On Friday, I managed to get 10 things listed on Ebay and pack some small things, and get out of here in time to go to the post office and get them mailed.
I didn't feel so much like going to a service, since I'd just been to one on Wednesday but I'm here to Do The Things(tm) so I set out to do the thing. I went to Whole Foods for chicken wings and broccoli and a small bottle of beer which didn't actually add to the meal as much as I thought it would, and in fact seltzer water would have been better.
I stopped at the hardware store and found a piece of plastic pipe that had an opening a bit larger than on a typical shofar, and which was long enough for me to get two notes on. Perfect. I had my shofar with me too. I then went to the used book store to look around and got a book called something like "Living A Jewish Life" which I'm pretty sure will be on my reading list, by Anita Diamant and another author.
I got to the service at just about the right time, and since I'd forgotten my glasses I sat up near the front. I could read the screens pretty much OK so that was good. There was a small crowd this time because they'd done Tot Shabbat just before so a lot of parents were with their kids, and perhaps some people hadn't felt like coming like I hadn't, because they'd just gone to one on Wednesday.
The oneg, or food after the service, was just about all sweets. Some people really load up their plates too, but for myself I just had a couple pieces of this sort of pastry that's not overly sweet and that was it.
But Peter was there, and I showed him how I can get a tone on the piece of pipe, and that it's his now, and he can blow on it while watching TV or whatever, and thus be able to feel natural blowing the shofar. And he was able to blow it fine. I said he got a great tone, maybe better than me.
At one point we were in the gift shop and it was a bit crowded and they had some new shofarim in. Two small ones and a long one. Of course I had to blow the long one, and this one guy, I *think* his name is Jim, was in there and said "That's a great sound!" or something like that, but due to the crowd he didn't know he was saying it to little old me.
This guy "Jim" is a real character. Very outgoing, has to be in the middle of every conversation with the younger people, wears loud clothes, wears a tallis lately and so is the only one besides the rabbi wearing one, a very "Look at me!" character. And he sees me as a sort of a rival. Or at least he has been seeing me this way but that feeling seems to have died down. Because I really don't care if he's the center of things or not. Plus he is, or was, a sax player and I see all musicians as friends. We are not unfriendly at all, and we've found ways to make room for each other. Still, it's funny that he didn't realize he was complimenting me.
After the service was all done, I rode to Whole Foods for some last-minute things then rode back here. Then I took care of the Pepsi. I had 4 cases of it still here, and I'd simply forgotten to take one to the service, that's how hurried I was to get out of here.
There's a -non-Jewish worker at the temple, who I'm not sure if he's "Special" or what his deal was. I think he likes diet Pepsi, a lot. When I brought Pepsi over the last time, only a few cans appeared out with the coffee and tea and ice water, and Richard, the worker, kept saying things like people don't drink it, and joked(?) about drinking it all himself.
As I was changing into my jacket and making ready for the ride home, Richard said with a big smile something about my having fun now. I was like, "What?" and he said, going to a bar and getting good and drunk etc. I said, "Shabbat doesn't work like that", smiling, but still, the guy's pretty clueless.
In any case, when I got back here before settling down for the night I took the four cases of Pepsi and put them out by the trash enclosure for anyone to take. I think a gal on a bicycle got two and the guys next door got two. And I still have 10 cans here for the odd time I feel like having some. But no more for Richard.
I drank a bottle and a half of wine last night and really slept in, until 3. Then I watched the 2nd half of "Don't Cry Wolf" by Farley Mowat, then found another movie by him called something like "Lost In The Barrens" which was also quite good. Then I found, snipped up into clips of varying quality, "Prince Of Egypt" which even viewed that way, was great.
I think I'd skipped a couple-few parshas in the Torah so I looked at the little handout for this week and it's one in Exodus, I think because it's sukkot, where religious Jews build a little hut called a sukkot and try to live in it as much as possible. So, I had to find out what the chapter Exodus is called in my little chumash, and it's Shemot, and Lo and behold, it's the story that the "Prince Of Egypt" was taken from. So I'm just going to read the whole thing. Then it's on to Beresheit which isn't as bad as it sounds, it means "Beginnings".
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