And... Deep Breath!

Source: weheartit.com via Aimee on Pinterest

Doosts! I am pleased to say that my charming - if antique - lap top has been reunited with a power cord! I no longer need to flit about town, pirating computer time - and (ahem) borrowing interweb connection. I'm totally (mostly?) legit now.

But just because I've been a little silent on the proverbial airwaves, doesn't mean that I've been totally inactive. Oh no. I've been up to all kinds of things!

In the 3 short weeks (and 1 day) that I've been living in good old Orange County, I have managed to learn about such virtues as kindness and justice with some really awesome neighborhood children, meet 4 members of the cast of Criminal Minds (!!!!) - specifically A.J. Cook, Joe Mantegna, Matthew Gray Gubler and Paget Brewster. They're so kind and awesome!

Oh... and I also got a job!!!!!!!! I know - I'm really relieved! More deets soon; I officially begin life as an employed, tax-paying American on 6 September. Until then, I'll be studying more virtues, making new friends, and hopefully finding a local water polo team I can train with. By which I mean if you know someone who knows someone who plays water polo in Orange County, holler at your girl - I have to keep my skillz sharp! Ha!

An Emotion In Time...

Or: on introducing my summer jam.

I'm having some departure anxiety... and this song pretty much sums how I feel. I've lived in Haifa, Israel for the last four years of my life and in less than 2 weeks I'll be leaving this wonderful place. It still seems all very surreal to me.

It's like my days are going fine, fine, fine - and then it hits me that I'm leaving so soon. For now I'm being kept busy with wrapping up my work at the office, prepping to win a water polo game on Saturday (ahem!), and planning for my brief sojourn in Rome on my way to the States.

Yes, that's it... I'll focus on the positive. Vacation.

Ha Yom...

Me.

So I have a big game tonight... this picture was taken at last week's game. I'm hoping we win again. Positive thoughts are welcome.

p.s. Funny faces and taped-up tennis elbow aside, I make this goalie shhh look good!

...Until It Is Done

Source: melodysblog.tumblr.com via Aimee on Pinterest

So you know how, in addition to playing with the women's water polo team in Tivon (Tivon-o!), I occasionally [like twice a week] train with the men's team at Technion University here in Haifa? Well, about a month ago - in one of the last practices of the semester at Technion - I blocked a really great shot from a friend who shall remain nameless. 'Nameless' is easily twice as strong as I am... and I totally hyper-extended my right elbow.

You'll know this as tennis elbow. And the only cure is time. ...that I don't have. I've been doing about a many goalie exercises as a lady can do without actually touching a ball. It is pretty much the height of boring. But my patience paid off - we won our game on Saturday! I would like to shake the hand of the person who invented water proof tape. Genius.

You should know, of course, that as my klutz factor is actually boundless, I've gone and hurt myself - again. On Sunday, ironically while walking to a chiropractic appointment, I slipped and fell on some marble steps - and landed smack(!) on my tailbone. It is the pain.

Thankfully the chiropractor was able to get me sorted - but don't think that my teammates haven't threatened (offered?) to put me in a bubble or wrap me up like a mummy! At least until the end of the championship tournament....

...Even the Cool Kids Are Doing It

Seder Pesach at the White House.

Courtesy Pete Souza

Via Mrs. O

Semi-related kind of cute story? So as you may know, my service at the Baha'i World Centre concludes at the end of July... and I'm at more than a loss of what to do with myself or where to settle, etc.

But this is moot. Life goes on - particularly as evidenced by the fact that I'm training a young lady who will hopefully be my replacement at the goalie of my water polo team. While she's only 14 and has never played before, she shows remarkable talent. Now if I could just get her to be a little more positive.

Tonight we were working on certain drills that seem torturous (but that's just a front)... her feeble cries of "I can't do this" were met by my quips of "Yes you can!" - to which she replied "no, Obama. I can't".

Flattery gets you everywhere; it is currency in 42 states.

Problem Solving...

Courtesy A Cup of Jo

When I was playing water polo in college and getting my hair cut at the beauty college, or some other $5 special... my friend was getting her hair done at this really trendy salon (that shall remain nameless because I'm sure it's trademarked, and I have no idea how to throw up that particular gang-sign). One day my friend and I pop in to "see her [hair] guy". Friends, your boy walked up to me, takes one look, and says - sneer and all - "ugh. What do you put in your hair? It is too healthy!"

Several years - and my own "hair guy" later - and I no longer wash my hair every day. Now that my water polo team is training more than ever, however, I really struggle to find things to do with my hair on 'day 2'. It should be professional, feminine, classy, and fresh.

Enter Joanna Goddard of A Cup of Jo fame. She gathered some of her rad NYC stylist/photographer/model friends and presto change-o! Solutions for a great hair day! You can peep the tutorial (complete with handy pictures) here.

No promises, but this may just be my look... two days hence!

Just The Facts...

Image courtesy Tralalere!

