Michael Reggev's Reply to My Newsletter

as is my tradition, i shall answer you paragraph by paragraph...

Fiveplay (thank dog i´m dyslexic)
-----------
i tried to think when i´ve last gone for a good show or a good movie (stress the good)... the results were disheartening. maybe my innerself isn't liberated enough, but i've been getting kinda numb inside. i'm actually gonna do something about this in the near future - but more on that later.
don't call art the secular religion. it is a definition i quite dislike, for several reasons. it implies that art cannot be non-secular. it implies that try though we may, even those of us who are more enlightened cannot escape the opiate of the masses. it's a bad connotation for religion, for art, and for secularity.

Municipal Committees
-----------------------------
well, i don't know if it's behind you or before you, but if governmental ethics is anything like environment, here are a few tips:
make sure you know what you want changed.
make sure you listen to the others while keeping quiet, rather than becoming a part of the arguments.
when you can't bare it any longer, find the middle ground between the two sides that are saying the exact same thing, and turn it into a resolution. make sure you vote on it and that it's entered in the protocol.
having established yourself as a peacemaker and as a serious young chap (as opposed to the collection of old farts), present your points clearly, in factual form, and try to turn them into resolutions if possible.
silence you phone for the duration of the discussion and answer it only if you must.
when it seems like everyone has had their say and you've met all your objectives - pass a resolution to adjurn.
the results of the only meeting so far of the environmental committee:
1. "this committee calls on the municipal board to allocate the resources neccessary to train the workers and inhabitants of the municipality on the values of sustainability and citizen participation", proposed by yours truly, accepted unanimously.
2. the creation of three subcommittees.

Tel Aviv
----------
the time has come, my little friends, to talk of many things - of bees and birds and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings... or rather, of leaving home. yes, the lot has been cast, and in the near future i'll be leaving the villa for a humbler abode in the big city. i suppose i'll throw a house-warming party at some point, so you can expect an invite. enjoy costa rica.

Muppets
-----------------
yes, you're going through a serious phase... though it's hard to imagine, you will find a nomal job that'll keep your interest, for a while, and will allow you your other hobbies in spite of everything. when our parents were our age, the world was quite different to the way it is now, and our israeli microcosmos more so. don't try to measure yourself by comparing yourself to them (they can do that for you better than you ever will) - trust in yourself to know what's allowing you a better life, and for fuck sake, even if you grow into a well adjusted yuppie, don't lose the child inside. (qkumba zoo reference (; )

purim parties
-----------------
okay, so i decided to go by first come - first served on the parties this purim. it cost me your party and the party's party, but it got me to a birthday+purim party of a friend in macabim (a lot of good people whom i haven't seen in a long time), and to a party in an apartment in tel aviv (lots of alcohol and when the evening ended, i had to share a sleeping bag with a cutie from haifa... poor me).
note to the wise - when going to parties like these, wear sandals at the very least.

practical answer
---------------------
i'm sorry, but i do not think your question is relevant. your premise is an empty set. one cannot have everything in life, because that would cause a paradox. the funny thing is that i encountered this at a judaism class in bar iran: how can god be infinite and limitless (thus uniform), while the world is finite, both contained and surrounded by god. this paradox is the one a believer must embrace. i maintain my agnosticity, and claim that life can simultaniously be all too perfect and not all too perfect where you can have it all.

hasta el Martes,
mrg

_________________________________________________________________
MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus