My personal neuroscientific challenge

Have decided to perform an experiment on myself.

Having watched a fabulous program onBBC Four in the UK called "The Joy of Mozart", I have decided to listen to all of the Man's work according to the K-listing, from 1-636.

I am definitely one of,those peoples ho feel that Mozart was touched by G-d.  His music touches in a literal, visceral way that I cannot explain.

So let's see what happens when I expose myself to a daily dose of Mozart for the next period of time.

I'll keep notes if I start levitating or the like.

Come fly with me.

I made it home!  No kidding.  I was going to get back no matter what.  Snow?  I would hose the wings myself.

No bad weather.  No cold.  No headache was going to prevent me from getting on board VS005
seat 21k, (love the "k" seating) from LHR to the MIA.

I took full opportunity of my three suitcase advantage and just stuffed, threw or rolled assorted things around all the cases making them individually lighter!!!  Ooh & aah!

Bliss to be picked up on time by Daniel, with whom I immediately proceeded to get into an argument.  Yep, we , no HE missed the I95 exit and we were headed straight downtown Miami.
We were about to encounter hell trying to double back.  Not to mention the HOV lane which was bollarded off all the way until turnpike exit ...

After a couple of low blows hurled my way, to wit "There you go, Lili!" Daniel wld mercilessly, no fair, under the belt assault.  

But I didn't really care because I was on my way home!!!

Cue Pharell's "Happy"

"Pano" shot of view from my chair in Virgin lounge.

Many drinkers.  So wasted on me!  I am Ms Pots an Pots of Tea!

Ok.  It was tea time & head trip time.  Yes, clotted cream & Russell Brand simultaneously.

Wheels down. I is home!  USA!  USA!  

Best fucking place except perhaps gobs of money & Nekker Island!

Ah, the beauty of a Florida is never wasted on me!

Remembering the liberation of jews, gypsies & gays: 1/27/19945-2015

Found written on the wall of a concentration camp:

I believe in the sun

I believe in love

I believe in G-d

though He may be silent.

I am so into bark ...

Polish Embassy

Another event.  Another embassy.

Last Wednesday, the Polish embassy presented a reading and debate of Michael Fleming's book, "Auschwitz, the Allies and Censorship of the Holocaust".

Falls right in line with "The Imitation Game" and the codes they broke which could have been used to win the war much sooner.  Profoundly disturbing to know that both the British and 

American governments :knew" of the atrocities happening waiting 2 long years and millions of corpses later to take any action.

The event which I have been attending and the whole gamut of events, programs, radio, television, newspapers coverage leading up to the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz are extremeely hard on me but I do it to honor my mother and in rememberance of family lost.  

if Lili can hold up, I can.

The Polish ambassador is a dear and devoted friends of Lili's.  He is seen escorting my mother up the beautiful staircase and sat her next to him.

Thinking of writing a book reviewing embassy buffets!

Let the "Shoah" begin.

The Great Week of Remembrance has begun. 

Last week, I attended two events that kick off the full shebang this week which is Holocaust remembrance week.  The Polish & German embassy both held evenings addressing different aspects of the Holocaust that was World War II.

Television has been jammed full of programming, from documentaries to movies chronicling the atrocities that took place between 1939-1945.

Last night, I bit the biggest bullet of all. 

BBC Four was running a marathon showing of Claude Lanzmann's epic 1985 series, "Shoah".  In fact, I really avoided this type of programming as much as possible.  Lili watches everything and sits, glued as if awaiting a different outcome.

 The 9 hour, 33 minute long documentary consists primarily of Lanzmann's interviews and visits to Holocaust sites across Poland, including three extermination camps.

It presents the testimonies of selected survivors, local witnesses and German perpetrators.  Many of the interviews were conducted using hidden cameras.

Definitely, something that was not even near the bottom of my "must see" binge watching list.

But during this significant time, I decided to bite the bullet and give it a go.

I got three and a half hours into it and had to throw in the towel.  

I was having a very bad recurrence of my "Sophie's Choice" and "Shindler's List" reaction ...  acute nausea, which in the cases of the movies actually manifested in full blown throwing up when we left the theatre on our way home.  Terrible anxiety.  Dreadfully disturbed.  Pained to my core.

I speak a very broken and apparently unique Polish - mine.  But it is good enough to get myself understood and can get by quite well.

When Lili watches Polish television, it is hit and miss as to whether I understand it or not.  When it is the news and current events, it gets difficult but when there is a documentary or series, I understand nearly everything.

