Off I Go!

Well for the second two week interval this year I am off to Yeshiva. For those who have no idea what a Yeshiva is, I shall illustrate in pictures:
















A lot of studying goes on in a Yeshiva. You learn, and learn, and learn, and learn!

Torah, the Hebrew Bible, can be both the most beautiful, yet the most contraversial study out there. Its influence is incalculable. All of Western Society is what it is today because of the influence of Torah.

It is debatable whether or not this society has developed into the best society possible, but that's a discussion for another Blog. All I know is that it if it wasn't for Torah I would not be alive today, as there would be no Jewish tradition influencing events leading up to my birth.

A lot of my friends, with no coincidence, are Jewish. Heck even a christian neighbour I had in residence this past year was born a Jew due to his family lineage. It's a force to be reckoned with and that is why I'm studying it.

I am leaving tomorrow at an incredibly early time: 7:15am. What's more is that I have to be at the airport by 5 - 5:30. Oh well, i've made bigger sacrifices!

I feel excited to be getting away from my routines again, even if it's to go and learn more. It's the different environment that matters. Different people. Different accents. Going there is like going to a different world. One where people don't talk about the latest survivor episode, or care so much about the material/temporal things in life. Everyone is a lot more serious, which in turn is going to make me feel like joking around. I can not be too much of one thing at one time without feeling a bit of a backlash. My opinions are definitely going to feel a bit unheard there, as I doubt i'm going to get much one on one time with any Rabbis. One on one time tends to be my favourite, as it lends towards better discussion. You don't have so many other people chiming in with their thoughts and opinions so much. Don't get me wrong i like being able to hear other peoples' perspectives but when it comes to a person's attempts at trying to understand a Jewish Divinity one wants some time to him/herself to really get at the good questions.

Don't even get me started on the right wing conservatism that runs rampant in this Yeshiva. I got a bit annoyed of it the last time.

Anyway regardless of how flawed anything or anyone is, you will always find something good in there, that's my personal philosophy.

Till next time, shalom!

Have you thanked your Bus Driver lately?

Recently a friend of mine posted a blog about a rather disgruntled Bus Driver and the fight he got into with some chinese fellow who crashed into his bus. Really makes you wonder. What accounts for these individual differences?

I'm sure lots of people crash their cars into buses yearly; still you don't see the news reports telling of massive altercations taking place between bus drivers and the car drivers who crash into them.

I'd like to propose a hypothesis, if I may. It might be a little off-colour - maybe even crazy! Here it is: There is a higher probability that a bus driver will get into a physical altercation with anyone who crashes into them whilst driving their bus if said bus driver does not get thanked enough by his/her passengers for his/her bus driving services.

Think of it: bus driving is a very involved job where lots of lives depend on your hand-eye coordination and presence of mind, it is done on a day to day basis for hundreds of people at a time, it involves extensive training to be able to even drive the bus in the first place. If the bus driver isn't being thanked enough then it is easily conceivable that they can suffer such mental issues as: annoyance, existential angst, anger, and frustration. This can lead to marital problems, parenting problems, erectile disfunction and - road rage!!

Do you want all this happening to your bus driver?

SAY YOUR THANK YOUS!!!!!!!!!!

Emotion

Do you think that a Man is considered weak if he cries?

I watched the end of a cool remake of a Shakespeare Play titled "Titus Andronicus" yesterday. What really struck me about this play was the facility with which these characters were able to respond and act on their feelings. Anthony Hopkins, who plays the main character Titus, did a great job in displaying a wide range of emotion. Not the kind of emotion that creeps up on you after a dawning realization when the action has long since ended. The kind of emotional display that comes in quick response to one's environmental stresses and demands some course of action to fix events. The range of characters was great for what they represented. The mighty, reflective, anguished, then vengeful Titus. The scheming, remorseless, spiteful and cool Aaron. The vengeful, manipulative, power hungry Tamora, Queen of the Goths. The lustful, energetic, anti-social, sadistic Chiron and Demetrius.

Anyway hopefully you get the point by now :). I feel like I should be considering these characters to be one dimensional, but they're more than that. They're authentic, and that is what I think gave me such a good opinion of this play!

Are you authentic, or does emotion make you weak?

It's official

F#@ it took forever to find an http link to use on this service.

Here it is. I think i'm going to use this instead of MSN My Spaces, as this doesn't have the Microsoft name to it.

Do people generally have positive experiences with this website?