Mar Steg's Sabbath Activities
Tishabav is over, and the Hitnatqut is about to start.
Sitting here in the eye of the metaphorical hurricane, let's stick our heads in the sand for a little bit and enjoy the peace and quiet of a Shabbat flashback...
I spent this past Shabbos on the (in)famous Upper West Side of Manhattan, that intellectual playground of university students and singles' wonderland of J-Date proportions. Me and a few friends went up to the UWS to stay by another of our friends who now lives there. It was a lot of fun — Friday Night we went to daven at the famous "OZ", and I was completely shocked to run into not one but two people I know there! Usually, when I go to one of these places that people say "oh, everyone always meets someone random they know there" I don't meet anyone. This time, however, was different! The Upper West Side is a magical wonderland! Anyway, I bumped into two friends from college, and was able to talk to them each for a few minutes before the buffeting flows of The Scene separated us. Then me and my friends went back to — I think I need to come up with a pithy nickname or few here, this is getting too repetitive... eh... — "Proton"'s place, where him, his new apartmentmate, me, "Etios", and "the General" had dinner with two more of Proton's friends from college. "Maverick" joined us midway through the meal. Much of the conversation centered around the fact that one of the participants at the dinner is lucky enough to work at Google, and was regaling us all with stories of the mad perks that people who work there get. Oh, and "Proton" makes great food. Thanks!
The next morning, New Aptmate, "Etios" and I went to KOE for davening. We got there about half an hour early due to scheduling misinformation, and as we walk in I see a guy sitting on one of the already-set-up chairs, making sure to recite the Shema‘ before the time ends. And he was saying "...wǝƹŏsu lŏhĕm ṣiṣiþ..."
Mar Gavriel?!
Why yes it was!
Somehow I was offered the opportunity to hhazan Shahhris, which I did. And I have a sneaking suspicion that Mr. Gavriel 'pulled some strings' in order to test my RL DiqduqGeekosity. And I don't doubt that when I stepped up to the ‘amud with my *wierd accent there must have been at least one person in the shul who thought "oh no, not another one!" Heh. Anyway, I had yet another run-in with someone I know, this time from Israel, and Kehilat Orach Eliezer seemed to be an all-around nice place to daven. It reminded me of Yedidya back in Jerusalem. Except without the kids. Or the married people. Or the new building.
I had lunch with Mar and his friends, including "Springbird", "Rav Nahman & Yalta" and "DJR", and I also got to meet "Taylweaver". Let me just say that it was very complicated to keep track of everyone's real names and nicknames, but I eventually got it. The lunchtime conversation centered around (guess what? yes, it was) diqduq. Duh. But we were also able to slip in a few other interesting topics, including the insane "1 Degree of Separation" density of Jewish Geography, especially on the Upper West Side, which was amply demonstrated by the surprisingly close judeogeographic connections we discovered exist between me and some of Gavriel's friends, without even considering the blog connection. MG is also a good cook, but unfortunately I neglected to consume enough liquids, and after lunch, a continuing friendly chat with MG and "DJR", and heading back to "Proton"'s place, I fell asleep on a sleeping bag in a dehydrated lump.
When I woke up for shalashudes, I knew that I was dehydrated and tried to stuff as much water and other liquids in my body as I could. This method, though, backfired, and I became very nauseous (at first we thought it was because of the expired hhumus), and ended up unable to go to shul to hear Eikha.
Toda la’Eil, after a few hours of rest I got better, and me and "Etios" headed home. I had a good night's sleep, and survived the Fast.
As I said to some of Mar Gavriel's friends:
Thanks to "Proton", my other friends, Mar Gavriel, his friends, and the people at OZ and KOE for a great Sh(l)abbos!
[ aside from that dehydration thing ;-) ]
Sitting here in the eye of the metaphorical hurricane, let's stick our heads in the sand for a little bit and enjoy the peace and quiet of a Shabbat flashback...
I spent this past Shabbos on the (in)famous Upper West Side of Manhattan, that intellectual playground of university students and singles' wonderland of J-Date proportions. Me and a few friends went up to the UWS to stay by another of our friends who now lives there. It was a lot of fun — Friday Night we went to daven at the famous "OZ", and I was completely shocked to run into not one but two people I know there! Usually, when I go to one of these places that people say "oh, everyone always meets someone random they know there" I don't meet anyone. This time, however, was different! The Upper West Side is a magical wonderland! Anyway, I bumped into two friends from college, and was able to talk to them each for a few minutes before the buffeting flows of The Scene separated us. Then me and my friends went back to — I think I need to come up with a pithy nickname or few here, this is getting too repetitive... eh... — "Proton"'s place, where him, his new apartmentmate, me, "Etios", and "the General" had dinner with two more of Proton's friends from college. "Maverick" joined us midway through the meal. Much of the conversation centered around the fact that one of the participants at the dinner is lucky enough to work at Google, and was regaling us all with stories of the mad perks that people who work there get. Oh, and "Proton" makes great food. Thanks!
