I wanted to wake up at 9. I actually woke up at ... noon. Luckily I had things pretty much singled out to list, and got 10 things ready and took the photos. Then I packed the things that have to get shipped out today, loaded up the bike, cleaned myself up, and was out the door at 3.
I dropped off trash, dropped off the packages at the post office, went to the bank and deposited my check - their math and mine agreed to the penny - and then went to Whole Foods. I got ... wine, a little 4-pack of wine, a bottle of unsweetened tea, and a package of 365 brand beef jerky.
The thing at the Addisonp-Penzak center started at 5, so I wanted something I could eat on the train. The whole day was stressful about whether I'd make it, and as I left the bank I realized I had a leak in the rear tire of my bike that went ft! ft! ft! But it was maintaining pressure and I think was the "leaf or something" that I thought was making that sound two days ago. So the Slime, a product I very heartily endorse, had been keeping me rolling all these last couple of days. I looked at the tire and there was a significant cut in it. Lovely. I just figured I'd go on and hopefully it'll be all right.
So I rode over to the Diridon light rail stop and ... I've left my clipper card in the pocket of another shirt, that I wasn't wearing. I bought an 8-hour pass for $5 which is the same amount that would have come off my clipper card anyway.
I rode down to the Winchester station, and rode south on Winchester Blvd. for a while until I came to a bus stop with some shade, no bench but a nice grassy bank to sit on. Probably the only place in the city of Campbell someone could loll around on the grass and not be arrested. I had some beef jerky and some tea, mixed with wine. It was a nice little break. Then I rode on, and found I'd actually gone most of the way I'd have to ride. I rode to the center, locked the bike to a tree, checked in and got my wrist band, and I was even early.
There were a lot of booths set up on the (very large) lawn, tables and chairs, a stage, etc. The DJ played tons of songs from when I was in my 20s (pre-grunge). The booths were for all sorts of Jewish organizations, schools, camps, etc. A weightlifting club, a sort of political action group, etc. The funnest one was the Chabad one where they had a lot of ram's horns with the basic hole drilled, and it was a make your own shofar thing. They were all smaller than the one I've got, and it was mostly kids participating so I didn't want to "horn in"
But I'd brought my own shofar and played that a bit here and there. I'm having trouble with the "teruah" the short choppy notes. But I didn't one perfect sequence, the tekiah, shivirim, teruah, and tekiah gadol, and right there at the Chabad booth so yay for that. It was so neat seeing the kids, some of them quite little, learning about the shofar and one kid, maybe 12, blew nice long note with wonderful tone. You gotta love Chabad, they had tefillin there and wrapped a few guys, had mezuzot, a tsadaka box, and for some reason those little tubes of honey and honey stirrers.
I'd signed up for a chicken dinner which was chicken in barbecue sauce, an ear of roasted sweet corn, and a slice of watermelon. I ate about half the chicken, had some of the corn, and had a Coke Zero.
Eventually it came to the core of the event, which was one of the rabbis sounding the shofar, kind of "eh" but the shofar seems to humble a lot of people. And then a song with the guitar, then it was back to music but then there started some Russian sounding music and dancing by some Russian Jewish girls that was really cool. It was to recorded music but the first dance's music had some great trumpet in it.
After the Russian gals did a few dances (and were probably pretty tired) there was a pause and then some other songs were played and some people were called up by name to dance, and it was Israeli dancing. That was fun to watch; it was on the lawn not the stage and more people kept joining and the circle kept getting bigger.
I'm not sure my back is up to it yet, but once I feel tip top again I want to try out the Israeli dancing that's held at my temple on Wednesday nights I think. As they say it's not only fun and a good workout, but it's political and when there's a victory for Jews, the dances will break out.
I also got a ton of literature, spun the wheel where it says to do this or that exercise and then you get to choose a prize, so for 5 push-ups I got a nice water bottle. And I got a big "Repair The World" bag that I'll find useful.
The Addison-Penzak center is great and there, you can hear people speaking Hebrew. If I lived closer I'd probably consider joining.
Last night I'd told Ken that due to my social class, I don't get vacations (he didn't even blink at this) and I realized a few years ago that if you're working class, the best thing you can do to stay sane is to join a religion, hopefully one with lots of holidays, because while there are no protections for vacations, there are protections against religious persecution. It's not like England, I said, where workers get holidays. I said that I felt a lot less like a "burnout burger" since I've been taking Fridays off and going to Jewish things. I think he understands this.
The ride back was pleasant, and the ride on the green train back to Diridon not bad. When I got off at Diridon, there was a big black guy who rushed up, and tried to shout through the window to the driver, to hold up a few minutes while he gets his stuff - his stuff being a plastic trash can on the ramp. I don't think the driver was going to do this so I stopped with my bike on the track to check something with my kick stand, and the train operator honked at me, then honked longer, but by that time the guy had dragged his trash can to do door, at least I hoped. I hate to piss off a VTA driver but why wreck a guy's life?
The ride back from Diridon was nice, too, and I found several books. Through all this the bike tire's held but I'm not counting on it.
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