Getting better

I am still slowly recovering after my second seizure and am splitting my time between London (Emily) and Home (Family) as well as doing more college work and stuff in my 5th year community.  There are still some lingering after-effects of my illness my memory is still really ropy (although as noted this might at least in part be down to some of the medication I am taking).  I am also hopeful that the depression I experienced afterwards is starting to lift as well.  So all in all things are long up. I've even been on a date :) which was really nice.

My new little nephew is adorable and another plus side is that I am getting to spend more time at home so I get to see him and Aaron more than I would otherwise.

I am still finding working a little harder than it was before I'm more easy to distract and things are slower but nevertheless I am working again, including a few things back up North in my community well most of those are in the future.  My MA has really been kicked into the long grass (post ordination), which is still set for July I was going to say next year but its very much this year.  Wow thats scary.

Anyway long story short I am continuing to get better and can expect to make future progress yet. Everyone has been amazing specially Emily and I am gradually getting back to being myself.

Getting back in the swing of things

I am slowly settling back into the swing of things after my seizure at the start of July.  And although I go home for the weekends I spend most of the week back in London in the flat. Last Sunday I had my NMRI scan up in Manchester so hopefully I will know soon what caused my seizure although if it is epilepsy then there is likely nothing to see in the scan.  But in myself I am feeling much better, although I have more moments of blind panic than I would like.  (I am working on this with my therapist) I have also re-started meeting my personal trainer and although i can feel that my conditioning has slipped over the two or three weeks when I haven't been meeting with her it has not slipped as badly as I would have thought.
Apart from this things have been continuing along okay really. I have been getting ready for my 5th placement, although not making as much progress as I would have liked, getting ready for the 5th year, again not made as much progress as i had hoped i would, this is going to become a theme in this particular blog post. My preparation for my MA is in the same place as is my High Holy Preparations. So all in all okay but not great.

And as for my plans of getting lots of work experience over the summer nothing came of that really. Well almost nothing I am preaching on Friday at West London Synagogue.  I am also finishing off the stuff for Limmud albeit that that is now getting to stage where it really is moving on to become other peoples work.

The summer reading continues and I have two more light, easy and fun books on order. I have to make the most of this time because looking at the 5th year I don't think that I am going to have much outside reading time.

I am also making a concerted attempt to meet with friends, last week I got to hang out with Mandy and we went to the Victoria and Albert museum.

I have one more hospital appointment scheduled in the next couple of weeks and then induction begins. Although quiet why I need to be inducted now that I am a 5th year I don't know. Especially as of today I only have 318 days to go :)

Emily is still in Canada, where although busy she seems to be having a great time. But I am really missing her and am really looking forward to her return.

Another quick post

Today was a busy but productive day. It got off to a rough start because I had had a really poor nights sleep. At College Emily and I had two presentations the first one was early right after the morning service. Liturgy this went really well I was really happy about and think it will get a good mark. (Although I am more pleased because I think it will result in something useful).

I then had some spare time to rush about and do some chores, they needed to be done. Then it was time for the second presentation of day. Advanced Rabbinic Literature I think this went well as well although not as well as liturgy but good nevertheless.

Then I had to rush off to meet with my personal trainer, it was a good but such a tiring session as she has upped the level again.

Then I came back ate a quick dinner and now even though its still basically early I am going to go to sleep.

Hopefully tomorrow I will make progress on my other pressing commitments.

Hanukkah, Home, and lots and lots of work

Hi lovely people over here on this blog, or any of my blogs really.  It feels like time for an update.  I have been very very very busy and I know I start nearly all my blog postings this way but this is because I nearly always am very busy.

Last weekend I managed to slip in a visit home, which was very nice as Hanukkah was still happening, as always I was surprised by how much Aaron has grown and changed since the last visit even though the prior visit was only five weeks earlier, he is changing at a remarkable rate.

At school academically things are still going well, although as the semester draws to a close I am getting increasingly busy. For example I have two presentations next week, and I am starting to think but essays and the like.  I am also quiet a long way along with preparing my research proposal for my Rabbinic Dissertation, which is both good and rather scary.  Outside of school work I am still really enjoying working at Kingston Liberal Synagogue, which is a lovely community and I am learning so much from Charley B.

This weekend has proved enjoyable but tiring, Friday Night I went to Hendon Reform Synagogue to their first ever Rock Kabbalat Shabbat, which was a great success and I stayed on for the supper.

Saturday I went down to KLS to attend the interfaith/family service and then afterwards there was a meeting of the teachers for the religion school.

Then that evening I met up with some old friends, Mandy, Ali and Matthew, so that was fun but it meant a late night.

I have, as you will not be surprised to learn, a lot to do today, including the general stuff of life and of course preparation for next week.

