Anything But Modest

I am delighted to announce that last week, after a blissful thirteen-month romance, I proposed to the lovely Miss S, and she said yes! I am engaged to be married, and couldn't be happier!

Hmm... would she prefer anonymity in the blogosphere? Her parents are placing an announcement in the Jewish Chronicle, England's journal of record, and I announced here. My parents and hers talked by phone; they all seem to get along. S and I are incredibly lucky to have such wonderful family and friends. The bride and I went shopping for an engagement ring last week and were greatly assisted by AlexK, him of recent beautiful wedding fame, renowned worldwide for marrying an incredible woman, and being part of the story of how I met my fiancée.

As an anniversary card, I received a postcard showing the original Hebrew movie poster for The Big Lebowski-- check it out above.

Sweet, huh? I think the rug really ties his sunglasses together. Shout-outs to my peeps at Lebowski Fest, Walter Sobchak, and all those keepin' shomer fu@kin' Shabbes.

Anyway, she and I had dinner for two at Caňela (Restaurant Motto: "Don't ask us how to pronounce it; that 'n' should have an umlaüf over it!"). Our wine steward was a nice fellow whom S recognized from the excellent restaurant 1868, where we had a great wine tasting dinner with her parents some time ago. Madonna once ate there too, don'cha know. I hear The Material Girl eats her steak like a surgeon. Cuttin' for the very first time.

Before dessert, I had to ask her something. I held her hands and she cried. Though she considered answering my proposal with, "It's been so long, I have to think about it..." ;) Miss S said yes. Then we had dessert and called our families. Mmm... dessert. Chocolate... Where was I? The first week of our engagement was joyously spent watching Family Guy DVDs from our friends R and E, staying warm and cozy on Shabbat, doing Sudoku, enjoying dinner (mmm... cheese...) at R's house Friday night, making and receiving phone calls, and devouring apple crumple because Miss S is no slouch when it comes to baking and cooking and naming things!

We are making out a guest list, selecting possible locations (around Jerusalem), and planning to visit the U.S. of A. after the wedding. We don't have a date set yet. I mean, do you have any promising leads?

The policeman laughs, agreeing broadly.

    POLICEMAN
  Leads, yeah.  I'll just check with
the boys down at the Crime Lab.
They've assigned four more detectives
to the case, got us working in shifts.

The Dude looks sadly through his window
at the policeman rocking back on his
heels, his raucous laughter muffled by
the glass.

BOWLING ALLEY BAR

The Dude, Walter and Donny sit at the
bar, the Dude with a White Russian,
Walter with a beer, and Donny eating
beer nuts.

Relax, dude, nothing is fu@ked...

No Thanks, I'm Afula

Listening to R.E.M. and trying to ignore stray cats screaming outside.
Went down to the corner Qwik-E-Mart. I'm pretty sure the clerk, a man older than me, was picking his nose while we were waiting for my debit card receipt to print. Really digging in there, going at something on or behind his face. I was so sure, I didn't want to look to really check. I couldn't be bothered, and besides I had stared at enough people from my bus seat earlier. This clerk and I, we've seen each other around and said hi, but I don't really want to share special moments like that. There was no else around on line or in the store. You know, I'm all about using work time efficiently and creatively, and I'm glad his store was warm and welcoming in this cold weather, but come on. Is that really necessary? We are already blessed with an overabundance of vehicle drivers in this country who have mined all the gold in that field. They'll be happy to run the country, though, or at least tell you how it should be done.

Quit That Jibber Jabotinsky!

For my neighbor.
And all you fans of
מסטר ט. א
I pity the fool that don't visit the Mr. T. Name Generator!

Abundant Joy for Chanukah

Happy New Year to everyone! In Israel, we call the holiday "Sylvester" to denote the marking of the non-Jewish new year. I always wonder why Tweety doesn't have her (his?) own holiday.

The highlight of the week was the wedding of 32AndThenSome and Kalman Rushdie! Mazal Tov! There's a nice little report from Jewschool with photos. You can read the bride's thoughts and her wonderful speech on her blog. I loved the way the chuppah wasn't crowded with people so the guests could see the couple's faces from anywhere in the room. Maybe because some guests got stuck in bad traffic?

It's good we got there early, ostensibly to help the groom prepare, but all I did was arrange some table settings and enjoy his tisch. I was proud to say I was a pre-wedding taster who had helped choose the delicious food. I am a professional, after all. The music was provided by one of the best bands I've seen at a wedding, Adom Atik ("The Old Red") (traditional, simcha, Jewish, jazz, funk, classic rock). Some cool family members were present (one of whom has the honor of being profiled by Ha'aretz magazine and the Shin Bet!) as well as an assortment of local bloggers and best friends. This posting should satisfy TAFKA PurpleParrot, by whom I was admonished to "Blog. Blog!" after not writing in over a week. A great time was had by all! (And the hotel room, view, and breakfast at Shoresh were excellent.)