wicked was great

of COURSE it was.
with Patty Duke playing Miss Morrible. she was fantastic too.
understudy for Elphaba was terrific. it is a great show. costumes, music, story. linda was a huge fan of Stephen Schwartz. it was so much fun to share it with Audrey. and then a lovely dinner with Fran at her house on the way home. perfect timing. then back to the house to pick up Aud's bags and then to the airport. she had the trifecta returning home: no a/c in the building, no hot water, and a rodent of some kind in her apartment. yikes.

and Cheech and Chong were seriously on my flight home from LA. one of the gate agents took a photo with them but otherwise pretty unassuming. they did not sit together. Cheech was in the row ahead of me on the aisle.

i now let people bring down my suitcase from the overhead bin. always.

woo hoo, 4 of 4 over and it wasn't too hot!

things went very well. smoothly. calm. etc. wonderful.

on my way home from break-the-fast, with a torah in the back of my car, i drove on capitol expwy and was reminded of an early conversation with Linda. she had taken her car to the dealership and i was to come pick her up. she didn't have the exact address so i said, how will i know where you are? and she looked out the window and said, "it's the one with the big american flag." the joke here is that EVERY dealership on capital expwy has a huge american flag. what was then Bob Lewis hyundai took good care of her car. and we had some nice meals at a handmade noodle shop nearby, including mango chicken i recall.

adam broke his fast with wonton soup, spareribs and general tsao's chicken with brocolli. yum. a meal linda would have enjoyed.

so the high holy days are almost behind us. rabbi points out that there are still sukkot and simchat torah to come. but the large piece, involving LOTS of bodies, is pretty much over except for the debriefing. phew.

now can i start getting excited about going to Africa? not quite sure yet, tho i have begun setting aside things to pack. which is good.

ketzl is such a good fellow. he is up by my side instead of the usual toward the bottom of the bed. just licked my hand around the corner of the computer. silly guy. there are asparagus on his breakfast menu.

on the schedule in the time before i go: mammogram and bone density test. i am taking care of myself.

high holidays and hosting Audrey

yes it has been another long gap. no quite so long. no other writing yet. busy. someone tonight said i had the busiest social schedule of anyone he knows. really?

so we are now 2 of 4. rosh hashanah was last week. yom kippur coming up on sunday night. things are smoothly moving along. it's all good.

balancing activities, different people, well most of the usual suspects. and of course the food. it revolves around foodings. after services, before services. (not during) so far: sonoma chicken coop, outback, aqui, and the two major dinners, tonight at merit vegetarian and sunday at mandarin gourmet. plus movies: julie and julia (excellent) and the informant! (fun, fluffy, nice cameos with the smothers brothers; matt damon in an ill=fitting toupee, etc.). and manicures. some of this was done as seeking air conditioning even tho it didn't get nearly as hot as it was supposed to, which was great and totally fine by me.

but tomorrow: matinee of WICKED. great tickets purchased today. grateful to my work for allowing me to take an extra half day off in this slightly crazed time. i am really excited!

a vacation stuck in amongst the busy time.
not quite doing all the official work that is supposed to be accomplished in this 10 day period. but making progress. that's important.

from a slide show someone sent recently where there were some nice quotes (i should go back and check for accuracy, but the gist is here):
try to make at least 3 people smile each day.
each morning figure out what your purpose is for that day.
iife is too short to waste energy hating someone.
life isn't fair but it is good.
ok here's the link to the full set
http://www.lshs64.com/enjoytheride.html

having to get up early in the morning
this is all i have brains for tonight.

how do i pick up after so long a break?

someone noticed and commented offline that there have not been any updates for a while now. i also saw someone else who expressed concern about how difficult it is to decide what to include after such a hiatus. while the break was nice, i realize that i really need to be doing more writing ... whether here or in a handwritten journal or in another electronic format.

part of the reason for not posting is the approach of the high holy days and the return of the rabbi from sabbatical. things have been "crazy-busy" at work. it will all come together and we will be fine, but there are another 5 days to go. yoiks.

so what's been going on, besides the work?

it is related to the coming time of introspection. i'm trying to do it pretty rigorously this year. more than ever before. it is supposed to be a time of examining oneself, one's actions over the past year. making serious plans to change and do things differently in the coming year. to return to the proper path. there's lots about forgiveness. between rosh hashanah and yom kippur, we are supposed to go to each person we think we have harmed in some way, consciously or unconsciously, with our words or actions, by acts of commission or omission... so i'll be in touch with a lot of people in the next 10 days.

we are all works in progress. and there is the possibility for change and redemption. cf the life of Senator Edward Kennedy. but one needs to be actively aware of the need to make adjustments when things are not working. there was a nice study session with a couple of interesting checklists to work on as we approach the coming "days of awe." today was kever avot, visiting our ancestors, a small service at the cemetery, starting in the chapel and then moving down to Home of Peace, owned by Temple Emanu-El and a clear piece of Jewish land. i have lots of friends who are there, along with the founders of the synagogue. it is always comforting to me to be there, walking around, cleaning up a bit, finding people i was looking for, and others i didn't know i would find. i said hello for people who might not have been able to come visit today. it feels important to do this annually, at least at kever avot.

i have started seeing privately the facilitator of the monday night group. she bills herself as a transition coach, with a limited time frame (interrupted by the holidays and the trip to africa 2nd half of october, but it felt more important to start sooner than waiting until november).

my sister-in-law arrives on wednesday evening for a week. that will be fun, to have someone here. i enjoy my time here and am not uncomfortable being alone in the house, but it is quiet and i will welcome the company.

my wonderful cat let me clip most of his front claws today. good kitty.

so not sure if this qualifies as a good catch-up. the best i can do at the moment.