The Stars and the Cookie Jar

http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/morford/


Thanks, Sovay!

Now, it had been my intent to not-get-out-of-bed today, but something has stirred me, and not just the very appealing fact that hey, people read these things! (One loves having a readership, even for one's inane little scribblings.)

The weather here is peach-perfect. My drink this morning was decent, and free. The only other Jewish Starbucks employee in the city is ringingly hung-over and that's amusing.
So why am I up and typing at such an hour on Sunday morning, when everyone knows Sundays when I don't have to open do not start until noon?

See, I was standing at the counter at Bux (one at which I do not work) talking to aforementioned hung-over Yidele; I suppose I used words like 'hamantaschen', 'chazzan', and 'megilla' in addition to 'plastered'. Girl On Bar whips her head around and says, "Jewish people are so insular."

I did not go for Girl On Bar's eyes (respect and dignity, respect and dignity!) but it got me thinking. And I realised, yikes, maybe I am insular. Maybe I am.
Most of my friends are Jewish. My social conscience is certainly Jewishly-informed. If I'm drawn into speaking about God for some reason at work, I do it without trying to connect to familiar places in the Christian soul. I quite often bring Der Vorwart to work with me.

Does this make me a religio-snob? Eeesh. Until this morning, I hadn't thought.

Each seal is a miracle of nature's design....pinnipeds are sleek and streamlined, their body contours smoothed by fur and fat. The Greek word for seal, phoke, is derived from the Sanskrit root spha... and reflects the ancient knowledge that seals are smooth lined and very fat.

From Seals in the Wild, by Fred Bruemmer, just received as a very nice and tasteful gift, from Dero, who isn't seal-built but will do nicely all the same :)

For those who fear I'm carrying this seal thing a bit too far... well, yes, but of all my sillinesses, this one is probably the one that suits me best. Look at me, for heaven's sake. And it accounts very well for my utter inability to move on land (bruise, tumble, slip, thwack)

And the sea, as always, calls.