Yesterday I walked from Brooklyn, across the Manhattan Bridge to Canal Street because the trains were not running from Brooklyn and I was trying to get to work. When I woke up yesterday it was sunny & really hot, and when I went to sleep at two a.m the night before it was just sprinkling, so I don't know how the subways managed to get flooded in the few hours I was asleep, but they did.

Other than walking for an hour to the next borough, I've been working at the Synagogue (mainly on an upcoming trip to Israel), volunteering to read scripts for a theater (I've read almost ten in the past few weeks), and submitting my play to the Yale Drama Series. I also started a writer's group to keep me motivated with my writing. I've been ushering for theaters, as a way of getting involved and seeing shows for free. And I ended up leading a synagogue tour to the Touro Synagogue in Rhode Island. (My boss' flight back from Israel was postponed due to a workers' strike, or a threatened strike, in any case).

I just saw the new film "Becoming Jane" which I really enjoyed, and I read and saw the new "Harry Potter" book and film, which I also enjoyed. Now I'll have to write up a review or critical theory about all of them. I've been reading & watching all the books & films from the synagogue library, too - it has an extensive collection. I loved Dara Horn's second novel. I met her once at a Yiddish conference and didn't realize who she was until later. She was scheduled to talk at the Hadassah convention, but I happened to be scheduled for a thousand other things during that time slot. Yesterday I finished reading the novel that Amos Gitai's film "Alila" was based on - "Returning Lost Loves" by Yehoshua Kenaz. I feel like I should read it in Hebrew now.