when i was little, i used to watch a tv show called 'blue peter'. it had everything on it from collecting milk bottle tops in order to get a guide dog for the blind, to visiting ceylon with hrh princess anne on behalf of save the children fund. it showed you how to make a gift out of egg-cartons, paint and some tissue paper; and lit an advent crown each week before xmas. nice and english all that. i mention it because i remember seeing them present the world record attempt for the greatest number of plates that could be kept spinning simultaneously on a stick. the guy had to keep running around and touching up the ones that were slowing down, otherwise they would fall off and smash.
nu - in which order do you decide which plates to attend to?
work, and different issues within it?
personal health & fitness?
relationships near and far?
this week it has become clear to me (for this week at least) that the most important thing upon which i should concentrate is how to let nasty behaviour to me by others affect me like water off a duck's back (thank you labensons).
the problem is that, while my brain knows this, the reality gap between it and my feelings is wide.
w i d e
end of musing - have to get back to work
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Sunday, May 07, 2006
a walk in the park
sorry lis, no pix of piglet in the e.r., but a moment of happiness upon which to float off to bed.
ahf & siblings in weimar berlin. life is good. and you know that when he reaches you, you will swing him up into the air, and there will be laughing and hugs.
i really do have to stop this now and go to bed!
ahf & siblings in weimar berlin. life is good. and you know that when he reaches you, you will swing him up into the air, and there will be laughing and hugs.
i really do have to stop this now and go to bed!
happiness is a warm puppy?
just got back from the temple dinner dance. all mothers who have been to countless bnei mitzvah parties are experts at the electric slide. rabbis don't usually get invited to those parts of the celebration so i am not much good at that dance. in my day, as we fogeys say, you either did this skip and kick thing like clare out of altered images who was in gregory's girl, or you pogoed. i can pogo. just not in heels. and not in a dress. and not at the temple dinner dance. and not to "tears of a clown".
so i am reading through tomorrow's english papers (i do like the idea that i am reading the news before it is the news, plus i get to do the polygon puzzle before my mother!), and find this article about happiness. the writer - frank furedi - does seem to have a political perspective, especially since he suggests that as a current "buzz word" of the time, the government is pushing the vague idea of happiness as a way of covering up its lack of ideas. he does not hold back:
"Back in the 1940s and '50s, the big idea was the Welfare State. Today it is the Happy State. Stalin, who called himself the "constructor of happiness" would approve. So would the Controller in Huxley's Brave New World, who believed that making people happy was the precondition for stable government"
stalin and orwell in consecutive comments?! although he doesn't seem to think the tories can do any better. so, ok, he is slamming the politicians. but there are a couple of paragraphs that got me thinking ...
"People have always pursued happiness. Policy makers have always hoped their initiatives would make people happy. But happiness was not seen as an end in itself. Teachers hoped that their students would be happy with their experience but did not set out to teach their pupils how to be happy. Those charged with moral education were devoted to explaining the difference between good and bad but not to instructing children how to feel."
happiness was not an end in itself. that's the thing. i have to think about that a lot, and now am just writing as it comes to mind ... there are ideas like the messianic age and nirvana and heaven ... the ultimate reward is absolute peace and wholeness ... but not absolute in this life. a difference between slavery and freedom is that a slave is told to do or do not; while a free person is told this is what is going on, and then left to decide what to do.
maybe furedi is just poking us with a stick. he says that:
"Today's turn towards the management of people's internal life is motivated by moral disorientation and political exhaustion. Unimaginative politicians who are unable to decide what needs to be done - or implement the appropriate policies - feel more comfortable with instructing the public how it should feel."
and that
"Discontent and ambition have driven humanity to confront and overcome the challenges they faced. That is why people like the Controller in Brave New World want us live on a diet of "feelies" and "scent organs". That is also why we should be suspicious of experts who seek to colonise our internal life"
the british senses of freedom and justice are bound to feel piqued by analogies with totalitarian states real and imagined.
i, however, want to hear more about this "moral disorientation" to which he refers. and who does he believe should be charged with moral education today?
i also need to think about how i would define happiness. i just punched the word into google and got 106,000,000 results. some of the titles on the first page:
finding happiness and self-actualisation
you are amazing - don't let anyone or anything take that away from you! @ committoyourself.com
70 day life makeover
a guide to having it all
be happy - create your ideal life
20 minute breakthrough - uncover miracle that melts mental roadblocks and live your dreams now
authentic happiness - using the new positive psychology
the rational basis of happiness
the happiness project
and from the definition given at answers.com:
2. An agreeable feeling or condition of the soul arising from good fortune or propitious happening of any kind; the possession of those circumstances or that state of being which is attended with enjoyment; the state of being happy; contentment; joyful satisfaction; felicity; blessedness.