The next morning, New Aptmate, "Etios" and I went to KOE for davening. We got there about half an hour early due to scheduling misinformation, and as we walk in I see a guy sitting on one of the already-set-up chairs, making sure to recite the Shema‘ before the time ends. And he was saying "...wǝƹŏsu lŏhĕm ṣiṣiþ..."
Mar Gavriel?!
Why yes it was!
Somehow I was offered the opportunity to hhazan Shahhris, which I did. And I have a sneaking suspicion that Mr. Gavriel 'pulled some strings' in order to test my RL DiqduqGeekosity. And I don't doubt that when I stepped up to the ‘amud with my *wierd accent there must have been at least one person in the shul who thought "oh no, not another one!" Heh. Anyway, I had yet another run-in with someone I know, this time from Israel, and Kehilat Orach Eliezer seemed to be an all-around nice place to daven. It reminded me of Yedidya back in Jerusalem. Except without the kids. Or the married people. Or the new building.
I had lunch with Mar and his friends, including "Springbird", "Rav Nahman & Yalta" and "DJR", and I also got to meet "Taylweaver". Let me just say that it was very complicated to keep track of everyone's real names and nicknames, but I eventually got it. The lunchtime conversation centered around (guess what? yes, it was) diqduq. Duh. But we were also able to slip in a few other interesting topics, including the insane "1 Degree of Separation" density of Jewish Geography, especially on the Upper West Side, which was amply demonstrated by the surprisingly close judeogeographic connections we discovered exist between me and some of Gavriel's friends, without even considering the blog connection. MG is also a good cook, but unfortunately I neglected to consume enough liquids, and after lunch, a continuing friendly chat with MG and "DJR", and heading back to "Proton"'s place, I fell asleep on a sleeping bag in a dehydrated lump.
When I woke up for shalashudes, I knew that I was dehydrated and tried to stuff as much water and other liquids in my body as I could. This method, though, backfired, and I became very nauseous (at first we thought it was because of the expired hhumus), and ended up unable to go to shul to hear Eikha.
Toda la’Eil, after a few hours of rest I got better, and me and "Etios" headed home. I had a good night's sleep, and survived the Fast.
As I said to some of Mar Gavriel's friends:
It really isn't so sketchy to meet up with people you met on the Internet. You only have to be worried if you're meeting them for dating purposes. That's when all the freaks and ax-murderers come out!
Thanks to "Proton", my other friends, Mar Gavriel, his friends, and the people at OZ and KOE for a great Sh(l)abbos!
[ aside from that dehydration thing ;-) ]
carved on the walls of the caverns by Steg (dos iz nit der šteg) at 8/14/2005 11:05:00 PM
14 Comments:
You said that line about internet dating vs. internet stam-meeting? I don't remember it at all. Was it perhaps someone else whom you told this?
PS: I'm working on my account of the week-end. It should be up by tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, sleep must be performed by me.
dude
is proton the kid who works for a computer game company?
if so, i just realized i can visit people in nyc for shabb if i go to manhattan by train or something, cause its more reliable and takes less time than trying to get to brooklyn. excellent.
-big brother
Mar:
Oh, i thought i did. Hmm... i remember saying that to "Springbird" at the kiddush, and i think "R' Nahhman" later... Text has been emended.
BB:
Do it! But don't put your feet up on the train. They hate that.
yeah. and i can see "mr. cartoons" and "mr. sheep and mrs. waffles" and "upstate madam with good diction and better posture". tee hee stupid pseudonyms. i wonder if it would work this week. (and on sat. night i could see "stutters while digging" and naughty boro park maidele"!)
-big brother, as in kayin (qayyin)
I just posted my account of Shabbos (though not Shnabbos or Shlabbos).
Qayin:
(there's only 1 yud in קין it doesn't have a dageish)
(don't kill me!! aaaaahhh put that rock down!!! aaahh!!)
(coughcough)
I think i got all those nicknames except for the stuttering digging one.
My BIL works for Google. You would not believe the perks.
from the hall of the dehydration king!
Justine:
No one's the king of dehydration.
Dehydration is king of YOU!
Hey, just blog surfing and found you. Nice blog... I might come back again.
We're going to try to get Rabbi Weiss-Halivni to speak at Yedidya now that he's in Jerusalem.
Hey Steg, when are you coming to the WaHi for the Sabbath? Then you can chill with the infamous Chakira and Torahumaddachic and all of our fantabulous party peeps. Standing invite.
Oy. Overdose of diqueduque. I need an Advil.
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