Don't Worry, The Blogosphere Is Behind You

RivkA's death has really driven home a point. Yes, the blogosphere really is a community. Of friends, compatriots, supporters, rivals, and everything in between.

On Friday at her shiva -- how odd, and empty, to be in RivkA's home, without her there! -- this topic came up in discussion with her mother and father. Like my own parents, they could not understand at first what would possess a person to write (and especially in RivkA's case, so openly and personally) to a vitual audience, "somewhere out there." After a time, they came to appreciate the regular updates, her shared thoughts, and especially, her very real blogosphere friends.

In RivkA's case, she was a source of information and inspiration to many, many people. Her writing brought people together. As I told her mother on Friday, whenever I read RivkA's blog, I felt the acute presence of others reading alongside me, a tangible community of supporters and friends.

This afternoon I had one of those -- dare I say it -- "Israeli" experiences... and there was Treppenwitz, right there behind me. You can read his whole piece here (recommended), but meanwhile, here's the the part that hit home:

Sadly, when faced with an immigrant making a formal complaint about a perceived insult (even when the insult can't possibly be open to perception and/or interpretation), the default response of many people in this country is, "You must not have understood...", or "That was not my intention...".

This is doubly frustrating for a non-native Hebrew speaker because even in cases where the insult is so glaring as to be beyond misinterpretation, the immigrant is often expected to feign difficulty with the language in order to allow the insulter to climb down from their tree and save face.

Ahh, so true, I nodded as I read along. And so sad, so frustrating. We've all felt this at some point, but for me today's experience took the cake. For the first time in a long time, I felt a tinge of regret for having moved here.

Here I was, standing in front (underneath, really -- it was cranked up on the repair lift) of my decade-old Beloved Renault, the recent victim of an unfortunate but -- thank God -- harmless accident,* with the insurance assessor trying to convince me that he had not listed the obvious damage to the ABS on the insurance claim because I hadn't initially reported it (I had) and maybe I hadn't understood him properly.

Oh uh, Mister Assessor. Now you've done it. Deep breath, short pause. Think of Treppenwitz, and Rev Up Your Engines.

I let the assessor have it. With a capital IT: Don't you dare pull that one. I understood you perfectly. And you know it.

He yelled, I countered (two rounds). He relented. I got the repair approved.

Thank you, David Bogner, for reminding me that I do understand. Perfectly.

Keep the balance,

ALN

* Wouldn't ya know it? Two days prior to the accident, I'd signed on a trade-in deal to have someone pay me to take the Beloved Renault off my hands. Murphy's Law, still valid. Or maybe just Freud. Oy.

Goodbye, Our Incredible Friend

RivkA.....

We all knew it would happen. Despite your consistently high spirits, your infectious optimism, your belief that giving up was not an option.

This was true long before your diagnosis, and all the more so since.

Who else would manage to turn a course of chemotherapy into a weekly opportunity to meet old friends for a drink? Or continue her job as a swim instructor, while on chemo, because it rejuvenated her? Or take the time each and every week to reach out to her hundreds

(thousands?!) of friends, family, readers and fans.

Like any blogger, I am usually a person of words. Now, it seems, there is nothing to say.... except to ask Why?

The question only echoes back darkly, as I think of your beautiful kids, your supportive husband, continuing on without you. You made it quite clear: Pity is not your way, and faith is always the answer. Oh, to have that kind of clarity!

We were supposed to get together and paint.... just the idea got both of us so excited! It was you, RivkA, who inspired me to write. Now, after nearly a year away from this blog, your death has inspired me to return. You had that kind of strength, encouraging people to do their best, be themselves, reach their goals, believe in God, and tell it like it is.

RivkA, you're gone. We miss you horribly. But know this: Your love and enthusiasm are here to stay.

רבקה בת ישעיה, לכי בשלום.

ALN

Photo credits go to That Guy I Married, who succeeded in capturing RivkA's energy and enthusiasm for the camera, at her daughter A's bat mitzvah last June.

Opening Up

Took a too-long blog break -- this has part of my excuse. Just jump there, and jump back -- it'll only take a second. As for the rest, we have a lot of catching up to do.

Meanwhile, here we are again, 24-hour countdown to Yom Kippur, the Gates of Heaven are nearly open, and with all its good timing, the Night-Blooming Cereus is, as well.

