Done With Finals- And A Day Off Before the Rest of It

This morning I went to minyan, and had a meeting with my boss who is "getting engaged" (the ring has been ordered, her fiance-to-be doesn't want to call it an engagement until he's actually given her the ring, she's ready to start telling people that they're engaged and her mother says that this certainly counts as an engagement, but the gentleman in question feels like it isn't quite finalized until he's handed her the jewelry and she's accepted it. I don't know- my parents never formally exchanged/gave jewelry until their actual wedding- but then, they didn't really think about it as an engagement either. But I mean, if you have, as a couple, decided to get married, why isn't that an engagement? I don't see why a ring is necessary. I also wonder why men never wear any visible token of engagement: I feel like the purpose of such jewelry is to mark one as off limits for those speculating about possible mates- and shouldn't that work both ways? Perhaps I am misunderstanding the symbolism here. In fact, I'm fairly sure that I am, but that's always what I figured engagement rings were for, but I'd presume that they probably evolved out of a dower. Or maybe not, I don't know.).

Then I had lunch with zodiacmg and hung out until his shuttle came to take him to the airport. And while I know in a day or so I'll adjust to the long-distance thing for hte next not-quite-month, right now it's not what I'd call easy. So I've been distracting myself: I went to get my pan from Steve after I dropped off my paper (and tried to take a picture of one of my profs, who luckily stopped me before I did- flashes give her double-vision: I feel really guilty about trying and making her anxious. Now I know- candid photos should be reserved for people one has taken pictures of before: takes care of such issues, among the others that people I know have with cameras.), hung around with another friend while she packed and headed out, had dinner with folks, helped bring stuff to the commuter rail from Grad, and watched part of a movie in the Massell quad office. Said movie is called Baraka, is without dialogue or a plot in the usual sense of the word, and has incredible, incredible sequences of scenes. I really want to see the rest of it. I hope Best Video has it at home... I know, that's unusual for me- and it's hard to maintain really good focus on this one- it's like listening to classical music: it's easy to drift off and appreciate it with less-than-perfect-awareness for chunks of time, but really gorgeous. And now I'm home, and I should probably just read and go to bed, but I'm not motivating myself so well in that direction. And tomorrow I need to go to the library, pack, and clean before I head to Steve's for Shabbos, and then to the MIT Christmas Eve Israeli Folkdance Marathon, which my folks are coming up for as well. Then they're staying at my apartment while we all sleep, and then its homeward bound as I attempt to begin conquering my fears of merging onto and driving on highways.

Done With Finals- And A Day Off Before the Rest of It

This morning I went to minyan, and had a meeting with my boss who is "getting engaged" (the ring has been ordered, her fiance-to-be doesn't want to call it an engagement until he's actually given her the ring, she's ready to start telling people that they're engaged and her mother says that this certainly counts as an engagement, but the gentleman in question feels like it isn't quite finalized until he's handed her the jewelry and she's accepted it. I don't know- my parents never formally exchanged/gave jewelry until their actual wedding- but then, they didn't really think about it as an engagement either. But I mean, if you have, as a couple, decided to get married, why isn't that an engagement? I don't see why a ring is necessary. I also wonder why men never wear any visible token of engagement: I feel like the purpose of such jewelry is to mark one as off limits for those speculating about possible mates- and shouldn't that work both ways? Perhaps I am misunderstanding the symbolism here. In fact, I'm fairly sure that I am, but that's always what I figured engagement rings were for, but I'd presume that they probably evolved out of a dower. Or maybe not, I don't know.).

Then I had lunch with zodiacmg and hung out until his shuttle came to take him to the airport. And while I know in a day or so I'll adjust to the long-distance thing for hte next not-quite-month, right now it's not what I'd call easy. So I've been distracting myself: I went to get my pan from Steve after I dropped off my paper (and tried to take a picture of one of my profs, who luckily stopped me before I did- flashes give her double-vision: I feel really guilty about trying and making her anxious. Now I know- candid photos should be reserved for people one has taken pictures of before: takes care of such issues, among the others that people I know have with cameras.), hung around with another friend while she packed and headed out, had dinner with folks, helped bring stuff to the commuter rail from Grad, and watched part of a movie in the Massell quad office. Said movie is called Baraka, is without dialogue or a plot in the usual sense of the word, and has incredible, incredible sequences of scenes. I really want to see the rest of it. I hope Best Video has it at home... I know, that's unusual for me- and it's hard to maintain really good focus on this one- it's like listening to classical music: it's easy to drift off and appreciate it with less-than-perfect-awareness for chunks of time, but really gorgeous. And now I'm home, and I should probably just read and go to bed, but I'm not motivating myself so well in that direction. And tomorrow I need to go to the library, pack, and clean before I head to Steve's for Shabbos, and then to the MIT Christmas Eve Israeli Folkdance Marathon, which my folks are coming up for as well. Then they're staying at my apartment while we all sleep, and then its homeward bound as I attempt to begin conquering my fears of merging onto and driving on highways.