I am going to get back on track if it kills me. :-)

So. I went to sleep around 6:30 AM, and woke up at around 3:00 PM. Shuffled over to college somewhere along the line, and distributed the paper to a couple of buildings on campus. (We don't currently have a Distribution Manager, so various editors have split up the job of actually getting the paper where it belongs.) From there, went to the campus chapter of Hillel to hear the Megillah, or the Book of Esther.

The guy they had doing the reading (or chanting; singing, really-- there are particular notes assigned to each word) was technically competent (he only misread one word, which isn't bad at all, considering that there are no vowel marks in the scroll; only consonants), but not especially good from a musical standpoint. Which is to say that he kept switching keys in mid-sentence.

Now, in fairness, he'd been fasting all day, like the rest of us (you don't get to eat until after the Megillah), so that may have had something to do with it. But, still, he butchered my favorite line, and I was just cringing. And wishing I was hearing my father's reading. My father's rendition of the Megillah blows the socks off just about every one I've heard elsewhere. (Although my uncle's pretty good, also. Just not as good.) It flows when he does it. And gets nicely dramatic at points.

The notes are the same in all cases, but how you do it really matters. Much as different artists' interpretations of the same symphony or opera or sonata can vary radically. A slight change in timing, a subtle alteration of intonation... it makes all the difference in the world.

At any rate, I'm starting to get the glimmerings of the new version of the thesis. I just hope I figure it out in time for the writing contest deadline, on Friday.

Anyway, I have to go to sleep, so I can get up early tomorrow morning. G'night!