Actually ended at sundown today. Started Saturday night. It celebrates the giving of the Torah. You're supposed to eat a lot of dairy foods for a number of reasons. One reason they say, is before we got the Torah, we weren't obligated to follow its laws (kind of hard when you don't know about it yet
), which included the ritual slaughter of animals and kashrut. Since all the pots and dishes, now had to be made kosher before use, they opted to eat dairy foods. Another one's, the Torah was compared to milk by Solomon, saying "Like honey and milk, it lies under your tongue." The Hebrew word for milk is chalav, and the gematria (numerical value for each letter added up) of it is 40. Moses spent 40 days and nights on Mount Sinai while receiving the Torah. 40 seems to come up a lot.
Anyways, I'm more than happy to have dairy foods to celebrate it.
You're also supposed to study Torah at least from sundown the first night up until dawn the next day. Some people actually bring sleeping bags to it. Some say it's because they overslept the day the Torah was given, and Moses had to wake them up. Since G-d was already waiting on the mountaintop. To rectify this perceived flaw, many of us stay up all night studying Torah. This tradition started in 1533.
I managed to get to our Torah study or Tikun Leil Shavuot Saturday night. It didn't go until dawn. But, I could have gone home and continued studying until then.
I was already tired by the time I got home, though. It ended at around 10. I was starting to yawn towards the end. Kind of sad. We talked about a passage in the Torah, that says "we will do, and we will hear". A little while later it says the opposite "we will hear, and we will do". So, we went over some midrash (rabbinic commentary), and discussed what we thought about it. It seemed really simple, but turned out more interesting than I thought it would be.
The second part was on the 10 'commandments'. We actually call them the 10 'utterances' in Hebrew, not technically commandments. We discussed if we can still relate to them in the modern world, would we re-word them, and would we add any to the list. Another interesting discussion. Oddly while we were doing the 2nd part, I was being attacked by mosquitoes. This was indoors! They'll find me anywhere this time of year.
I tried to get a ride to my therapy appointment for Tuesday. Called a lot of people. One person told me she could get me there, but couldn't drive me back. After asking around some more, apparently, no one could drive me back.
So, I looked at the bus system. Which was kind of hard to figure out where the closest stop was to the building. I would have to use 4 buses in order to get home. It would take about 2 hours. Another bad part of that, is the time it would end. The bus service would stop about halfway on my way home. I'd be stuck.
So, I decided to cancel, and reschedule it tomorrow. It just wasn't meant to be. Maybe I can give people enough time in advance, or I can get something for when my dad goes on summer vacation. It's been strange without my main overhead light. I'm using a tiny cheap looking shade lamp over my computer (I usually use it on my nightstand), so I can at least look at my keyboard. Occasionally, I've also been using a small apple cinnamon scented candle. Opened up my blinds for a little bit today. Which was better, but it makes a glare on my monitor. It's been good for the day, but doesn't do much when it gets dark. Thought about using one of our kerosene wick lamps, but they're either very low on liquid, or there's not much wick left.
I've been feeling a bit more stressed out since my light went out. My jeans apparently have a hole in them, and I highly doubt they're repairable. I only have like one other pair of pants. Plus, the stress of not getting a ride for tomorrow. And, wanting to get closer to my friends. I've been having these weird headaches, my arm's starting to hurt more. I just hope things will settle down a bit more soon.
There have been good things too. Like the Shavuot thing, progressing more on my story, getting better with my kanji, sounding better on my clarinet, and other things.
Found a site where I can look at and download things for my sims on the Sims 2. Interesting hairstyles, eyes, clothes, etc. Easier for me to base a character on one of my own characters from my story. I just like messing with them. I'm so horrible to my original characters.
Didn't go to services, again this passed Saturday. But, I did look at the portion. It's the beginning of Numbers. A bunch of census taking, and family names. Also, said where the priests and each tribe are supposed to camp. Just about the most interesting part of the portion.
Manage to find some more music. A couple from the 80s. I'm still doing that thing with searching through songs that were popular every year I was alive. Finally finished the 80s. I think I only found a few from that time period. The 90s might have more, because I really grew up then. I don't know, we'll see. It's kind of an odyssey. Fun, but weird.
Played my clarinet today. Did some classical music, jazz, and Irish tunes. Wasn't too bad. Only messed up a couple of times, but I rarely mess up on those spots. Weird.
Kagi no Kakatta Heya was interesting. I kind of like how every episode has something a little different in the opening sequence. Kind of gives a hint about what that one will be about. This time it was about a play. The play was about a locked-room murder, and it just so happened that the victim was killed in a similar way. It was interesting how the killer escaped. He made people think he was the playwright, but he really had someone do it for him secretly. The actor who did it for him, was happy to, since he paid him well. But, another actor found out, and was going to use it against him. The 'playwright' didn't want that to happen, and killed him. The actual writer was suspected of doing it through most of the episode. Sad.
Acchi Kocchi was cute, yet violent, again. It was summer, and the girls decide to go to Io's place. Sakaki was already there doing his homework with Io. The girls get mistaken for scammers by a not-all-there Io. Later, they clear it up, and everybody but Sakaki and Mayoi start playing video games. Bugging the heck out of them. They had some mishaps at a summer festival, too. Apparently, all animals love Io. He didn't even have to try in a game where you try to scoop up goldfish and put them in a jar of water. They just jumped out for him. He also was awesome at any game he tried there. He's a pretty cool character.
Wrote a bit more of chapter 16 of my story. Wasn't too focused this time, what with trying to get a ride. So, I might have to go over it again tomorrow. I still feel like I'm getting the excitement of writing it back.
日本語
Typed out the entire first paragraph of the You Maga article I'm working on. Actually didn't have to look up too many things. I guess I'm on the right track then. The Japanese lesson from my book was about comparing things. Their adjectives don't have a comparative form. So they use something that literally means 'side' or 'alternative' with it. The order of the sentence is a bit different too. But, very interesting. Got most of the practice sentences correct. Today's kanji was: 強. Or: つよ.い (tsuyo.i), つよ.まる (tsuyo.maru), つよ.める (tsuyo.meru), し.いる (shiiru), こわ.い (kowa.i), きょう (kyou), ごう (gou). It means strong, powerful, potent, mighty, tough, stiff, stubborn, intense, forces, forceful. Read an article in Japanese from Asahi's online site. It's about a cat cafe that just opened in Vienna. One of the first in Europe. They're extremely popular in Japan.
deviantART fave: Silhouette I did not make this! A pic of a pretty cat's silhouette.
Youtube:
A report on the popularity of cat cafes in Japan, in Japanese. But, I think people will get the gist of it even if they don't know Japanese:
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