Looking forward there is limmud, still a lot to do on my sessions but I am excited about the conference and seeing everyone again. Also this year's chevaruta books look fantastic.

So all in all things are good and there are 574 days to go.

Another short update

Hey all sorry for the near complete lack of postings over here on this blog but I have been extremely busy. With work at college, my placement, stuff relating to co-charing the student society and of course Limmud sessions (I really wish that I had made more progress with those than I have). Anyway I am still more or less enjoying my classes, the fact that they all have a more practical focus this year is defiantly a good thing.
I am still loving my placement down in Kingston, but the journeying down there and back is very tiring. I am looking forward to Limmud, seeing old friends again and the like, but its going to be a stressful/trying end to my year.
So all in all I am busy and stressed. (So about par for the course really).

In addition to my duties down in Kingston I have been to both Reading and Hendon (not sure if I had down that before my last update or not.)

This weekend has been particularly busy I went with Emily to FPS for Friday night, then around to dinner at LJK's house for dinner. Saturday I was down in Kingston the journey made more interesting because of TFL., was more lengthy than usual.

Today I went with a KLS trip to the Jewish Museum in Camden, and shortly I'm heading out to NIF dinner. So it has been a long and busy weekend with not a lot of recuperation from the school week.

On the bright-side Dr Who was amazing. And I am still very much enjoying working out with Danielle (My personal trainer).

But that's all I've got time for. I'll try and post again before too long.

A brief update

Hey guys. I have managed to squeeze a weekend out of my timetable to go home. Its always nice to get back to Stoke however briefly and who knows when I'll be able to come back up here again. I am still very busy although more or less on top of things. This is largely thanks to the fact that although I have lots of assessments things are not as insane as they were last semester.

I am enjoying my classes both the practical ones as well as the more utilitarian ones. I think that this is down to the fact that all courses are now more focused on what we'll actually be doing once we are out there. This is all to the good as this is getting nearer and nearer.

I am also enjoying my placement, as well as going down to teach the Kabbalat Torah group I have now lead a service there so it really feels like a real thing now. I have also paid a one off visit to Reading (which also counts towards my 4th year placement). This does mean that I am going to be perching on a much more regular bases so I am going to stop posting them here, unless there is a particularly important reason for me to do so.

As i mentioned in my last post I am busy with my sessions for Limmud in December, so all in all busy but a positive busy.

Outside of School/placement I am still continuing with Daf Yomi we are now in tractate Shekelim, I have also started training/working out with a personal trainer. At first it really felt a little like being hit by a brick wall but it is defiantly starting to get easier and I feel so much better already. I think its really necessary because already taken a toll on my physical health.

All in all I am very busy, but in a good way, but am generally pretty happy with how everything is going.

settling into my fourth year

Just the title of this posting is a little scary. But yes it does feel as if this year is settling into place, much faster than usual and although I am academically going to be a lot less busy this year than I was last I think that I will nevertheless be busy enough that I don't know when I get to blog again so this posting might have to do for a bit. (Although I might make a post Birthday blog post in about a week).

So, my classes at LBC look good and the assessments do not look to bad at all, in fact I think that I will enjoy doing some of them. We also have a nice balance between the academic (which is now at MA level) and the practical which is nice.

But additional reasons to be busy, firstly Emily and I are co-chairs of the Student Society, which is more work but hopefully we will be able to do a good job in representing the needs of the student body and in working towards making the college a happier place. Additionally Emily and I are really pushing 'Rabbinic Students for Pro-Zion'. This will be a lot of work but I am really excited and keen about it so this is good.

Then there is Limmud, not the Limmud Chervaruta Project but the conference itself, where I will be presenting sessions. So busy there as well.

One of our classes this semester is on 'research methods', part of which is looking forward to preparing us to write our Rabbinic Thesis. This too is making this year feel both very real and very different from those which have come before. As if, the end is if not in sight then as if it will be insight once we get around this next corner.

Outside of College, I am getting more and more excited about my 4th year placement at KLS. Last Saturday I went down to see how their Saturday Morning services work. And it was a very special occasion, so it will have been both more crowed and livelier than normal. But nevertheless I think that working there is going to be a truly great experience.

Outside of both work and College I am working with a personal trainer (yes I know) so far I have only had one session the aftereffects of which I am really starting to feel. But I think that it is important to do, because my life style hasn't exactly been helping my overall health and in the long run I think it will make me fill a lot better.

So generally I am busy again but its a good kind of busy. And I have definite markers lying ahead so it feels as if I am making progress with the year. Next week my birthday, then a very early Hanukkah, getting ready for Limmud, the end of the school term, Limmud, essays and exams. (By which time we are already into 2014).

The spring semester is always a bit broken up and then the year draws to a close. But I am not thinking about next semester yet. There is a lot to keep me focused on the here and now. But all in all I am stull really happy and enjoying my 4th year.