Tuesday through Saturday
Hello, folks! I'm back after a several-day hiatus. I've been writing (see my last post) ... just not here in LJ. So, let me catch you up.
Tuesday = voting
So, I voted for my first time in a polling place on Tuesday. All my other ballots have been cast absentee, so this was pretty exciting. I had to ask direction to find the station in Bethany's old elementary school, and when I finally did, the healthy staff said, "Why didn't you bring anyone with you?" Throughout the entire day, I think less than 100 people voted there. :-\ Statewide, less than 4% voted, and in Roanoke, less than 2,000 ballots were cast. Shows you the strength of the Democratic Senatorial primary, doesn't it? :)
Anyway, Jim Webb won, which disappoints me. Jim Webb = anti-Semitic Republican vs. Harris Miller = liberal (Jewish) Democrat. You ask how a Republican won the Democratic primary? The already-elected Democratic senators feel that Webb has the best chance of beating George Allen. But that doesn't cut it for me - I want a candidate that will do the right thing for our state and our country, and I just don't have faith in a "Reagan Democrat." :-\
Wednesday = staying home
Wednesday, I basically stayed home and chilled/was productive. I got some real work done on researching for my sermon, did some computer (mostly Magic) things, etc. 'Twas nice.
Thursday = errands
I was in kind of a funk on Thursday. I didn't really want to be leaving the house, but I ended up staying out for a significant part of the day. Mom and I dropped Bethany and her friend off at the movies, I tutored Bill, I had lunch with Mom (that was nice), and then Mom went shopping in the mall while I drove all the way home to drop Bethany's friend (our neighbor) off. I then turned around and drove all the way back to the mall (so, it was about 30-40 minutes in the car), spent a bit more time at the mall, went to the post office, and then finally came home.
I spent the next couple hours trying to find things to do other than write my sermon while I waited for phone tutoring to roll around. I eventually did do some writing, then I tutored for an hour, watched TV for about a half-hour, then talked to Jessica for an hour. I watched some more TV and went to bed having worked on my sermon hardly at all. :-\
Friday = catch-up and leading services
So, I woke up early on Friday to finish my sermon. I finished the first draft, tended to the house I'm house-sitting, ran some errands in town, came home, edited my sermon (not enough but enough if you know what I mean), did some Magic stuff, and went to services.
I arrived at Temple 25 minutes early so I could set the Torah and make sure all was ready to go. But, Dad left his key to the Temple at home (not thinking about it before we left), so we were outside waiting for someone with a key to show up. Congregants kept arriving until we had about twelve people outside praying that the president would show up soon. He finally did show up ... and he didn't have the key with him! So, he had to go home and get it. We finally got started about 15 minutes late.
Once we started, though, it was great. I had prepared myself really well with notes in my prayerbook, a little outline written (I always have to think about when to do Mi Shebeirach, the sermon, etc., so I did all the thinking ahead of time this time), and so forth. Leading the service was great - I felt so comfortable and natural up there. Every time I lead services, I feel more confidant that this is for me. The Torah reading went splendidly, and the sermon was all right (if a bit wordy and lengthy). Everyone (though there weren't many people) was impressed, and the oneg was nice and peaceful. We left pretty late and got home around 9:50/10:00 or so. It was really nice!
I got a great opportunity to talk to Jessica again, so that was nice - and then, before bed, I started reading one of my new D&D books. That's right, folks!
Today so far = said D&D books
I didn't get very far last night as I was pretty tired (remember I got up early). But, this morning I read for a couple hours and have learned about Truespeak magic, which I'm hoping to incorporate in some way into next year's game. Don't ask me how, yet - I'm still working it all out. But, I'm sure it's gonna be cool. :)
Today, the rest of the day = mostly having fun (and shopping)
So, the plan for the rest of the day: Hang out until Mom's done with her meeting downtown. Then, do some shopping for Dad (we need to pick up one more present and then buy the materials for our picnic at Peaks of Otter tomorrow). We'll bring the goods home and then the four of us will go out to Elizabeth's & Adam's house, where I'll do my thing and we'll all go swimming. Then, we'll go out to eat for Father's Day (tomorrow, we're picnicking and it'll be crowded, so Mom and I (the picnic is a surprise for Dad) decided that it'd be better to go out to eat tonight). Tonight will be pretty chill - I'm sure I'll do more D&D reading and so forth. :)
Other things
So, I got an email from my friend Daniel Weiss, who is teaching Intermediate Biblical Hebrew next semester. We as a class need to find a good time to meet, so I've been thinking about my schedule and so forth. Anyway, this has stirred in me the excitement of taking new classes, and I'm starting to feel that familiar anticipation for a new school year. I'm still trying to decide whether it's worth it to try to keep Mondays free from classes. It'd be nice, but maybe having one class on Monday and one class on Friday still isn't too bad. As it looks now, I have:
Classical Islam - TR 9:30-10:45; R 6:00-6:50
Biblical Hebrew - TR 11:00-12:15 (hopefully!)