Once a year, about nine p.m., it shares its beauty with its nocturnal compatriots, and just three hours previous to this writing, here it is:

(Both photos copyright the family photographer, i.e. That Guy I Married)

Our neighbor L-C was nice enough to give us a call so we wouldn't miss the annual blooming on her front porch.... and by now it has already closed.

(I was impressed at the timing, then did a quick search noted -- with irony -- that a primary association with this flower has something to do with Krishna worship in India. The timing's still pretty cool though, don't you think?)

Just a simple thought, coming into our Day of Repentence. Last week during class break, a fellow student approached me with a question:

Why should I bother fasting again this year? I know that right after Yom Kippur I'm just going back to all the things I usually do -- not keeping Shabbat, and all that. So what good will it do for me to fast?

She is relatively young, in her mid-twenties, and grew up in a religious household, in the religious school system here in Israel. She no longer identifies as a religious person but remains close with her family.

As in keeping with the tradition, I answered her question with a question: What's the connection between not keeping Shabbat next week, and keeping Yom Kippur this week?

I was convinced, without knowing why, that the two are not inherently linked, at least not on every level, but at the time I couldn't explain it in a way that satisfied either of us.

Today, leafing through Al ha-Teshuva, a text based on lectures given by Rabbi Yosef B. Soloveichik, I found a more exact answer. Rav Soloveichik talks a lot about the individual versus the Klal, the collective. While each individual certainly bears responsibility for his or her own actions and atonement process, there is a parallel process that is the jurisdiction the collective, which, according to the Rav, is an entity with an identity in and of itself.

It is up to the individual to consider him or herself a part of Klal Yisrael, and one way to achieve kapara (atonement) on Yom Kippur is to be a part of this collective -- what he calls the "אני קבוצי," "communal I." In his words (my translation):

We identify with the congregation of Israel, are molded and merged into it, we are made one with it -- and through this, we become worthy of the atonement that it [the congregation] is worthy of (p. 77).

He asks whether the atonement of Yom Kippur is that of the individual, or of the collective, and goes on to explain that the answer is, in fact both. The collective gives us a power of atonement, distinct from our individual efforts, and so (as I later wrote my classmate), as long as you consider yourself a part of the community, on whatever level, your fasting along with everyone is still worth something.

גמר חתימה טובה / Gmar Hatima Tova.

May we all be inscribed for life, blessings, health, and new openings leading to new beginnings.

ALN

Finally, Finally, Finally

Ahh, how I wish I could stick to this writing business -- and all the other things in my life -- with regularity, enthusiasm, and a clear head.  I look around in jealousy and wonder at all the regular bloggers, and I know darn well most of them also have lives (Read: families, jobs, friends, hobbies households) that slurp their time down to the last drop.

I owe a big thank you to Ricki's Mom, who tagged me with the Honest Scrap Award nearly a month ago and I'm only getting a response together now.  In general, I owe a big thank you to Ricki's Mom because I find her writing interesting, honest, inspirational and empowering, and hers is one of the first blogs I run to when I've fallen out of the blog loop and want to get back on it.

Rules:  Ten honest things about me, then pass it on to seven bloggers.  Honestly, I dunno about the second part.  I wish I had the time to read seven blogs these days... but let's give it a go:

1.  I've been through almost every version of vegetarianism that there is (excepting, perhaps, fructarianism, which is just a little overboard for me).  Lacto-ovo, lacto, vegan, even juice diets.   For the past decade or so, I've come to terms with a lacto-ovo-pescetarian diet.  Works for me.

2.  I believe in balance.  Not a new concept to you, my readers, but how does it manifest in my life?  Example:  I consider myself an observant Jew, and cover my hair, but usually wear trousers -- as opposed to skirts -- because it's much more comfortable for me, physically and emotionally.  (This may be because I did not grow up in a religious household, but then again, maybe it wouldn't have mattered either way). 

3.  For an American, I use way too many Britishisms in my speech.  Probably the influence of That Guy I Married.  He's from London.  Not his fault.  

4.  I spent hours of my childhood either up in trees or down among the weeds and bushes.  I used to pet the bees I found there.

5.  My family is multi-cultural.  By this I mean that I have an Indian sister-in-law.  I have joined her family in their place of worship (they are Sikh, strict monotheists) and despite the many difficulties and challenges of intermarriage, I feel a certain kinship with them that is hard to explain in words.  (And they have the most beautiful clothes -- they have given me several outfits).

