The Liberated Me.

Liberating: Driving in my little Yaris (now deemed the Hot Temple Time Machine a.k.a. HTTM a.k.a. Carmine) with music blaring, singing at the top of my lungs. I. Am. Free.

Liberating: Signing up for a gym membership and actually going. Riding a bike and pumping my heart rate  while reading a new book. Sweating. Getting healthy.

Liberating: Choosing to go Gluten Free on my own accord, despite a failed blood test, because I have averse reactions to wheat/gluten. Feeling better, already. No stomach ache. Just me and natural goodies. Making good with my body.

Frustrating: Figuring out how to be kosher, vegetarian, and gluten free. Mad props to The Kosher Cupcake for recipes right up my alley. There's hope for me yet. I just need to figure out how to make some yummy kosher, gluten free challot (since they serve as mezonot and will allow me to make ha'motzi!), or maybe I'll just order some from Heaven Mills. YUMtimes. There's also some interesting stuff up on Gluten Free Mama, including a shopping guide. FTW!

Liberating: Emailing in my final paper for my M.A. in Judaic Studies at the University of Connecticut. Done and done.

Liberating: The consideration that I might post some of my poetry up here. Stay tuned.

Books and scales and things and stuff. Sushi!

I got the coolest book on the planet (okay, not really, but it's that initial new-book reaction) in the mail today. It took forever to get here and after lots of complaining and a reshipment, it made it here from Edward R. Hamilton Booksellers. The book? "Women in Scripture: A Dictionary of Named and Unnamed Women in the Hebrew Bible, The Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books, and the New Testament." Now, if you're not familiar, this place has books that are fairly fresh and are super, super cheap. It's like a book warehouse. This book arrived in mint condition for 10 bucks. The other book I'd ordered -- The Essential Talmud -- failed to arrive and I was refunded the $3.95 it was supposed to put me back. (I'm going to have to pick up "Essential Talmud" anyhow, because it looks like a stellar addition to my collection.) The "Women in Scripture" should be a helpful resource for those women who I spot in my study but know little to nothing about and where the commentary is nil. Anyhow, the New Testament information might not be as useful for what I'll be using it for, but wow! What a buy, eh? I also have "Constatine's Sword" in my corner, and I actually need to renew it from the library. It's quite a read, and I wish it weren't so clunky because I'd love to read it on the El, but it's awfully difficult. If only I could break it into sections! I am, however, going to hit the library before it closes to pick up Art Spiegelman's 9/11 book, "In the Shadow of No Towers" as well as Marjane Sartrapi's "Persepolis: The Story of Childhood," since it comes out here in Chicago in movie form fairly soon. Plus, I find graphic novels are pretty quick to get through. I really should spend more time reading them!

I also picked up a scale today. Yes, everyone does this on January 1 and 2, right? Well, I'm going to try to stick to the healthy eating and working out and hopefully can lose about 50 pounds this year. Here's hoping, and here's hoping G-d gives me the strength to actually stick with it for once in my short, yet fascinating life.

So that's that. Lots of books and healthy things in the future for Chaviva, v.2008.