Jewish History - TR 12:30-1:45
Acting II - WF 11:00-12:15 (hopefully!)
Modern Hebrew independent study - not yet scheduled, hopefully on Wednesday
Thesis writing - no schedule
So, I'm looking at free Mondays, slight Wednesdays, very slight Fridays, and meaty Tuesday/Thursdays. 9:30-1:45 might be tough, but it's not undoable, and I prefer 9:30-1:45 over 9:30-10:45 followed by 12:30-1:45 with the missing slot transferred to MW. If I'm going to be in class from 9:30 until 2:00, I may as well be in class from 9:30 until 2:00 instead of trying to make use of the 1.5 hours in the middle (that would probably just be spent on long lunches and emailing).
Anyway, this is the most up-in-the-air that my schedule has been this late in the game, so I don't really have practice waiting to see how things turn out. But, I guess that's exactly what I have to do: wait to see how things turn out. I'm sure it'll be fine no matter what.
Oh, also this: Especially if I have a three-day weekend, I'd like for Saturday to be a real Shabbat kind of day devoted mostly to D&D. I could play during the day in Julian's game (hopefully) and then DM my own on Saturday night. Dunno if things'll work out like that (Saturday night is prime real estate), but with Monday as a "weekend day," I'd feel much better taking Saturday off every week as personal (or catch-up) time, which is very important to me.
But, like I said, we'll see how things shape up.
Okidoki, I'm off for now. Au revoir!
QotD:
"Zri'sanutell-wrehrethoo-shoucheneq!" --Reversed utterance of perceive the unseen, believed to be the last words heard by High Regent Lharnak the Cruel
~Tome of Magic
SPDWotD:
ologist - an expert in a particular ology
ology - a branch of knowledge
Tuesday = voting
So, I voted for my first time in a polling place on Tuesday. All my other ballots have been cast absentee, so this was pretty exciting. I had to ask direction to find the station in Bethany's old elementary school, and when I finally did, the healthy staff said, "Why didn't you bring anyone with you?" Throughout the entire day, I think less than 100 people voted there. :-\ Statewide, less than 4% voted, and in Roanoke, less than 2,000 ballots were cast. Shows you the strength of the Democratic Senatorial primary, doesn't it? :)
Anyway, Jim Webb won, which disappoints me. Jim Webb = anti-Semitic Republican vs. Harris Miller = liberal (Jewish) Democrat. You ask how a Republican won the Democratic primary? The already-elected Democratic senators feel that Webb has the best chance of beating George Allen. But that doesn't cut it for me - I want a candidate that will do the right thing for our state and our country, and I just don't have faith in a "Reagan Democrat." :-\
Wednesday = staying home
Wednesday, I basically stayed home and chilled/was productive. I got some real work done on researching for my sermon, did some computer (mostly Magic) things, etc. 'Twas nice.
Thursday = errands
I was in kind of a funk on Thursday. I didn't really want to be leaving the house, but I ended up staying out for a significant part of the day. Mom and I dropped Bethany and her friend off at the movies, I tutored Bill, I had lunch with Mom (that was nice), and then Mom went shopping in the mall while I drove all the way home to drop Bethany's friend (our neighbor) off. I then turned around and drove all the way back to the mall (so, it was about 30-40 minutes in the car), spent a bit more time at the mall, went to the post office, and then finally came home.
I spent the next couple hours trying to find things to do other than write my sermon while I waited for phone tutoring to roll around. I eventually did do some writing, then I tutored for an hour, watched TV for about a half-hour, then talked to Jessica for an hour. I watched some more TV and went to bed having worked on my sermon hardly at all. :-\
Friday = catch-up and leading services
So, I woke up early on Friday to finish my sermon. I finished the first draft, tended to the house I'm house-sitting, ran some errands in town, came home, edited my sermon (not enough but enough if you know what I mean), did some Magic stuff, and went to services.