o dear, i am getting tired just as i am getting interested.
this kind of happiness seems to centre on the self, and have little connection to anyone or anything else except in how they affect this happiness.
is it healthy to have this feeling all the time?
is it an escape from the unpleasant things in the world?
today i was listening to the cd of the tertiary phase of hitch-hiker's guide to the galaxy. near the end, ford prefect tries to explain to arthur that the reason nobody can see slartibartfast's spaceship parked behind the sight-screen at lords cricket ground is due to a phenomenon called a "somebody else's problem". it works through the fact that people don't want to see things that force them out of the status quo, and so they actually do not see them. much easier than making a spaceship invisible.
anyway, thoughts of drugs and drink and nicotine and sugar and carbs all being used to numb ourselves to the painful things in life ... the good things are an antidote, i.e., to relieve or counteract; a remedy against - but they do not obliterate all traces.
a warm puppy would be lovely right now, though :-)
good night.
so i am reading through tomorrow's english papers (i do like the idea that i am reading the news before it is the news, plus i get to do the polygon puzzle before my mother!), and find this article about happiness. the writer - frank furedi - does seem to have a political perspective, especially since he suggests that as a current "buzz word" of the time, the government is pushing the vague idea of happiness as a way of covering up its lack of ideas. he does not hold back:
"Back in the 1940s and '50s, the big idea was the Welfare State. Today it is the Happy State. Stalin, who called himself the "constructor of happiness" would approve. So would the Controller in Huxley's Brave New World, who believed that making people happy was the precondition for stable government"
stalin and orwell in consecutive comments?! although he doesn't seem to think the tories can do any better. so, ok, he is slamming the politicians. but there are a couple of paragraphs that got me thinking ...
"People have always pursued happiness. Policy makers have always hoped their initiatives would make people happy. But happiness was not seen as an end in itself. Teachers hoped that their students would be happy with their experience but did not set out to teach their pupils how to be happy. Those charged with moral education were devoted to explaining the difference between good and bad but not to instructing children how to feel."
happiness was not an end in itself. that's the thing. i have to think about that a lot, and now am just writing as it comes to mind ... there are ideas like the messianic age and nirvana and heaven ... the ultimate reward is absolute peace and wholeness ... but not absolute in this life. a difference between slavery and freedom is that a slave is told to do or do not; while a free person is told this is what is going on, and then left to decide what to do.
maybe furedi is just poking us with a stick. he says that:
"Today's turn towards the management of people's internal life is motivated by moral disorientation and political exhaustion. Unimaginative politicians who are unable to decide what needs to be done - or implement the appropriate policies - feel more comfortable with instructing the public how it should feel."
and that
"Discontent and ambition have driven humanity to confront and overcome the challenges they faced. That is why people like the Controller in Brave New World want us live on a diet of "feelies" and "scent organs". That is also why we should be suspicious of experts who seek to colonise our internal life"
the british senses of freedom and justice are bound to feel piqued by analogies with totalitarian states real and imagined.
i, however, want to hear more about this "moral disorientation" to which he refers. and who does he believe should be charged with moral education today?
i also need to think about how i would define happiness. i just punched the word into google and got 106,000,000 results. some of the titles on the first page:
finding happiness and self-actualisation
you are amazing - don't let anyone or anything take that away from you! @ committoyourself.com
70 day life makeover
a guide to having it all
be happy - create your ideal life
20 minute breakthrough - uncover miracle that melts mental roadblocks and live your dreams now
authentic happiness - using the new positive psychology
the rational basis of happiness
the happiness project
and from the definition given at answers.com:
2. An agreeable feeling or condition of the soul arising from good fortune or propitious happening of any kind; the possession of those circumstances or that state of being which is attended with enjoyment; the state of being happy; contentment; joyful satisfaction; felicity; blessedness.
o dear, i am getting tired just as i am getting interested.
this kind of happiness seems to centre on the self, and have little connection to anyone or anything else except in how they affect this happiness.
is it healthy to have this feeling all the time?
is it an escape from the unpleasant things in the world?
today i was listening to the cd of the tertiary phase of hitch-hiker's guide to the galaxy. near the end, ford prefect tries to explain to arthur that the reason nobody can see slartibartfast's spaceship parked behind the sight-screen at lords cricket ground is due to a phenomenon called a "somebody else's problem". it works through the fact that people don't want to see things that force them out of the status quo, and so they actually do not see them. much easier than making a spaceship invisible.
anyway, thoughts of drugs and drink and nicotine and sugar and carbs all being used to numb ourselves to the painful things in life ... the good things are an antidote, i.e., to relieve or counteract; a remedy against - but they do not obliterate all traces.
a warm puppy would be lovely right now, though :-)
good night.
