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First Snow

We got our first snow today. Unfortunately it didn't start until after the school day, so no day off of work. Baltimore is famous for its low tolerance for snow and all day the students (and faculty) at my school were waiting for the fateful announcement that never did come. It was really putting a damper on my day until I realized that I did not teach past fourth period and could duck out early (to avoid the carpool rush). We'll see what the deal is for tomorrow. It's not supposed to snow anymore, but a delayed opening would be great (don't have to deal with students and Tefilah - not that there's anything wrong with that).

The snow didn't keep me in the house tonight, though (Ironic that I almost NEVER leave the house, but on a snowy night - that's when I decide to get out for a bit). I was over at the JCC to meet and hear from Nathan Englander.
I first read his work when I was in Israel ("For the Relief of Unbearable Urges") and really enjoyed it. When I found out that he was raised yeshiva-ish and went "off", I just knew I had to meet this kindred spirit. And out of the blue he came in a speaking engagement arranged by a Baltimore-wide (Jewish, of course) reading consortium.

When I arrived I was one of five in the room so I introduced myself to Nathan and we played a little Jewish geography (we were both in Israel around the same time) but we didn't find any connections. We managed to carry on a conversation nonetheless. It was weird because I was in that whole "This guy is famous/I wish I could be him" mode and it felt a little gay (not that there's anything wrong with that). But the whole thing was neat and I felt cultured afterwards (even though he was here to promote his new book, "The Ministry of Special Cases", and I had only bought my copy ten seconds before I introduced myself).

My wife was supposed to come with. We had a babysitter all set up. A student from school. But I called her a couple of hours before she was supposed to come and she said that she couldn't make it because (no kidding) her house had been broken into. She was crying and distraught and I - IDIOT - said "So you won't be able to babysit?". Well, with no babysitter, one of us had to stay home. And since I was the one who had come up with the whole idea of going, my wife got House-duty.

G-d bless her soul.

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