October 2, 2011
There is a pile of books by my bed, all written by friends and all fascinating, that I have not opened. Face it, I am hooked on spider solitaire - the impossible level. It suits my situation on a personal, social, medical and political level.
I have another addiction too,
talking on the phone. Here's another addiction, not being able to keep away from bad news. The 600 bus scandal - who killed the terrorists who were about to blow up a bus load of people? We saw the photograph of the terrorists taken alive, and heard that they were killed in the struggle over the bus, and knew that the situation stunk, even though we were abroad at the time - 1984. But we didn't know how bad it was, how serious was the cover-up. That was the program at 9:00. The next program was about a guy looking for the story of his mother, what she'd never told him about her experiences in the holocaust. The contrast is clear. October 3, 2011 We spent part of the day filming for this Russian program. Even if nothing comes of it, it was pretty revealing. We learned so much about Tel Aviv. For example, when we went to Habima to film the space in front of the theater, we went upstairs to the garden overlooking the square. We were busy filming the space, and barely noticed a very old couple wending their way up the stairs with painful slowness. Finally they sat down on a bench, as if to rest from the long journey. Then suddenly out of the corner of my eye I noticed that they were kissing, then that they were as Orit said, 'going for the full Monty.' 'They must be new immigrants or tourists,' someone else said, 'or they'd know you can't make love on the streets of Tel Aviv because everyone will be stopping them to give advice,'
October 4, 2011 The mosque burning in the town of Tuba-Zanghariyya up north will remain forever a blot on the history of this land. Apologies and promises for a thorough investigation should have been immediately forthcoming as well as restitution. In fact, since it is called 'price tag' by the perpetrators, we should be deducting the restitution from monies given to synagogues in the West Bank. October 5, 2011 Bad news is no news. That is, I don't want to talk about things like the medical residents' strike, I have no news of my own, and as far as our neighbors are concerned, I wish them all well and wish they wished me well too. We are trying to make the movie for Russian TV. It is really hard. This is a very quiet time for TA and they want action, street fairs, etc. That's AFTER Yom kippur. October 6, 2011 This is a time of year when all I think about is to whom I might have misbehaved, and who i might have hurt. I'm not narcissistic enough to think I have a big impact on people, but in case I did or said something hurtful to you, this is your chance to remind me so I can apologize. Or maybe confirm my original position...
The bakery shelves were empty today at 12 when I walked in. The nice Russian lady had only some round Russian bread left and if I had waited five minutes I would have had to wrestle an old woman for it. I grabbed it and ran, feeling like Jerry Seinfeld. "What is this?" A tough Israeli said at the door. "Is everyone so afraid of starving on Yom Kippur?" "We're always afraid of starving," I answered and made for my car. If I ever see the old woman again I'll ask her to forgive me. Okay, that's it, I said. I'm going to join the Labor Party again. I went to the site. What? Only in Hebrew? What about Arabic? Russian? English? It's a small town site, almost as provincial as mine, but busier, chaotic. I moved to the
">'join' page. Couldn't do even though it's super cheap. Couldn't trust them with my credit card. I'll make out a check and send it - tomorrow.