I've Got the Whole World In My Hands

I'm sitting here eating a bag of party/trail mix, blasting some Ben Harper (can I used the term "blasting" to define folk-rock, or should I keep that term for my post-hardcore music?), looking for my lip ring, avoiding homework, and informally wondering about the world.

About half an hour ago, my brother and I had a nice conversation about the Orthodox Community and how it just keeps getting smaller and smaller. As we hang up, I check my email to get a message from a nice lady who thought I (and you- my readers) would appreciate her new book (a little shameless advertising for others doesn't hurt!): Becoming Frum: How Newcomers Learn the Language and Culture of Orthodox Judaism (Rutgers University Press, Nov. 2012:  http://becomingfrum.weebly.com/index.html). So, I clicked in the link, and, unsurprised, my BROTHER is on the cover of that book. I mention, unsurprised, because it was so perfect it was beyond coincidental!

I sat down and read some of the book's excerpts online and started to laugh. How perfect does this world run? Here I am, writing a blog that had transformed from a mere daily diary to avoid repeating myself to both my parents and extended family... and now it's read by my family, friends, and complete strangers from America to Israel to Germany (-yeah, I was surprised about that one too). While reading this book's excerpts, it was talking about religious/cultural ties. My last blog dubbed "Unorthroprax" was explaining the often sixth-grade-level awkwardness while trying to enter the religious community and "fit in." The blog your currently reading, "Perpetually Perplexed," is supposed to be about how, despite my new found "Yeshivish (English/Hebrew/Yiddish)" lingo and tznius (modest) attire, I still stick out like a sore thumb in the religious community, still on my quest to grow religiously and personally. Her book, Becoming Frum, was talking about these very same things, only in a more scientifically researched way.  But, nonetheless I thought it newsworthy to write about because if you think maintaining who you are when all your trying to do is change is easy, become a Baal Teshuva!!!

Otherwise, I was going to go off topic and rant about some cool torah-thoughts I heard recently, but I have psychology papers to write before midnight, so expect some soul/body connections soon!