Monday, March 09, 2009
Tired, Sad, Elated, and Irritated - Just Like Usual
There is much to say and share today. I underslept - J is doing a fair amount of midnight screaming - and forgot to take my anti-drug medication this morning, so I’m tired and aching. However, blogging being so critically important to the national intellectual economy, I must share as follows:
> I was glad to see my dear friends P, T and D&J on Saturday in Modesto, for a truly unjoyful occasion but a good time anyway. I know they know my heart is with them and their family, but it doesn’t hurt to reiterate it publicly.
> Zach turns four years old today. I left him thrashing in fitful sleep in my bed this morning, but hope that we will spend some quality time together tonight rashing our graggers and stamping out the sound of Haman’s name.
> Some other dear friends came over on Sunday to make hamentashen and eat Ethiopian food. When we asked Z who he wanted to invite for his birthday party, the first names on the list, repeatedly, were these close friends of ours, people we’ve known for 20 years or so - not the pishers from his class or playground, but the wise and wonderful allies I see as my siblings-by-choice. We had a great time and are still gorging on the ‘tashen, which came out great.*
> Sunday morning we went to the closest synagogue, “God’s Half-Pipe,” and cavorted at a Purim festival. Z won enough prize tickets to get a hair-entangling bracelet, and a tiny combination lock. Good for him. Good for all of us.
> The State Bar Board of Governors has rejected our (scaled-back) employee contract proposal for 2009. I’m on the bargaining team and have been working hard to come up with a compromise position that would offend the fewest number of people on all sides. Obviously this effort failed. I’m kind of stressed out about what’s going to happen next, but we’ve got some great people working for us and with us so whatever the future brings I’m fairly confident it’ll suck to the least possible extent. However, that doesn’t mean it won’t suck.
> Tonight is Purim. As Lori says, this is another holiday that meets the “9-word Standard” for Jewish festivals: “Someone Tried to Kill Us. We Won. Let’s Eat.” For a more detailed exegesis, please see this multiple reiteration of the story of the Book of Esther.
And now, back to the amazing pile of crap I call my workday. I think the Monday after “Spring Forward” ought to be a holiday, but instead I’ll just be super productive and ignore my 3.5-hr-sleep daze. I have cookies and coffee, and bourbon for the megilla reading tonight. That’ll have to motivate me for the next seven hours or so. What’s *your* secret motivation?
* Flavors, for the record: prune-mango, apricot-peach (with sherry and honey), and (surprise favorite) lychee and hibiscus. Dough was my traditional orange-flower-scented paper-thin pastry. For perhaps the first time, I used up all the filling and still had a quarter of the dough left over. I guess I’ve got some sprinkle cookies to bake.