6.  I love to dance, and I don't mean folk dance.  Hip-hop, modern, street dancing.  I shut the blinds and open the windows and crank up the MP3 and go nuts.  Also while cooking.  I get chopped onions & garlic all over the place.

7.  Two years ago I decided it was (past) time to start reading in Hebrew.  I don't mean signs and menus, I mean books.  Novels.  Nonfiction.  It demands more concentration but -- I know this sounds crazy -- when I read in Hebrew, I get this feeling of the juices flowing in a different area of my brain, and I like it.

8.  I am ever grateful to RivkA  for getting me started in the blogosphere.  Before I read her blog, I hardly knew what a blog was.  Once I read hers, I thought -- what a great idea!  Now I'll be forced to write, my family will have automatic updates about my life, and I might even develop a modest fan club.  All for free.  What could be better?  (Then I discovered the catch:  I actually have to write regularly, and not just think about writing).

9.  I work with sick kids all day, of all different ages and cultures and sizes and shapes and intellectual capacities.  I've been doing this for quite awhile now, and I think I've got the basics down by now.  So why am I always wondering whether I'm doing the right thing with my own kids?  It's a mystery.

10.  Working with those very sick kids, for so many years has probably skewed my view of life just a bit, in that I tend to view life as a very limited thing, to be cherished and pushed to the fullest, every second.  Which is why I am in a constant, sleep-deprived and hypo-caloric state and cannot get enough of what this world has to offer:  family, work, hobbies, etc, etc.  Just dangle it in front of me, and I will probably try to pack it into my already-bursting schedule.  

Which reminds me, I have to go back to studying now (I have an anatomy-physiology exam on Thursday), push Always the Imp along on her bike, make supper, plan a work presentation, and book a trial lesson with the guitar teacher.  Among other things.

I really can't do seven right now, but can we settle for Coffee and Chemo, SuperRaizy, Shilo Musings, Here in HP and The Rebbetzin's Husband?  You're all it (and if you've already been through a round of this, please forgive me... I'm behind the times).

Keep the balance,

ALN

PS:   Mother in Israel -- you too!

Re-Awakening

What a funny feeling -- four weeks off-blog, and now, the ironic sting of returning to this virtual world of real people...  a feeling that this corner of my life has dropped out from under me.  Now there's that expected-nevertheless-surprising squeak of the gears as I try to slide my way back in.

Winter is here, rain is not (not in Israel, not nearly enough of it), but the microbes are back in full, and my two-week battle with bronchitis was there to prove it.  Tune in for my forthcoming work, An Ode to Rythromycin.  

No question, this was my psycho-somatic response to the usual stress at work and the unrelenting scrollbar of daily activity, against the ever-nearing backdrop of our country at war.  The verdict is quite clear:  if I do not learn to pace this hectic life-schedule multi-tasking thing, I will inevitably engage in a forced vacation, and last week was it.  I was in bed, or flopping over onto some sofa or other, for the entire week.  Did not recognize myself.

Even odder, for the duration of that week, nearly everything was input.  Instead of writing (or blogging, as noted), I read.*  Instead of practicing therapy at work, or art in the studio, I went over books and articles about therapy and art.  And I ate regular meals, ones that I had taken time to prepare.  A-B-C's for most, a notable accomplishment for me.  I barely opened the computer, and within three days found myself drowning and spluttering in an email effusion that nearly required a Cyber Coast Guard bail-out.  No blogging.  None.  Not even blog-reading.  It was the printed word, read off of authentic, bleached tree-pulp products.  

Freedom, in an odd way, but also a strange pang of loss and absence... and a return to my original question:  

How does everyone find the time?  

Please, send the magic pill on over.

Keep the balance (or -- you've been warned -- your body may do it for you),

ALN

____

* Namely, אישה בורחת מבשורה -- Until the End of the Land (2006) by David Grossman (I only found circumstantial evidence of its availability translated in English), and How Doctors Think (2007/2008) by Jerome Groopman.  I have thoughts on both, but not for now.

Gaza Update

No, not from me, but fortunately for the rest of us, there are some people for whom the ideas eat, drink, rest, and sleep have but little meaning.  Get your update from Jack over here at Random Thoughts - Gaza Update #16.   Jack, enjoy your cereal  (At the rate you're updating, you'll need all the vitamins you can get!).

