Thursday, May 25, 2006

The Red Phone

There's an old joke which goes something like this (there are several variations, so don't call me on the details):

A man went to visit the Pope in Rome. While being shown around the offices, he noticed a red telephone sitting on the Pope's desk next to the regular one.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Oh, that's our direct line to G-d," answered the Pope. "It costs $10,000 a minute, but it's well worth it." The man fervently agreed, but he didn't have $10,000 to spend, so they moved on with their tour.

Some time later, the same man went to visit the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem. There too, while being shown around the offices, he noticed a red telephone next to the regular phone.

"Let me guess...is that your direct line to G-d?" the man asked.

"Yes, it is, " came the Chief Rabbi's reply.

"How much does it cost a minute?" he asked.

"Oh, I think these days it's about ten cents a minute," the Chief Rabbi calmly replied.
"Only ten cents a minute?!" the man exclaimed. "Why, the Pope has one
of those in his office, but his costs $10,000 a minute!"

The Chief Rabbi smiled and said, "Well, sir, that's because from here it's a local call."


Okay, so ignoring the obvious problems of ascribing even a small amount of theological veracity to the Catholic Church and the fact that no such phone exists, I was wondering: If you had access to that phone, and you could ask just one question and a Bat Kol would come out from Shamayim (or the telephone, at any rate) and tell you the answer--what would you ask? Would you ask anything at all?

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Did you ever...

...have a friend who makes your heart hurt? Or more than one?

Individuals who, no matter how much you love them and would never want to part from them, it's just so hard to be friends with them. For whatever reason--maybe because you worry about him/her, maybe because your relationship is unpredictable and you're constantly wondering if today will be a "good" day or not, maybe just because s/he's not an easy person to be friends with. They're the friends who are raising your blood pressure. They can hurt you so much because you care.

Have you ever had such a friend? Have you ever - knowingly or unknowingly - been one?

Disclaimer: I am stating my question in general terms for a reason. If anyone thinks I'm talking about them specifically, or to them, I'm telling you straight off the bat--you're wrong.

Monday, May 08, 2006

Announcement

I am very pleased to announce to all my loyal readers that I have been invited to join with the esteemed Tomboy and Elster in their collaborative blog, Travel Mates. (Okay, actually, I invited myself, but they let me join anyway.) It is an ongoing work of fiction, with each of us taking turns at writing the posts. My first post is up now (it's #3 overall, so it's at the top of the page). Happy reading, everyone!

Monday, May 01, 2006

"Friends forever"

Some friends come and go. Some friends stay, through anything and everything. Some stay for awhile, and then drift away.

What are the hallmarks of a "forever friend"?