Love is blind

Scared and brave
with long white cane she steps
into winter's blinding morning.

Today,
she will do great things. . .

A poem

I fashioned from myself
a poem of despair.
I labored hard
and breathed my soul
into her nostrils.
Still,
when she awoke
she was like any other poem.

So I sent my poem away,
to teach her
what sadness means.
I released her,
with my anger in a sack upon her shoulder,
to endure a lonely voyage
from desolate star to star,
through infinite spaces
of absolute darkness.

She needed
to feel skins of planets
ravaged by rocks,
to know emptiness,
to hear silence,
breathe cold cosmic winds,
and experience absolute smallness.

Years since,
she returned to me
broken,
tears flowing from every syllable,
weeping with every word,
each stanza filled
with what I had sent her for.

She begged me to take her back,
embrace her as before;
bring her into my home,
keep her warm, as my own.

Yet her tears frightened me,
her understanding mocked me,
her sorrow grated me --
Her suffering was not my suffering.
Her loneliness -- no longer mine.

I had thought of killing her,
-- murder with an axe --
and burying her remains
beneath my house.
But, years ago,
she had taken
my anger with her.

So, I sold her instead
to a far-away journal,
for only a few cents a word --

I bartered her into bondage,
made her a common whore
servicing some lonely old man
who just needed someone
to jerk his tear in the dark.

PostSecret

Dreamer

Being One

We used to be 1 -
a strong, entrenched flagpost on an Iwo Jima.
Self-contained, irreducable One,
indivisible, under the God of numbers.

Then something happened --
defying explanations and in clear violation
of eternal laws, --
one
became
two (a wh0re of a number).

And as two,
we were square-rooted into irrationality,
forced to seek even-numbered happiness
with any willing partner.

But memories of being One
still hang over our heads --
we are still
1
-
2
of each other.

Womanhood

A lemon shriveled in the sun,
sits someone -- once a woman.
Her womanly juices have long since evaporated,
expelled with years of blood and tears.
A sexless creature of day-to-day worries.

I wonder what is in her heart of hearts.
I worry that she is my future mother,
and my future wife.

Somewhere over the rainbow...

Somewhere over the rainbow, in another world,
we walk together, hand in hand, and share a lemonade drink.
We have faith in the power of dreams,
think that everything can be fixed,
that for every problem there is a perfectly good solution.

Somewhere. Over the mythical rainbow.
Not in this world.
In this one we cry, sigh, apologize,
suspend dreams, un-dream them.

There, over the rainbow,
we trust a perfect stranger with a nice smile.

Here, we know better. . .

Looking down at the moon

On the plane last week,
I looked down and saw the red moon under the wings.
Very strange experience to see yourself literally over the moon.

And she swears that the moon
don't hang qutie as high as it used to
And she only sleeps when it's raining

And she screams, and her voice is straining
And she says 'Baby, it's 3 am I must be lonely'
Well heaven she says 'Baby, Well I can't help but be scared of it all sometimes,
And the rain's gonna wash away what I believe in'

AOL Releases Search Queries of 500,000 users!

Wow. AOL Releases search queries from 500,000 users, including easily identifiable data.

Like the data from this one lovely AOL user, spotted by The Paradigm Shift Blog:

17556639 how to kill your wife
17556639 how to kill your wife
17556639 wife killer
17556639 how to kill a wife
17556639 poop
17556639 dead people
17556639 pictures of dead people
17556639 killed people
17556639 dead pictures
17556639 dead pictures
17556639 dead pictures
17556639 murder photo
17556639 steak and cheese
17556639 photo of death
17556639 photo of death
17556639 death
17556639 dead people photos
17556639 photo of dead people
17556639 www.murderdpeople.com
17556639 decapatated photos
17556639 decapatated photos
17556639 car crashes3
17556639 car crashes3
17556639 car crash photo



AOL pulled the file offline, and apologized, but, of course, dozens of mirrors have already been created.

But is the search pattern above evidence of a crime?

Should authorities be notified, so that they can possibly prevent a murder?

What if we're talking about searches for free mp3s, drugs, or child pornography? If you are walking around on the street trying to score drugs, you are committing a felony, are you not? At the very least the police have a right to detain you.

Should your potentially illegal web activities be treated differently because you are physically seated in your bedroom rather than in the public domain?

I can't help but hope that the police get ahold of user 17556639.

Is that an anti-American, anti-freedom-of-thought attitude? Would you feel comfortable with a dude like that roaming the streets? Or maybe he was just a bored 13-year-old who just finished watching Throw Momma From the Train?