ALN

If You've Got a Few Minutes

No time to summarize?  Worry not.  Jack has been busy as usual, keeping us updated.  See here.

Lots of good stuff, but if you only have time for a couple of things, don't miss Seraphic Secret right over here.

Thanks, Jack!

Keep the balance, keep safe.

ALN

Read This

Go Meryl.   How painful to understand that this is the reality.  How I wish it weren't.

Reporting the Subtleties

Please take the time to read Susan Dentzer's excellent piece, just published online in the New England Journal of Medicine.  There she focuses on medical reporting, but her point -- that in general, journalists must make more of an effort to present the context and complicated subtleties of an issue -- pertains to all fields of journalism. 

I will avoid falling prey to the picking-and-choosing tendency she describes but not offering selected quotes here, but for her article's valuable conclusions:

In my view, we in the news media have a responsibility to hold ourselves to higher standards if there is any chance that doctors and patients will act on the basis of our reporting. We are not clinicians, but we must be more than carnival barkers; we must be credible health communicators more interested in conveying clear, actionable health information to the public than carrying out our other agendas. There is strong evidence that many journalists agree — and in particular, consider themselves poorly trained to understand medical studies and statistics.⁵ But not only should our profession demand better training of health journalists, it should also require that health stories, rather than being rendered in black and white, use all the grays on the palette to paint a comprehensive picture of inevitably complex realties. Journalists could start by imposing on their work a "prudent reader or viewer" test: On the basis of my news account, what would a prudent person do or assume about a given medical intervention, and did I therefore succeed in delivering the best public health message possible?

Ms. Dentzer goes on to point out that those interviewed also have the responsibility to aid their interviewing journalists by discussing medical issues and research results in context.

The field of journalism is in the midst of an incredible transformation, as printed formats are becoming less financially viable, more centrally-owned, and altogether fewer, while the electronic media is broadening in scope, availability, and approach.   Bloggers are a central part of this change, with our ability to respond to events and share our viewpoints immediately and openly, and with this ability comes a responsibility to write with thoughtfulness and respect.  

As readers and viewers, we must also commit ourselves to approaching the media with enough self respect to avoid sensational headlines and reject simplified descriptions.  Do we read about a medical study or a political situation and take it at face value, allowing it to limit our understanding, narrow our outlook and increase our fears?  Or do we take advantage of the many tools available to explore the issue, ask questions, look beyond try to see the issue in greater depth?  Do we complain that the headlines are sensationalistic, then go and buy the paper anyway, or blithely quote some study we don't really understand? 

Bottom line:  Publishers and reporters must commit themselves, as Ms. Dentzer has done, to greater depth and breadth when reporting wars and politics, social and geographic changes, global issues and -- dare I add -- even celebrity personalities and events.  And we, as media consumers, must share this responsibility.

Keep the balance,

ALN

Back from Be'er Sheva

I have every intention to continue posting about my recent three-day inservice down south, despite having returned several days ago... what can I do?  Life has continued -- studies, work, family -- it's all still there, but the stories I heard at Beit Yatziv are waiting to be told.  Stick around...

ALN

Blog Your Own

No time to write, so I leave you with this:  Internet news "papers" in are now outsourcing reporting.  I just can't get my brain around that one.  See Maureen Dowd's piece and decide for yourself whether to laugh or cry.

I hereby make a commitment to my readers not to outsource my material (aside from the occasional, warranted guest).

Keep the balance,

ALN

Are YOU Being Googled?

This from the New York Times online:

There is a new common symptom of the flu, in addition to the usual aches, coughs, fevers and sore throats. Turns out a lot of ailing Americans enter phrases like “flu symptoms” into Google and other search engines before they call their doctors.

That simple act, multiplied across millions of keyboards in homes around the country, has given rise to a new early warning system for fast-spreading flu outbreaks, called Google Flu Trends.  (Read the rest of the article here).

All good and well, but doesn't it make you wonder what else they're tracking, without our knowledge?  Our Blogger blogs, among other things...

תהיו בריאים -- Keep healthy this winter.

Keep the balance,

ALN

...and Patients' Rights

What do you think of this?  

