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asher553Almost three weeks since my last journal entry.
The Jewish holiday season officially ended last weekend with Simchat Torah - the most joyous of Biblical holidays, but also, now, with a solemn note, because it was the day of this festival three years ago (October 7 on the civil calendar) that our enemies launched the unspeakably sadistic attack on southwestern Israel that claimed more than 1200 innocent lives.
Last week, during the Sukkot holiday, I watched the new season of Fauda (Season 5, the first post-10/7 season of the show) all the way through. Most of the season is set in the present day, with the story of Doron's risky attempt to track down one of the terrorists abroad in Marseille. But Episodes 7 and 8 are a flashback to the events of 2023, and they are the hardest to watch. The final moments of Hagit and her children (we already know from the beginning of the season that they're not going to make it) are spread out, excruciatingly, in scenes of a few minutes at a time over the two episodes. There is little graphic violence shown in the episodes, mercifully, but what we do see is quite enough. (The reality of what was done on that day is beyond description, and I will not dwell on it here.)
--
In other news, my recent work assignment (which lasted for most of the last two years, with a hiatus in the first part of 2026) finally came to an end. So the first week of the post-holiday season was also my first week back in the jobseeker world. I've revamped my resume - finally, for the first time, turning to AI for help with editing and formatting (by temperament, I am not an early adopter), and I've got several promising leads already.
--
We are now less than a month away from Election Day in the US, and my friends in the local chapter of Team R have been busy. We had a bit of internal drama in the past few weeks, which needn't concern us here, but the end result is that our former Vice Chair, who is an extremely effective and capable lady and active in local conservative politics, is now our Chair; and our new Vice Chair is a longtime member of the leadership team who is very knowledgeable, and a wizard with computers and data. (He also holds two or three other posts at the moment; our new Chair called him "our Marco Rubio" in reference to the popular memes.)
The big news here in Oregon is that we might stand a chance of flipping the Governor's office. Our candidate is the same lady who challenged the incumbent four years ago, and this year we are hopeful for a more favorable outcome. In any case, I will probably be digging in to do my share of calling and canvassing and so on (since it seems I've got some time on my hands!) for the next couple of weeks.
--
As for personal goals, I am pleased to report that I'm starting Hebrew year 5787 with some solid progress on my weight loss goals. I'm now down to 175 lbs (that's 79 kg for you foreigners), from 185 (84 kg) where I was stuck for the longest time.
Also health-related, I took (and passed with flying colors) my VA physical, as well as my eye exam and dental cleaning. On the optical front, my vision has improved slightly since the last exam, but that's not entirely good news - it may be a side effect of the onset of cataracts. But I'll take my good news where I can get it.
So that's my world as we wrap up this week and head into new beginnings. [630]
The Jewish holiday season officially ended last weekend with Simchat Torah - the most joyous of Biblical holidays, but also, now, with a solemn note, because it was the day of this festival three years ago (October 7 on the civil calendar) that our enemies launched the unspeakably sadistic attack on southwestern Israel that claimed more than 1200 innocent lives.
Last week, during the Sukkot holiday, I watched the new season of Fauda (Season 5, the first post-10/7 season of the show) all the way through. Most of the season is set in the present day, with the story of Doron's risky attempt to track down one of the terrorists abroad in Marseille. But Episodes 7 and 8 are a flashback to the events of 2023, and they are the hardest to watch. The final moments of Hagit and her children (we already know from the beginning of the season that they're not going to make it) are spread out, excruciatingly, in scenes of a few minutes at a time over the two episodes. There is little graphic violence shown in the episodes, mercifully, but what we do see is quite enough. (The reality of what was done on that day is beyond description, and I will not dwell on it here.)
--
In other news, my recent work assignment (which lasted for most of the last two years, with a hiatus in the first part of 2026) finally came to an end. So the first week of the post-holiday season was also my first week back in the jobseeker world. I've revamped my resume - finally, for the first time, turning to AI for help with editing and formatting (by temperament, I am not an early adopter), and I've got several promising leads already.
--
We are now less than a month away from Election Day in the US, and my friends in the local chapter of Team R have been busy. We had a bit of internal drama in the past few weeks, which needn't concern us here, but the end result is that our former Vice Chair, who is an extremely effective and capable lady and active in local conservative politics, is now our Chair; and our new Vice Chair is a longtime member of the leadership team who is very knowledgeable, and a wizard with computers and data. (He also holds two or three other posts at the moment; our new Chair called him "our Marco Rubio" in reference to the popular memes.)
The big news here in Oregon is that we might stand a chance of flipping the Governor's office. Our candidate is the same lady who challenged the incumbent four years ago, and this year we are hopeful for a more favorable outcome. In any case, I will probably be digging in to do my share of calling and canvassing and so on (since it seems I've got some time on my hands!) for the next couple of weeks.
--
As for personal goals, I am pleased to report that I'm starting Hebrew year 5787 with some solid progress on my weight loss goals. I'm now down to 175 lbs (that's 79 kg for you foreigners), from 185 (84 kg) where I was stuck for the longest time.
Also health-related, I took (and passed with flying colors) my VA physical, as well as my eye exam and dental cleaning. On the optical front, my vision has improved slightly since the last exam, but that's not entirely good news - it may be a side effect of the onset of cataracts. But I'll take my good news where I can get it.
So that's my world as we wrap up this week and head into new beginnings. [630]
