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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
Josh's LiveJournal:
| Tuesday, July 14th, 2009 | |
| 8:42 am | Yesterday: Lunch with ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} below_the_beltFrisbee Today: Minyan meeting at 6:15 Conference call at 9 Tomorrow: Book signing at 5:30 Conference call at 7:00 Thursday: Meeting with new roommate Food shopping Oy. It's that time of the summer, isn't it? I'll rest when I get to Folk Fest in 4 weeks. No time until then. Current Music: Folk Alley - Alleycast - August 2008 | Powered by Last.fm |
| Monday, July 13th, 2009 | |
| 11:18 pm | compassion vs. guilt I've been on a compassion kick lately. (Like with many other things in my life, I have Dr. Dan Gottlieb to thank.) I realized this mainly on Friday night, during a discussion on an article about poverty, and what we (as middle-class Americans, I assume) were obligated to do to alleviate the global poverty problem; how much we were required to sacrifice. It was really starting to bother me that everyone who spoke began their point with, "Of course I should be donating more, but...". I raised my hand and said, "I need to do more, and my country needs to do more, but I'm not willing to sit here and tell all of you that you need to do more. I'm not willing to let the original sin of being an American be that you will go to the grave guilt-ridden, thinking that you always should have done more. We each have our limits, and when you reach them, that's OK." Later in the discussion, someone was making the point about how "need" is not an absolute term, and talked about when she was 12 years old and needed $100 designer jeans. Even though we were getting way off-topic, I felt the need to chime in to acknowledge her need and to give her 12-year-old self my permission to need those pants. Of course that need seems silly, but who am I, who is anyone else, to deny that feeling of need? If you feel it, it's legitimate. Period. How not Jewish of me! And I think my Catholic stepfamily would be confused too! I come from a family background that is so stereotypically guilt-ridden. And yet I seem to be on a quest to rid the world of guilt. Be who you are, do what you think you can accomplish, and then dammit, be proud of yourself. (I guess I have synecdochic to thank for this too, huh.) You are who you are, and if who you are is happy, or content, or proud; then celebrate that! And I'll be celebrating right next to you. |
| Sunday, July 12th, 2009 | |
| 11:22 pm | Totally going to South Carolina for the solar eclipse in a little over 8 years. Who's with me? I bet hotel rooms are cheaper if you book in advance. |
| Tuesday, July 7th, 2009 | |
| 2:46 pm | three weeks: more Jewish legalistic stuff Continuing an occasional series in this journal... "The Three Weeks" refers to an annual period of mourning in the Jewish ritual calendar. It begins with the minor fast of the 17th of the month of Tammuz, heightens during a period called "the Nine Days" starting with the first of the month of Av, and culminates in the fast of Tisha B'Av (literally "The Ninth of Av"), which is the saddest day in the Jewish calendar. This period all originally commemorates the destruction of both of the Temples in Jerusalem, which were both destroyed on the same date 655 years apart. (The fast of the 17th of tammuz commemorates when the walls of the second temple were breached leading up to its destruction three weeks later.) It's said that lots of other tragic things have befallen the Jews on the 9th of Av over the years as well. The practices for these periods vary a lot, and at their strictest can be quite complicated and restrictive. As an example, below the cut you'll find an email that an Orthodox rabbi recently sent to a list I'm on, as an informative explanation preceding the start of the Three Weeks on Thursday. I don't know which aspects of this are followed by which friends of mine. I probably have a couple of friends who follow this to the letter, or attempt to, or attempt to follow something similar from their local rabbi to the letter. I have a bunch of other friends who attempt to follow much of it, but dismiss other aspects of it based on their own knowledge of Jewish law (for example, there's much less support in the tradition for the Three Weeks than for the Nine Days and for Tisha B'Av itself). And, of course, many people don't follow it at all. Personally, I tend to observe Tisha B'Av much as it says below (but not entirely; I don't sleep with a stone under my pillow), but I never do anything for the Three Weeks (without worrying about it) and tend not to do much for the Nine Days (but I feel a bit guilty about it). ( Guide to the Three Weeks ) Comments welcome, please. Curious to hear your thoughts. And please feel free to ask me to translate any terms you're curious about but not familiar with. |