The National Women's Health Network has been passing the following notice around cyberspace (I have quoted the notice in full since I'm assuming their intention is to spread the word to as many people as possible, and thus they are not picky about copyright issues).

Protest Genital Cosmetic Surgery!

Join NWHN ally, the New View Campaign, on November 17 in New York to protest the genital cosmetic surgery industry that is medicalizing women's sexuality!

Genital cosmetic surgeries like labiaplasty and vaginoplasty are on the rise. Surgeons who promote these procedures claim that they restore and enhance the appearance of the vaginal area, resurfacing and tightening the tissues to reclaim the “youthful appearance and function of the vulvar and vaginal area.” Women assume that these new surgeries are safe and effective, but in fact the claims are unsubstantiated by research, and there’s some evidence that they may create new health problems, as well as promoting a narrow and unrealistic idea of what women’s genitals should look like.

Most women don’t even know that the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology doesn’t support these cosmetic genital enhancement surgeries and has publicly said that “it is deceptive to give the impression that [these procedures] are accepted and routine" and has stressed that their safety and effectiveness have not been documented.

To raise public awareness of this assault on women’s health and well-being, the New View Campaign will stage a protest on November 17 outside a cosmetic genital surgeon’s office in New York City from 12 - 2PM. The specific location will be posted on http://www.fsd-alert.org/ on November 16. We urge NWHN members – particularly those in the NYC area -- to join the protest.

The New Campaign is an ally of the NWHN, which demands new regulations requiring that women requesting these procedures receive adequate information about possible scarring, chronic pain, obstetric risks, loss of genital sensation, reduced erotic pleasure, and post-operative anxieties. It also calls for independent post-procedure research to determine the extent of these adverse reactions.

My mom felt this notice was blogworthy, and thus forwarded it to her blogging family member (yours truly).   As of a quarter to six this morning, my response to her was as follows (with some minor grammatical changes, for clarity):

The physicians making these inaccurate medical claims are being irresponsible and should be treated accordingly, like any other physicians who act irresponsibly.  But what about the people who seek the surgery?  I mean, who the heck doesn't do research before committing their bodies, time, and money to elective surgery of this nature?  Also, I would think that the kind of research they are demanding here is appropriate regarding all types of surgery.

I'm sure there was the same uproar before other cosmetic procedures -- breast enhancement surgery, and botox, and all the rest --  reached their current popularity, and now they're all acceptable practices.  If people insist on demanding unnecessary and risky surgery for the sake of beauty,  I'm not sure the medical world will convince them otherwise, with the exception of the few who could benefit from psychological therapy, to help them with their low self esteem, which led them to want such surgery in the first place.

Having reviewed my original response, I would make a few minor changes to further clarify my response;  namely, that I am not at all belittling people with low self esteem, and that I understand that this is only one of many reasons women seek cosmetic surgery.

Does this fall under the guise of the West's version of medically-sanctioned genital mutilation?  Weigh in, dear readers (including you, Mom, and your friends...)

Keep the balance,

ALN

Too Much Giving?

See Conversations in Klal for her ideas, and the comments that follow, regarding redundancies in the charity/NPO realm. I'm positive this problem is not limited to the Jewish world alone, but the thought makes it that much more problematic.  

I agree with Bas-Melech when she comments: I think it bespeaks a serious lack of cooperation among klal yisrael.   

One of many examples of where we need to improve our willingness to work together... although in fairness, the very idea that there are so many people out there wanting to make positive change, may balance out the lack of cooperation.  So maybe we're generally heading in the right direction, but we just need to move on to the next stage...

Addendum:  See Prof K's long list of worthwhile suggestions at this follow-up post.

Keep the balance,

ALN

Six Days to Go: The Secret Scoreboard

This very second, Always the Imp is dribbling cookie crumbs and chocolate bits all over my MacBook as she desperately informs me, at the top of her well-developed lungs, that Blondini Boy JUST TOOK ANOTHER COOKIE AND I ONLY GOT ONE!!!   

Blondini Boy:  I didn't.

Always (calmly, "innocently,"):  Excuse me, Mommy, he got TWO THINGS.

Elder Princeski leans over my shoulder as I post, enjoying her mostly-unique literate status by narrating the others' exploits back at them.  She continues to read out loud as I write.  

(I think it's time for a remote Five-Minute Bedtime Challenge, so they'll go upstairs and "surprise" me by getting ready for bed while I get a written word in edgewise).

