Megan got on me about the stacks of stuff she'd sorted through, that I hadn't yet disposed of or filed away, or done something with. So I've been going through stuff, so she'll continue to come by and help me with stuff I can't do by myself. It's a matter of self preservation.
I've been feeling pretty good, and being fairly faithful about the exercises. I can't do ten reps of the arm exercises, but I'm building up gradually. The neck stretch...ummmm...well, I really need to be more consistent on that one.
I've been doing a lot of reading, some for pleasure but mostly keeping up with the Tuesday and Thursday classes. I've been immersed in Chaim Potok lately. I read My Name is Asher Lev, The Gift of Asher Lev, and The Chosen. All about Hasidic Jews; novels, but instructive. Asher Lev is an Orthodox Jew, observant, but also an artist of a genre not approved by his Hasidic rabbi and congregation, and especially painful to his very devout father. A conflicted person. The Chosen is about two Jewish boys: one Orthodox observant, the other Hasidic Orthodox, how their lives converge then diverge. So what's the difference? Well, it would take too much space here to talk about the various levels of observance within the Jewish community. There are those who are totally non-observant to those who are strictly observant to the extent that the secular world has no meaning. And all levels of observance between the two extremes.
But Potok leaves his readers wondering "What next?" He leaves us with questions and no answers. I guess we're supposed to think about our own reaction to the lives described, and perhaps come to a conclusion as to the future lives of the characters. But I like ends neatly tied, and I continue to think about these characters.
Today I finally got into my mail. I had 296 pieces accumulated since I was last here on the 16th. I read a lot of mail, deleted some on the spamish side without reading, left comments on 3 or 4 diaries. Sometimes when the mail piles up, I delete everything from an arbitrary date and back. This time I really wanted to read what people were saying, so it took about 4 hours to get from 296 down to 147 when I logged off. I keep thinking I should retire from diaries, but I keep adding instead. Maybe I should unsubscribe to some newsletters, and maybe I will from the political newsletters. I get a pretty good range of reporting from newspapers, radio and TV.
It's almost midnight, but I think I'll go read some more of the backlog before I go to bed.
Shalom