Highlights

 Lately, I've been feeling "meh". I've been retreating. Disappearing into reading, or into watching the Olympics, or just into my own head.

I guess part of it is just life stress - worries about the future and the present. Part of it is pure procrastination. Our son is to have his Bar Mitzvah in May, but I just don't want to plan - or do - anything. Part of me finds religion deep, and meaningful, and comforting, and a connection to other people. Part of me struggles with religion and feels the whole thing is just... not my cup of tea. I feel like in the US, being Jewish is intricately tied into religion. Growing up in the USSR, being Jewish (for our family) had almost nothing to do with religion and religion was not part of our lives at all.

Recent highlights:

• Ice skating! We all went to a near-by rink and it was so much fun. Even though I am terrible at it (can barely stay upright), I find something about gliding on the ice so... liberating.
• Olympics! We've been watching every night. Usually, this means my husband and I fall asleep in front of TV and wake up in the middle of the night groggy and disoriented. But I love, love, love watching it... love seeing the excitement, the daring, and the thrill of the wins! I love it all: figure skating, skiing, biathlon, snowboarding, curling.
• I want to practice cross-country skiing! Kids want to learn ski jumping. I NEVER want to down-hill ski (it just looks terrifying). "Big Air" - I was getting vertigo just looking at the hill. 
• Papadakis and Cizeron are amazing. Papadakis is beautiful (she has this distinguished and regal look).
• Nathan Chen is spectacular. I especially loved his short program.
• Russian women figure skaters - love watching them. Tutberidze (coach) may be evil or may be a genius. Or a bit of both. The stuff they are able to do, the difficulty of their skating programs is out of this world. Shcherbakova and Valieva have the expressiveness and the ballet-like gracefulness. But they all seem at or near the breaking point. The "old ones" Shcherbakova and Trusova - they are only 17....

Looking forward to:

• Watching season 2 of "His Dark Materials" with kids.
• Olympics being over (and getting back to normal sleep schedule)
• Spring break - have a house reserved and plan to do hiking, sight-seeing, and visiting the museum of glass in Corning.