Shir, I'm glad you're ok.

Sort of x-posting with Literary, here is a link to the book that the book launch was for last night. The two stories the author read from it last night were very entertaining and moving.

The night started with Amanda Palmer reading the introduction she wrote for the book, then she sang one song with just her ukelele as an accompaniment. Then Martignetti introduced himself, read one story, followed by an intermission.

The intermission ended with Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman singing "Makin Whoopie", which brought on big cheers from the crowd. Then Neil Gaiman read a bit from this new book that comes out in June. It was a wonderful piece, and I cannot wait to read the book. This was followed by another story by Martignetti and one final song by Amanda Palmer that Martignetti requested.

After the reading all three signed whatever people had with them. I stupidly didn't have anything with me by Amanda Palmer or Neil Gaiman, but all three signed the copy of the Martignetti book for us.

Sorry, went straight off to rehearsal. I was on morphine in the hospital and then some pain pill. I had the cast for 10 days, boot for 6 weeks, and brace for another 6. I ripped a tendon and had to have it grafted back in place.

Swelling was a pain in the cast, at least for me, but I am out of shape an d was terrible on crutches.

A bus just exploded in Tel Aviv. I'm OK.

Much surgery~ma for D! If he can, I highly recommend the forearm crutches instead of the regular wooden ones. Much easier to get around on.

Regular wooden crutches need to be burnt. I'm curious to see what's the design for a general Platonic crutch. Obviously there are different requirements for different reasons needing crutches, but I've never met anyone on wooden crutches for whom they were the best call. But they were cheap, and at the pharmacy, and let's just do this for the short term.

Surgery~ma for D, smonster.

My office is closing at 3 today. I'm working from home, but I expect my sofa office will close along with them.

Edit: I almost forgot, smonster, surgery~ma for D!

And, leftovers:

Someone in Gaza in the most favorable possible situation is worse off than someone in Israel in the worst.

I honestly doubt it. I doubt it that the most favorable possible situation in Gaza is better than being poor and disabled and without family/support in the areas that are near Gaza that got hit few times per week for the last several years. I doubt it that the most favorable possible situation in Gaza is better than being a transgender who belongs to a minority group in prostitution in south Tel Aviv (there are at least ~150 I know of). But most of all, I doubt it that the Oppression Olympics will get us anywhere. Yes, most of Gaza Strip folks suffer more than Israelis. Yes, a lot of it is Israel's responsibility. But turning it into black and white reality is exactly what's not gonna work here. That's the same mechanism that's working so well in turning Israel's inner groups against each other, in which you only see the person's social group, and not the person himself/herself. (if you think that we were oh so united in mutual hate to Gazans, you can't be more wrong. People were happily willing to see other Israelis who disagree with them die, just because they disagree with them).

Surgery -ma for D! Coping and peace-ma for Shir and everyone in the Middle East.

I doubt it that the Oppression Olympics will get us anywhere.

I think this is definitely true.

Damn, Shir. Glad you're safe, grieving for those who aren't.

On phone at lunch, so can't really meara well.

Dana, thanks for sharing.

omnis, that would have been smart, but he has a "dumb phone" and I wasn't with him.

The ~ma is working so far! He was out of surgery and lucid enough to text me just after 10 am, and is now home in bed. I may suggest forearm crutches if he has much longer to go on them.

Sounds like fun, sj.