February 24, 2008

8:29 p.m.

I'm breathing for a few minutes before deciding what to do next.

Hours of homework, work on the school show, grocery run, then a bit of Netflix (and AbFab) over dinner. I'm tired. My brain is tired. But I still have to do a little work tonight, because I have an opportunity tomorrow that might be fortuitous.

My school assignment, due in a couple of weeks, is the first draft of a house blessing ceremony that is based on background information provided for us about the hypothetical participants. The woman is Hindu, the man Jewish, and they want a ceremony that combines elements of both traditions and includes family members from both sides.

It so happens that my sister's boss is Jewish, and her intern is Hindu, and the office is having a luncheon tomorrow sponsored by drug reps. She said I could come by, have a free lunch, and ask all the questions I want about the two traditions and how they might combine into one ceremony. I know her boss socially pretty well, and have met her intern just once. I hope to get some inside scoop.

It means, though, that tonight I have to look at the questionnaire and other info we've been given and actually come up with a bunch of intelligent questions for them. That implies that I must know what direction I'm going in with the ritual, and that will come only after some more pondering.

I'm not a fast ponderer. More of a tortoise than a hare in that department.

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Rose and Marc are toying with the idea of trying to buy the house next door to them. It would need some renovation (mainly a 2nd bathroom) but it would mean the three in their household would all have more room, and then they would rent out their current house to help pay for the new mortgage. They'd still want to turn it over in a few years to look for their dream house. But I think Rose has been feeling cramped in that small place, with no room to really call her own. I still have a dream of living in the same town as they do one day. I wouldn't live in that neighborhood, though; too crowded.

When I went over the other night, Rose had bread dough in pans, rising on top of the pellet stove. I called Dar and said, "Can we have a house with a pellet stove so I can rise bread on top of it?" and he said, "Absolutely we can!"

We did get his email up and running once and for all, and aside from not being able to find any of the letters on the keyboard without a concerted search, he now knows how to create and send one of his own.

Must try to make a dent in some more work... taxes must be sent out this week, too. Crap!