Flashback to dinner, the first night of Rosh haShana.  The neighbors are over with their motley crew, and together with ours, the resulting ruckus makes it almost impossible to hold a conversation.  But we're making the effort, when suddenly...

THAT'S NOT FAIR! yells Always.  SHE GOT SECONDS ON CAKE AND I DIDN'T!  

(Pause for thought).

Ah, I reply, but earlier today you got a candy and she didn't... doesn't that make it even?  

She's not convinced, so I continue.  You know that not everything is fair all the time. 

I see from her expression that it's time for a tactical change.  You know, up in Abba's and my room there's a big secret scoreboard that folds out of the wall when you're not looking.  That's how we, and all the other parents, keep track of who gets however many treats.  Right?  

I turn to our neighbor for confirmation.  She nods.  

Furthermore, I add, all the homes in the neighborhood are linked through the internet, so when you eat junk food at your friend's house, his parents can look up on our scoreboard whether you've had a treat recently, and if they do give you a candy, they we'll know you don't need dessert at home that night.

She looks skeptical.  

Smart kid.  But she does stop complaining about the cake discrepancy.

Still, something echoes inside me.  Here we are, on Rosh haShana, discussing a secret scoreboard.  What a metaphor.  

I mean, how many times have I looked over in envy at my neighbor's car (specifically, I'll readily admit, their lovely Mazda 5).  And oh, how I justify my desires:  If I had a car like that, I could fit the whole carpool in one trip.  The kids would have plenty of room and stop fighting all the time.

More aptly, what about all those "Why Bad Things Happen to Good People?" questions that can plague a person after a decade of working with sick kids in the hospital, or maybe as a result of our regularly scheduled lives and their accompanying losses:  A relative who dies before his time, a loved one who lose his job, her marriage, their home.  

No wonder we're so tempted to ask, Where's the "God of Justice and Mercy" we keep mentioning throughout Yom Kippur?  Experience has shown us, time and again:  No one's promised us anything.   

Still, we ask, pray, beg, cajole.  Our Father, Our King.  Save us, protect us, heal us,  forgive us. We imagine that somewhere, Up There, there must be a Big Secret Scoreboard.

Maybe it doesn't come out even in the end.  Or maybe it all comes out even in The End.  Meanwhile, we live in hope and wonder.

גמר חתימה טובה.

Keep the balance,

ALN

HH #184, and Wishes For a Wonderful Year

Many thanks to Barbaric Yawp for compiling this week's offerings.  Apparently there is now a Facebook to go with this HH business.... Again, I am inspired (desperate?) to ask, where do y'all get the time?  Facebook?  Do you people work or does someone pay you to blog?  (If it's the latter, count me in).

Either way, I would like to wish everyone a wonderful, peaceful, happy and healthy New Year. 

שתהיה שנה של אושר, בריאות, ונחת לכולנו.

And, of course, a year of balance.

Shana Tova,

ALN

Vote for Leah!

Leah is a 17-year-old entrepreneur who wants to take her magazine, Yaldah, to the next level.

We can help!

How?  Either go to Juggling Frogs for some more background info, or else jump straight to the Wells Fargo Someday website, register, watch, and vote!  (Note, Leah's project was submitted under her mother's name, "Evelyn from MA," since Leah herself is still a minor.)

Best of luck to a creative girl,

ALN

We Keep Them Around for Blog Fodder

At our Friday night dinner table the conversation turned, as it sometimes does, to a discussion of vegetarianism, including an attempt on the part of my eldest to more clearly define the diet parameters of the label "vegetarian."  She herself has decided recently to include herself among the vegetarians of the world, so the topic is of special interest to her.

We had two of our regular guests, both young men after high school, one vegetarian and one omnivore, and soon the topic veered toward the theoretical question of whether cannibalism counted under the rubric of meat-eating.

My eldest was in shock.  Eating people?!?  she grimaced,  ICCCHHH!  Then caught herself and added,

Oh... I know we're not supposed to say "Ich" about someone else's food, but that really is disgusting.

Without missing a beat, she turned to me:  Mommy, you're not going to blog this, are you?

You bet I am....

