Best laid plans and such
All those things I was gonna do during the holiday?
Didn't really happen.
Oh well, dem's da breaks.
I did have a nice relaxing vacation, however.
Towards the end of it, I went down to Virginia to spend New Year's Eve with Uncle Gerry and Aunt Vikki.
We went to a nice French restaurant where they were having a special chef's tasting menu, seven courses and all of them delightful.
I had a chance to check out some really neat books at Vikki and Gerry's house.
For one thing, Gerry got a copy of the new Koren siddur, which is a masterpiece of bilingual typography.
They're using the two classic Koren fonts for the Hebrew text, and Arno Pro for the English.
It got me to thinking again about Hebrew type and the inherent difficulties with the Hebrew alphabet.
I've started to research that stuff again, in hopes of doing a Hebrew project at the studio.
Another cool find was a leather-bound, handwritten Hebrew manuscript from the late 1700s, apparently written by a Jesuit missionary.
Gerry thinks it was done as an exercise in the study of Biblical Hebrew.
It contains some prayers that are obviously Christian, as well as the book of psalms.
The handwriting is very peculiar, with a different understanding of the Hebrew alphabet's anatomy than I'm used to and what I was taught in school.
To wit:
I'm back in the city and we're jamming.
The studio was buzzing with energy last week, which was really fun.
On Saturday we went on a snow-tubing and beer-tasting trip, which I for one enjoyed a lot.
Back to work now!
I'm working on a project involving lots of ornaments, and I get to draw the artwork for it.
I'm stoked that Josh has entrusted me with so much of the project.
Finally, I finally got my act together and signed up for Brazilian Jiujitsu.
The studio is about a 20-minute walk from home, or 5 minutes from the office.
I went to the first class last night.
There were about eight people all told, small room, very friendly but very intense.
I got dropped in the deep end of the pool, for sure.
I was pretty miserable for a lot of it, which is as it should be.
I had forgotten that feeling of being pushed to my physical limits, the frustration and the strain of it.
Took a while for endorphins to kick in, but by the end of the class I was feeling a lot better.
I'm sore all over today, which makes me happy.
In the past, any time I start doing martial arts after a break I spend a week being sore after the first class.
It's good pain.
The teacher seems cool and the guys training there seem pretty mellow in their attitude.
Sometimes you get these really macho competitive types, typical jocks, and I'm not into that.
These dudes were cool, and helped me learn some moves.
I'd say that last night's hour of class-time significantly increased my odds of winning a bar fight.
Not that I'd ever dream of starting one!
Noam's a lover, not a fighter.
But yeah, it's a very practical system, descended from Judo, focusing on grappling-take-downs, pins, choke-holds, submission and control holds and the like.
No punching or kicking, just knock the other guy down and get him immobilized as fast as possible.
The studio also teaches Muay Thai (Thai Kickboxing), and I'm going to check it out tonight.
We'll see how I hold up!
They offer classes in either BJJ or Muay Thai six days a week, so I can keep quite busy and get a well-rounded workout.
I doubt I'd go all six days-I need to ease into things, and the body needs its rest.
I wonder if anyone teaches Bartitsu in Brooklyn...(google google) hmm, apparently not.
I also want to check up on learning Hebrew calligraphy and lettering.
Perhaps JTS?
Didn't really happen.
Oh well, dem's da breaks.
I did have a nice relaxing vacation, however.
Towards the end of it, I went down to Virginia to spend New Year's Eve with Uncle Gerry and Aunt Vikki.
We went to a nice French restaurant where they were having a special chef's tasting menu, seven courses and all of them delightful.
I had a chance to check out some really neat books at Vikki and Gerry's house.
For one thing, Gerry got a copy of the new Koren siddur, which is a masterpiece of bilingual typography.
They're using the two classic Koren fonts for the Hebrew text, and Arno Pro for the English.
It got me to thinking again about Hebrew type and the inherent difficulties with the Hebrew alphabet.
I've started to research that stuff again, in hopes of doing a Hebrew project at the studio.
Another cool find was a leather-bound, handwritten Hebrew manuscript from the late 1700s, apparently written by a Jesuit missionary.
Gerry thinks it was done as an exercise in the study of Biblical Hebrew.
It contains some prayers that are obviously Christian, as well as the book of psalms.
The handwriting is very peculiar, with a different understanding of the Hebrew alphabet's anatomy than I'm used to and what I was taught in school.
To wit:
I'm back in the city and we're jamming.
The studio was buzzing with energy last week, which was really fun.
On Saturday we went on a snow-tubing and beer-tasting trip, which I for one enjoyed a lot.
Back to work now!
I'm working on a project involving lots of ornaments, and I get to draw the artwork for it.
I'm stoked that Josh has entrusted me with so much of the project.
Finally, I finally got my act together and signed up for Brazilian Jiujitsu.
The studio is about a 20-minute walk from home, or 5 minutes from the office.
I went to the first class last night.
There were about eight people all told, small room, very friendly but very intense.
I got dropped in the deep end of the pool, for sure.
I was pretty miserable for a lot of it, which is as it should be.
I had forgotten that feeling of being pushed to my physical limits, the frustration and the strain of it.
Took a while for endorphins to kick in, but by the end of the class I was feeling a lot better.
I'm sore all over today, which makes me happy.
In the past, any time I start doing martial arts after a break I spend a week being sore after the first class.
It's good pain.
The teacher seems cool and the guys training there seem pretty mellow in their attitude.
Sometimes you get these really macho competitive types, typical jocks, and I'm not into that.
These dudes were cool, and helped me learn some moves.
I'd say that last night's hour of class-time significantly increased my odds of winning a bar fight.
Not that I'd ever dream of starting one!
Noam's a lover, not a fighter.
But yeah, it's a very practical system, descended from Judo, focusing on grappling-take-downs, pins, choke-holds, submission and control holds and the like.
No punching or kicking, just knock the other guy down and get him immobilized as fast as possible.
The studio also teaches Muay Thai (Thai Kickboxing), and I'm going to check it out tonight.
We'll see how I hold up!
They offer classes in either BJJ or Muay Thai six days a week, so I can keep quite busy and get a well-rounded workout.
I doubt I'd go all six days-I need to ease into things, and the body needs its rest.
I wonder if anyone teaches Bartitsu in Brooklyn...(google google) hmm, apparently not.
I also want to check up on learning Hebrew calligraphy and lettering.
Perhaps JTS?