All That Education Hasn't Gone To Waste!

You know the Bible 98%!

Wow! You are awesome! You are a true Biblical scholar, not just a hearer but a personal reader! The books, the characters, the events, the verses - you know it all! You are fantastic!

Ultimate Bible Quiz
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Via Erica

And a note to Jews: The question about the 10 commandments uses the Christian counting not the traditional Jewish one.

Angel Dream

I just posted a new song to the Elijah Wilbury page over at UkeLand. This time its a cover of one of my favorite Tom Petty songs, "Angel Dream" from the She's the One movie soundtrack:

• Angel Dream
• Direct Link to MP3

Akkadian Gift

A while back I blogged about a coffee mug Eisenbrauns was offering around the time of last Fall's AAR/SBL Annual Meeting. My Akkadian professor was kind enough to acquire enough of these mugs for my whole class! A very cool surprise (well, for an Akkadian nerd anyway!)The text is the first two lines of Enuma Eliš, the traditional Babylonian creation story.

e-nu-ma e-liš la na-bu-ú šá-ma-mu
šap-liš am-ma-tum šu-ma la zak-rat

"When on high no name was given to heaven,
nor below was the netherworld called by name..."

The smaller insription, which is just above "eisenbrauns.com" reads:

LÚ.DAM.GÀR kib-rat erbe-tim

"Merchants of the four corners [of the Earth]"

The--extremely esoteric--joke being that "of the four corners" was a common epithet of the Neo-Assyrian kings!

Song Lyrics of the Day

For some strange reason these lyrics have been on my mind (and on my playlist rotation) lately. I'd love to say it doesn't mean anything, but if it didn't would I be posting this now?

"Raise your hand if you had only three channels on TV
And that little town that kept ya down is
where ya wanna be...
I'm one of you, yea I'm one of you..."

- Hank Williams, Jr, I'm One of You

---

"I know I don't get there often enough
But God knows I surely try
It's a magic kind of medicine
That no doctor could prescribe...

But there's this one particular harbour
So far but yet so near
Where I see the days as they fade away
And finally disappear...

Lakes below the mountains
Flow into the sea
Like oils applied to canvas
They permeate through me

And there's that one particular harbour
Sheltered from the wind
Where the children play on the shore each day
And all are safe within

Most mysterious calling harbour
So far but yet so near
I can see the day when my hair's full gray
And I finally disappear..."

- Jimmy Buffett, One Particular Harbour

---

"Well things were spinnin' round me
And all my thoughts were cloudy
And I had begun to doubt all the things that were me
Been in so many places
You know I've run so many races
And looked into the empty faces of the people of the night
And something is just not right, 'cause I know

That I gotta get out of here
I'm so alone
Don't you know that I gotta get out of here
'Cause New York's not my home..."

- Jim Croce, New York's Not My Home

Zoo Anybody?

Still going through old pictures. Found this one taken at the Washington Park Zoo in Portland, OR in circa 1978:

All Those Years Ago...

I was just going through a few old pictures that my Mom sent to me & ran across this great one of my folks and my late maternal grandfather, Willis "Woody" Wood. It was taken in the bar of the East Rockaway Yacht Club, where Grandpa tended bar:

I Will Always Love You (New Song)

I've posted a new song to my page over at Ukeland. Its a fairly rough take of an arrangement I've been working on of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You"

• I Will Always Love You
• Direct Link To Mp3

I knew Spielberg would show at some point!

Tom Selleck... and Kevin Smith?!

Intergalactic Art

An old blogger buddy of mine has resurfaced with a new blog. Check out some of Stacey's art, you won't be disapointed (well, you might be, but that really depends on you).

Lost in Translation

In Hebrew we (I say "we," but I didn't actually take part) had an interesting side discussion on the instructor's standards for a "good understandable English translation." As should have been expected, there were several different opinions on how to deal with language specific idioms (the example, I seem to recall was something like "עלה לישראל” ["he went up/ascended to Israel"]) Even among well qualified and experienced translators there would be many differing opinions, depending on what theory or philosophy of translation one holds to and what the target audience is (our instructor only mentioned the question of target audience, but am giving her the benefit of the doubt that she is aware of the differing philosophies of translation). The instructor favored translating the above phrase as simply "he went to Israel" or "he moved to Israel" to avoid any confusion on the part of the reader. Some of the students seemed purely concerned because they were used to merely copying a very literal translation from a dictionary, weren't used to be expected to make judgment calls on their translation and didn't want to lose points for a slightly wrong word choice, while another classmate seemed genuinely concerned about being true to the original Hebrew source and not losing any of the Hebrew "flavor". This struck me as a very Buber-Rosenzweig way of looking at things and I wondered to myself if he is familiar with either their work or that of their disciple Everett Fox. Perhaps instead of wondering I should just ask him?

