I Am Large, I Contain Multitudes

[I was thinking about posting this friendslocked, but... what the heck.]

Today is Tisha B'Av, which commemorates the destruction of both the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem, as well as a host of other catastrophes of Jewish history.

What I want to write about here, though, is not the religious aspect, but the fasting.

Three weeks ago (June 29) was the minor fast day of 17 Tammuz. For the minor fast days, especially in the summer, I often will do a liquid fast rather than the traditional not-even-water.

One of the interesting things about religious fast days is that by the time I get to the end of them, I invariably feel like I could keep going pretty easily. The first 24 hours are the hardest, no?

( So I successfully did ~4 days on liquids-only at the end of June. )

( It was... interesting, but tiring. )

So, yeah, as for today, I'm continuing to drink water, but nothing else. A different sort of experience. (I had a massage appointment with chaiya 10 days ago where she expressed serious concern about my hydration levels, as well as muscle tension and usage patterns in general, so I'm sticking with the water.) Also, work is officially closed until 1pm today, so I think I'll go put laundry in -- if there's still time! -- and then come back and stretch and rest until I need to go anywhere else. Still haven't decided whether to do the shul break-fast tonight; I think I'll just wait and see whether I feel like it, or if I have a better impulse by then. ETA: Now, of course, surrealestate's post about kimchi is making me think about sushi and Korean places. :-)

Every year around Thanksgiving, I say to myself, "This year is going to be different." This year, I did my first gift shopping the first weekend of December and I thought, "Hey, I'm on track, look at me, I could actually have some gifts shipped out early this year." ( Yet at 4:30pm on December 24, there I was, still wrapping family gifts. )

Sigh.

I wrote a blanket apology for this phenomenon two years ago, most of which is still generally applicable. ( The question is, *why*? )

Well, at least my mom called me this afternoon to say that they got my package today (in California! w00t!) and were really pleased and touched. (Also yesterday, when I called my dad, he reiterated how much he absolutely LOVED the book I sent him last month for his birthday, which he is still finishing reading... so I felt happy to have done well by him on that one. It's always nice to actually hit one out of the park.) So... happy Boxing Day!

I'm supposed to be at a party right now, but... I woke up with a sore throat this morning, and though it wore off by midmorning, it's generally the sign of an incipient cold. Which I don't want to (a) share around nor (b) make worse, on top of being generally run-down from the preceding week's medical adventures. Despite the 2-hour nap I took this afternoon, I'm still tired enough that by 7:30 I was actually in tears at the idea of mustering the koach to go out and spend even an hour at the party. :-} It's rare enough for me to run out of energy, particularly social energy, that I really have to listen when I do. So, I'm sending regrets with ablock to the hostess and host, and likewise to the rest of you I would have liked to see there.

I had the Plague most of last week. ( moderately gory details ) But by Friday I was on the mend (physically, if still bottoming out emotionally, but that's also much improved now as PMS Day is past and my general reserves are bouncing back). Got in some R&R this weekend, thanks in part to having bagged on lunacon -- and the Major Work Event went off successfully on Sunday night. So for this couple of days, we're doing several kinds of post-event cleanup and enjoying being able to leave at 5:30pm again.

Tonight: a mountain of laundry (literally, it's towering about 3 feet high at this point) and dinner with ablock before my 9:15pm rehearsal call. And it's sunny and mild out and I am, despite the lingering low-grade hacking cough, happy.

J is going on interview #4 this week -- at Columbia! *does the dance of joy* He's going down Wednesday afternoon, interviewing Thursday and some of Friday, returning Friday evening. (Interview trip #3 was March 5-7, to IU Bloomington. No further commentary on that for now, at least in the public record.)

And Thursday is Rosh Chodesh Nisan, which means Passover is barely 2 weeks away. On the one hand: Gah! On the other: I get an honest-to-God work vacation the entire week, much of which (after getting back from having both seders in Virginia, which I'm also much looking forward to) I expect to spend on housecleaning and general life maintenance, in the best possible ways... and admixed with judicious amounts of plain goofing off. Awww yeah. *dusts off the GameCube*

April calendaring to come next week. ;-)

It's been kind of a weird week.

The beginning of last week, I was in a blue funk for some days on end, but it has now (again) been resolved for the short term. A long-term resolution may be in the works, but no further update at the moment. :-)

Now that I've installed NoteWorthy Composer (the official music software of Honorable Menschen), last Thursday I wrote my first full piece of original music, an art-song sort of setting of my favorite section of Song of Songs (3:1-5). The arrangement/accompaniment needs some work (or editing by someone with more music theory than I have), but it's basically complete, which is exciting.

I've been sniffly for several days, and thought it might be allergies rather than a cold. Then, starting Friday, I started to feel a tad fevery and/or lightheaded. The fevery peaked at about 99.2 on Saturday, so it wasn't anything much -- but the lightheaded has continued to come and go. As a result, I missed a whole lot this weekend: at least two concerts (three if you count Booty Vortex) and three parties that I can think of. I'm really sorry, guys.

Last night I finished the first round of page proofs for queue (732 pages, avast!), and tomorrow I will pick up the corrections, which I will do my best to turn around by the end of the week. Today, though, I am catching up on other projects and housecleaning, including a test run of garlic chicken for Shabbat dinner this week.

It looks like my grandmother's funeral in Indiana is going to be scheduled for the first weekend of June. Plans should firm up in the next day or two.

This morning at about 7:15, I was trotting down Prospect St. trying to catch my subway so I could make my train... and I tripped and fell on my face. On the sidewalk.

No bleeding, no bone broken from what I can tell, but I bet it's going to bruise up nicely over the course of today. There's just a little visible abrasion on my left eyebrow (where my hair tends to cover it anyway), and my cheekbone has swelled up just enough that I can see it out of the corner of my eye. So everything's a bit tender there (to say the least; I probably could use an icepack, come to think of it). But my teeth seem okay and such, and I managed to miss my nose, so I think I got off pretty easily all things considered.

The guy who was walking behind me (whom, in fact, I had just passed in my hurry to get by, so it's a freaking lucky thing I didn't fall into the street in the first place) did not even PAUSE to see if I was okay, just kept on walking. Jerk! I think that upset me as much as anything else. :-P I wasn't in any pain to speak of, but so rattled that I was in tears all the way to South Station. (Doing fine now. Also, caught the commuter rail with no problem, thank goodness.)

However, I also seem to have broken my Treo (which was in my left front coat pocket, so I basically landed right on it). There's no visible damage to the screen, but it won't power up. I have a spare phone at home, but won't get back to that until tonight, so don't bother trying to call or SMS me.
EDIT: Duuude! I managed to reset the Treo and it works!!! What a relief! -- However, my eye is getting steadily more swollen; between that and the kohl-like red streak emanating from the corner, I could have gone as Cleopatra for Purim a couple days ago. :-/