Rabbinical Blessings

Two rabbis this weekend (not counting my sweetie) wished me well this weekend. Rabbi Straus, with whom I've had maybe two words so far, took me aside during Saturday's oneg to ask me how I was doing. We both had a bitter laugh over the fact that I feel just fine and that I'm going into the hospital to "feel shitty" (to use his words). He told me that he was going to offer me an aliyah today, but when he saw my name on the Mi Sheibarach list, he declined. I'm so glad he did not do that -- I would have panicked! But it's nice that he now knows who I am and said some wonderful words.

Rabbi Chester called me on the phone today to talk about my illness and the Oakland A's. Okay, both the A's and I have an illness. When I said, "But we now have Manny Ramirez!" he laughed, which is what most baseball fans are doing right about now. Manny can play on May 30th. I'm hoping I can play sooner than that. It was so nice for Rabbi Chester to call, even though he's in retirement. I guess you're still a mensch, if you are, even in retirement.

I'm mentally putting together a bag for Ruth to take to the hospital a couple of days after my surgery. My G-Slate tablet will be in it, plus my phone. I've talked to three people about smuggling in cupcakes; they're the perfect food, don't you think? I'm not much of a book reader (especially on morphine), but I think I will want that new book I just ordered about the teenaged Jewish photographer in World War II (A Partisan's Memoir: Woman of the Holocaust, written by Faye Schulman). Don't you think that the publisher added that second title?

I have to go now and prepare to watch the Oscars. It's not much preparation: just sit down in the chair with my bowl of popcorn and turn it on. But I have to watch the pre-Oscars stuff first, you know, where they dis the gowns, etc. My prediction for the winners are: George, Viola, Chris, and Octavia. As a non-paid semiprofessional movie reviewer, I'm on a first-name basis with them, you know.