Surely enjoying such theoretical discussions a sign that I do belong somewhere in academia. Or maybe it just shows that I'm weird (or both maybe!)

I Have Found Me a Home

My latest ukulele recording has been uploaded to my page over at UkeLand. I took a shot at another Jimmy Buffett song, "I Have Found Me a Home." My playing is definitely improving, though I am still unsatisfied with my vocals. But there is a good chance I'll never be satisfied with them, so that may not mean much!

• I Have Found Me a Home
• Direct Link to MP3

The View This Morning

The day seems to be off to a good start. I slept well last night (Even overslept a little, but I can live with that!) and there is a lovely (albeit cold!) view outside my window. There were times when I never thought I'd hear myself say this, but life is good.

Insomnia, Part 2

Well, I slept marginally better last night than the night before. I made the mistake of napping yesterday, which threw my sleep cycle off again (or didn't throw it off enough!) Sadly I made the same mistake this afternoon. I had intended on just laying down on the couch for a few minutes and was out like a light for a couple hours. I did, however, force myself out of bed in time for the morning minyan at 7:10am this morning, which was followed by a very pleasant breakfast in the dining hall with a neighbor from down the hall. Classes so far have been going well, but I don't think that will continue if I can't get my sleep schedule more normalized. Which means, no more naps!



Wish me luck!

Nothing like a New Hat

Not to everyones taste, I'm sure, but I like it!

Insomnia

I don't know if its the jet-lag or the excitement/stress of my first day of classes starting tomorrow (I'm lucky enough not to have any tuesday classes!), but its 2am and I cannot get to sleep to save my freakin life... That morning minyan, not to mention the 8:20 Hebrew class, is going to come mighty quickly...

Stop Hurting People

This has always been one of my favorite Pete Townshend Lyrics:

"A love born once must soon be born again
A spark that burned, then died, leaving cinders to be fanned
By the wind and thrown flame
Flames like tongues impassioned in a moments burst.
Tell me my friend, why do you stand aloof from your own heart?...

Love conquers poses, love smashes stances,
Love crushes angels into black
So you, without question, know your first love is your last.
And you will never, you'll never, you'll never love again...

May I be matched with you again

I know the match is bad
But, God help me,
Without your match there is no flame..."

- from "Stop Hurting People" on All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes (1982)

The Dance

I've just posted a new song to the Elijah Wilbury page over at UkeLand. This time I took a shot at Garth Brooks' song "The Dance."

• The Dance by Elijah Wilbury
• Direct Link to Mp3

Back in New York... (Updated)

Not a major change, I just wanted to switch pictures :)


Well, three weeks of vacations sped by like lightning. Aside from visiting with family, I spent much of the last three weeks hanging out and getting reacquainted with an old friend and her family. She and I have been friends for more than half of my life. Up until recently we hadn't spoken for close to five years and hadn't been around each other regularly for even longer. But somehow we slid back into each other's lives as if no time at all had passed. We've both changed and grown since we first ran around together in high school, but the bond between us seems stronger than ever. Its been a fantastic feeling to be able to reconnect and reclaim our long dormant friendship. We spent a lot of time remembering the "old days," but spent just as much time making new memories that I know I'll treasure forever.

Mindi,

Even from 3,000 miles away, I'm very glad you're a part of my life again.

Flashback

While I'm home I've been taking the opportunity to look through some of my Mom and Dad's old photos (and some of my own that are still here) and found a few gems.

The first is a souvenir from my very short lived basketball career:
The next is a photo of my then-best friend Shawn and I (and Shawn's little sister, Rachel) at our high school graduation in June 1991:
And finally a fairly embarrassing picture of myself from the fall of 1996. I'd just finished by time in the Army and had not shaved or trimmed my beard for about 6 months:

All My Rowdy Friends (Have Settled Down)

Another new song has been uploaded to the Elijah Wilbury page over at UkeLand. This time its my version of Hank Williams, Jr's "All My Rowdy friends (Have Settled Down)"

• All My Rowdy Friends (Have Settled Down)
• Direct Link to Mp3
  
  

Playing In The Snow

Playing in the snow with an old friend's son (He is who I'm looking down at).

Friends

"What is a friend? A single soul
dwelling in two bodies."

Aristotle

"A friend is one who knows us, but
loves us anyway."

Jerome Cummings

Me and Bobby McGee

I just posted a new song to Elijah Wilbury's MySpace page. Its a cover of Kris Kristofferson's "Me and Bobby McGee," heavily influenced--of course--by Janis Joplin's definitive version.

Elijah Wilbury @ MySpace

Living Proof That White Jews Can't Jump

Can't Help Falling in Love

I've posted a new Elijah Wilbury song to my UkeLand page. Its a version of Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love" I recorded while testing some new recording equipment I received over the holidays.

• Can't Help Falling in Love @ UkeLand
• Direct Link to Mp3