B"H

BAT OUT OF HELL

Sunday, August 31st

I called my sofer at 6 p.m. I'd called him a couple of times earlier, but it was busy.
So we're meeting at 6 p.m. tomorrow, "...unless tomorrow is very different & we can meet at 5:30 or one pm...I'll call you around 11:30..."
Sigh...
I'm just relaxing & journalling right now. I'll finish my homework in a bit &, depending on how I feel, I'll stroll to the netcafé & Shai Koenig...you know what? Scratch that. No, I'm not going. I want my sofer to fix me up with internet at home tomorrow, so why would I drag my fershtinken carcass all the way to the Russian Compound if I don't absolutely have to? :)
Tomorrow I'll get cash & groceries, then do my laundry (which involves sitting), meet with my sofer & deal with our learning process & my net situ. THEN I'll take care of my web needs, banking, etc. I'll be fine :D

Is HaShem *really* going to let me live long enough to fully enjoy these brakhot (blessings)?

"You gotta have the guts to go & sit out there & do your thing & let people throw rocks & bottles & whatever at you." - Meatloaf

Meatloaf is my hero. How could he know that one day he'd inspire & give hope to a potential Soferet ST"M? May he live a long & happy life...

Did my homework. It was good. ALL of my letters have improved noticeably, particularly Dalet, Bet & Hey. I finally got the hang of the legs on Dalet & Hey, so I'm quite pleased. I filled the klaf with multiple words made up of the letters my sofer has demonstrated for me - the only letters permitted to me. I went crazy on the last two lines & did Alef, Tet, Samekh & Quf. I couldn't stand it anymore. I understand the Zen-like discipline I require of myself to be present with each letter repeatedly in order to beautifully perfect their forms, not just make them kosher, but I'm not quite there yet. I must perfect myself before I can in turn perfect the Alefbet.
I had a war with this current quill. Each time I sharpen it, I take a tad too much off the sides & am left with too narrow a nib width. This means I have to re-carve the whole thing, which takes time. It's fine, because my hand can always use a different activity to balance the constant controlled movements & contracted state it must maintain during the lettering process. A change is as good as a rest. Thing is, when I re-carve I'm so careful to *not* take too much off that I end up with a slightly dull nib, which makes the letter edges less sharp & it's really hard to make the tagin.
Practice, practice, practice.