28 October 2008

The Big Election

I’ve been following the endless circus of the American presidential election the way somebody’s fascinated with the aftermath of a 12-car pile-up on the highway. But now I’ve bigger fish to fry.

26 October 2008

Why I’m Not a Nudist


[April 2013 note: This was always one of the most popular posts. I almost feel bad about deleting it. I suppose people who want to read it could always buy the book. No pre$$ure.]


A quiet, undisclosed location

19 October 2008

Yoel the Bar Mitzvah


Papa and I at my bat mitzvah simcha

13 October 2008

God Versus G-d

Hey, Mia. Why do you say God and not G-d? I thought Jews are not supposed to write out “God”.

I’m glad you asked. Jews are indeed not supposed to write “God” on paper because it can be torn, burnt or mutilated. This does not apply to blogs. Even if you set your computer on fire, God will still appear on mine. You could even say the word God was never really there at all. As far as my computer is concerned, I typed 10010010101001.

07 October 2008

Dave and the Typhoons

Can’t he just have classes in the church, you ask. Have you ever been inside a Christian church? It is good for a lecture hall but a terrible place to hold several classes simultaneously. Chinese students, especially children, are easily distracted when taking a class as foreign as English. You need all those little rooms to keep their eyes on the lesson. If the class next door were not divided by a wall they would never pay attention to the teacher.


Nasa images of category 2, 4 and 5 typhoons



Dave’s church, RIP
The building on the right was the school

06 October 2008

Atoned

I’m sure I was a difficult teenager. I broke my mother’s heart more times than I want to remember. Where my older sisters were proper young ladies who crossed their ankles when they sat and wore white gloves into town I rebelled against almost anything. I was Johnny Strabler, they were Meg and Beth. Ria was torn between emulating the wild one and the little women.

Sometimes I joke about my mother being a pain in the tuchas. Sometimes she is. Sometimes I’m a pain to her. We still love each other. We always have and always will. She’s my mother and I’m her daughter.

02 October 2008

Sarah Palin

Is Palin experienced enough to be vice president? That’s ironic when Obama supporters ask. Does she have any foreign policy experience? Did Reagan, Carter, Clinton or Bush have any? Maybe Bush is a bad example. Why doesn’t she do interviews? Frankly I’m glad she doesn’t. I see enough of these people already.

Would I vote for her? No, I’d vote for one of the presidential candidates. I don’t think the vice presidential candidate is that important. People say McCain’s old so she could become president. That’s as insulting as saying Obama’s black so Biden could become president. They’re both true but why is it ok to say an old guy in good health could drop dead at any time but it’s bad to say a black president might be assassinated in such a divisive country?

Poor Joe Biden. Nobody talks about him.