Sunday, February 24, 2008

Lipa Caves

Former Beatles star to back Lipa's Big Event? As Jewish religious leaders geared up last week to snuff a planned concert by one of the most popular figures in the world of hasidic music, Lipa Schmetzer, this headline ran in UK newspaper The Liverpool Echo: Sir Paul McCartney to Play for Lipa!

Imagine the world's most popular singer in history signing on to Lipa's event! Alas, they didn't mean our Lipa, and the Hasidic singing star scrapped his Madison Square Garden concert plans in response to pressure by leading Rabbis and published advertisements in leading Jewish newspapers banning attendance at the event.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Alalalalalum, or Becoming Who We Are

Been away from blogging for a while. Here's what's up. I took a semester off from school, started a new workout program, am participating in two internships (one in genetics research, one in the legal field), met a wonderful guy, attended at least 6 friends' weddings in the last 4 weeks (I'm losing track, but it seems just about everyone's getting hitched), drank some coffee, got some responses from grad schools (3 interview offers, 3 rejections, and 4 still up in the air), watched TV (Babylon 5, Weeds, Lost, Gossip Girl, The Rookies, etc.) mostly on Joost but then on iTunes when the net filter began blocking Joost (more expensive, but better choice of shows), waited for free tickets in the rain (watched them run out before my turn but had fun anyway), did I mention I'm still/again doing that therapy thing? Mostly it seems a silly waste of time, but I'm still hopeful there will come from it some good. There will come from it some good? Total Yiddishism. Isn't English wonderful how you can play around with the order of words and form sentence structures that will make hair turn green? Never mind.

Being neither student nor full-time job holder, my health insurance costs are astronomical - over $500 a month! WTH?! While we're on the topic, just imagine HillaryCare or ObamaHealth forced everyone to buy health insurance. The self-employed guy struggling to get a business off the ground, the waitress surviving on tips at the local food joint, and the other millions not covered by a company policy - where will the extra $6000 a year come from? From food money? Or will they have to live on the streets because they now cannot afford decent housing? The answer from campaign headquarters: At least they will have health care, eh? Now stop bashing my plan, like you have a better idea?

It snowed about 7 inches today. It smelled like a snow day when I walked outside this morning. You know that - maybe not a smell per se, but a feeling most similar - snowness.

Books I just can't seem to finish: Captains Courageous (Kipling (what if his name were Kilping the way I first accidentally typed it?) maybe all that sailor's dialect slows it down; Robinson Crusoe (Defoe) slow pace and funky stylized way of moving from narration to diary to tell the story from what theoretically are supposed to be different angles I guess, but seem actually to be the same repeated - maybe that is the point - the lonely stranded man must live inside his own head and create from his experience cognitive stimulation; Atlas Shrugged (Rand) an amazing book but very, very long; The Trial (Kafka) is a poignant and incisive look at the essence of what it is to be a man in civilization (are you sure about that, TD?) - I can't seem to finish it because I lost the book.

Books I'm eating up: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Smith), Nausea (Sartre), Rashomon (Akutagawa).