Saturday, May 06, 2006
bunny ears in petosky
the 10th of may would have been ahf's 79th birthday. i tried to send this picture to a number of friends, and many of them could not see it on their computers so i decided to put it up here.
this is my father and his mother. a person always with a book, and always with a sense of humour.
this is my father and his mother. a person always with a book, and always with a sense of humour.
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
les miserables
don't think it is an apocryphal story ... heard it from my father z"l. years ago, after the lockerbie bombing (my father had a proselyte who died on that flight), americans stopped travelling to europe. tourism went waaaaay down. some time later, a group of american rabbis considered a trip to london. the organisers wanted to make an extremely attractive package, and asked what elements were necessary. word came to them that theatre tickets for the hottest show in town - a show called "lemmy's rabbi" - could do the trick. sadly, the organisers could find no such show on shaftesbury avenue ...
it's been an interesting week, in the chinese curse sense of the word. all the stress finally got to me, and instead of grouping in my back and immobilising me that way, it decided to try a new tactic, and raised my blood sugar until i got dehydrated and fainted! thus i spent the night on a gurney in a corridor at the e.r. no beds available. still, i got to meet eddie from dublin, and a perky young woman who announced that she was my p.c.a. (whatever that may be); and we (there were about 6 of us by the end of the night) got to hear the nurses trying to get info out of the juiced-up guys (what did you take? was it drink or drugs? did you take drugs? don't take your pants off!).
lesson to learn? how to deal better with stress. any suggestions?
p.s. qpr's season over, and ended badly with no wins in last eleven matches. now for the world cup, and already england have lost their best striker and the next best may not be fit by then. i think it will be another win for brazil. i never make predictions. i do feel, however, that they play the most beautiful football.
it's been an interesting week, in the chinese curse sense of the word. all the stress finally got to me, and instead of grouping in my back and immobilising me that way, it decided to try a new tactic, and raised my blood sugar until i got dehydrated and fainted! thus i spent the night on a gurney in a corridor at the e.r. no beds available. still, i got to meet eddie from dublin, and a perky young woman who announced that she was my p.c.a. (whatever that may be); and we (there were about 6 of us by the end of the night) got to hear the nurses trying to get info out of the juiced-up guys (what did you take? was it drink or drugs? did you take drugs? don't take your pants off!).
lesson to learn? how to deal better with stress. any suggestions?
p.s. qpr's season over, and ended badly with no wins in last eleven matches. now for the world cup, and already england have lost their best striker and the next best may not be fit by then. i think it will be another win for brazil. i never make predictions. i do feel, however, that they play the most beautiful football.
Friday, April 21, 2006
past and present celebrations
er, just found out that the post-prandial pesach puking is actually an official holiday of sorts called Maimouna. tried to type link but my html is a bit poorly and the link is so long it wouldn't fit. what can i tell you about it? hang on a sec - let me do a bit of cut-and-paste ...
"Maimouna: A Post-Passover Celebration
An exuberant Sephardic custom whose origins are the subject of debate
By Lesli Koppelman Ross
(on mylearning.com)
The Moroccan Jews are known for Maimouna, the exuberant festival held on the evening and day after Pesach, and whose origins are unclear. According to one explanation, it is the yahrzeit (anniversary of the death) of Maimon ben Joseph, the father of the great Jewish philosopher Maimonides (Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, also known by his acronym Rambam), a scholar in his own right who lived in Fez (Morocco) and wrote on Jewish-Islamic relations. He died around 1170.
Others say Maimouna is derived from the Arabic word for wealth and good fortune (literally "protected by God," ma'amoun). Since Pesach is the beginning of the new agricultural year, when the world is judged for produce, it is a time to pray for plentiful crops, symbolic of general prosperity.
Still others connect Maimouna with the word emunah ("belief"), claiming it celebrates belief in Israel's redemption. Along the same lines, there is also support (said to be traced to Maimonides' explanation) for the word being an Arabic adaptation of the phrase Ani ma'amin (I believe), the classic expression of faith in the coming of the messiah (ana for ani, placed after the verb ma'amin, as is common in Arabic, yielding ma'amin ana, which becames maimouna in the local Judeo dialect). It may have been a greeting exchanged to bolster one another's disappointment that Passover had come and gone without the long-anticipated return to Jerusalem.
Dining tables were decorated with flowers, wheat stalks, and sometimes live fish in bowls (this time symbolizing birth and fertility). Golden rings were hidden in a bowl containing flour, suggesting hoped for wealth or blessings. A dairy meal of buttermilk, sweets, and special pancakes called muflita served with honey was accompanied by singing, dancing, and visiting with friends.