I chanced upon a really awesome remix of Feist's "I Feel It All" by Diplo. You can listen to it here. Many thanks to Samimi-Extremie for the head's up.

I'm still studying "Releasing the Powers of Junior Youth" with some friends. In our last class, we discussed the negative influences and repercussions of the 'insistent self'. *More on this later.*

We had a water polo game in Yoqneam today. Their team played very well, but I'm glad we won.

I've been experimenting with new scone recipes and flavors... and I made one of my new flavors this weekend. I think they might be my favorite.

And in a marathon stretch, I finished Orson Scott Card's Speaker for the Dead in the wee hours of Friday morning. Today I picked up the 3rd book in the Ender series: Xenocide. If you haven't read these books (beginning with Ender's Game), I highly recommend them.

I did some other things like take myself out for dinner and a movie... but that's all very blah blah blah, I'm sure.

I hope your weekend is (was?) lovely, too.

Hrumph...

Courtesy *We Live Young*

So I play water polo pretty much when and where ever I can... that means that I train at a local university (Technion!) and with my club team (Tivon!) and I'm also lucky enough to train with the Israeli National Women's Team.

All in one fell swoop, the fine folks at Technion went on mid-semester break and the National Team headed up to Europe for some games... and since my club team coach happens to also coach the National Team, I've been on water polo hiatus for exactly a week.

And I may be, correspondingly, a little grumpy. Excercise makes people happy.

People = aimee piper....

Crash Test Dummies...

Last night at water polo, I had a head-on collision with this guy on my team. At a full sprint. Like, our hands didn't collide - providing a muted warning of the pain ahead. No. Full cranium contact. And it hurt.

I'm sure that when the tenderness goes away this story will actually be hilarious, because it's already kind of funny. I mean, only aimee piper, right?!

So on my weekly phone-date-with-mom last night, I casually mentioned my little accident and then she sort of name dropped "concussion". Well, I have no idea what a concussion is - I'm a pretty thick skulled, strong boned girl. But I was nervous because those are not to be trifled with. Luckily my friend Saba (MPH in the house!) was online and I picked her brain ...about my brain. (hahahaha - sometimes I think I'm so funny!)

Saba Y Yo.

Last night - as a precaution - Saba called me regularly throughout the night to make sure that I was okay and not in a coma... or whatever happens when you have a concussion (still not sure).

As evidenced by this semi-cogent report of *health*, I'm okay and fully functional. And about as thick skulled as you can be and still float!

Thanks, Saba. You're a peach!

That's What I'm Talking About...!

Courtesy USA Water Polo

When I was home visiting my family this summer, I had the honor of training a couple of days with the boys varsity water polo team at the high school my mom works at: Aliso Niguel High School.

As an athlete and as a lady, it was such a treat to practice with these guys - they were totally welcoming of me and were real gentlemen.

Imagine my delight when I got an email from my mom yesterday informing me that the captain of this team had been selected as USA Water Polo's player of the month: November?!

Dear the Wolverines: I wish you all a successful season! ...and try to get my mom to at least one game. Oh! Hey, mom......

Commerce...

Meet the Commerce Water Polo Club.

When I first started playing club water polo in Southern California, the girls on my team (shout out to T.R.A.P.) reserved a special and reverent tone - almost a whisper - for the discussion of this team. At that time, in 1996, Brenda Villa was playing at Stanford, where she had earned a full athletic/academic scholarship, for the US Women's National Team, and, rumor had it, volunteering at a local hospital.

Now that I see this video (courtesy ABC News in LA via USA Water Polo, it makes total sense.

As a side note... this is such an excellent example of community service. Everything that you see is sponsored entirely by businesses in Commerce, CA. ...and is available to all children resident in Commerce. The benefits are exponential - and so tremendous!

Tournament Highlights....

Just some photos (and ridiculously brief captions) from the last 2 games of the Israeli Women's Water Polo Tournament. I'm home in the States visiting the fam - and the jetlag is kicking (sorry about that).

Anyhow, y'all have been so nice - putting up with all of my little water polo stories... I thought I'd at least share some photos with you.

Major shoutout to my homegirl Tsufit - she's 9 months pregnant, due ANY day, and still managed to catch and chronicle our games. Cheers!

I look a little goofy - and eerily concentrated - here, but that's okay for an intense water polo game. For those of you who don't recognize the signs... I've just completed a long pass to a teammate.

Mid-quarter team huddle...
I don't know what my coach said [no... seriously - I'm still learning Hebrew] but it totally worked! We (Macabbi Haifa) won the last 2 games of the tournament!
Chen.
Chen [her name means Grace in Hebrew] is new to water polo - which you would never otherwise know! This shot was taken just before her own. ...shot on goal, that is!

Thanks for all of your support throughout the season. 'preciate you!

עבודה רבה מכבי חיפה!

Google translator - hooking it up! For those of you who don't read Hebrew [and maybe even for those who do... they always ask if I'd like to contribute a 'better translation'... this doesn't inspire much confidence in me....] what I mean is 'great job, Maccabi Haifa'!

