A Series of Surprises

This weekend has included a small train of surprises when I was expecting quite a quiet weekend, considering that my parents are off in Florida for my grandmother's birthday party. It's been a real mix of good, and confusing.

First off, I quite last-minutely went to services at the shul where I grew up (Congregation Mishkan Israel, for those of you to whom it might mean something), which I don't usually do unless Mom is going/singing, and as she's gotten sick of it there of late, I've been Quite rarely. But there was a speaker coming whom Mom wanted to hear, but couldn't go to, as she was out of town. And I didn't have other plans- Friday night services don't particularly appeal to me at either local shul, so I often don't go. But it was the annual Peace and Justice Service, which I usually avoid as it tends to attract crowds of people uninterested in actual prayer, and the guest speaker tends to be political, which is rarely all that interesting for me. This time it was a man named Rabbi Arik Asherman, from Rabbis for Human Rights, which rather struck a bell- I knew jakal88's uncle in Israel was very involved with them, and as I rather suspected that this gentleman was his uncle, whom I'd heard rahter a bit about when he and I were dating last year, I figured I might as well go. Turns out he was, and also that I quite enjoyed his speech- it wasn't so actively political that I found it unpleasant. Afterwards I spoke with a woman who looked out of place, and after some chitchat got a comment of "Have you ever met a Palestinian? My husband's Palestinian- here, come meet him". It was odd- I mean, a person's a person: meeting one man hardly speaks one way or another for an entire group. It was a bit awkward.

Then after Shabbos, I checked my email, to find I'd been friended on facebook by a young man whom I haven't actually spoken to since 6th grade or so, and never talked to much then. He was never mean to me, which is more than I can say for the vast majority of my elementary school classmates, but we were certainly never friends- and his profile "wall" has a picture of a naked woman done by some friend of his. I never know how to handle such situations- still don't.

And I found out that Steve at school won't be coming back next year- just from his away message, but I suppose that's reasonably trustworthy, although I won't call it an absolute for-sure sort of knowledge. It's reasonable, considering the circumstances, but still a bit surprising. I do hope he gets the chance to get him life back in order, and that it works out for him.

And then, while I was writing this, my parents called me by accident- Dad sat on the phone in such a way so that it called me. Ahh, cellphones.

A Series of Surprises

This weekend has included a small train of surprises when I was expecting quite a quiet weekend, considering that my parents are off in Florida for my grandmother's birthday party. It's been a real mix of good, and confusing.

First off, I quite last-minutely went to services at the shul where I grew up (Congregation Mishkan Israel, for those of you to whom it might mean something), which I don't usually do unless Mom is going/singing, and as she's gotten sick of it there of late, I've been Quite rarely. But there was a speaker coming whom Mom wanted to hear, but couldn't go to, as she was out of town. And I didn't have other plans- Friday night services don't particularly appeal to me at either local shul, so I often don't go. But it was the annual Peace and Justice Service, which I usually avoid as it tends to attract crowds of people uninterested in actual prayer, and the guest speaker tends to be political, which is rarely all that interesting for me. This time it was a man named Rabbi Arik Asherman, from Rabbis for Human Rights, which rather struck a bell- I knew jakal88's uncle in Israel was very involved with them, and as I rather suspected that this gentleman was his uncle, whom I'd heard rahter a bit about when he and I were dating last year, I figured I might as well go. Turns out he was, and also that I quite enjoyed his speech- it wasn't so actively political that I found it unpleasant. Afterwards I spoke with a woman who looked out of place, and after some chitchat got a comment of "Have you ever met a Palestinian? My husband's Palestinian- here, come meet him". It was odd- I mean, a person's a person: meeting one man hardly speaks one way or another for an entire group. It was a bit awkward.

Then after Shabbos, I checked my email, to find I'd been friended on facebook by a young man whom I haven't actually spoken to since 6th grade or so, and never talked to much then. He was never mean to me, which is more than I can say for the vast majority of my elementary school classmates, but we were certainly never friends- and his profile "wall" has a picture of a naked woman done by some friend of his. I never know how to handle such situations- still don't.

And I found out that Steve at school won't be coming back next year- just from his away message, but I suppose that's reasonably trustworthy, although I won't call it an absolute for-sure sort of knowledge. It's reasonable, considering the circumstances, but still a bit surprising. I do hope he gets the chance to get him life back in order, and that it works out for him.

And then, while I was writing this, my parents called me by accident- Dad sat on the phone in such a way so that it called me. Ahh, cellphones.