The Libyans made a challah-likeround loaf with a hard-boiled egg secured in the center with strips of dough. Single men and women received blessings that they would be married in the year ahead. Women wore their fanciest clothes, girls donned white, and children dressed in costumes like the Berbers (native North Africans) and Arabs who shared their celebration and provided flowers, milk, butter, honey, wheat, and other produce for the Jews."
i'm pretty sure we have sefardi roots ... those german ancestors that went east from spain in the fifteenth century. of course we cannot trace anyone back before 1815 ...
ah well - that was today (or yesterday really). now for tomorrow (or today). the queen has her actual 80th birthday. read some lovely tributes in the telegraph and the times. and - don't tell - i sent her a congratulatory e-mail via her web-site. got sent to a page which told me that she had told her web-site people to thank me on her behalf ;-) . hey - i may have been born in the usa, but my mother was born in england, so at least half of me can wish the queen well!
"Maimouna: A Post-Passover Celebration
An exuberant Sephardic custom whose origins are the subject of debate
By Lesli Koppelman Ross
(on mylearning.com)
The Moroccan Jews are known for Maimouna, the exuberant festival held on the evening and day after Pesach, and whose origins are unclear. According to one explanation, it is the yahrzeit (anniversary of the death) of Maimon ben Joseph, the father of the great Jewish philosopher Maimonides (Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, also known by his acronym Rambam), a scholar in his own right who lived in Fez (Morocco) and wrote on Jewish-Islamic relations. He died around 1170.
Others say Maimouna is derived from the Arabic word for wealth and good fortune (literally "protected by God," ma'amoun). Since Pesach is the beginning of the new agricultural year, when the world is judged for produce, it is a time to pray for plentiful crops, symbolic of general prosperity.
Still others connect Maimouna with the word emunah ("belief"), claiming it celebrates belief in Israel's redemption. Along the same lines, there is also support (said to be traced to Maimonides' explanation) for the word being an Arabic adaptation of the phrase Ani ma'amin (I believe), the classic expression of faith in the coming of the messiah (ana for ani, placed after the verb ma'amin, as is common in Arabic, yielding ma'amin ana, which becames maimouna in the local Judeo dialect). It may have been a greeting exchanged to bolster one another's disappointment that Passover had come and gone without the long-anticipated return to Jerusalem.
Dining tables were decorated with flowers, wheat stalks, and sometimes live fish in bowls (this time symbolizing birth and fertility). Golden rings were hidden in a bowl containing flour, suggesting hoped for wealth or blessings. A dairy meal of buttermilk, sweets, and special pancakes called muflita served with honey was accompanied by singing, dancing, and visiting with friends.
The Libyans made a challah-likeround loaf with a hard-boiled egg secured in the center with strips of dough. Single men and women received blessings that they would be married in the year ahead. Women wore their fanciest clothes, girls donned white, and children dressed in costumes like the Berbers (native North Africans) and Arabs who shared their celebration and provided flowers, milk, butter, honey, wheat, and other produce for the Jews."
i'm pretty sure we have sefardi roots ... those german ancestors that went east from spain in the fifteenth century. of course we cannot trace anyone back before 1815 ...
ah well - that was today (or yesterday really). now for tomorrow (or today). the queen has her actual 80th birthday. read some lovely tributes in the telegraph and the times. and - don't tell - i sent her a congratulatory e-mail via her web-site. got sent to a page which told me that she had told her web-site people to thank me on her behalf ;-) . hey - i may have been born in the usa, but my mother was born in england, so at least half of me can wish the queen well!
no woman is an island!
for the first time i am part of (terribly briefly, but nevertheless part of) a dialogue on someone's blog. Sandra Scoppettone's Writing Thoughts: Writing Again i find writing so difficult. to find the words that fit is a painful process. to make the commitment of writing things down, and then let other people see them and judge them, is scary.
one of the reasons i enjoy blogging is that it is stream-of-consciousness thinking and feeling sent out into the abyss. according to the site meter, almost 300 people have passed through the page. there were maybe a couple of comments that were not spam, and even the spam was lean.
yesterday my mother said (yes, she is still here, but returning to england tomorrow :-( ) that she thought blogging was extremely self-indulgent. i jumped to its defence, noting the information i get from political blogs, and the connections i may make with other bloggers, and the democracy of cyberspace, and cetera. i also note the delete button for sad needy desperate people who spew forth their guts. judge not, etc.