Today was the last day of the National Israeli Women's Water Polo Tournament - and we took a respectable second place. This is particularly remarkable because we didn't win our first game until about 6 weeks ago. We definitely should get the prize for most improved team!

I hope to get some pictures of the team up soon - we even got some fancy medallions!

Dreaming Out Loud...

Well, Reader... we had our first two games (of six) in the Israeli Women's Water Polo League tournament last night. We won the first game (!!!) - but lost the second. We played really well, but by the second game were just tired....

Enter my current day dream/fantasy:

Image courtesy Bitte Ein Kuss

It has everything I could want in a perfect lazy Saturday afternoon (or future home situation...) - loft library, warm lighting, ginormous windows and a hammock! Hecks yes.

...Summer Night Edition

So last night started out innocently enough... the Israeli Women's Water Polo League starts day 1 of a 3 day tournament (to be spread throughout the week) today - so our team has been practicing when and where we can. This has made for a pretty random practice schedule - but I'm sure it will pay off.

Enter last night.... Practice was scheduled for 9pm, which is no big deal in and of itself - but oh the things you will see on a hot summer's night!

While on the bus [dude. Take the bus - it's awesome!] I saw 4 guys who looked just like Ferengi's! Minus the handy and amazing Star Trek costumes and standard issue brow-ridges, of course.

Anytime I can flex my geek factor is a good time.

Christopher Walken

Like a gift from the universe, the night just kept getting better! Walking towards the pool [big shout out to Tivon. If you're ever lucky enough to get to Israel, you should come hang out here.] I noticed that a small high school/garage band was playing in the plaza I was crossing.

At first I heard some really cool ethnic/tribal-style drumming, but then to my absolute delight it was punctuated every-so-often by the dulcet tones of a COWBELL!

Yes. You heard that right. Cowbell. It's the new tambourine.

So that's my night of awesome, in a nutshell. I'll let you know how the games go - I'm in for a double-header. In the meantime?

More cowbell!

We've Come A Long Way... Baby

Bathing Beauties circa 1922

Image credit.

So the Maccabi Haifa women's water polo team had another game last night - this time against Petah Tiqva. And we won!

All of our hard work is finally paying off, I'm very happy to report!

The Good Parts Version...

So I've finally gotten my hands on a copy of The Princess Bride, the book. Amazing tale of true love and high adventure - as evidenced by the cover....

Image credit.

You may remember the water polo game (Maccabi Haifa vs. Tel Aviv) that I had the other night. Well (and I promise... only the 'good parts') there was a little, shall we say, "for your mama drama". So there was a point in the game - just before the start of the 4th quarter - that the manager of Tel Aviv's team comes over to get our names down.

I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that, while I'm not fluent, my Hebrew language skills are getting better every day (!!!). And I've got a fair command of the numbers by now. So I knew that the man would say a number and one of the women on my team would respond with the name of the player wearing that cap number.

He never said "achad". This means 1 in Hebrew and it's the number that all goalies wear. This is my number.

Increasingly curious as to why the guy doesn't want to know my name (um... hello! Totally part of the team, too - thanks!) I sort of - read actually - broadly announce "my name is Aimee Piper". *Please know that as I'm preparing to share what happened next, I'm already giggling*

A friend on my team - with out skipping a beat - quips "you have killed my father; prepare to die".

And that, friends, is the good part version. Carry on.

Weekend Summary...

Image courtesy Bitte Ein Kuss.

So you know how my water polo team has a new coach and we've been playing together (rather intensely, I add) three times a week for the past 3 or 4 weeks? Well we had a game last night in Tel Aviv.

And we tied (5-5). This marks a major improvement for our team, and I think that we'll only continue to get better as the season progresses.

Major shout out to the Macabi Haifa women's water polo team!

I Know Just How You Feel...

Courtesy Bitte

So the life and times in the world of aimee piper have intensified slightly now that I'm playing water polo with a new coach. We've really been working hard - swimming 200s for time on a descending base. [For those of you new to the swimming world: a 200 (meters) is essentially a long distance sprint.]

Believe it or not, Lady Gaga has really had my back - so to speak - at practice these last few weeks. In the July issue of Rolling Stone magazine (previewed here) she has the following to say: “When I wake up in the morning, I feel just like any other insecure 24-year-old girl,” she says. “Then I say, ‘B***h, you’re Lady Gaga, you get up and walk the walk today.’ ”

Dear Lady Gaga: Thank you for keeping it real. You crack me up.

Sloppy Baby!

Sue Sylvester

We've been working with a new water polo coach. I met him last night…. At practice we had to scrimmage one of the best youth teams in Israel – which we lost. We, to be fair, made a grip of mistakes.

After the practice this new coach called us jelly fish. Basically out of shape and useless. HAHAHAHA.

I don’t understand Hebrew – but his meaning is pretty clear – so in my head he’s asking me if I think this is hard, I should try passing a kidney stone.
I think this could be fun.

Cheerio!