PostSecret and Tisha B'Av

Dreams, re-dreamed

"If you're happy in a dream, Ammu, does that count?" Estha asked.

"Does what count?"

"The happiness - does it count?"

She knew exactly what he meant, her son with his his spoiled puff. Because the truth is, that only what counts counts.

Qana, Lebanon

The usual hypocrites cry
Crime and Massacre,
and charred young bodies
are thrown into a hasty ditch;

History's tank tracks
roll over laughs and anger,
erasing color,
stopping hearts mid-beat,
and leaving pale former faces
in AP photos --

as we play swivel-chair generals,
and enjoy our hot coffee, with milk.

Therapy

Sometimes my physical therapist
pours her blonde Russian soul on me,
and rubs it in with massage cream.

As I lie there, and she works on my shoulder,
she tells me of being 38 and single.
Of her friend, to whom she says:
'You always forget, you did not come to this country for love.
You came here for money. If you wanted love,
you should've stayed in Russia'

She tells me of Russian men being intimidated by her
business-owning success,
and of Americans who are as hollow as a Russian doll --
'the harder you try to get deeper with them, the more layers of hollowness you discover.'
'You think there's depth under that polite have-a-nice-day outer layer?
There isn't.'

She tells me of being a trophy girl to a 70-year-old Greek
with colonoscopies and wrinkles in all the wrong places,
and she tells me of being too wise to want children anymore.

'Young people have children,
because they think it will make them happy. It won't,' she says
with bitter red cranberries appearing in her eyes.

'And if they think kids will help them when they're old --
think again. not in America.
In America they will stick you into a nursing home
and live 300 miles away.'

And so it goes.
Then she says "Time's up, see you next time!" smiles a wide smile,
and marches off to see the next patient.


I know what she means.

I hope I'll never agree.

Salvador Dali

There's a kid who had a big hallucination
Making love to girls in magazines.

Could anybody love him
or is it just a crazy dream?

And if I show you my dark side,
Will you still hold me tonight?
And if I open my heart to you,
and show you my weak side
What would you do?

Only a year ago?

This time last year, on the eve of the 9th of Av...

And now...



May our eyes behold
Your return to Zion in compassion,
So that Your beloved ones
may be given rest.

Straws

Often what one regrets the most
are the words that have been left unsaid,
thoughts unexpressed,
pleas not given a fair hearing.

But I wish that there were still things
that remained unspoken --

so that I could imagine saying them to you,
when I watch the balloon fly away.

The blue air-balloon

A little girl's crying: her air-balloon is gone.
People console her, the balloon flies on.

A young maid is crying: she can't find a groom.
People console her, the balloon flies on.

A woman is crying: her husband has left.
People console her, the balloon flies on.

Old lady's crying: life passed by too fast --
The balloon came back now, a blue balloon it is.


(Bulat Okudzhava)

A day of rest

In the shaking flame
of the havdalah candle,
the put-aside thoughts of the week
come back to life,
like a waking, paw-stretching, back-arching lion --

the rockets' red glare,
her crying eyes,
unrealized dreams,
and all new fears.

Shavua Tov...

Possibilities

How can a little girl -

cornered and anxious
helpless, dependent,
frightened by death and by life -

become a Woman of Valor?

Destruction

It is a famous cliche
that it takes a moment to destroy
what you spent a lifetime building.

Sometimes,
it takes more than a moment.
Sometimes it takes a premeditated decision,
a deliberate plan carried out with all the good intentions.

But when the "the-only-smart-thing-to-do" plan becomes reality,
it creates only a swallowing earth and
something wonderful lost,
perhaps forever.


If you'd like to make a call, please hang up and try again.

Hearing Voices

This story from last year deserves a bump....



Zidane says mysterious voice guided his comeback decision

PARIS, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Zinedine Zidane says a mysterious voice inspired his decision to play for France again.

"One night, at three in the morning, I woke up suddenly and then, I talked to someone," Zidane tells French magazine France Football in an interview to be released on Tuesday.

"That person really exists but it all comes from very far. And then, during the hours that followed, I took the decision to come back".

The three-times World Player of the Year, who won the World Cup in 1998 and the European championship two years later, had announced his retirement from international football after Euro 2004.

The 33-year-old's comeback decision came as surprise after he had said several times over the past few months that he would not change his mind.

"I was dumbfounded before that force that was guiding my behaviour and I had something of a revelation," Zidane told France Football.