anyway
greetings and felicitations to all, especially those who feel sick tonight because they overdosed on pizza and pasta and all things not matza at the final official end of passover. confidential to my greek orthodox friends - i hope the meat will be delicious on sunday after 40 days of herbivorousness, and also that you don't get sick from too much flesh too soon. happy easter!
one of the reasons i enjoy blogging is that it is stream-of-consciousness thinking and feeling sent out into the abyss. according to the site meter, almost 300 people have passed through the page. there were maybe a couple of comments that were not spam, and even the spam was lean.
yesterday my mother said (yes, she is still here, but returning to england tomorrow :-( ) that she thought blogging was extremely self-indulgent. i jumped to its defence, noting the information i get from political blogs, and the connections i may make with other bloggers, and the democracy of cyberspace, and cetera. i also note the delete button for sad needy desperate people who spew forth their guts. judge not, etc.
anyway
greetings and felicitations to all, especially those who feel sick tonight because they overdosed on pizza and pasta and all things not matza at the final official end of passover. confidential to my greek orthodox friends - i hope the meat will be delicious on sunday after 40 days of herbivorousness, and also that you don't get sick from too much flesh too soon. happy easter!
Monday, April 17, 2006
fibonacci fever?
just read an article in the ny times about these little fibonacci poems. said the mathematical sequence is well-known by middle schoolers and bela bartok. sadly, i never went to middle school.
this is the trendy site to see:
http://gottabook.blogspot.com/
the times describes the fibonacci sequence as follows:
"The number of syllables in each line must equal the sum of the syllables in the two previous lines. So, start with 0 and 1, add them together to get your next number, which is also 1, 2 comes next, then add 2 and 1 to get 3, and so on."
ps qpr didn't lose this weekend :-)
this is the trendy site to see:
http://gottabook.blogspot.com/
the times describes the fibonacci sequence as follows:
"The number of syllables in each line must equal the sum of the syllables in the two previous lines. So, start with 0 and 1, add them together to get your next number, which is also 1, 2 comes next, then add 2 and 1 to get 3, and so on."
ps qpr didn't lose this weekend :-)
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
mango mangle
tonight, for the very first time, all by myself, without parent or restaurant or supermarket help, i peeled and ate a mango.
what a mess!
juice dripping down my chin, and mango hair sticking in my teeth like badly-shucked corn as i tried to get the last edible bits off the stone ... i was most disappointed that my family did not have a culinary heritage that had within it a strong mango-peeling instinct. the mango was, however, delicious!
meanwhile, although the above was supposed to be the full sum of my current procrastination, i cannot go back to work just yet. this is my first pesach that i have hosted, and now i am beginning to understand. i am hard-boiling eggs as i type, and soon must return to my broom to sweep before i clean before the tables can be set up. i have my massively rude horseradish root, but still need to find silver dip and wash all the plates ... and wash the mango juice off my face and hands.
to all a zissen pesach and a very happy easter!
what a mess!
juice dripping down my chin, and mango hair sticking in my teeth like badly-shucked corn as i tried to get the last edible bits off the stone ... i was most disappointed that my family did not have a culinary heritage that had within it a strong mango-peeling instinct. the mango was, however, delicious!
meanwhile, although the above was supposed to be the full sum of my current procrastination, i cannot go back to work just yet. this is my first pesach that i have hosted, and now i am beginning to understand. i am hard-boiling eggs as i type, and soon must return to my broom to sweep before i clean before the tables can be set up. i have my massively rude horseradish root, but still need to find silver dip and wash all the plates ... and wash the mango juice off my face and hands.
to all a zissen pesach and a very happy easter!
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
waiting for the man to come and fix the door
yes, today is my day off, and i am waiting for the man to come and fix the garage door. i had planned to stay home today to do some vital cleaning in preparation for the visit of several family members for pesach. the problem is - now i am waiting for the man to come, i cannot begin any other projects. what if he rings the bell and i am standing there in my cleaning clothes in the middle of flexing my little broom? i should note that 'cleaning clothes' means something minimal and due for a wash - so i won't mind doing the dirty work. don't worry, though, for in my mind i am figuring out what other projects should be so that the moment the man leaves i can think about which one to do first :-)
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
welcome orlia simcha
for the first time in nearly 33 years our family has a new baby. she was born in berlin on saturday night, and everyone seems to be doing well.
my cousin steve was the one to point out the significance of being born in berlin, the city from which her grandfather z"l escaped just before the start of ww2.
my mother is convinced that one day they will all move to israel, but for now we are back in berlin. and i am an aunt! welcome to the world little baby - i hope i get to meet you someday soon.
my cousin steve was the one to point out the significance of being born in berlin, the city from which her grandfather z"l escaped just before the start of ww2.
my mother is convinced that one day they will all move to israel, but for now we are back in berlin. and i am an aunt! welcome to the world little baby - i hope i get to meet you someday soon.
