--Jane Ace

See, this is why I hate getting behind on the Soapbox. Once I let it slide for one day, I tend not to get back on track too quickly. More's the pity; there's been more than enough to write about.

So, let's try to catch up.

Well, actually, I'm lying a bit. Rosh HaShana came and went without leaving much impression on me, really, once more vindicating the principle that, as with everything else in life, how much you get out of a holiday is directly proportionate to how much you put into it.

I haven't put much into my religion at all in the past couple of years, really.

My other classes are basically continuing on track, and the second session of my Poetry Workshop is tomorrow. Not having anything else on hand, I've just written a really bad poem about last month's car crash. At this writing, I'm not sure whether it's merely really bad, or whether it's so bad that it's actually perversely good. I think it's the former, though. Part of this is Yours Truly testing his limits; most of it is Yours Truly not feeling ready to take on writing a real poem at this point.

Or maybe it's just that Yours Truly -- why am I writing this in the third person? Well, no matter -- maybe it's just that Yours Truly has never felt comfortable writing serious poetry in the first place.

Of course, that's one reason why I'm taking this class.

Two nights ago, it ended with a complete performance of "Rhapsody in Blue," which is one of my favorite pieces. I'd never actually seen it performed, though, and while the accompanying video was, umm, creative, featuring, as it did, all the instrumentalists trooping into a restaurant while they played, it did have the effect of making me realize how skilled a pianist has to be to take this piece on. While I've heard it any number of times (including a couple of versions featuring a player piano roll made by George Gershwin himself), I'd never really considered what it would be like to play it. I guess video does have some advantages...

My mother looked worse than I'd been led to believe, but better than I'd expected. Which is to say that she looked like herself; it was just that she was basically motionless. She can talk, and she's in good spirits, so that much is good.

On the other hand, she can move her arms, but not as effectively as I'd been led to believe; she moved them a foot or so to demonstrate that she could, but I had to move them back afterwards. (Admittedly, this was at the end of a long day, though.) And she still has no control over her fingers, nor anything below the waist. The long-term prognosis is good, but it's going to take time.

Still, it was good seeing her again.

For now, I'm just hoping that whatever's irritating my throat will go away of its own accord.

Nice to have some good news, really. :-)