Cleaning

It is painful to throw away old things, so instead I spent hours reorganizing old photographs, remembering the times they were taken, and wondering if anyone else's ever going to look at them, and how I wish I had not lost touch with so many in them.

The room is still a mess.

"Not"

Religious old men spend their terrifyingly long days learning,
the atheist ones do TV and crossword puzzles.
It is nice to think that the former has more meaning than the latter --
sometimes there's no harm in self-delusion.

The Bomb

My boss just reminded me of this old 1960s classic by Tim Lehrer:
(indeed, the more things change, the more things stay the same)

First we got the bomb, and that was good,
'Cause we love peace and motherhood.
Then Russia got the bomb, but that's okay,
'Cause the balance of power's maintained that way.
Who's next?

...

Then Indonesia claimed that they
Were gonna get one any day.
South Africa wants two, that's right:
One for the black and one for the white.
Who's next?

Egypt's gonna get one too,
Just to use on you know who.
So Israel's getting tense.
Wants one in self defense.
"The Lord's our shepherd," says the psalm,
But just in case, we better get a bomb.
Who's next?

Luxembourg is next to go,
And (who knows?) maybe Monaco.
We'll try to stay serene and calm
When Alabama gets the bomb.
Who's next?
Who's next?
Who's next?
Who's next?

The search for the Afikoman

As Bokonon has it (you can tell I liked the book!):

Tiger got to hunt,
Bird got to fly;
Man got to sit and wonder, "Why, why, why?"
Tiger got to sleep,
Bird got to land;
Man got to tell himself he understand.

Hide-and-seek is probably the most universally popular children's game. Just like a child's natural curiousity is exploited to keep her interested in the seder, so to does God play hide-and-seek with Reality, to keep Man ever interested in Him.

A Kurt Vonnegut Midrash

In the beginning, God created the earth, and he looked upon it in His cosmic loneliness.

And God said, "Let Us make living creatures out of mud, so the mud can see what We have done." And God created every living creature that now moveth, and one was man.

Mud-as-man alone could speak. God leaned close as mud-as-man sat up, looked around, and spoke. Man blinked. "What is the purpose of all this?" he asked politely.

"Everything must have a purpose?" asked God.

"Certainly," said man.

"Then I leave it to you to think of one for all this," said God.

And He went away.

Passover

I am still a slave --
for if I weren't, I'd be able to choose
to go back to work.

I like Shabbos...

...because it is the only day i can focus my mind on
two things that i like most --
my friends and my books.

...and because i get to hear her voice on the phone
when it ends.

Time

Relationships, jobs, diverging roads.
Old names evoke nostalgia, visit me in dreams,
but rarely awake my cell phone.
Different continents, countries, states, cities
erode friendships.

So many good people have come and gone
leaving only a lasting impression,
and outdated phone numbers.

Null pointer exception.

Basic Instinct

I wanted all things
To make some sense,
So we could all be happy, yes,
Instead of tense.
And I made up lies
So that they all fit nice,
And I made this sad world
A par-a-dise.

-Bokonon, Cat's Cradle.

Robbed in the San Francisco Bay

Relieved of lunch by evil birds.

San Francisco -- Part III

The Golden Gate Bridge across the Great Unknown:

We all need change, but some need it more than others:

It is hard to be a god:(at the Spanish Mission in Carmel-by-the-Sea)

San Francisco -- Part II

I WANT TO GO BACK!!!

San Francisco -- Part I

A heter

Russian-Jewish-American-Modern-Orthodox --
Living between cultures
has never been easier :)

Happy Holidays.

(click the image to enlarge).

Too much holiday spirit?

A group of about 5 women from work are walking the hallways and singing Merry Christmas carrols this morning. They're not especially good, and the whole thing is a bit amusing.

Religion in the workplace is a no-no, but in my view going out into the hallway to marvel at grown professional women singing songs in the middle of a busy day, provides a welcome respite from the daily routine.

New Photos!

Photos from my trip to Istanbul and Israel below!

Scroll down the whole way, and leave a comment!

Fun times :)

Our Muslim cousins

I must say I have seen few things more beautiful, more impressive, more glorious than the mosques of Istanbul.





A post-Ramadan fair gets going outside the mosque. Lots of books on sale, including -- of course -- some wonderful Nazi titles, with swastias and magen davids...



That shouldn't stop us from admiring the ceiling:


The women's section, behind the "mehitza". That's in the Fatih mosque:

The Blue Mosque had the women's section up on the balcony:


Chanting the prayer for the sick..:

Streets of Istanbul

"Mister, would you like some hairspray? Or, perhaps, I can interest you in a handgun?"