Friday, March 17, 2006
tai shan debut
this picture is from a couple of months ago. nevertheless i post it now because i feel the need for some peace and serenity, and for some reason i find them when looking at and being with pandas.
breathe in. breathe out. smile.
breathe in. breathe out. smile.
Thursday, March 16, 2006
jonah's pk save
haven't had a pic for ages. i like treppenwitz's 'photo friday' ... maybe i should use the digicam i carry around?!
anyway, something that makes me happy - a superb moment from a queens park rangers player.
paul jones has been making quite a few blinding saves recently for the 'r's. thank you!
anyway, something that makes me happy - a superb moment from a queens park rangers player.
paul jones has been making quite a few blinding saves recently for the 'r's. thank you!
supermarket strategy
north america is full of supermarkets the size of aircraft hangers (although they seem small when compared to a wal-mart). once or twice a month, i am compelled to enter such edifices. this is because when i open the door of my fridge, i see only a couple of jam-jars containing one last cracker-sized smear, some old bottles of salad-dressing, 4 triangles of vache qui rie lite and many cans of the tropicana sugar-free lemonade that causes volcanic eruptions in my guts. o yes, and a kodak waterproof instant camera with the sell-by date of some time in 1996.
i'm not very good at supermarket shopping. i'm not really any good at any kind of shopping. i can, however, with great patience, be trained. i have learned not to enter the aisles that have chocolate in them. i have learned not to enter the supermarket that has maltesers and hob nobs in it. the greatest tool i have been given with regard to success in supermarket shopping is "the list". it is a strange idea - write down what you run out of as you go along, and take the list with you so you can get what you need. sadly, i don't usually do that, which is why last night i unpacked and found i had bought 7 tomatoes, 3 little squirty lemon juice bottles, diet fudgsicles (2 extra for free), party size hummus for garlic lovers, 6 packets of multigrain pita, bananas and a tube of preparation h. o, and a people magazine, strictly for my mother of course :-) . meanwhile, i asked the checkout person why when they ask 'paper or plastic?' and you say 'paper', they put the paper bag in the plastic bag? she said that they have to do it cos the paper bags don't have any handles.
i'm not very good at supermarket shopping. i'm not really any good at any kind of shopping. i can, however, with great patience, be trained. i have learned not to enter the aisles that have chocolate in them. i have learned not to enter the supermarket that has maltesers and hob nobs in it. the greatest tool i have been given with regard to success in supermarket shopping is "the list". it is a strange idea - write down what you run out of as you go along, and take the list with you so you can get what you need. sadly, i don't usually do that, which is why last night i unpacked and found i had bought 7 tomatoes, 3 little squirty lemon juice bottles, diet fudgsicles (2 extra for free), party size hummus for garlic lovers, 6 packets of multigrain pita, bananas and a tube of preparation h. o, and a people magazine, strictly for my mother of course :-) . meanwhile, i asked the checkout person why when they ask 'paper or plastic?' and you say 'paper', they put the paper bag in the plastic bag? she said that they have to do it cos the paper bags don't have any handles.
Thursday, March 09, 2006
bits 'n' bobs
was having so much fun checking out the bobs, i forgot what the bits were ... hang on a sec ... er ... o yes indeed, here are a couple:
was really sad to hear about the death of kirby puckett - just a couple of years older than i am and died of a stroke. he was a hall of fame baseball player, and the kind of player i really admire: he didn't have the most athletic build, but he made the most of what he had. he stayed with one team for his whole career. most of all, he always looked like he loved what he did. especially after the current round of european champions cup footie (you go barca! three cheers for ronaldinho!!!), and seeing all the talented mercenaries who are brilliant at what they do, but seem to lack the connection to the joy they might feel and the privilege of having fans to support them ... well i feel the loss of a sporting hero like kirby particularly deeply.
went back for a week on phase one of the south beach diet. yet again, the first day i returned to phase two i had unbelievably intense indigestion. must remember that however much i love bananas, they are not the best way for me to start phase twos :-( good news is that i think i have now lost over 30 lbs aka 2 stone & a bit
hurrah family is coming for seder ... aaaaargh my first ever seder in my own home and i shall have to cook. wonder if the valentine's day menu can be revisited?! my mother did say she would take care of the matza balls though. as with everyone, MY MOTHER MAKES THE BEST MATZA BALLS EVER! they are so good that when my sister and i became vegetarians, we would not give up these delicacies, even though they were cooked in chicken soup! instead, n. said that the soup was like bathwater - the chicken sat in it for a while, and then got out/was helped out. thus she felt able to eat them. i, on the other hand, said that was rubbish. my great rationalisation was to take the matza balls out of the soup and rinse the bathwater off them under the tap before i could eat them!
