl into the tree. Throughout the summer this girl bullied everyone in the bunk, including the counselors who did nothing to stop her. This bully picked on one girl, Eden, who was a staff child as well as the youngest in the bunk by a year. The girl would pick on Eden relentlessly; in fact, I stood guard in the bathroom whenever Eden showered because the girl would always “accidentally” open the shower curtain. This girl's reign of tyranny finally ended when our age division went on a camping trip. She tried to get me in trouble because I refused to share my hand sanitizer with her which resulted in a shouting/staring contest in front of the entire age division to which I would not back down. In the end, the girl went to the Head Counselors crying about how mean I was to her and the Head counselor just ignored her as they had witnessed everything that had happened.

Even though I can be very outgoing, talkative, stubborn, argumentative and independent, I am also silent, shy, easily embarrassed, nervous, socially awkward, and I tend to blend into the background. I can be very social and I can also be extremely anti-social. I do not follow the crowd and do not care what others think of me, but sometimes I do feel a sort of longing to be part of “the crowd”. I do not know how I can have two completely opposite personalities, or even which one is considered the “real” me. More often than not, I am able to maintain a balance between my two selves.

Along with my colorful personality, I have many interests and hobbies. I love nature and will spend hours riding my bike(when I do not have school work) and will spend endless hours in the wooded area next to my house photographing the botany and animals. (Or I used to, before my mom claims to have “seen a coyote” and now she no longer lets me go into the woods.)A few years ago, I was bitten by the photography bug and now I love photography. I joined the Frisch photography club and I try to always have my camera with me in case I need to “capture the moment.” When we went on our grade trip to Niagara Falls, I took over a hundred photographs (I included some below). Right now I only have an average point and shoot camera, but soon I hope to own a Canon Rebel 360, or some other type of official photography camera. In addition to photography, I am also interested in film. I have made one “movie” which was a documentary style video about my eight-grade graduation trip. I would love to learn more about film, but I cannot join the Frisch Film Club because they watch movies which my mom would never let me watch in a million years (literally). I also do arts and crafts. Crochet, ceramics, clay, painting on glass (stained-glass windows and dishes alike), beading looms, origami, latch hooks, etc., you name it and I have probably done it.

I love learning and reading about fairytales, mythology, and history. I belong to the biggest Disney family (I am not exaggerating) and am one of the biggest Disney fans ever. If I hear a Disney song, I can name for you the title of the song, which movie it is from, which character sang the song, and when the song comes up in the movie in under a minute. I know Walt Disney World like the back of my hand and I can tell you just as much, or maybe even more, about the Parks than the guidebooks. I know that all of the Disney tales are “Disney-fied” which is why I love going to the library and taking out 3 different versions of the same fairytale to compare the different versions and spin-offs. I love to see how the authors added their unique style to the classic tales.

My favorite mythology to learn about is Greek mythology. This year I am signing up to take the National Mythology Exam and I hope to win an Athena Gold. When I was studying for the exam last year, I made a family tree of the people in Greek mythology starting with Gaea (mother earth) and Uranus (the sky) to the heroes like Hercules and Perseus. It is very interesting to see how the myths intertwine with the history of the ancient world. Some people find history to be an incredibly boring subject, but I happen to greatly enjoy history (as long as the teacher is not boring). I love reading about history's greatest mysteries (Atlantis anyone?) and the kings and queens of the ancient Empires. I also especially interested in learning about other cultures and religions, Asian cultures in particular. Some people say that learning about other cultures and religions is a form of Idolatry, but I happen to find them both fascinating.

I have little spare time because I believe in doing everything in the best way possible. I spend long hours working on assignments because if I can to something amazing or mediocre, why should I not try to do the best I can when //I know I can if I try//. In my busy yet not so busy schedule, depending on the week, I do a number of after school activities and clubs. I am in the environmental club, photography club, Gildor Science Program, Peer Tutoring and I am an unofficial member of the Chessed Society. (I am unofficial because I could not find the sign up sheet so I did not sign up but I am always talking with Rabbi Staum about joining the chessed opportunities.) On the weekends I am a youth leader at the Keter Torah youth groups. I have been working there for four years now and even though the kids can sometimes be a big pain, I love them. I am one of the strongest group leaders (I have been told) so I am moved around depending on where Rivki, my boss, needs group leaders. When I am not covering in another group I do the 3rd and 4th grade girls. I have a close relationship with many of the girls in my group because I know many of them from before I was a group leader. In groups the girls and I have an understanding: as long as they behave, I will treat them how they want to be treated (as equals, or as equal as a nine year-old and a sixteen-year-old can be).