| Monday, June 29th, 2009 | |
| 7:59 am | . Esta "Essie" Schlick (born I believe Esta Benjamin, then Esta Rosenberg) died about an hour ago, at the age of I believe 76, surrounded by family. She's survived by her husband, a sister, two kids, and two grandkids, all of whom she loved very much, and she frequently said so. It's really hard not to be with my family right now. I have to wait another 8 hours. |
| Sunday, June 28th, 2009 | |
| 10:38 pm | Tomorrow Dying is weird nowadays. Modern medicine makes it so that many dying people can choose whether they're actually dying or not. I'm not talking about "suicide" at all; I'm talking about maintenance treatment that can be stopped at any time, and often is stopped depending on the quality of life involved. (Arguably suicide under some circumstances is no different ethically, but that's another discussion.) I never really fully realized the extent of that until now. Another dialysis appointment, or no? If so, you live another two days! Why not two more appointments? Hey, want a feeding tube too? This can continue indefinitely, but again, depending on the quality of life involved, it can also just be stopped at any time. Another aspect I never realized is that the person being treated is sometimes completely cognizant of all that's going on, and is in fact the one making the decisions. I can't imagine being in those shoes, but I suppose it's easier to decide for yourself than to decide for other people. Anyway. I'm flying to Florida tomorrow to be with my family. And possibly to see my grandmom, and possibly not, depending on how the next 18 hours go for her. Either way is OK, I think. |
| Friday, June 26th, 2009 | |
| 9:13 am | |
| Thursday, June 18th, 2009 | |
| 4:27 pm | I just created an account with that infernal short-attention-span-theatre website that will not be named or linked to here. I just decided that I should try "following" some people to see if it's something I'm interested in paying attention to. I don't intend to post again, now that I've made my initial post there. (Of course, I think that was my intenion after my first LJ post in February 2002...) Anyway, I'm just telling you in case you use this site to which I'm referring, and want to tell me your username. (Even those of you who use loud-[site-that-won't-be-named], since your username isn't apparent from those LJ posts.) Comment below, or if you don't want everyone here to see your username, put it in this handy-dandy form here: Poll #1417725 Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: None Your site-that-shall-not-be-named username? |
| Monday, June 15th, 2009 | |
| 9:47 am | Yesterday (and possibly Saturday night) my phone wasn't working properly: I could make calls, but I couldn't receive any unless I was on another call, or sometimes it would work if I was actively using my phone's internet at that moment. I didn't discover this until about 5pm yesterday, when I fired up Google Maps for a minute and suddenly my phone freaked out with 6 voicemails and 1 text. This caused me to miss out on seeing a friend from out of town who I was eager to see. I was very frustrated. I also had a moment of panic, given that having that many voicemails while having a seriously ill relative doesn't bode well. But all is fine with my grandmom for now, and then I was able to tell my dad to email me if he had to reach me. The problem persisted yesterday through reboots and battery removals, and even through switching my SIM into another phone. Today, though, everything's fine. Gah. Saturday night I left my car at a parking meter that's free on Saturday nights and Sundays, but starts ticking at 8am weekdays. Due to the aforementioned missed plans, I didn't leave my apartment yesterday. Finally remembered about my car a bit before 9 today. No ticket, woohoo! I fed the meter and had breakfast before driving to work. Frisbee game tonight, and seeing Maxine and Dave and their not-quite-so-new-anymore Miriam tomorrow! Hey, anyone want to see a half-price Phillies game (about $12 plus ticketing fees) on Wednesday? That's all, I suppose. Happy Monday! |
| Sunday, June 14th, 2009 | |
| 1:37 am | AC report Down $75 at Pai Gow Poker, but up $90 at craps. Net up $15. I'll take it! |
| Friday, June 12th, 2009 | |
| 6:55 pm | My grandmom got out of the hospital yesterday and went home with my aunt, her daughter, who's a nurse and who lives nearby in Florida. And then today she had a bad day health-wise. Once again, for the second straight week and possibly the second time ever, I'm going to leave my cell phone on during Shabbat in case someone needs to reach me. And that's still not the only stressful thing going on. Shabbat shalom? Here's to hopefully a restful 25 hours. |
