1. Things appear to be moving in a generally positive direction. I might, however, need to start keeping spare knickers at work.

2. Got back to town on Sunday. Was a really nice vacation. And a true break. I love mom and dad's new apartment - feels like home. We spent a lot of time just hanging around. Day trip to the science garden, time with not!family for Passover and the following Shabbat, Ein Hod, Zichron Ya'akov, and I'm sure some things I'm forgetting. Then I wandered off to volunteer with the army for 5 days, then home. Met some of their friends too. (One of the couples has two sons ~my age who I was at uni with. One of the sons was a bio major. I have /no idea/ who he is.)

3. Holocaust Memorial Day in Israel, on an army base, is quite the experience. We, the volunteers, got to participate in the ceremony -- everyone on the base (maybe a hundred or so people) lined up in the parking lot / parade grounds in front of the flagpole. 2 minute siren at 10 am, everyone standing at attention. Then two officers gave speeches, one of them read the El Maleh Rachamim [G-d full of Mercy] prayer, then a soldier sang, another soldier did a reading, then the singer did another reading. We sang the national anthem, and that was it. Maybe a half hour, and I didn't understand much of the speeches, but it was very moving.

4. I wish I could have stayed through Memorial and Independence Days. I think I experienced that in 1985, but I have no recollection. Instead I left the parental units with a translation and schedule of events that was in the local paper. Memorial Day starts/started tonight. It's already weird not being there.

5. I lost count of how many people asked me when I was moving to Israel. At this rate, never. I have lots of reasons. Please stop asking.

6. Work ... continues apace. Still catching up from so long away. Everyone is still nuts. Four subpoenas on the agenda. Plus I need to put together my presentation that I'm giving in about a month. Eep.