"Shoah" was directed by a French man and a large percentage of the documentary is simultaneously translated into French by one of the interpreters and has subtitles in English.

The so-called "Sophie's Choice" effect for me is when the people are speaking Polish, I completely understand them, do not listen to the translation and do not read the subtitles.

This makes my personal experience much more visceral.  It is local people talking the language of my parents and grandmother, particularly as they often came from the same region in Poland.  It becomes much more personal.  Much more intimate.  Not all words translate accurately but for me, the picture becomes even more vivid.  Alive.  Real.

"Shoah" is not a documentary for the feint hearted.  Nor is it required viewing.

But as the second generation of a small hand of survivors, I was finally  compelled by a huge sense of Jewish & possibly survivors guilt that require me to sit, watch and listen to the morbidly gruesome details of the cold hearted murder of innocent, young, children. The SS mandated silence of the local residents surrounding some of the extermination camps.

The pile upon piles of emaciated, skeletal bodies, being bulldozed into mass graves.

The constant talk of the stench that can never be forgotten ...

There is only so much the eye & mind can take.

Tonight, it is off to the prestigious British Library where Lili is one of the 2 invited speakers.

I suck up my own feelings in honor of my family.

I suck up my own feeling because I am alive.

The Great West Ken Blackout of 24 January, 2015

Striking aerial picture shows swathe of west London plunged into darkness by blackout

A huge chunk of west London was plunged into almost complete darkness 

An investigation was today launched into the cause of a blackout which left thousands of west London homes without electricity for more than two hours last night.

Police were called to major junctions as the outage knocked out traffic lights with motorists reporting long tailbacks on roads through West Kensington and Fulham.

Baron’s Court and West Kensington tube stations were closed and trains passed through without stopping.

Engineers from UK Power Networks were alerted at just before 8pm and spent two hours working to restore electricity.

They were today trying to establish the cause of the outage, which has been blamed on a fault in high-voltage underground cables.

Residents described “eery” scenes as streets were suddenly plunged into pitch dark.

Tube passengers in west London were affected by the power cut Picture: Nigel Howard 

Engineer John Croft, 52, said: “I got off the bus at West Kensington tube station and it was madness. “There was a huge line of cars stretching back as far as I could see.

“After a while they stopped the buses completely and police had to come and direct traffic to keep things moving.”

The shots taken above Fulham and West Kensington show almost total darkness above an area of west London Picture: MPSinthesky 

Asad Ahmad, owner of a convenience store in North End Road, said: “It was really bad, people didn’t know what was going on. We had to close the shop so we stood outside and sold things on the street.

“We sold out of candles very quickly, we had none left at all. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

A man in his sixties in the Famous Three Kings pub, next to West Kensington Tube, said: “The tube station was closed because there were no lights.

Really bad situation: Asad Ahmad, owner of a convenience store in North End Road

“It was chaos. It’s fortunate there were no accidents on the roads because without traffic lights it was dangerous for pedestrians. Just trying to cross the road was terrible with cars coming from everywhere.”

Dozens of police were rushed onto the streets to “increase reassurance” for residents, Scotland Yard said last night. Hammersmith and Fulham council also deployed wardens in the affected areas.

The Met’s helicopter posted an image on its popular Twitter feed showing a swathe of west London north-west of Earl’s Court plunged into darkness, with the caption: “How do you make an entire London borough vanish?”

While many residents in one of the capital’s wealthiest boroughs told of their anger at enduring a cold, dark evening of “eerie” darkness, others saw the lighter side.

Local MP Greg Hands wrote: “Power cut in my part of Fulham. Time to tell the kids all about life in the 1970s and the danger of another Labour government.”

A traffic light taken out in west London by the power cut Picture: Nigel Howard 

Jack Layer said: “Powercut in Fulham. I’m very concerned that the Gressingham duck I bought may defrost. Emergency confit may be needed. “

Ben Wiltshire added: “46 minutes into the Fulham powercut and things are desperate, there’s quinoa all over the floor and no-one can find the maid to clean it up.”

And journalist Guy Adams wrote: “There is a power cut here in Fulham. We are cooking fettuccini by the light of some scented candles.”

A spokesman for the UK Power Networks said: “UK Power Networks would like to apologise to several thousand customers in the Fulham Palace Road area who were affected by a power cut this evening.

“A fault on the high-voltage underground electricity network occurred at 7.48pm. The cause is being investigated but our engineers worked as quickly and as safely as possible on rerouting supplies via other cables. The final supplies were restored at 10.20pm.

“We appreciate how difficult it can be to lose power and apologise for the inconvenience caused by this incident.”