now for the bobs ... i put bob into google and here are the random entries of interest i found on the first page:
bob dylan ... say no more
the 'bob the builder' website would not load (can you fix it? :-) )
a very weird cartoon called bob the angry flower
cannot choose between the bob geldof and the bob marley sites to link to so please look them up yourself
finally, bob vila's tips on chain saws
was really sad to hear about the death of kirby puckett - just a couple of years older than i am and died of a stroke. he was a hall of fame baseball player, and the kind of player i really admire: he didn't have the most athletic build, but he made the most of what he had. he stayed with one team for his whole career. most of all, he always looked like he loved what he did. especially after the current round of european champions cup footie (you go barca! three cheers for ronaldinho!!!), and seeing all the talented mercenaries who are brilliant at what they do, but seem to lack the connection to the joy they might feel and the privilege of having fans to support them ... well i feel the loss of a sporting hero like kirby particularly deeply.
went back for a week on phase one of the south beach diet. yet again, the first day i returned to phase two i had unbelievably intense indigestion. must remember that however much i love bananas, they are not the best way for me to start phase twos :-( good news is that i think i have now lost over 30 lbs aka 2 stone & a bit
hurrah family is coming for seder ... aaaaargh my first ever seder in my own home and i shall have to cook. wonder if the valentine's day menu can be revisited?! my mother did say she would take care of the matza balls though. as with everyone, MY MOTHER MAKES THE BEST MATZA BALLS EVER! they are so good that when my sister and i became vegetarians, we would not give up these delicacies, even though they were cooked in chicken soup! instead, n. said that the soup was like bathwater - the chicken sat in it for a while, and then got out/was helped out. thus she felt able to eat them. i, on the other hand, said that was rubbish. my great rationalisation was to take the matza balls out of the soup and rinse the bathwater off them under the tap before i could eat them!
now for the bobs ... i put bob into google and here are the random entries of interest i found on the first page:
bob dylan ... say no more
the 'bob the builder' website would not load (can you fix it? :-) )
a very weird cartoon called bob the angry flower
cannot choose between the bob geldof and the bob marley sites to link to so please look them up yourself
finally, bob vila's tips on chain saws
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
emerson lishma
luckily for my job, the voiceless part of the stinking cold i have was during my day off. tomorrow, i can make use of the ample supply of tissues in my office as the catarrh comes to the fore. meanwhile, in between feeling a bit sorry for myself, mainly because my throat was too sore to enjoy singing marlene dietrich songs deeply and badly, i decided to read a book.
d. has noted that since we met, i have read an awful lot of childrens' books. ok i did reread all the harry potters again but that was because the paperbacks were next to her bed. and i discovered the 'lionboy' books, and 'inkheart'; and reread the philip pullman trilogy. today, however, for some strange reason, probably all the advil, i picked up a collection of emerson's essays and decided to read 'self reliance'. apparently i read some of this at university, but have no recollection of that whatsoever. o well. i couldn't sleep and this is what i read.
"to believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, - that is genius."
&
"trust thyself ... accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events."
at this point, i had to remind myself what transcendentalism was.
ok - so emerson was living in an era and an area where the forging of a truly american literary and philosophical identity was a contemporary cause. o dear i'm starting to sound a bit victorian. i guess what i am trying to say is that i can identify with his call to rebel against the status quo:
"society is a jointstock company, in which the members agree, for the better securing of his bread to each shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater. the virtue in most request is conformity. self-reliance is its aversion. it loves not realities and creators, but names and customs ...
...whoso would be a man must be a non-conformist. he who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness, but must explore if it be goodness. nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind."
wouldn't it be luverly to have the time and resources to speak out. enough money to be able to say no without fear, someone to clean and cook and wash for you, and someone to hold you and say 'there, there, m'love, they are all horrid and you are wonderful.'
nevertheless, despite his style coming across to me today as a pompous git, i rather like him so far. more, perhaps, when i have read more. time now to search through the medicine box and see if i still have any english sudafed ...
d. has noted that since we met, i have read an awful lot of childrens' books. ok i did reread all the harry potters again but that was because the paperbacks were next to her bed. and i discovered the 'lionboy' books, and 'inkheart'; and reread the philip pullman trilogy. today, however, for some strange reason, probably all the advil, i picked up a collection of emerson's essays and decided to read 'self reliance'. apparently i read some of this at university, but have no recollection of that whatsoever. o well. i couldn't sleep and this is what i read.