These rabbits are supposed to predict your fortune by picking up one of those little papers. In my near future, the rabbit said, a $350 little Persian carpet, 30 minutes after this shot. I have no idea what I'm going to do with that carpet, but I just couldn't resist the sales pitch, which included the owner feeding me green tea to warm me up on a damp November night.


They LOVE their flags inTurkey!

More photos!

Finally, below are photos from my amazing trip to Israel over Sukkot.

Coming up soon on this space: San Francisco!

Enjoy :)

All in one

Can all of today's Israel be summed up in one photo? No, but I LOVED the many ironies of this little piece of the old Jewish Quarter:



Here it is in full detail:
http://img367.imageshack.us/my.php?image=israelipolitics6gq.jpg

Note the entrance to the ancient Roman street on the right, the Habad Road sign, with Arabic letters wiped out, the Israeli flag in the window above, wiped out as well, with the orange ribbon.

Day at the Western Wall, Part 2

I've heard there was a secret chord that David played, and it pleased the Lord...

or "How to charm a cute police woman" :)


City of Contrasts..:



"I'll buy new pants when Moshiach comes":

A day at the Western Wall...

There was an army ceremony by the Wall, a couple Chabad guys were passing by and started dancing around with the soldiers:


...soon, all the soldiers have joined in:





Who said the Charedi don't serve in the army? They do, and at a very young age:



Arabs... cats... Polish peacekeepers..:

Jerusalem tidbits

Today:


....and always:






Yes, these are made of phonebooks:



Poor horse!



Hmm whoever said there were too many Russians in Israel, should send a few this way:

Cute in Tzfat

All the way to Beirut?

"What you don't have Chaya Mushka? Who has Chaya Mushka? Oy gevalt!"

Wrong way?

Hebron

Mixing politics and religion is dangerous business, but some do it with far more class...

...than others:















I wonder what our Parents think...

Africa, America

People are commenting that the scenes in New Orleans remind them of Somalia and Black Hawk Down, and they are right. But without resorting to exaggerations or over-the-top drama, I see scenes out of deep, depressed Africa every day on my way to work in SE Washington, DC. Those people have NOTHING in common with white and comfortable America, their quality of life is decidedly third world and their prospects are gloomy at best.

I don't understand how it is that the rest of us have managed to isolate ourselves from the realities of life in our major cities -- to isolate them from us -- be it through American Idol shows and the NFL, or through schools selling children "You Have An Equal Right To The Pursuit of Happiness" America Dream propoganda, or through real estate prices and segregated schooling.

Watching the flood footage on TV these days is just shocking -- it's like "Whoa where have all these thousands of distressed poor black people come from?" Seems like they've last made their appearance on national news during the LA riots; oh and they're on local news nightly talking about some other murder in another cliche segment with flashing red lights and yellow police tape in the background.

More than half of our cities are unlivable by any decent modern definition -- they might as well have been under water all along, for all white America cares.

These people in New Orleans, in a few days some official will come on TV and say that the process of evacuation is complete, and in a few months he will come on again to inform us that people are now allowed back into the city. White America, using their first-world mentality, will assume that insurance or the feds will take care of everything, and that life will resume as normal. The poor black people will leave the news screens again, and we'll resume talking about the missing girl in Aruba.

Nature copes

Ant balls not an urban myth

In addition to all of the other horrors befalling New Orleanians during the flood was the creepy discovery that red ants form themselves into floating clusters to avoid drowning. As Dante Ramos and I paddled along Carrollton Avenue on Wednesday, I saw two glittering, golf ball-sized masses of ants floating beside our canoe.

- Doug MacCash
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/

I, too, need a vacation from my vacation!

Bush taking it easy today in Idaho

BOISE, Idaho(AP) President Bush is spending a vacation day in Idaho before making another speech on Iraq.

...the president is kicking back at a brand-new resort in the Idaho Rockies, where he's the guest of governor Dirk Kempthorne. The two mountain bike enthusiasts are expected to sample the local trails.

Bigots

I'm not sure why it is that people have such extreme fear and distrust of anyone who doesn't quite look or act like them... Perhaps in the case of disabled people it relates to base anxieties regarding their own health, I don't know. But the fact is that people with visible disabilities meet with extreme prejudice and disgust all the time.

