1000 words x 2

Caught up on my photo-uploading. There are now albums from the crazed NY-Mtl-NY move, and autumn in New York.

Crazy quick road trip and moving. Driving up to Montreal, enjoying the local foods (poutine! bagels!), packing up the uhaul truck, and back down to NYC. Next night: moving furniture from Brooklyn with the roommates. (September)	The usual suspects: International Pickle Festival; cruising the waterfalls and a birthday, with parents; prepping for Sukkot, with challot and shopping on the Lower East Side; roomies; foliage; produce from the co-op. (September-November)

Filed under: america, canada, family, friends, good eats, home, judaism, parties, photos, random, seasons, travels

How To Avoid Dying (and other mishegas)

First, cross-posted from Jewschool is a short piece on the power of prayer:

“A study published by researchers at Yeshiva University and its medical school, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, strongly suggests that regular attendance at religious services reduces the risk of death by approximately 20%. The findings, published in Psychology and Health, were based on data drawn from participants who spanned numerous religious denominations.…

“To evaluate the impact of religiosity on mortality and morbidity, the investigators looked at variables including self-report of religious affiliation, frequency of religious service attendance, and religious strength as well as comfort, in relation to coronary heart disease (CHD) and death. It is important to note that the study did not attempt to measure spirituality; rather, it examined self-report religiosity measures (irrespective of the participant’s religion).

“Those attending religious services at least once per week showed a 20% mortality risk reduction mark compared with those not attending services at all. These findings corroborate prior studies that have shown up to a 25% reduction in such risk.” [Read more.]

I would like to thank the various independent minyanim that I attend on a regular basis for existing as, it seems, they’re to thank for my recent “got off easy” car accident. (What? I’m not properly understanding the conclusions?)

And for some more random fun, highlights from the RSS reader. (I’ve had a lot of time to catch up on the blogs these past couple days…)

• Masturbation leads to homosexuality.
• Rick Mercer has a great last line.
• DovBear is spot on for why this news story was a let down. (My roommates and I were so enticed by the teaser, we DVR’ed the news Monday night. We were disappointed for many reasons when we watched it yesterday.)
• Another reason to love Keith Olbermann – and mock Sarah Palin.
• And, since it’s Thanksgiving in the USA tomorrow, a recipe for mashed potatoes, care of Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg.

Filed under: america, health, homophobia, judaism, politics, queers, random, recipes, wtf?

Crash: update

Following up:

Thanks for all of the emails. It really means a lot to me.

I’m still resting at home. While the swelling has gone down on my head (I no longer have a big bump where a uni-brow would be), and around my eye (it’s now a lovely purple, and the swelling is only barely impeding my vision now), the rest of my body has taken over. My neck, shoulders, right arm, and right leg are amazing sore. It was hurting me to readjust my position on the couch last night, so today I’ve tried to stay still in bed. I’m a little bored; movie watching is good, reading gives me a headache, Scrabble on Facebook rocks (feel free to challenge me to a game). And I’m possibly feverish, as my body has been fluctuating between cold with shivers and hot with sweats. But I still feel quite thankful that this is as bad as it is; for a car accident, I got off easy.

On the other end of the story, I can update you too: I went to the precinct yesterday and gave a statement. The driver of the other taxi was arrested, and I should know in a day or two what’s happening with the charges. But from what the police said, he’s “given himself serious problems” by not only causing the accident, but leaving the scene, and leaving the scene with a passenger in his cab.

Next step? Once I’m able to walk around again, I need to get new glasses since mine were ruined in the accident. And try to sleep…

Filed under: health, wtf?

Crash

Sunday, around noon, I was in a car accident. Sitting in the back of a cab, on my way to work, another cab ran a red light, hit my cab (impact was on the driver’s side back door), spun my cab around. I’m missing a moment from memory – either I’ve blocked it out, or I blacked out – but I opened my eyes to see a pedestrian on her cell phone approaching the cab, asking if I was ok; sitting up and realising that my head was pounding. Barukh HaShem, I am ok. A trip to the emergency room by ambulance and my CAT scan was clear, good. When my head slammed into, I’m guessing, the partition in the cab, my glasses dug into my nose, eye; my face is swollen and bruised, but I’m ok. It could have been a lot worse. The driver of my cab was also ok, though shaken up. The other cab? Didn’t stop – hit and run. While at the hospital still, a detective came by to tell me that the other driver had turned himself in at the precinct after a couple hours. Turns out he had had a passenger in his cab, and still didn’t stop! I can’t imagine how horrible that must have been for the passenger; I would have freaked out if I was them, the driver hadn’t stopped. They could have been hurt too.

Despite pain killers, I’m in pain. I only slept for about three hours. It’s 4am, I’ve been awake for an hour already.

I’m extremely fortunate that the accident wasn’t worse. And that I have an amazing friend who came to the site, came with me in the ambulance, and took me home from the hospital to her home. Thank you.

Filed under: friends, health, wtf?

Scribbles

There was a time in my life when I wrote daily. A combination of journaling and prose, sometimes poetry, it helped me connect the everyday to the journey. I haven’t been regularly using this space; I guess that after more than a decade of blogging, there’s only so much left to say publicly. But I will be returning to daily writing… And we’ll see what of it shows up here (and/or on Jewschool).

Filed under: management

Thankful

Dav’ning in your room
Blessed by your friendship and love
Tears fell down my cheeks

Filed under: friends

F#ck Yeah!

I’d like to add a word (or several) to Shamir’s prayer for voting post.

There are a couple prayers that I always skip during services. I have various reasons for my minhag, but on Saturday? I said the “prayer for [y]our nation” for the first time. I felt it was really important to add my voice to the prayer.

I was especially moved by someone sitting nearby who enthusiastically stressed a few of the phrases; were it not Shabbos, I would have raced home and written down what he emphasized. Alas, two days later, I have forgotten.

But! I would like to share how the prayer was ended. As the congregation said “amen” in unison, this individual said “fuck yeah!!”

It was great.

May we all have a “fuck yeah” moment tomorrow night as the results come in.

Filed under: america, judaism, politics