A favorite holiday

Success! Not only did I finish my midterms yesterday (hopefully successfully), but it was also the Purim party at Hillel. Yes, I know Purim's really next week (and I'll be celebrating it with Alana and some friends at Maryland), but we decided that the end of midterms, the beginning of spring break, and being a few days away from Purim was good enough reason to party down at Hillel.

Purim's probably one of my favorite holidays, just 'cause it's so much fun! I've got fond memories of being younger and hearing the megillah read while watching my rabbis celebrate appropriately - drunken. And there are costumes and food and wonderfulness, what's not to love?!

We kicked off the celebration on Wednesday night with the Purim Schpiel (which I irresponsibly went to - but it's not my fault, we were in it!), basically a huge play mocking everything in the community - from Kip to Kol Echad (all the a cappella groups, really), and almost every individual inside the building on a daily basis. Last night was the Purim party - lots of people dressed up in costume having a good time. I personally rocked the pirate costume

Happy.

Crazy dancing befitting the holiday.

Just some elements.

And soon I'll be headed out on spring break, off to explore Baltimore... wish me luck!

7 Deadly Sins

So last night my friends and I attempted going to a 7 Deadly Sins party. It failed epically. Walking into a smoggy, sweaty house was incredibly unpleasant and we realized probably a minute after the fact that we didn't want to be there anymore. Tragic, really, because we were really excited about it. We even looked up the 7 deadly sins online, because nice Jewish girls like us just didn't know them. In case anyone was curious, they are:

1. Lust
2. Gluttony
3. Greed
4. Sloth
5. Wrath
6. Envy
7. Pride

I was greed, clearly. Even though that party was a failure, we went on to have a good night and to meet some pretty cool people elsewhere. Today, upon discussing last night's experiences with some people at a Superbowl party, I was informed that there are 7 new deadly sins, as declared by the new pope. Why not make it 8 new ones while he's at it? Like the way this year's Real World has 8 instead of 7. Because he didn't, I guess that would bring the grand total up to 14. Eek, that's a lot to look out for. The new ones (the 7 social sins, as it were) are:

1. Bioethical violations (ie. birth control)
2. "Morally dubious" experiments (ie. stem cell research)
3. Drug abuse
4. Polluting the environment
5. Contributing to widening divide between rich and poor
6. Excessive wealth
7. Creating poverty

Questioning these kind of brings me back to junior high (elementary school? I can't remember) when Spiceworld was all the rage and the Spice Girls got in trouble for rhetorically asking whether or not the Pope was a Catholic. Way to go, girls. Anyway, to me these seem slightly ridiculous. Yes, those are what some people may see as issues in today's world (although I personally support birth control, have no problem with stem cell research, and really wouldn't mind possessing excessive wealth), but deadly sins, really? They even lack the single word character that makes the original set so memorable. I don't think anyone's going to have a new 7 deadly sins party. But if they did, what would I dress up as? A choking earth or a crack addict?