The Excitement of Toxic Fumes

In other words, I spent the afternoon helping with priming my parents' bedroom. We spent an hour plus removing things screwed into the walls and moving furniture and the like, and the several hours priming- and we're not quite done yet. But it was rather satisfying, in a mildly mind-numbing way that only activities like painting molding can manage. But really, somehow we were all very cheerful about it for a surprisingly long period of time. So then we went out to dinner to escape the fumes, came back and scattered- after all that time working and eating together, we all seemed to need our space for a bit. SO I got some of my mending done, although there's a bunch more of it. It's just so much more tempting to play with beads instead.

(I have a project there to finish too- beading designs on a regular kippah. I doubt I'll finish it over break, so it'll probably languish. But when I'm done, I'm going to have to find someone to whom to give it: it doesn't suit my coloring. And it's beaded, so it's presumably intended for a woman... Worst comes to worst I'll donate it to Egal as a loaner for people who want a decidedly feminine headcovering, although this one isn't incredibly feminine- just beaded in fairly bright colors. I don't know- I never know how these things will come out until they're done, and I've gotten no input on it besides Mom's so I really don't know, although Mom has pretty darn good taste. Honestly, I haven't actually seen anything like this sort of thing, but I haven't seen All that much.

[It's one of those material culture studies that would be really Fun to work on- analyzing ritualwear designs over time and geography and different sorts of communities. Basically- tallit/kippah watching, enlarged. I'd love ot play with that in light of the basic halakha and whatever rabbinic guidelines exist. Darn it, why do all the things I'm interested in seem to be a weird mix of rabbinics and sociology with a smattering of history? It doesn't really fit anywhere in particular- that'll make applying for grad school stuff a bit interesting...])

The Excitement of Toxic Fumes

In other words, I spent the afternoon helping with priming my parents' bedroom. We spent an hour plus removing things screwed into the walls and moving furniture and the like, and the several hours priming- and we're not quite done yet. But it was rather satisfying, in a mildly mind-numbing way that only activities like painting molding can manage. But really, somehow we were all very cheerful about it for a surprisingly long period of time. So then we went out to dinner to escape the fumes, came back and scattered- after all that time working and eating together, we all seemed to need our space for a bit. SO I got some of my mending done, although there's a bunch more of it. It's just so much more tempting to play with beads instead.

(I have a project there to finish too- beading designs on a regular kippah. I doubt I'll finish it over break, so it'll probably languish. But when I'm done, I'm going to have to find someone to whom to give it: it doesn't suit my coloring. And it's beaded, so it's presumably intended for a woman... Worst comes to worst I'll donate it to Egal as a loaner for people who want a decidedly feminine headcovering, although this one isn't incredibly feminine- just beaded in fairly bright colors. I don't know- I never know how these things will come out until they're done, and I've gotten no input on it besides Mom's so I really don't know, although Mom has pretty darn good taste. Honestly, I haven't actually seen anything like this sort of thing, but I haven't seen All that much.

[It's one of those material culture studies that would be really Fun to work on- analyzing ritualwear designs over time and geography and different sorts of communities. Basically- tallit/kippah watching, enlarged. I'd love ot play with that in light of the basic halakha and whatever rabbinic guidelines exist. Darn it, why do all the things I'm interested in seem to be a weird mix of rabbinics and sociology with a smattering of history? It doesn't really fit anywhere in particular- that'll make applying for grad school stuff a bit interesting...])

Disorganization

There are several people I'd like to put on my friends page whose writing I find interesting and appealing, and whom I'd certainly like to get to know better in that wonderful abstract way that the internet provides. But I don't know them well enough so that I feel like it isn't an imposition- they're not complete strangers, we've certainly met in person, but not people I really Know. Or well, know at all, really. Meeting someone once qualifies someone as a not-stranger, not as someone I know. So- I'm too sheepish to put them on my friends list, even without putting them in the assorted custom groups I use to not bore some people to tears, or to be able to babble about other things in single-gendered contexts, etc. Same thing happened with the several people currently on my friends' list whom I know in similar ways (Steve, Steve, and Steve, all of whom I added when they expressed interest in me so I didn't feel ridiculous)- all pretty much through the same set of mutual Real-Friends. I don't want to be a weird intruder. Ahh, the dilemmas of public fora for personal communication.

(Anyone else think that dilemma should have a really strange plural? DOn't know what it would be, but it somehow seems to be calling for an ARabic-style irregular plural form.)

This is what comes of the combination of being a. rather passive, b. a fan of pen-pal set ups, and c. admirous of and interested in one's friend's friends. Oh well. Someday I'll either just add them on whim or something. Probably I'll wait until I write something that's actually interesting though...

One of hte points I Was going at though, was that I have these wonderful mini-groups set up so I Can aim things at audiences of people to whom I'm actually close, people whom I actually know, just people on my friends list, etc. But I then can't figure out how to fit people into those categories fairly or evenly, so they're all a mess. That's the problem with these systems: it's impossible to remember how you're sorting people over time.

Disorganization

There are several people I'd like to put on my friends page whose writing I find interesting and appealing, and whom I'd certainly like to get to know better in that wonderful abstract way that the internet provides. But I don't know them well enough so that I feel like it isn't an imposition- they're not complete strangers, we've certainly met in person, but not people I really Know. Or well, know at all, really. Meeting someone once qualifies someone as a not-stranger, not as someone I know. So- I'm too sheepish to put them on my friends list, even without putting them in the assorted custom groups I use to not bore some people to tears, or to be able to babble about other things in single-gendered contexts, etc. Same thing happened with the several people currently on my friends' list whom I know in similar ways (Steve, Steve, and Steve, all of whom I added when they expressed interest in me so I didn't feel ridiculous)- all pretty much through the same set of mutual Real-Friends. I don't want to be a weird intruder. Ahh, the dilemmas of public fora for personal communication.

(Anyone else think that dilemma should have a really strange plural? DOn't know what it would be, but it somehow seems to be calling for an ARabic-style irregular plural form.)

This is what comes of the combination of being a. rather passive, b. a fan of pen-pal set ups, and c. admirous of and interested in one's friend's friends. Oh well. Someday I'll either just add them on whim or something. Probably I'll wait until I write something that's actually interesting though...

One of hte points I Was going at though, was that I have these wonderful mini-groups set up so I Can aim things at audiences of people to whom I'm actually close, people whom I actually know, just people on my friends list, etc. But I then can't figure out how to fit people into those categories fairly or evenly, so they're all a mess. That's the problem with these systems: it's impossible to remember how you're sorting people over time.