Believe it or not, back in 1982 I always had at least $500 in the bank, often a bit more but never less. On $500 I could always find another room to rent for less than $200, and I figured if I was out of work I'd have tons of free time to scrounge, so $500 was save-my-ass money.
Well, now I'm at just about 9 grand, and it feels about the same. I actually want to keep a "float" of 10 grand in the bank, which will take some time still because I've got about 4 grand going out pretty soon, 3 to the IRS and 1 for temple membership.
Yes, I went to the bank but first I went to my meeting with the rabbi and it was all hunky dory. Then I went over to the music store which wasn't open yet so I went to this weird "Hash House" place on the corner and got sourdough toast, explaining to the guy (who was nice and talkative) that I can't check on the opening time of the music store next door. He said he'd check and when I got my toast, he said they opened at 11. It wasn't even 10. "But that's OK!" I said cheerfully, "I've got toast!"
I did the bank (there's a new gal working there who's from Israel and I got to try out saying "Boker Tov!" which means "good morning" to her which went over well) then dropped a couple of things at the post office, got a bunch of things at Nijiya and got back here.
Now to list 10 things I've got photo'd, and get back over to the temple for tonight's service then back here ... then I have to get up super early tomorrow morning to go to Shir Hadash for their Saturday morning service as part of my class.
I've been thinking about Harvey Pekar since I have that book by him to read, and I remembered he'd tried moving to Israel and the way it's described, it's like he was officially told they'd not have him. This is not the truth. The truth is, he went to the embassy or something, asked the guy there about it, and the guy shot back that he'd have a hard time and not be able to find a job.
This was undoubtedly your typical Israeli directness, brutal directness even. Sure, Pekar apparently came across to everyone as twitchy and neurotic, but what that guy told him was not official policy and all he'd have had to do is go through the process and I'm sure they'd have taken him in just fine. And his skills working for the Veterans Administration here in the US would have been translatable to something there. The trouble is, he was "thinking" with his emotions.
The trouble with this is, it's Harvey Pekar we're talking about here. His almost off-the-cuff stab at looking into moving to Israel resulted in a book "Not The Israel I Expected" or some shit, and was fuel for the fire of antisemitism the Left has as a core value. And Pekar, always worried about making a living, had to make the right noises to ingratiate himself with the Left or he'd become a non-entity, no more Comics Journal interviews, no more Letterman guest spots, no more illustrators willing to work with him.
Israel: Not for the weak! In fact the rabbi and I talked a bit about this today, he said the one lady who made aliyah just before the election, "has the right attitude" and said so do I. Maybe it's a sort of "survivor" attitude.
This is great that he thinks this, because he'll be my #1 reference. And that lady doing well will affect me because no doubt she was recommended by him.
One of the other things mentioned is that I think I'll have something like $1500 a month in Social Security coming in by the time I make aliyah, and that's a lifeline that will make sure I'm always housed at least. And I can play music, buy and sell stuff, all sorts of things.
This is why I'm back to practicing, too, because that skill is a real lifeline.
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