You have to be an asshole of the first degree to complain and get a disabled kid kicked out just because he keeps you from getting full pleasure out of some dumbass movie.

http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2005/08/18/laughter.htm

Anthony, who uses a wheelchair, was with his parents, his sister and his grandmother at the Loews Cineplex theaters in the Galleria at Crystal Run Sunday, watching a 1:15 p.m. matinee of the G-rated film "March of the Penguins."

About 15 minutes into the film, one of the theater's managers approached the family, she said.
"He said our son was laughing too loud," Pratti said. "My husband told him Anthony didn't understand, that he was disabled, but that we'd try to quiet him down."
Not good enough, apparently – the manager brusquely told the family that Anthony had to leave, Pratti said.

Aging

Relatives came to visit from New York. My aunt is starting to look like my late grandmother.
Same features, mannerisms, everything -- and soon to be same in age, too. Also scary was visiting my other grandmother. I think her hands are getting slight trembles that she hides by sitting on them. Her always healthy body is struggling to keep up with her age, andshe is struggling to make peace with it.

I wonder how I would react to being in her shoes? I cannot stand the idea of being restricted physically, a dislocated shoulder making its presence known to me daily.

I miss my grandparents cutting apples for me during green summers.

State of Our Union - A rant.

I was thinking about this after yet another 7th inning stretch "God Bless America" rendition. Time after time lately I get these flashbacks to the Soviet times... be it after seeing yet another politician with a little american flag on his jacket, listening to a speech on patriotism at the time of war, or watching a rock concert at campaign events.

Here are some main features of today's political climate in America -- though I'm quite sure that it's not that much worse than it has been for decades.

• Propoganda instead of dialogue -- Dishonest talking points, misleading 30-second commercials, endless stump speeches in front of partisan audiences, armies of partisan talking heads flooding TV and radio shows, "Mission Accomplished" photo-ops, kissing babies, 9/11 imagery, etc. The leader of the Free World gives a press-conference once a year (!) answering PRE-APPROVED questions?!

• Dissent is suppressed or ridiculed -- anti-war protests are only covered if some kind of violence breaks out. Even Vietnam-era activism is seen as unpatriotic and somehow shameful. Anyone questioning defense spending is immediately relegated to the fringes of "public discourse". Widespread, pervasive poverty in our society is another taboo subject, as the "welfare=bad" associations are ingrained in our brains after years of belief through repetition.

• Corporate, nearly monopolized, control of the press -- 2-3 corporations control all of our TV and newspaper media. They are driven by corporate profits, thus easily abandoning serious reporting for ratings-driven programming. Apart from the high-brow premium cable History Channel, when was the last time you saw a real investigative documentary on any major channel, from Fox News/CNN to ABC? When was the last time a non-partisan-hackery opinion was aired on any of the news programs? They speak of the polls incessantly, or of how the candidates looked or sounded in this or that opinion, or of Mary Cheney's, Monica Lewinskys, or other nonsense. People got a bit of a wake-up call with this Swift Boat documentary scandal, but this is just the beginning. Of course Janet Jackson showing a nipple, ooh, that's another story altogether.

• Orwellian program names (Patriot Act, No Child Left Behind) -- this is more amusing than anything else, but yea, surely nobody in their right mind can be against the PATRIOT act! I mean, that would be unpatriotic! What, are you against "No Child Left Behind"?! You must want to leave American children behind, you bastard.

• Cult of the forefathers -- this is the weirdest one of all. The Constitution and the Forefathers are revered like the Bible and its prophets. Some people in the XVIII century wrote a document. Yay. It's a nice document, great, but it was not divinely inspired, it was written by some men 250 years ago! Like Christ's disciples, our courts and politicians try to infer the "true intent" of the Founding Fathers In Their Unlimited Wisdon. Just strange.

This is a sham, not a democracy. Are "we the people" really THAT dumb that the politicians can't actually discuss issues with us and need to resort to round-the-clock propoganda? Shouldn't we be outraged? Or has the economic prosperity of the majority basically made us indifferent to any of this?


Look at the range of what is acceptable for politians to express in the public domain today -- they HAVE to be pro-war, they HAVE to be pro-low taxes, they HAVE to be anti-welfare, they HAVE to be anti-internationalist, they HAVE to be anti-"Big Government". What's the consequences if they don't? Well they'll be branded all kinds of names and discarded into the fringe. Why is that an acceptable state of affairs?

You'll tell me "Oh that's because the American people are pro-war, people disagree with you, so deal with it". No. That's not how democracies are supposed to work. People need to hear out arguments, they need to be exposed to points of view. They simply aren't.

