Progress! Progress is good!

The last couple of days have been good, just very busy. I had two thesis interviews (both quite productive, although I'm starting to get annoyed with the necessary process of transcribing them), and I had a job interview this morning that I think I did well on. I also have a phone interview with Gallup this Monday, and two others with different companies that I still have to schedule. So I'm making progress in a couple of areas.

I also managed to arrange an interview for this Sunday with a Torah reader at one of my synagogues - a genuine ba'al korei or "master of calling [the Torah]." For those who don't know, ba'alei korei are people who have memorized the entire Torah. So, as you can imagine, I'm quite excited at the prospect of talking to him. I should probably talk to his wife too, because she has also memorized the Torah with both Ashkenazic and Sephardic chant.

Anyway, I've been to all the synagogues in my study (and another besides) and seen non-Bar Mitzvah Shabbat services. The next Bar Mitzvahs are on the 26th - one at the Conservative synagogue and one at the Reconstructionist synagogue (I think I'll see the Reconstructionist one, so I can make a record of it for the introduction to my thesis). I've decided to take a break this Saturday and go to Reading Terminal Market or Chinatown (or both). I was planning to drag my friend Martine along, because she's taken trips to Philadelphia twice in her whole college career (she's a junior, so this is quite shameful), but she has plans. I guess it'll be just me.

Have to go now and get back to reading my assignments for Religion in Modern Japan. The professor gave us piles and piles of reading to do.