I had written a very morose entry about sadness but maybe I will save it for another time, so at least in can be surrounded by non-morose things and help me not appear unbalanced...

...Not that this makes me appear unbalanced!

I'm sure there are very good (and fascinating explanations for the world's first analog computer (2100 years old!) and ( Read more... )

At our services on Shemini Atzeret, in my quasi dvar Torah, I focused on death ( Read more... )

Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States: If she approve she shall sign it, but if not she shall return it, with her Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their ( Read more... )

I saw this interview about Emma Lazarus, with an author who has recently published a biography of her, in the Jewish newspaper 'Nextbook.'

These are my favorite parts, that really inspire me and I hope will really inspire me:

She was very ambitious, fairly aggressive. She began correspondences at the drop of a hat.... She took what she needed ( Read more... )

My last paycheck of the summer bounced! The worst part is, I think that they may have overpaid me and I wasn't really paying track, so in the end I might not have been entitled to it. Which would mean that I'm much shorter on money this month than I expected, and will probably have to return the awesome fax/printer/scanner/copier machine I ( Read more... )

It's been a busy happy summer, altogether without internet access at home - a new and refreshing experience! Now I'm in the middle of what is probably a fairly hopeless attempt at special Montreal, Toronto, and US recruitment. My gpa is extremely borderline for the states and not that much better for the other places, and my CV is also middling ( Read more... )

I finished my exam! There were two questions and I felt really good about my answer to the first and not so good about the second... well, we'll see ( Read more... )

The afternoon was cool and rainy but we had a game anyway. It was off the record since neither team had a full roster and the other team kept calling it a 'friendly game.' The chemistry department is very friendly, and that explains why, starting in the third inning, they supplied one of their players to play centerfield for us (and do most of ( Read more... )

I joined the English department intramural softball team! It was a great first game for me, except that in jumping to increase my strength on a pass, I landed funny on my knee and twisted it and fell down. I think it might be pretty bad since the knee still feels wobbly and unstable. Nonetheless, after spending one inning as scorekeeper instead ( Read more... )

We had this really amazing all night praying/learning/eating tikkun leil Shavuot observance. There weren't so many of us but it was warm and enriching ( Read more... )