I just got home from the grand three-week American tour, and my next-door neighbor greeted me with cookies and milk. I'm gonna try to go straight to sleep after nibbling these treats.

I thought I would write some diary entries while I was in the US, but I just got too busy. The short summary is that the trip was a great success. I got to spend some really good time with everyone that I wanted to, and I had a blast.

Sorry to jerk you guys around, but recently revealed scheduling conflict means that we're throwing the party on the night of the 21st and morning of the 22nd, not the 14th and 15th. Hope y'all can still make it.

I'm leaving for the USA tomorrow. If you are reading this and you will be somewhere in the Baltimore area on the night of Saturday, 14th 21st of January, 2006, then you are hereby invited to the official reunion party of the American Society of Daniel's Friends (ASDF '06). The site of the festivities will be just off Nunnery Lane in Catonsville at the home of Steve Killen, Rebecca Stephen, and Libby Norris. Email me if you need a more precise address or directions. You can start showing up after about 7pm. Please send RSVP to The Steve so that he can get a feel for how many people to expect.

If you are among the less nocturnal contingent and prefer a morning matinee over a sunset soiree, we'll also be hosting brunch on the following Sunday at around 10am-ish.

Hope to see you there!

/me does excited happy dance

Update (at 19:34:01 IST): Note that the date of the party has been rescheduled one week later to the 21st.

This past weekend revealed irreconcilable differences between me and Itai. We both enjoyed and appreciate the time we spent together, but it is not to be.

Right now, I'm reminded of the most important story my mother ever told me. As a little girl, my mother was once with her mother in a grocery store. When they got to the check-out line, the clerk at the register glared at them with a nasty scowl, replied to my grandmother's questions with curt, resentful answers and sharply impatient gestures, and responded to any attempt at friendly conversation with a vile sneer. As they were leaving the store, my grandmother turned to my mother and said, "Poor woman. She stands up all day. Her feet must be hurting her so terribly."

The most important rule for relating to your fellow human beings is to expend every possible effort to see them as ultimately good at their cores. Dan et kol ha-adam l'kaf zechut. דן את כל האדם לכף זכות.