A Diversion for the Time Being

Blogroll Me!

I'm having a bit of a harried time this week, preparing Mishloach Manot packages for many little people, aka my children's friends; sending out donation cards in lieu of Mishloach Manot to most big people; getting children's costumes together; trying to work on a freelance job/manuscript that I have to copy edit; being conscious of the fact that I have another writing project to deal with, a personal writing assignment that also has a deadline; getting excited about some personal traveling plans; and with all that, trying to compose a dvar Torah for week's end.

In all honesty, I get flustered rather easily; this week is one of those weeks! I am a multi-tasker, but it ain't always so easy -- I lose what minimal organizational/time management skills that I still possess, and it's difficult for me to focus on several things at once...although I do it, and the end result is usually fine.

I have gathered several pages of resource notes for my upcoming vort, just have to ORGANIZE them now into some coherent line of thought. So momentarily I am putting that aside, and am reaching for my computer keyboard and my blog instead.

So what did I want to say? Hmmm.... Purim will be here tomorrow evening, so a Freiliche Purim to all -- drink, be merry and try to maintain that festive mood...at least all the way through to after Pesach, after the cleaning, shopping, cooking and eating has been completed; after the in-laws/out-laws have gone home after the seders and Yom Tov is over. Then you can let loose that heavy sigh that you've been holding in since...whenever!

I'm not big on Yom Tov preparations -- read: I don't enjoy them too much -- but I do enjoy the ambience, the je ne sais quoi that floats in the air pre-Yom Tov. I call it a Yom Tov fever: people scurrying about, rushing home with groceries, dry cleaning in the other hand. Main thoroughfares in Jewish neighborhoods are congested with foot traffic and car traffic as people hustle to meet the needs of the two-or-more-day holiday. I feel caught up in that fever, whether I'm sitting in a car and watching the scenes around me, or whether I'm out there, hustling and bustling with the best of them.

This Friday should be fun, driving to and from shul, and later on to and from a seudah at some friends. Car horns will be honking hysterically, costumes and masks will be seen out of car windows, the drivers disguised as they maneuver their vehicles in traffic. A fever once again, and after that, the fever of getting home in time to prepare for Shabbos. Wow, a constant fever -- but a good one. Hope you all get caught up in the fever, as well.

Now, a l'havdil... I read online today about a tragedy that befell a Teaneck, NJ, family yesterday; a house fire took the lives of four children, and their mother is in critical care in hospital. Two other children at home survived, and another one traveled home from Israel to be with her surviving family members. I understand that the father is not in the picture. What a sad, sad happening...on the threshhold of what is to be a festive holiday. We should all pray for a refuah shlema for the woman (you can no doubt Google her and her surviving children's names)and the remaining children, and pray for the lives that were lived -- and were lost -- much too soon.

Hey, What's Up with This? aka An Ode to Some Blogs

Blogroll Me!

I have a list of about a dozen blogs that I click on religiously several times a day; not only do I enjoy the posts, I also enjoy the comments, and so I sporadically look to see if anything new was added to any of the blogs.

I was just looking in the computer margin at my list of favorite blogs, and what did I see? PEARLIES OF WISDOM appears at the bottom of the list. Was that some Freudian slip of a thing -- do I not enjoy my own words; am I doing the Jewish mother sacrifice thing ("Okay, okay, you first. I'll just and wait patiently at the back of the line..."); or am I just being modest?

Who knows? But the list ended up looking like this:

Seraphic Press, http://www.seraphicpress.com
A Simple Jew http://asimplejew.blogspot.com
Yettabettaboo http://yettabettaboo.blogspot.com
Five Years Later http://fiveyearslater.blogspot.com
CharediWannabe http://charediwannabe.blogspot.com
Ink as Rain http://inkasrain.blogspot.com
Random Thoughts, aka Jack's Shack http://wwwjackbenimble.blogspot.com
DovBear http://dovbear.blogspot.com
Stacey's Shmata http://pesharachel.blogspot.com
A Window into Ours http://jwindow.blogspot.com
Psycho Toddler http://www.psychotoddler.blogspot.com
Kerckhoff Coffeehouse http://kerckhoff.blogspot.com
Pearlies of Wisdom (you're reading this, so you must know how you got here!!)


Now although your blog might appear on the list at # 9, rather than # 3, don't fret. I realized that things (aside from mine on the list) look as they do because I listed these blogs as favorites as I discovered them and frequented them. You might be a late entry on the favorites list, but still consider yourself most worthy. I don't read JUST ANYTHING, and each of you offers entertaining, eye-opening, stimulating thoughts and perspectives.

The blogs and the writers behind them range: there are parents who have lost children and are working through their pain, taking the reader along on their journeys; people who are parents and are contending with life issues and family issues thrown their way; young adults who are in high school or finishing college, who have yet to truly discover the world; a group of pals (and a wife!) who like to comment on the world at large, politics and all; medical experts, who are also experts at humor; religious people who provide wonderful inspiring thoughts. Some of the writers are very wordy and detailed, giving more information than necessary, while others believe that less says more -- and sometimes they're right!

However, all these blogs help broaden my horizons, giving me a look at lives different -- some minimally, some extremely -- than my own. These blogs and the writers behind them help minimize the geographical distances, the intellectual distances and the emotional distances between us.

So keep writing, and I'll keep reading...