Presence

I'm likely going to attempt to try to start posting a bit more frequently, in an attempt to better balance various aspects of my life activities. Since I've been out of it for a while, here's a quick status update of what's going on.

• Reading: Gates of Eden, by Ethan Coen - a collection of short stories from the man who brought us Walter Sobchak. Some are downright disturbing, while others, especially the ones about growing up Jewish in a semi-traditional household, we're particularly poignant (I Killed Phil Shapiro is my favorite). I'm done reading it, if you'd like to borrow, let me know.
• Listening: The Woods, by Sleater-Kinney - quite good. I recommed The Fox (good tune, no idea what's up with the duck and the fox), Modern Girl and Entertain. I'm certainly not the target audience for this band, but I enjoy it nonetheless. I'm a bit perturbed by the fact that I preordered from Amazon for $13.49 and it is now selling for $11.99.
• Watching: The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou - I never published the post I wrote about this movie after seeing it in the theater. I love the fact that when presented with the choice of researching actual marine life or just making up his own little world, Wes Anderson chose the latter. After all, that's what an 11 1/2 year old do. I now own the complete works of Wes Anderson (Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring). Also, season one of Scrubs.
• Not Watching: Revenge of the Sith - partially because of sefirah, but also because I refuse to get all worked up over something that will likely disappoint. I'll see it eventually, to say goodbye to Star Wars and my childhood imagination, and to try, one last time, to use The Force to make George Lucas' head explode.
• Eating: Beer-battered onion rings from Accents Grill. Oh so wrong, and yet, oh so right.
• Working: I've been dealing a lot recently with Location-based technologies. It's some pretty cool stuff. Lots of ideas, lots of strands to keep in the old Duder's head.
• Learning: After finishing Sotah, my chavrusah and I began learning Horayos, expecting it to be interesting and deal with topics like Rabbinic Fallibility. It wasn't and didn't, so we're looking for a new tractate to dig in to. I would like to take a gemara and approach it from a thematic/narrative perspective; I've success with this in the past with Chaggigah and Moed Katan, and tried with Sotah, but it was either too big, too deep, or both (also, my whole approach may just be wrong). I'm open to suggestions.

A few random data points:

• Years since graduating high school: 10


• Years married: 7


• Years since first child born: 6


• Years since last child born: 0.75


• Number of times seen Episode III: 0


• Number of times seen Episode II: 1.5


• Number of times seen Episode I: 3


• Childhood dreams and innocence destroyed by Star Wars prequels: All of them.

Talk to you soon.