I'm thinking about rabbits and faith and politics and water (and the lack there of).

Mostly right now I'm just tired.  When I say tired I mean  that if I were five years old I'd be throwing a temper-tantrum out of sheer exhaustion, and that at my current age I'm not so far from it.

Maybe I should just go to sleep? (I say, as I sit here typing)

It's amazing how little we learn between the ages of five and twenty nine.

Really.  That's all. 

So is there?

So... I'm afraid I've finally given in and joined facebook.  Mostly because it got to the point where I not only was missing informal events, but I was also missing shul announcements and the rabbi that performed the wedding wanted to send us something online and commented that it would be easier where we to have facebook.  So... facebook I have.  But I think I'm going to keep my little corner here.  More private, easier to express myself, more me. 

Wedding pictures have yet to be posted to any of the above.  But they will.  And I will tell where at that point :). 

In the meantime, my two month long internet blackout is done.  Feel free to drop me a line. 

:).

me

I am not writing about the ridiculous number of Yosef's relatives with whom I am spending shabbat or the project that I need to finish for work or the ridiculous number of things I need to deal with.

I am writing to say that I have a copy of Harry Potter to read. 

And I will make the spare time.

The following are my thoughts, interspersed with a Caroline Glick article in the Jerusalem Post:

Column One: Bush, the talented politician | Jerusalem Post:

"Bush told the Palestinians that this is a 'moment of choice' for them. It is time for them to decide if they are for terror or peace. But then, he said the same thing five years ago. Since then, at every decision point, the Palestinians chose terror. They have built terror armies and amassed terror arsenals. The have strengthened their ties to Iran, Syria, Hizbullah and al-Qaida. They overwhelmingly elected Hamas to lead them. But in the interests of advancing its policy of appeasement, the Bush administration abjectly refuses to acknowledge that the Palestinians have already chosen."

I'm not one of the people that ever had a really high opinion of President Bush at the savior of much of anything. Any article that tells me Bush is slow but a good politician does not come as a personal surprise.

But then Bush's political survival will not cost him his physical survival. At most it will continue to costs lives of American soldiers and foreign nationals, at least for a foreseeable future.

What bothers does bother me is that our Government & nation continue to play along...

"To survive in office, Olmert, like Ariel Sharon before him, has agreed to endanger Israel in order to secure the support of the Left in his governing coalition, the media, and the State Prosecutor's office."

For those who don't know, this week brings the Jewish people's historical and national day of mourning, Tisha B'Av. On this day we lost Jerusalem and then Israel, not once, but twice.

Religious Jews, or many of them, will fast and cry and remember those historic losses and what they cost us. Secular Jews, or many of them, will say that we have achieved our own state and that past losses are irrelevant.

I can only hope that it is not too naive on my part to hope that at least some will take this occasion to take a good strong look at where we are, that honest assessment can be made possible, and that we can return from lessons both historic and current to a position of strength and hope rooted in reality and wisdom.

"If you could rename yourself in real life, what would you choose, and why?"

LJ threw this at me as a question after commenting on maric23's post that had nothing to do with this and I found it funny.  Only because everything that has my name on it in this wedding stuff subsequently causes a complaint by my father that I go primarily by my middle name rather than my first name.  He consistently reminds me that he named me my first name so that I would be called my first name.  And every time I write something, rather it be a website or place card or a logo, I then have to debate what will my name be and for whom. 

So, the answer to LJ is that I actually have more than enough names for just now, but thank you for asking. 

Just because I feel this LJ can use more positive thoughts:

• I have a dress.  Not in the have sense but in the it is patiently waiting for me until I come in for another fitting and then again until I take it out for the wedding sense.  But it's there and picked and this is good.
• Invitations are in a final stage and actually look like they will look good.

• Shabbat was really nice.  Friday got some quality beach time.  Shabbat got to read an old David Brin novel.  Best of all I actually got time with Yosef.
  
• I have a decent place to stay for the next three weeks complete with AC and some quite time to myself.
• And, as complete bonus news, I might have found us a really good deal on an American (this means self cleaning) oven.  For those who have never had non self cleaning ovens, this is a really, really, really good thing. 
  

All in all, not so shabby. 

We spent the past two weeks painstakingly negotiating invitations.  We being mostly myself and Y's parents.  They wanted something conservative (as usual) and without extraneous words.  Preferably with the same text as at least 3/5 of their friends children's invitations.  Negotiations ended.  We will see how printer did with layout later today.  Wish me luck.

Now we are trying to register.  Ha.  Actually that means trying to figure out what to do about the fact that any place with a registry in Israel is impractically expensive and any place with a registry in America is just impractical except for maybe linens and towels (not that we have any idea what size linens we will need, that would entail having a bed, but I guess we can pretend). 

My favorite so far is fish flatware  mostly because I hate having to judge things by pictures and find ordering from the states ludicrous.  That being said, realistically I have no idea how I want to deal with this other than being overwhelmingly annoyed. 

Suggestions anyone?

Last weed brought a friend's father's funeral and a different friend's son's brit.
This week we're on to shiva call today followed by engagement party tomorrow followed by pidyon haben on Wednesday. 
All this to the backdrop of wedding plans and family complications. 

It's all getting to be just a little too much, a daily aerobic routine of life-cycling. 

In other news, mosquito netting over my bed allowed me to sleep last night without being dinner (and breakfast, lunch and snack at the rate I was going) to any other creatures.

Oh, and we just may have found an apartment...

I meant to spend today:

1) Working on catching up on the accounting work I should have gotten in a week ago when I was out with the flue
2) Catching up with Technical Writing Homework
3) Making phone calls for work
4) Packing up and heading out of babysitting job
5) Actively researching things for wedding that I actually care about

I actually spent today:

1) Finding out that my friend whose son I've been babysitting got stuck in the states for another day (She was less happy about it than I was, her plane was canceled)
2) Taking care of my friends cat, who I noticed last night was sick, and spent the day at the vet with as it seems the cat has pneumonia.  (Kitty's now on antibiotics and home)
3) Breaking the above news to kid and making it sound not so bad and keeping him entertained.

At what point do I actually give up on catching up?