In case you were in need of a new way to explain what the word "chutzpah" means, I'm here to help.

Yesterday (I'm told by a mother who witnessed it and my son's teacher), a father whose child had previously attended the preschool had a meeting at the shul. So he parked his car, dropped his kid off on the playground with the preschool classes, and went inside to this meeting.

Let me repeat that: Without talking to any adult or teacher, he dropped his child off on the playground and walked away, blithely assuming that someone would take care of the boy.

o_O I can't even.

Barak's teacher tells me she looked around, noticed a child who didn't belong there, and went off to find Dad. Dad was shocked, shocked I say, that there was a problem with this. Apparently he "figured it would be fine if he just played with the other kids for a while."

Leaving aside the humongous liability concerns for the preschool of a child who isn't registered and whose medical history and allergies they don't know...who drops their 5- or 6-year-old kid off on the playground without making sure there's an adult who knows they're there?

I mean, on Shabbat I might send Yael outside to play with a friend, but she's 8 and even so, I generally would go out with her or at least make sure there's an adult she knows around. It's common after school for someone to duck their head in, wave at someone they know, and say "Hey, can you watch Jonah for a minute while I go into the office?" But...just leaving your kid? Yikes.

I'm still all o_O over this and I first heard it yesterday afternoon. The mom who was telling me the story muttered quietly about how typical it was for parents and kids at this shul. And unfortunately that's true. So many entitled obnoxious kids and let me tell you...they get it from somewhere and it ain't the preschool teachers. Grrrr.

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I'm not always a cynical person, but I do, in fact, believe in the old adage that no good deed goes unpunished. But sometimes it's nice to be proven wrong :)

I've done a lot of volunteering for the shul recently, from editing the 40-page booklet of programs at the shul they gave out at Yom Kippur to serving on the newsletter committee. Not to mention my, what, fourth year on the Purim shpiel? And, y'know, I really wasn't looking for any recompense. Obviously I have my problems with religion and organized religion, but in general I like the people at our synagogue and I like having a chance to do some uncomplicated editing and such.

Anyway, to make a long story even longer, the shul fundraiser this year is a performance by my second favorite comedy troupe, the Capitol Steps. (Political comedy, very funny, you should check them out.) I'd said something months ago to the shul director, Sheila, about wanting to go, pretty much hoping my in-laws would decide to buy us tickets or something.

This morning Sheila e-mailed and said they were running out of seats and if I wanted to go, I had to RSVP now. I replied bluntly (because I'm me and Sheila and I understand each other) that I wasn't sure if we could go because of lack of a) money and b) a babysitter for the evening.

And Sheila offered to comp us tickets! She pointed out she couldn't help with the babysitter, but I think I can handle that with sufficient incentive :)

Yay! So, for once a good deed has been rewarded :D

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Y'know, there you are meeting at the shul with the exec. director and some dude who's working on a project with you and you have a pleasant hour discussing format and style and then you come home and google the guy and learn he's a college buddy of President Obama's and three-time cancer survivor and started a 5k walk for lung cancer and...holy shit. ::boggles::

Yeah, so I was at the shul yesterday having a meeting about this brochure I agreed to edit (for free, alas). ::shakes head:: Sometimes I forget that my shul has a lot of bigshots, because I'm there so often for the preschool and whatnot that I take it for granted.

Anyway, back to editing something else (that I'm getting paid for :D).

Although I'll pause first and repeat what I said on FB: Font designers, listen up! There's a difference between eth0 and etho. Really. Make sure your font reflects that fact or you will leave me confused and annoyed!

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I know I ranted about this on FB, but did I mention the thing where an Islamic group that we've worked with before asked to rent space in our shul on Friday afternoons (when the building is empty)?

This was, as I wrote to the rabbi, a win-win situation: generate goodwill and interfaith opportunities, do something nice for someone else (they couldn't find a space in the Bethesda area), and make a little money in a slow time of the week.

Y'all probably see this coming, but the congregation ended up rejecting them. Supposedly, people were worried about "security issues." However, as I said to Ben yesterday, you can translate "security issues" as "OMG MUSLIM COOTIES!!! EWWWWWW!!!!"

I am beyond angry about this. We're not talking about renting office space to friggin' terrorists. We're talking about a well-known organization in the area that we have WORKED WITH. Our youth group and their youth group have visited each other, okay? But they're not good enough to rent space for 45 minutes on Friday afternoon? Wow, that makes us look really great, doesn't it? I am ashamed to belong to Beth El right now.

[steam comes out of my ears]

The problem, as Avi noted, is that some things should not be brought to a popular vote. Ben then summed the situation up quite well: "So, the problem is that the rabbis and the board didn't have the balls to do it?" Yup, pretty much. The rabbis and the board had approved this and they should have announced it to the congregation. It's the right thing to do and we should be doing it.

Okay, I'm done ranting now.

Did I mention that as part of my continuing mission to traumatize Yael's Hebrew school teacher, the story I chose for her big homework project was the story of Yael and Barak? Y'know, where she kills the enemy general by putting a tent spike through his head? ::coughs:: Yael and Avi made a tent out of paper and drew Yael and Barak. I'm hoping she'll draw Barak holding Sisera's head, but I won't force that.

My MIL wins the day with her response when I told her about this: "I hope you printed out the story for her. I doubt she knows it."

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It's that time of year again. Well, yes, it's Rosh Hashana, which means I repost the link to my X-Men Rosh Hashana story, Yamim Nora'im (Days of Awe).

Obviously I've posted too late for the Orthodox on my flist to see it, but for those who are still reading, shana tova u'metuka. I hope that everyone has a sweet year.

I did spend quite a bit of time last night in shul and some this morning thinking about issues of forgiveness and such. It's that time of year and all. ::sigh::

Avi woke up with a migraine today so we left shul rather earlier than usual. He's taking a nap with Barak and Yael's watching a movie. I'm seriously considering a nap of my own. I probably won't, though.

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Like everyone else, I suffered major withdrawal pains in the downtime. Avi found it highly amusing, but he wasn't the one with insomnia last night who needed a distraction. I ended up surfing news sites, which isn't exactly guaranteed to relax me ;)

Anyway, today we actually went to synagogue, which is a strange occurrence. We got guilted into it because my in-law's small minyan was meeting and the potluck brunch was at Sabrina and Jonathan's house and we hadn't been to see the new house since they moved in. I was a little cranky in services because a) they bore me to tears, and b) I was hungry before the Torah service even ended. However, this small minyan has a large number of adorable children who essentially have free reign of the room, yet cause remarkably little disturbance. Well, except that Noah has a tendency to need Dad to tie his shoe while Dad is say, in the middle of reading Torah. ::snerk:: Very cute kids, though.

From services we went to brunch, from brunch we went home and took a half hour nap before rushing off to Pete and Stacy's for their son's birthday. What's funny is that they're the ones hosting the baby shower tomorrow ::grin:: So, we were making a lot of jokes about how we didn't need to talk now, since we'd see each other tomorrow. Anyway, the party was smaller than last year and much more enjoyable.

Tomorrow we must pick up drugs for me and then the shower is at 2. Whee! I still can't believe they haven't taken bets on how often I'm going to cry :) We were surprised to learn this evening that almost everyone who was invited will be coming. Avi blinked and we said (almost in unison) "All these people actually like us?" Why, yes, this is why we both need therapy.

And now I'm going to take a Benadryl in the hopes that it might help my breathing enough for me to get a few hours of sleep. ::sigh:: Sadly, pregnancy has progressed to the point where I essentially have sleep apnea and I'm not getting any sleep because my breathing is so impaired. Urg.