My personal position is far from liberal on most issues, but I am shocked and appalled by the lack of public discussion.

Dissent IS suppressed, except it is suppressed by economic means (here's a tax cut for you, so that you don't worry too much about the dire poverty in our inner cities), by corporate media that lacks serious news coverage, by the enormous amounts of money needed to run a political campaign, and by pseudo-patriotic rhetoric ("Oh don't mind him, he is just an anti-American zealot, he's in bed with Stalin really, haven't you heard?"). Democracy can be suppressed in more ways than one.

End rant.

...

Pictures worth a thousand words...

...

I want to say something to express how I feel
on these days of gloom for my people
I search for words, but I only find
resignation.

On the eve of the 9th of Av...

In an address to the nation Wednesday night, President Moshe Katzav asked Jewish residents of Gush Katif and Samaria to forgive the state for demanding their expulsion.


What follows are excerpts from the president's message to the nation, broadcast nationally.

"Dear citizens, my brothers the residents of Judea, Samaria and Gaza: We are standing before the most difficult decisions since the declaration of independence. In a few days, you will be asked, according to a decision of the government and of the Knesset, to evacuate the Gaza region and northern Samaria. We are reaching the moment of difficulty and the pain of abandonment is too heavy to bear," President Katzav said.

...

"In the name of the State of Israel, I ask of you, the residents, forgiveness for the demand to leave after tens of years of building and sacrifice. Your love for the people and the land is reminiscent of the pioneering forefathers, the spirit beating within you is the spirit of the forefathers of Zionism.

....

"After a year of difficult struggles and penetrating discussions, the hour has come. You are obligated to respect the decisions of the institutions of the state: the Knesset and the government. It is a decision that has been examined even in the High Court of Justice, and once it has been decided, 'the law of the land is the law.' The Knesset is the symbol of sovereignty and it expresses the will of the people. 'The voice of the masses is like the voice of the Mighty One,' the voice of the Knesset is like the voice of the masses."

....

"The eyes of Israel and of the entire world are turned to witness the struggle, and the ability of the state to make decisions. The Disengagement Plan does not put an end to your Zionist project. And we must not speak in terms of destruction and finality. You have said: 'Love will win out.' And you are correct; despite the cracks in the dream, love must win out. ...Opposition to the Disengagement must not harm the security of the state, the values of democracy and the most holy values of Judaism, such as the brotherhood of Israel. Whatever it might be, the dispute does not justify a rift among the people."

...

'The first flowering of our redemption' is not dependent on the Disengagement Plan.

"Dear residents, the pioneering spirit that characterizes you is essential to the nation and the state for the rest of the way. There will certainly remain scars and anger; nevertheless, we must reconnect again. You must maintain your spirits for the main struggles ahead for us. The supporters of Disengagement also understand that the main struggle is over the eastern border, which affects every home in Israel.

"Our struggle for existence continues."

Gray day

Generally feeling unusually melancholic today,
I think it's the pregnant skies making me all hormonal.

Have work to do - not today, today I want to hear her voice --
and hearing her voice on the answering machine does not count.

Interesting link of the day:
http://www.worldometers.info/


Speaking of the 150,000 babies born in a day... My sister's little girl, born yesterday, weighs 4.4 pounds. They called her Gloria Joy Maria, if you can believe that, a cute Jewish girl.

Hello world?

Just like one of the millions of cicadas outside my window, I must think of a way to distinguish this blog from all others, and attract someone who I can mate with.
Or at least someone who will read this blog and post cute feedback to make me feel like all this typing has not been in vain.

I have thought that a good blog should be more or less devoted to a certain topic. Unless you live someplace like Iraq or Tanzania, no one wants to read about your boring daily life.

So what should I focus on?

Well, I live in Washington, so I suppose I could do a politics blog! There's an original idea!!! There's never a shortage of material, I could bash Bush or something. I could also bash our boring two-party political system that basically prevents most of us from writing actually interesting posts about current US politics.

Another thing I think about lots is women. I could write about women all day long, as they are very fascinating creatures. But I don't think blogspot would appreciate me posting links to cute females every day. Or would it?

The third idea is to write about the books I read. Those have been quite interesting lately - Bill Bryson, Will Durant, Victor Frankl, Jared Diamond. That could be cool!
This could easily evolve into discussions about the modern world, religion, liberalism, psychology, and other wonderful stuff!

So! Leave a comment voting for one of these 3 ideas -- or propose another alternative --
and since your will likely be the only vote, that will be the idea that I'll adopt as the theme of this here blog.