"to believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, - that is genius."
&
"trust thyself ... accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events."
at this point, i had to remind myself what transcendentalism was.
ok - so emerson was living in an era and an area where the forging of a truly american literary and philosophical identity was a contemporary cause. o dear i'm starting to sound a bit victorian. i guess what i am trying to say is that i can identify with his call to rebel against the status quo:
"society is a jointstock company, in which the members agree, for the better securing of his bread to each shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater. the virtue in most request is conformity. self-reliance is its aversion. it loves not realities and creators, but names and customs ...
...whoso would be a man must be a non-conformist. he who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness, but must explore if it be goodness. nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind."
wouldn't it be luverly to have the time and resources to speak out. enough money to be able to say no without fear, someone to clean and cook and wash for you, and someone to hold you and say 'there, there, m'love, they are all horrid and you are wonderful.'
nevertheless, despite his style coming across to me today as a pompous git, i rather like him so far. more, perhaps, when i have read more. time now to search through the medicine box and see if i still have any english sudafed ...
Friday, February 17, 2006
wonder of wonders
... or perhaps miracle of miracles ... those of you who actually know me, well, you may need to sit down. last tuesday 14th february, i cooked dinner for d. i made courgette (zucchini) soup, salmon with a dill/cucumber sauce, and a special dessert concoction involving bananas, raspberries & baileys/cocoa sauce (the only part that was actually not ok for south beach diet phase one!). d. admitted to me that she was really surprised. it also tasted really good. yes, i cooked dinner. not the same as making dinner - have done that for years - pasta in boiling water & sauce from jars ... pre-mixed salad from plastic bags with fat-free dressing from squeezy plastic bottles ... opening of tins and peeling off of plastic wrappers. when making dinner, there's nothing that i peeled or sliced or mixed or chopped or tasted as i went along to make sure it was coming along ok. i cooked. and we ate at the dining table, with a cloth and with napkin rings; with nice wine-glasses and candles burning.
enough already. it was a success. the problem is, of course, now that i have proven i can do it if i choose to ... i may have to do it again :-)
enough already. it was a success. the problem is, of course, now that i have proven i can do it if i choose to ... i may have to do it again :-)
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
now he's a yankee!
interesting test of loyalties when one of the best players from your most hated team joins the team you love. perhaps, since he looks so different having lost the captain caveman hair, one could pretend he was really someone else?
is it such a big deal? in the larger scheme of things - not really. and in the larger scheme of things - absolutely! the true fan understands :-)
is it such a big deal? in the larger scheme of things - not really. and in the larger scheme of things - absolutely! the true fan understands :-)
Thursday, January 05, 2006
it aint what you do, it's the way that you do it?
gosh but learning how the real world works and accepting what you have to do to survive is an enervating experience. every job has special people to whom special attention must be paid, and despite my pretensions of socialism i am not special enough to avoid such tasks. it would be nice to be able to afford integrity, but like brecht said - erst muss man essen, dann kommt die morale (hoping i spelled that correctly). first, you gotta eat! unless you are on the south beach diet of course :-) am a bit looser about the interpretation of the diet, but seem to have lost a bit and kept my sugars down. will find out more next week after check-up. meanwhile, everyone at work today said - my you do look *pause* well. or - wow you look *pause* healthy. i love that pause - the gosh-you're-not-such-a-fat-blob-anymore pause. go south beach!
the medical miracle of the week, however, is the first cure for hiccups that i have ever tried that actually worked. it is my great pleasure to share it with you now: d told me to hold my breath and swallow three times while i was holding my breath. not as easy as it sounded, but when i did it, away the hiccups went! and then today, a student was hiccupping in my class, and when she tried the cure it worked for her also. i am thrilled and delighted.
the medical miracle of the week, however, is the first cure for hiccups that i have ever tried that actually worked. it is my great pleasure to share it with you now: d told me to hold my breath and swallow three times while i was holding my breath. not as easy as it sounded, but when i did it, away the hiccups went! and then today, a student was hiccupping in my class, and when she tried the cure it worked for her also. i am thrilled and delighted.
miami piglet
happy new gregorian calendar year! or, as i never cease to remind people, a nice jewish boy born on december 25th - what would be happening to him 8 days later? certainly a reason for a toast.
speaking of toasting, d & i went on holiday together, and we are still speaking to each other :-) my first trip to miami beach. here piglet enjoys the brief respite from the freezing grey port woebegone weather.
speaking of toasting, d & i went on holiday together, and we are still speaking to each other :-) my first trip to miami beach. here piglet enjoys the brief respite from the freezing grey port woebegone weather.
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