October is the best month out of the year, if you ask me. Sure, Libras *WOULD* say that sort of thing but there are all sorts of things going on:
Autumn kicks into gear for serious without kicking into winter and all of the various things that that entails such as how you’re wearing hoodies but not winter coats. Front pockets are sufficient, you don’t need gloves/mittens. You get to switch from the thinner summer sheets on the bed to the thicker winter sheets on the bed. The cats notice this too… they stop sleeping all onesy-twosy all over wily-nily, but they start sleeping in a real pile. The holidays are coming up *BUT* they aren’t here yet. So you still get to turn on the radio without feeling like you haven’t even started shopping. Friends who go hunting who also come back with stuff start saying things like “COME OVER FOR SOME ROAST BEAST!”
Once upon a time, we ended Daylight Saving Time in October. Man, those were the days.
And, of course, Punkin Pie.
This weekend, I’ll be having some of *THAT*.
So… what’s on your docket?
Yom Kippur begins at sundown today and lasts till sundown tomorrow. I will attend morning services at least.
It is also Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in SF this weekend. People are a bit miffed that the festival is being held over Yom Kippur weekend even though it was founded and funded by a Jewish guy who made a big deal of his Judaism. The current organizers are insistent that the festival always needs to happen on the first weekend of October and there is nothing they can do about it.Report
@saul-degraw
If it makes you feel any better, our local orchestra scheduled a concert of Jewish composers during Rosh Hashanah. My Jewish friends complained they couldn’t attend. Good idea, poor execution.Report
Oh, that’s awesome.
“We’re having a feast to kick off Ramadan! Our lunch buffet is half off!”Report
My college is all the way up to 4 Jewish faculty members now. This weekend is homecoming weekend. I was chatting with one of them yesterday, and he’s a bit irritated that homecoming always seems to be scheduled over Yom Kippur.
I’m not quite sure of the significance of Yom Kippur, but I am aware that there’s rarely anything scheduled Thanksgiving, Christmas or Good Friday.Report
@james-hanley
Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement. It is when Jews are supposed to reflect on the year, their misdeeds and transgressions towards themselves and their fellow human beings, fast, and ask for forgiveness for those they have been cruel to or wronged. And ask for forgiveness is not a thought in your head, you are supposed to go to people and actually apologize and ask for foregiveness.
More religiously oriented Jews believe that God writes our fates/destiny for the year on Rosh Hashahnah and seals them on Yom Kippur. The time period between Ros Hashanah and Yom Kippur are for amending your ways and hoping God changes its mind. Fate largely means whether a person will die that year. The prayer song on Yom Kippur about this the Unetanneh Tokef. Leonard Cohen turned the prayer into a song called Who by Fire.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQTRX23EMNkReport
I would also like to express my wonder at a college that manages to only have four Jewish faculty members with the exceptions of Baylor, Oral Roberts, Liberty, Bingham Young, etc.
My law school is connected to a Jesuit University and has a largely Jewish faculty. The undergrad campus also has a high number of Jewish faculty probably.Report
@saul-degraw Thank you for that explanation.Report
Saul,
Thanks for the explanation.
I think the explanation for my college is location. Our town is not a great place for a Jewish person, because it’s so small and non-Jewish. Predominantly, our faculty who are Jewish live in Ann Arbor, which has a decent Jewish population because there’s some third rate, but much larger, educational institution there.
Perhaps at one time in our past there was a more or less active resistance to Jewish faculty, but not since I’ve been here. We have several Muslim faculty, too, at least one self-defined Buddhist, and despite being nominally protestant, we have any number of Catholics and atheists. We also had a mathematician who quite likely was Hindu–I never asked–and although she’s no longer here, the reason she left had nothing to do with religion. And at least one of our Jewish faculty members cancels classes on religious holidays, and there are no problems with doing so.
I think overall it’s just the discomfort of being a minority that keep us so monolithic–someday perhaps we’ll hit that tipping point where it’s more comfortable to be Jewish here. But with only about 100 faculty members, that’s probably a slower process than at a much larger institution.Report
This week BLE-EWWW!
Might go see a show Saturday night if I can muster the energy.Report
I want to see The Equalizer. How bad could it be?Report
I keep telling myself I am finally going to watch the most recent Star Trek movie, then never getting around it it.Report
It is The Equalizer, and stars Denzel. It is guaranteed to be awesome.Report
Oh, me too! I had thoughts of calling you and twisting your arm to make you go see it with me, but I guess I won’t have to twist so hard after all.Report
If you’re driving, I’m going. Unless it’s Saturday night. We’re going out to dinner with Mom. BUT OTHER THAN THAT.Report
Yeah, we’ll have to figure this out. Family in town this weekend and out of town next.Report
It’s Sunday night that we’re busy, not Saturday, FTR.
Also, depending on when you go, I may come with, but go to a different movie.Report
Tonight we have the big high school football game between my alma mater and our hated cross-town rivals. Attendance is usually 20,000 – 30,000. It’s a fun atmosphere and one of the big items on the Catholic social calendar for the year. If the rain stops in time it should be a good game.
I will be one of those hunters in the woods on Saturday morning trying to put some meat in the freezer. Bow hunting for turkey. This is a first for me and I’ve been shooting 40+ arrows per night for the last two weeks to get ready. I will be a bundle of nerves but it should be fun. Going to be cold. 40 degrees at sunrise. Time to get the thermals out.
We’re going to see Gone Girl at some point. Getting great reviews and we both loved the book. Sunday is going to be pure goof-off from start to finish. We need it.Report
ACL Fest week one, which I will be avoiding, but I will be taking advantage of a couple peripheral shows.
Also, lots of errands I should have done weeks ago. We’ve had more major upheaval in our lives, but this time good. It’s just meant no time for the hardware or furniture store for a while.Report
There’s a whole festival for a single knee ligament? Now that’s some fine niche marketing.Report
We’ve been having a lot of difficulty with getting Lain to sleep and nap appropriately, so we took a time out to read a book on how to do so. Reading over, now time to get back to unpacking and organizing.Report
Sometime this week (neither of us can ever remember the actual date) is my wife and I’s 9 year anniversary. So, we will be going to this restaurant: http://www.thedeadfish.com/ and possibly other things? Not sure yet…
Other than that, fall type things.Report
Fish it, I’m going to the bar.Report
I know you are all busy, busy, busy getting ready for Samhain. I mean Halloween. Thought you might want to consider contributing your photos to a href=”http://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2014/10/share-your-photos-of-halloween/”>The Library of Congress.
They posted the request in modern-fantasy writer Charles deLint’s Facebook group.
/I wanna be a Crowgirl when I grow up.Report