Deityblog

I'm just coming down off a glorious high from spending Shabbat with some of the greatest people I know. Yesterday was Dovie Shamberg's bar mitzvah at the kotel, so the whole family came in and lots of amazing chevre were there. After he did an incredible job with kriat haTorah at the kotel (in the blazing hot sun, which my now blazing red chest and face can attest to), we headed back up to the Tzemach Tzedek shul in the Old City for a lovely celebration and very good macrobiotic food. Got to chill with Eliyahu, Yosef, Shaul, Gershon and of course Shlayma and Miriam. Aron and Shoshana were so happy, they were floating on air. Dovie was a total pro, and thanked each one of his siblings for what they've taught him. He told Shlayma, "Thanks for letting me know what's right and wrong." Haha, so true. Avraham and Esther Sutton were there as well, and he gave a beautiful dvar Torah in his usual meditative, stream-of-consciousness style. I really miss learning from Avraham, and I told him so. Who knows, maybe we'll head out there for Shabbat sometime soon.

That night at the subsequent melava malka, Tova had me repeatedly hold her baby, feed him, and burp him. Apparently she has an agenda in getting me to be comfortable with babies. Sorry hon, not for awhile. Lots of other things to do before having kids, including Yaakov getting out of the army and traveling and in general being able to get a least a bit of my own shit together before not only giving birth to but being responsible for the life of another human being. At this point I can barely handle having cats.

Anyway, being around so many incredible people that I know well and feel comfortable with always spurs me to be my best self; I suppose that's often the way it is. So what to do with these feelings of inspiration?

~ CALL IBRAHIM
~ set up chavruta for real
~ have a Shavuot that puts the "holy" in "holiest motherfucking Shavuot ever"

Fun plans for tonight -- dropping off headshots at the home of a director to possibly be cast in a commercial (!), editing footage of "Some Girl(s)" with Michael, finishing cleaning the crap out of the old apartment with Yaakov and getting the new one ready for the arrival of Yish-to-the-I.

Dammit, no matter what I do I can't seem to get back into the blogging groove. Here are some updates:

The Orthodox Anarchist Has Left the Building
Went to Dan's Descent into Exile party the other night. Israel will definitely be a less fun and radical place without him, but I fully support his decision to leave and seek his fortune elsewhere. Dovide and Amy were there, and we made plans to learn together, which I'm very excited about, and which fulfills my stretch from last week -- to make a set time for learning each week. So yay!

Journaling vs. Blogging
Amy and I got into a discussion about journaling vs. blogging: which is more authentic and spiritually satisfying. I feel that I journal and blog for very different reasons. I journal to process, I blog to give people updates about my life, for the most part. Most of what I write in my journal is extremely personal, not stuff I would put up online. I write in there for release, and it's a very freeing and gratifying process. Blogging is also great, but why I'm less drawn to it is because a. I started this blog to keep in touch with friends all over the world, but b. I don't feel that many people are reading, so c. it's hard to focus on it, therefore d. I don't write and e. nobody reads and f. self-fulfilling prophecy self-fulfilled! But I do see the value in it and therefore am trying to break this cycle.

Pop Culture Crap
I'm just gonna say it, I know I should be too cool to give a crap, but I'm pissed that Melinda was kicked off American Idol. She was hands-down the best, she reminded me of a cross between Aretha and Tina Turner, and she got kicked off because she's not as cute or trendy as the other two, who are so saccharine and boring. Whatever, stupid show yields stupid results.

We've Moved...
...so don't go looking for us at our old place. We won't be there. Our new place is on 15 Eilat, and it's very purty, or at least will be when we put all the crap away and our new aron comes. I'll post chanukat habayit details soon.

3 Spiritually Constructive Things for Today:
~ Be productive at work. I know, it doesn't sound so "spiritual," but wasting time is not good for my soul.
~ Daven mincha.
~ Call Amy about chavruta with Dovide.

We shall see....