Monday - Tisha B'av

 Today, or tonight starts it, is Tisha B'av. My own temple isn't doing anything but the little handout had information on other temples doing things. 

I drank a bottle of wine last night. 750ml is better than drinking a liter, but still! 

In any case I woke up in time to do the things  I had planned. I packed a bunch of things and took the two FedEx ones to FedEx and on the way back went to Lowe's and bought a new toilet seat. And one of those LED lights with a bunch of LEDs that screws into a light bulb socket. 

I got back here and the LED light works fine, it's just about a perfect fit in the lamp I just got at Goodwill. But the toilet seat was the wrong type, "Round" instead of "Enlongated". So I took it back to Lowe's, got a return, and went and bought the right one. 

I had time to get back here and set the new toilet seat away, clean up a bit, load up trash and packages to take to the downtown post office. and got out of here a bit past 4. 

I dropped off the packages and then had a little breathing room. I stopped at Whole Foods for a Trumer Pils and some chicken, mostly skin which I like, and some zucchini and a bottle of wine and a bottle of water. 

I ate and drank, and then went over to Santana Row, checked USB DVD drives which are about $40, and looked for a "chef" store of some type which I thought they'd probably have. I was told there's a Williams-Sonoma which I'm not sure is the same, and I got all kinds of weird directions before I realized it's probably over on the other side, in the mall, and gave up. 

Next I rode over to Starving Musician. It was about 10 minutes to closing and I went and looked at the Yamaha cornet I'd been considering, that has a shepherd's crook. It actually looked OK, but it's a student model and they'd tacked a "1" on the front of the price. $700 for it is a crime, $1700 is ludicrous. 

Next I rode down to Mitsuwa Marketplace because  I really needed to use the loo. That was no problem, and now it was time to get going to my end goal - one of the temples that was observing Tisha B'av. 

I rode down Saratoga Avenue to Prospect and followed the numbers on the houses on the right side of the road, eventually getting to where I was certain I'd overshot it, so I rode back, thinking Well, they've got it hidden pretty well and maybe I'll have better luck next year. 

Then I found it. There was the little side street and there it was and I wasn't late after all. It turns out the other side of the street is a different city, so the numbers don't line up the way they usually do. 

I really hit it off with one guy who's apparently been pretty big in Adobe before he retired. Leave it to me to find the techie. The service didn't have a ton of people, and there was a lot of Hebrew, generally read very fast. At least it seems fast to me. The actual Tisha B'av part of the service involved taking off one's shoes if they're leather shoes which mine are, and if one is able, sitting or reclining on the bima. So off when my shoes, I was glad I'd put on clean socks, and we lit a lot of little tea light candles (most of them anyway) and then it was readings of Lamentations by some really good Hebrew readers/cantillators, then a bit in the "supplementary reading" which was 10 or so sheets stapled recounting all the various things that have happened to the Jews that are remembered on Tosha B'av. 

This temple is Conservative, and I guess my own, being Reform, doesn't observe Tisha B'av because it's a downer, man. It *is* a real downer, that's the point. One is not supposed to wear leather shoes, sit in a chair, study Torah, eat or drink, etc. Well,  I can do some of the things. I can wear my Crocs all day. I can at least eat plain foods I don't have to cook. 

When the service was done, the Abobe guy and I talked some more and laughed it up about MAD Magazine which we both grew up on. There's supposed to be a movie tomorrow night and a "breaking the fast" nosh but the guy thinks it's not at the temple but at Temple Sinai which I think I've been to. 

Now the ride home. I honestly was on the bike for 4 hours today. It's a lot of riding. I rode out to Prospect Road, then looked for a place that would have a loo and be a source of coffee. Starbucks was closed, but I'd remembered seeing a Sprouts and went to that. A very nice Indian gal told me where the loo was and told me the code, then where the coffee drinks are and I got a can of strong black coffee, for $4 of course but I needed it. 

Then it was just riding, riding, riding until I was back around San Pedro Square. Five Points had a band with two tenor saxes and they were sounding good, with a good crowd. The other place that was hopping was O'Flaherty's where it was karaoke night. I talked a bit with the security guard there who I've talked to before, and then from there it was just the ride home.