Nicole, go you, with the not smoking!

{{sj}} Take care of yourself, sweets.

You don't have to worry about rabbis yelling at you gris.

Spoken like someone who never met Rabbi Kahn...

(He was ex-Navy. One time he threw a chair across the classroom. Which was awesome, because the kid he was pissed off at was a snotty little prick who totally deserved it. He should have thrown the chair at him.)

"just do it for the love of study!"

This sounds like the perfect approach to take with the rabbis. They are all about the love of studying.

t sneaks in a hug of Gris before he becomes all orthodox and it isn't allowed

I need suggestions of bland food. My tongue hurts -- this always happens when I have an impending illness or plague of some sort, and believe me when I say I'm undertaking every preventive measure I can think of -- and I'm hungry but everything I can think of to eat immediately makes me think it would just hurt my tongue.

The best comparison I can make is -- have you ever eaten too much of an acidic food (tomatoes, citrus, Sweetarts) and had your tongue get all sore? Yeah, that's what it feels like. And so I can't think of anything that I want to eat that wouldn't hurt.

Even hot food -- even if it's bland -- sounds like it would hurt, and I don't want sweets, or else I'd get a milkshake. Bah. I just ate a banana, and I could definitely stand to skip a few meals, but I'm hungry, damn it, and my tongue is thwarting me.

So, lukewarm bland nonsugary food suggestions?

Bread? A plain bagel?

So, lukewarm bland nonsugary food suggestions?

not-piping hot pasta?

mashed potatoes. cheerios and milk.

I suppose you're sick of oatmeal already Tep (or wouldn't like it if it wasn't hot enough to bother your tongue)?

Mashed potatoes or a baked potato?

When I've been sick (so this isn't so much a tongue thing) I like plain white rice and milk (like hot cereal, although I do put a little sugar on it).

Have you tried eating a Tums or something. I know this is sickness related, but maybe your pre-sick self gets extra acidic, and it might help your mouth?

Can you put the question of end results aside enough to focus on the learning? I know that your situation with GG is what inspired you to study in the first place, and it makes the whole question of your eventual conversion (or not) seem pretty urgent, and I don't want to sound either unrealistic or pollyanna-ish when I say "just do it for the love of study!" But don't think of it all in terms of cramming for a test, so much as exploring something strange and big and cool and frequently kerfuffly and (again) strange, with occasional commandments to get drunk and read at the dinner table. Which, now that I think of it, sounds strangely like fandom.

This is beautiful, amy. And when you said the part about "frequently kerfuffly" I immediately thought, "Oh my word, fandom is pilpul preparation!!!" even before I got to your last line.

Have you tried eating a Tums or something. I know this is sickness related, but maybe your pre-sick self gets extra acidic, and it might help your mouth?

I actually do have heartburn, now that you mention it. Of course, that could be from not eating due to TONGUE PAIN but my stomach still churning out acid. Bah.

I might try the mashed potatoes plan. Or maybe just a glass of milk. Hmm. Most bland food is white, or close to white. What up with that?

And the laser beams! The laser beams they shoot from their eyes!

That's actuaries. Bilytea is disseminating misinformation to augment his cover identity, obviously.

Conversion is a big deal, Gris, but it's also slow and not about pressure. You're finding out of it's right for you, and everyone involved in the process is just there to help you figure that out, not judge your worthiness or studiousness or whatever.

Tep, toast? Melba, perhaps? Maybe yogurt. Or cottage cheese.

ION, a job just fell in my lap. I start tomorrow and it only lasts 3 weeks, but it beats my previous personal best hourly wage by 67%, so that's pretty cool. And I get to try out commuting by ferry, so I'm looking forward to that. i hope some of my professional clothes still fit.