Keep the balance,

ALN

I'm Honored

A big thank you to Leora over at Here in HP for bestowing upon me and several worthy colleagues - SuperRaizy, JugglingFrogs, Baila and Hadassah -- the all-new Late-Night Mommy Blogger Award.   (Now I guess I'll have to stop saying I've never won anything except that one $5 lottery ticket, back in 1987).  Thanks, Leora!

As always, keep the balance,

ALN

Back to Balance... Or Not

Ah.... it's good to be back.  

The school year is in full swing, the kids are back in school and I'm back at work.  Finding time for it all --  blogging included --  has become the task of the season.  How dare you go to work instead of blogging?  deadpans Dad.  Even Mom, who doesn't fully get the blog thing, called a few days ago wondering whether I'm still alive, for lack of published evidence.  

Returning to the Jblogosphere after over a week's hiatus feels something like jumping back onto a nonstop spinning carousel;  it's simultaneously thrilling, dizzying and weighted down by false starts.  As much as I've missed it, there has been plenty to keep me busy around here. Included below, an abridged record of the flurry, a kind of back-up disk for my sleep-deprived mind:

Things to Do Instead of Blogging

1.  Back-to-School Night (known in Israel as an asifat horim, lit., "gathering of parents"), one for every minor inhabiting the household, and sometimes more.  (RivkA explains it here in all its glorious detail).  Even the daycare centers here hold a back-to-school evening, usually in order to spell out the additional charges they request, for everything from toilet paper to art supplies to enrichment activities.  These events are painfully long and drawn out and can drag on for three hours.    This year, as a balance- and sanity-preserving measure, I skipped the preschool one altogether.  I hope they'll still let my son graduate.

2.  Working in the art studio, making paper and carving linoleum prints for greeting cards.

Here they are, drying on the mini-blinds:

Close-up of the same print as the one up on top, in a different color palette:

Supplies (Carving knives, water-based printing inks, soft-rubber brayers, carved linoleum printing blocks, card samples)  The art table is a low-budget home-made model:  an old wooden door on a frame of leftover construction wood.  Works for me.

My friend Q has a large studio where she makes handmade paper of amazing quality.  A few years back we added on our own, much smaller studio to our own house, but a full work schedule meant it often sat unused.   Going back to my artwork is probably adding years to my life.  At least that's the feeling I get from it.

Indoor plumbing repairs.  Particularly unsuccessful new hobby;  definitely sticking with my day job.  Note the bucket under the studio sink.  Guess why it's there...

Scheduling my kids' extracurricular schedules.  Another less successful venture.  In keeping with Israeli tradition, my kids are now signed up for various after-school creative ventures.... only problem is, the schedule is still new and I keep forgetting to send them on time...

Catching up on Srugim and other stuff.  I'm up to episode 12, and I'm wondering how things will hold together now that the geographic focus has spread out beyond the Swamp itself.  Last night we watched the first couple hours of the BBC's Pride and Prejudice, which follows the book down to nearly every last detail (which is why it takes about six hours to watch.  (I'm just amazed that we have such a detailed historical record of all those line dances... and how did they manage to get their hair arranged so neatly with no running water in the house?).

Work, work, and work.   More work.  Don't know why this one's so far down on the list, actually.  Time-wise, it's way on top.  Lots to do:  Strengthening our connections with the families, designing a class schedule for the school year, helping our new staff members find their way, meeting with medical and mental health staffers, inviting patients' schools to meet the department.... the list is endless.  Despite this, I'm still making every effort to leave work on time.  Balance, balance.

Dancing around the living room, music on full volume.   I do this with the kids, but between you and me, I would do it anyway.  (Just ask my former roommates -- Friday afternoon was Disco Time in the kitchen.  Remember Cate Blanchett in Bandits?  Only she, as always, looks amazing, and I look like, well, never mind....).

Getting some sleep.  Only kidding - I just added that one for Mom.  Amazingly enough, even without blogging I haven't managed more than five hours a night.  I'm still waiting for someone to invent a pill with no negative side effects...

All the other stuff:  Laundry  Dishes  Cooking  Homework help  Bedtime   Stories  Wiping noses (and other places)  Commuting there   And back   Shopping  Phone calls  Hair cut  Bank statements  Emails  Visiting neighbors  Shul meeting  Cleaning aquarium  Guests here  Floor clean  Food ready  Table set.... Go.  Shabbat.

(Speaking of keeping the balance...)

Shabbat Shalom,

ALN