I arrived at Temple 25 minutes early so I could set the Torah and make sure all was ready to go. But, Dad left his key to the Temple at home (not thinking about it before we left), so we were outside waiting for someone with a key to show up. Congregants kept arriving until we had about twelve people outside praying that the president would show up soon. He finally did show up ... and he didn't have the key with him! So, he had to go home and get it. We finally got started about 15 minutes late.
Once we started, though, it was great. I had prepared myself really well with notes in my prayerbook, a little outline written (I always have to think about when to do Mi Shebeirach, the sermon, etc., so I did all the thinking ahead of time this time), and so forth. Leading the service was great - I felt so comfortable and natural up there. Every time I lead services, I feel more confidant that this is for me. The Torah reading went splendidly, and the sermon was all right (if a bit wordy and lengthy). Everyone (though there weren't many people) was impressed, and the oneg was nice and peaceful. We left pretty late and got home around 9:50/10:00 or so. It was really nice!
I got a great opportunity to talk to Jessica again, so that was nice - and then, before bed, I started reading one of my new D&D books. That's right, folks!
Today so far = said D&D books
I didn't get very far last night as I was pretty tired (remember I got up early). But, this morning I read for a couple hours and have learned about Truespeak magic, which I'm hoping to incorporate in some way into next year's game. Don't ask me how, yet - I'm still working it all out. But, I'm sure it's gonna be cool. :)
Today, the rest of the day = mostly having fun (and shopping)
So, the plan for the rest of the day: Hang out until Mom's done with her meeting downtown. Then, do some shopping for Dad (we need to pick up one more present and then buy the materials for our picnic at Peaks of Otter tomorrow). We'll bring the goods home and then the four of us will go out to Elizabeth's & Adam's house, where I'll do my thing and we'll all go swimming. Then, we'll go out to eat for Father's Day (tomorrow, we're picnicking and it'll be crowded, so Mom and I (the picnic is a surprise for Dad) decided that it'd be better to go out to eat tonight). Tonight will be pretty chill - I'm sure I'll do more D&D reading and so forth. :)
Other things
So, I got an email from my friend Daniel Weiss, who is teaching Intermediate Biblical Hebrew next semester. We as a class need to find a good time to meet, so I've been thinking about my schedule and so forth. Anyway, this has stirred in me the excitement of taking new classes, and I'm starting to feel that familiar anticipation for a new school year. I'm still trying to decide whether it's worth it to try to keep Mondays free from classes. It'd be nice, but maybe having one class on Monday and one class on Friday still isn't too bad. As it looks now, I have:
Classical Islam - TR 9:30-10:45; R 6:00-6:50
Biblical Hebrew - TR 11:00-12:15 (hopefully!)
Jewish History - TR 12:30-1:45
Acting II - WF 11:00-12:15 (hopefully!)
Modern Hebrew independent study - not yet scheduled, hopefully on Wednesday
Thesis writing - no schedule
So, I'm looking at free Mondays, slight Wednesdays, very slight Fridays, and meaty Tuesday/Thursdays. 9:30-1:45 might be tough, but it's not undoable, and I prefer 9:30-1:45 over 9:30-10:45 followed by 12:30-1:45 with the missing slot transferred to MW. If I'm going to be in class from 9:30 until 2:00, I may as well be in class from 9:30 until 2:00 instead of trying to make use of the 1.5 hours in the middle (that would probably just be spent on long lunches and emailing).
Anyway, this is the most up-in-the-air that my schedule has been this late in the game, so I don't really have practice waiting to see how things turn out. But, I guess that's exactly what I have to do: wait to see how things turn out. I'm sure it'll be fine no matter what.
Oh, also this: Especially if I have a three-day weekend, I'd like for Saturday to be a real Shabbat kind of day devoted mostly to D&D. I could play during the day in Julian's game (hopefully) and then DM my own on Saturday night. Dunno if things'll work out like that (Saturday night is prime real estate), but with Monday as a "weekend day," I'd feel much better taking Saturday off every week as personal (or catch-up) time, which is very important to me.
But, like I said, we'll see how things shape up.
Okidoki, I'm off for now. Au revoir!
QotD:
"Zri'sanutell-wrehrethoo-shoucheneq!" --Reversed utterance of perceive the unseen, believed to be the last words heard by High Regent Lharnak the Cruel
~Tome of Magic
SPDWotD:
ologist - an expert in a particular ology
ology - a branch of knowledge