| Thursday, June 11th, 2009 | |
| 1:38 pm | |
| Tuesday, June 9th, 2009 | |
| 9:35 am | in other news This morning, I tried to mail two things at the post office. Both were small (a CD without a case, and a box of playing cards less than half an inch thick). I bought two of their bubble mailers. First I wrote "DO NOT BEND" on the CD one and gave it to them to post. They charged me the parcel rate, which is maybe 40 cents more than the regular rate. I was confused, but the clerk explained that the bubble envelopes aren't regular envelopes; they're parcels. OK. Then (after another unrelated miscommunication) I tried to mail the cards in the other envelope with delivery confirmation. She said I couldn't, because delivery confirmation is only available for priority mail and....parcels. But isn't the bubble mailer a parcel? No! I read the definition of "parcel" out loud from the delivery confirmation slip, confirming that it didn't count because it wasn't 3/4" thick, and then asked why I was charged the parcel rate for the first thing. She said that was only the delivery confirmation parcel rule, and that the regular parcel rule was different. I think she was mistaken. Luckily, she suggested that I add some bubble wrap (which she provided) to the second envelope, making it thick enough to be a delivery confirmation parcel. Then she asked if I was a mystery shopper. Next time I'm going to UPS. The Decemberists are playing Philly Folk Fest!!!!! Which really has about an 80% or 90% genre overlap with the XPN festival now, as they've both creeped inward from folk music and singer-songwriters, respectively, to modern folk-rocky stuff. It's fine with me as long as PFF keeps having a good Celtic act or three each summer. Plus, THE DECEMBERISTS!!! (And West Philly Orchestra!) Second frisbee game of the season last night. Wore a snazzy new knee brace. Felt like I looked much more athletic than usual. Played pretty well, too. And, unlike this time last week, I'm actually still able to walk! My grandmom's still in the hospital, but is hopefully gradually getting better? They've now finally identified all the things that went wrong that caused her to go to the hospital 10 days ago, and the things that happened since. None seem life-threatening and all seem to be healing. At this point we just have to get her out of there. Hospitals are bad places. Jeff's in town, and I've seen him twice so far! Lisa's in town for the summer, and though I haven't made plans with her yet, I ran into her and that crowd of friends on Friday night as they were bar-hopping and I was returning from a Shabbat dinner. Weird juxtaposition. It seems like everyone's in town! Well, except my roommate. My apartment is lonely. Good morning! |
| 8:12 am | |
| Monday, June 8th, 2009 | |
| 7:40 am | good odds According to fivethirtyeight.com, I live in the most female congressional district in America. 45 out of every 100 people are male, or to put it differently, for every 5 males there are over 6 females. This does accord with my observations. |
| Saturday, June 6th, 2009 | |
| 10:15 pm | These hazards of love never more will trouble us. The Decemberists! (Requisite blurry concert photo to be replaced with a better one when I get home, as I now have a real camera.)  EDIT: Less blurry pics!   |
| Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009 | |
| 11:51 am | Summer concerts Saturday June 6: Eileen Ivers @ Longwood Gardens Saturday June 6: The Decemberists @ Tower Theatre Thursday June 11: Eddie Vedder @ Tower Theatre Saturday July 11: Reel Big Fish @ Starlight Ballroom (or just see them in New York on the 9th, and take the 10th off since I'm probably going to New York on the 10th anyway...) Sunday July 19: Trout Fishing In America @ Upper Merion Township Building Thursday July 30: Xavier Rudd @ TLA Thursday August 13 through Sunday August 16: Philadelphia Folk Festival @ Old Pool Farm, Schwenksville, PA Wow, a lot of bad timing this season. (Including this Saturday, when I'd usually be upset that I have to choose between 2 of my 3 or 4 favorite acts, but instead I'm just upset that I might be too tired to go to either.) But there are still a couple of shows I'll probably go to. Who's in? |
| Thursday, May 28th, 2009 | |
| 3:13 pm | |
| Thursday, May 21st, 2009 | |
| 9:25 pm | menu for tomorrow night * Baked marinated tofu * Quinoa pilaf * Sweet carrots * Shepherdess pie (layers of brown rice, corn, refried beans, cheese, and mashed sweet potatoes) * Challah, wine, and perhaps something for dessert And I'm cooking the first four. See, when I say I can't cook, I just mean that I have a very limited repertoire. But what I have? Can be good. |
| Wednesday, May 6th, 2009 | |
| 1:10 pm | |
