Sitting at my girlfriend's room in singapore, passing time till the end of Yom-Kippur (look it up people!), and as my thoughts revolve for some reason (again, look it up, it's a google away) about food, my mind takes me back to a few days ago when we were both still at Bangkok - walking it's streets (not more smoggy than Tel Aviv, which probably only reflects on Israel badly), smelling the smells, tasting the tastes (really good tastes too) had REAL thai food - nothing like the thai restaurants in my country, and, not to forget, a good brazillian meal - they just keep bringing you meat, and roasted pineapple.. I warmly recommend ostrich meat by the way.

But enough of all those food thoughts. Still have a few hours to go till I can eat. So on I move to the massages. I had two sessions of massages there. Both are of the Thai Massage kind, and both were good

The first was a foot massage. Roughly one hour (or maybe more) of tending to your feet, your toes, your banyons (if you got any), and at the end you also get some shoulder massage just to make you feel good in case the foot treatment didnt.

Anyone who's ticklish should be warned, and naturally, clipping your toe nails beforehand is always a good idea

The second massage was the full body massage. And sorry to disappoint anyone with other thoughts - there was no sexual hunky punky involved.

We went to this big (maybe 10 floors) spa complex, all lined with stone and inside with tick wood hallways. Waited our turn and were taken to the 7th floor where we were shown into a quiet room and been given clean spa garments. That's needed, since you come off the street drenched in sweat and smoky from the buses and whatnots.

Two masseuses came in and started the session. They gave us about a two hour treatment which included popping all joints, using pressure points ranging from the head and scalp to the feet and toes to alleviate tension and energize blood flow in the body. I felt as if my body was used in an Origami folding session, but it was really good. I can testify that my body felt strangely light afterwards.

In a few hours, I'll be on my way to visit a country I dont know, with someone I know and want to get to know much better.

New places are always exciting to me. And exploring it with her holds so much prospect.

There's some nervousness but it's only natural in this case. I have great hope in me. A force that drives me forward without hesitation.

Sometimes reasoning is not enough, you follow your heart and let it take you where ever it leads.

I'll be out and about for a few weeks. The world will change, I will change, people will change. How I feel will not.

I leave you with a recommendation: Visit new places, have new experiences, taste the world and let yourself enjoy it. Life is about moving.

Tommorow night is the beginning of the Hebrew new year.

Our calendar is a combination of the lunar and solar cycle. So it resembles the chinese calendar more than it resembles the gregorian one.

There are some symbols related to our new year. One is apples, which are dipped in honey, to symbolize a sweet year to come. Another is the greeting of family, friends and colleagues with a "Shana Tova" which means "Good Year" (to come upon you). Pommegrantes are also a favorite food of this holiday. It's seeds represent 613 jewish decrees - according to tradition.

Rosh Hashana (the head of the year in hebrew) is a time for new beginnings, forgiving one another, and opening a new year with a clear mind and soul.

Shana Tova everyone!

A post my girlfriend Gwen wrote on her blog, made me think of life and its fragility:

"I thought about Oren, and that part of his life, the magnitude of his grief that he can never share with me, does he think about his brother's last thoughts? I imagined it was me..and so I didn't ask him cos it would too hard too answer. And I don't expect him to do that, to have to dig into those feelings now, not even for me."

She mentioned it in relation to a suicide case which aftermath she witnessed.

Life is like a flake of snow. It shines in beauty for a brief spell, and than dissolves. To us it seems much longer, but in the great scheme of things, It's but a flake of snow.

But Life is built on duality. Where there's sorrow there's joy. where there is anger, there is tranquility to oppose it. (or emphasize it, depending on the context)

I like to think of it as a game of balance. You receive a blow, and after a while (maybe) you'll find that life compensates you for it, in one way or another. A set of weights, and balances.

Sometimes, the blows and compensations are not as apparent as you may expect. Did you really expect things to be that simple when life is in concern?

Without evil, there is no good. Is that sentence true? if it is, than the same can be said on the reverse of it: Without good, there is no evil..

It's like you need a contrast. A backdrop of a certain color, or trait, so you can see the other side of it, the negative of it. It's true to a degree. but why? Because life is all about shades. Not about black and white, but about all the rainbow of colors in between them. And so, extemes stick out. Black stands out between the pastel colors, and White stands out between the darker shades.

Than what makes "white" better than "black"? Is it human conventions? A lasting fashion of sorts? Or is there something more?

Mostly, in my eyes, its the concept of God that makes "white" better than "black". God represents "white", while Satan (his fallen angel) represents "black". And so, all who wants to be on the good side of god, better go with "white" rather than "black".