Gut Vuch - Dec 25, 2010

5:57 PM - It occurred to me at ma'ariv that one of the things I learned from a year of kaddish recital is that it's the nice/right thing to do to stay and focus and answer to someone saying kaddish.

7:12 PM - Had a good chat with a friend I haven't spoken to in many many months. It's good to talk about what is in a truthful way. Sometimes I think of a character in a Rav Nachman story, in which everyone gets insane from the water (or wheat - different versions) and two guys hold out. They realize they have to imbibe to stay alive. They make Xs on each other's foreheads, so they will know.

10:03 PM - Had a meaningful talk with another friend. I once read that if you have one true friend then you are truly blessed. Sometimes I have a hard time being sameach bechelki. In the department of friends, though, I know that G-d has been quite generous to me; this is clear.

10:50 PM - It's been a quiet, contemplative, solitary night at home. After a month plus of feeling really sick I thank G-d infinitely for having the energy to relax. I have a Netflix account and tonight I watched part of September, which will stop streaming after 1/1, and I'm working on finishing Greenfingers which stops streaming on 12/29.

11:18 PM - Joel Herschman did a good job. I type this as Greenfinger's final music plays. I don't remember how long ago I watched the first half hour of this film. It definitely got stronger as it moved along and while it's not the deepest, most original film out there, it's a far better movie than most that are made today - IMHO.

11:59 PM and Beyond - Listening to The Avett Brothers. I need to get to sleep soon. Even though it may be hard to sleep tonight, I'm glad I rested on Shabbos. It was the first time in a month where I didn't feel so sick that I couldn't just sleep more and more. I was glad when I reached a point that I couldn't and didn't want to sleep more. I did some learning/prepping of Lech Lechah and more. I think I want to teach Zelda - not sure that'll sell to anyone, on any level, in my school, as an elective course title. Perhaps it needs tweaking, yet I stand by the idea. I've been reading up on Zelda. Of all the poets who talk of light and spirit and those kinds of things, she is the one I feel - figuratively and more-so - at home with. She comes from a true place of Torah.

Jerry Seinfeld once said that comedians are today's philosophers and over and over again I read in interviews that comics are drawn to their craft due to a seeking of truth. This routine, of just short of 40 years ago, by George Carlin comes to mind as an example of a comedian speaking the truth:

"When they talk about drugs, they don't talk about all of them; that's the problem. They don't mention coffee. The low end of the speed spectrum, I grant you. But there are coffee freaks and they're walkin' around; nobody, y'know, worried about it or anything."

He was quite ahead of his time. Today caffeine is in the DSM IV under substance disorders, and is mentioned in four different diagnoses. But Carlin is still right, people don't mention it or talk about it. I think it's time the caffeine dependency so prevalent in our society be addressed.

I just looked to see what I posted last year at this time. I didn't post for three weeks, my longest stretch of not blogging since I started. Sigh.