Also, Alito has been confirmed. Not that it is a surprise or anything.

Explodiate

This word makes me happy. Except that it sounds like it comes from extreme frustration. Need to vent about it, amy?

I went to get a new DL this morning with my new address, but they wouldn't issue one because my license has been suspended in Illinois. WTF? I haven't lived there for 25 years. The only time I'm in Illinois these days is passing through to and from Winfield.

and then only if a public affairs officer is present or on the phone.

Gosh, does this remind anybody of Soviet Russia or is it just me?

Have you ever been to Spain katefate?

Have you ever been to Spain katefate?

No, but now I'm earwormed with Three Dog night! Why to you ask, MG?

Nilly, I don't have any cute Ellie stories at the moment. I mean, she's cute all the time, but nothing extra cute has happened recently. However, I can share with you some recent cute!Ellie pictures, found here: [link]

Last night, I went to bed early, setting my alarm for 6:30am so I could get to work and be all productive. I actually woke up at 9am, feeling like I'd been hit by an apathy bomb of ickiness. But I was good last night! I should be rewarded! Instead it's like I'm being punished for something I did in a past life!

Gosh, does this remind anybody of Soviet Russia or is it just me?

That's how it struck me.

Yesterday another instructor pointed out the bruise on my elbow. I can't see my elbow from here. I didn't know it was bruised. It's pretty big. Explains half the discomfort (or perhaps pain, depending on your scale) I have when I use the joint. The other half is explained by the quite amusing bruise on my bicep, but I can see that one. I have to wear long sleeves to work for a while. Not that I usually care, but I look appalling right now, enough to give me (and strangers in the centre lobby) some pause. I mean, I'm getting a violence perpetrated vibe off my reflection, and I never get that. So I'll spare my co-workers.

Random strangers in the street are afforded no such protection. Neither is anyone at krav, but they don't deserve it.

However, the cut over my eye can't be hidden. It's small, so that's good. But how am I going to pull off the truth (I walked into a door...) with a straight face? Unpossible.

The weird thing about babies (no segue here, so don't bother looking) is...I get the purely biological aspect of it, the eating and the converting to energy and the cells replicating. But how in gods names do you make a consciousness out of the air? Personalities just like that? Fricking weird as hell.

I like having lots of ways to say thank you, and saying so routinely in everyday life.

Betsy, you have such a lovely way of getting to the heart of matters and expressing it straight and to-the-point.

A friend told me this about her niece: she was about two years old or so, and was taught to say a blessing before and after eating. So she went to the window, reached out, and said out loud "thank you, G-dy" (as in, using a nick-name to G-d). I love this story - it shows exactly what you're talking about - how it was so natural and obvious for the little girl to say "thank you", lovingly, like to daddy or mommy.

I love how Judaism combines the everyday and the transcendental, how the spiritual is always combined with the physical, and they're feeding of each other. And if you don't stop me I'm going to start babbling about "Objects in Space" and this post is long enough already as it is.

Although I still wonder about the asymmetric "thank you for not making me a woman."

Well, me too.

One answer to that is that this blessing comes in a line of blessings which are all about thanking G-d for making the person more "burdened" with rules (mitzvot). So at first you thank G-d for not being a goy (not Jewish), because they have only 7 rules. Then you thank G-d for not being a slave (they have less rules upon them, either - and of course it refers to ancient terms of slavery, nothing current). And then you thank G-d for not being a woman, because there are quite a few rules that men have to follow but women are exepmt from (is that how this verb should be used?). Of course, most of these differences stem from the way women's role is supposed to be taking care of the house and children, but I guess that this is another matter.

I always liked the women's blessing better, myself - "Blessed be you, who made me according to his will". There are a few women nowadays who say "thank you for not making me a man", and a few men who say "thank you who made me according to his will", but they're still the minority.

Stephanie, she's already so pretty! Not just in an adorable baby way, which of course she is, but also just straight-out pretty. And her face is so vivid!