For of my seeming normality, I am actually very unusual. I have weird hobbies like collecting fortune cookie fortunes (they can be surprising deep and meaningful), collecting bookmarks, which I never use, and collecting random stuff that I find the need to hold onto like threads and buttons. One thing that you would not be able to tell from looking at me is that I have Restless Leg Syndrome, or in other words, I cannot sit still for long periods of time and need to move around. I was diagnosed in 6th grade while I was being tested for sleep apnea (which I have). I am very good at controlling myself and manage to stop from fidgeting, most of the time. If you study me closely, you may notice that I periodically will change my position and that I tend to pick my fingers - not from boredom, but rather to keep me paying attention (weird-I know). Periodically, I tend to go through phases of OCD-like and ADD/ADHD-like behavior. I think I may have OCD, but it does not matter, I know how to handle myself and how to not let my quirks turn into issues.

I have many dislikes that range from the physical to the conceptual. I hate Hebrew language (the actual language and the class) with a burning passion. One would think that after taking Hebrew for eleven years I would be an amazing Hebrew student, but it is not surprising for me that I am a terrible Hebrew student. (I blame it on a mix of genetics and my elementary school's horrendous Hebrew education). I also despise driving; I do not understand how anyone can find driving enjoyable. It is extremely hard for me to control the car and have much trouble judging my distances when inside the car. I hate the color pink and anything remotely considered “girly”. I hate make-up, high heels, tights, dresses, etc.; I always win the “Never have I ever” game by saying, “I have never worn make-up.” But what annoying me above all are people who refuse to stand up against injustice; especially people who complain about injustices done to them and then refuse to do anything about the injustices done. You cannot let others fight all of your battles and if you refuse to help yourself, do not complain to others about injustices done to you. To add to my long list of dislikes, I hate writing about myself for two main reasons. First of all, what is the point about writing essays about myself and my life? No one cares accept for my friends and then they would just ask me. Why should I write an essay and then wave it in people's faces so that I can sound like a conceited narcissist?. The second reason why I hate writing about myself, is that if someone has a question about my life, they should ask me, I do not need to pour myself out onto paper for the world to see; I like my privacy.

All you need to know about my family is that I love my cousins(my mom's siblings' children)and I do anything to spend time with them because I see them an average of twice a year (any other times that we get together is pure magic). When I say that I will do anything to spend time with my cousins, I mean //anything.// W hen my cousins from Chicago came in for the weekend recently (which coincided with the major snow storm), I did not do any work so that I could utilize my time with them. Of course, I am now paying for my decision to not do any work by having twice as much work to do this weekend. However, no matter how much I am dreading this weekend, I would have made the same decision even if I knew that this weekend would be the consequence. Some of my cousins are so young that they do not remember who I am from one visit to the next. In addition, my best friend Maayan, lives 5 minutes away from the Gaza boarder, and while we are not blood relatives, we are connected in a much deeper sense; not a day goes by that I do not think of her or worry for her safety.

As I began my profile talking about my present, I will end by talking about my hopes for the future. In the future I want to be an archaeologist with a major in anthropology and a minor in photography. I am not sure if my life will work out the way that I want, but as the fortune cookie says, “Doubt is the beginning, not the end of wisdom”. My favorite poem, //The// //Road not Taken// by Robert Frost, pretty much sums up my past as well as my hopes for the future:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; ….................................. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 13pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 13pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">I took the one less traveled by, <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 13pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">And that has made all the difference.

Extra Info: My favorite comic strip is the "Non Sequitur" by Wiley Miller. "Non Sequitor" is latin for "Does not follow", which describes the main character of the comic strip, a little goth girl, perfectly. This saterical comic covers everything from politics to current events to religion. Here is a link to the comic which provides a new comic daily. As I am not able to transfer my Comic Wall of Fame onto the wiki, this link will have to suffice. (The comic Wall of Fame is located in my locker where my favorite comic strips of all time hang in a place of honor.) []

Social Reform: Help the children of Burma:

media type="custom" key="8743416" Photography: As I have written above in my profile, I am now and avid (amateur) photographer. Here are some of the recent photographs that I have taken: Recent Snowstorm: Niagara Falls, Canada (during Sophomore Slam): Martha's Vinyard, Boston Harbor, and the rooster that attacked my friend Jessie at Plymouth Plantation during Camp Moshava's Machal trip to Boston: