happy new year 5782!

It's Rosh Hashanah time, y'all, time to reflect what has been and celebrate what lies ahead!

It always amazes me that Jews have been marking time for almost three times as many years as Christians have.

That emphasizes the lessons we can learn from those who differ from us, whether it be by faith, country of origin, language, political beliefs, or sexual identity; those differences add to the spice of life.

I have been reveling in the variety of movies made available to me these past few days, via Showtime On Demand.

I had discovered the treasure trove quite by accident on Friday evening.

The cinemas had only one new offering that was not a horror film - yes, just one, and me with three free ones available on my A*List for week 54.

Not that I was intent on attending the cinema this holiday weekend, for my plans are to meet up with Carolyn and see the one new film on a weekday evening.

So, that left me with: the television, or viewing movies on my laptop.

Yeah, yeah, yeah... no, not interested in that second option.

Feeling desperate for something to watch, something new, something without commercials, something free, I tapped the Infinity button on the tv remote...

and a little voice whispered to check out "Premium Channels", rather than "Movies"...

and so I did, selecting each channel, looking at its listings, looking for that lone word "free" rather than "free with subscription".

At the bottom of the third page of premium channels was "SHO On Demand" and, when I pulled up its movie listings, they were all free!!!

Hallelujah! Hal-le-lu-jah!

So many movies to choose from!

All without the horrid 'mercials, 'mercials, 'mercials plaguing the showings on bounce or grit or comet or crackle!

Hallelujah! Hal-le-lu-jah!

I carefully went through and selected those that dealt with writers: novelists, journalists of print media, journalists of televised media, editorialists, even writers of computer code for gaming enthusiasts.

Wow, sure looked like I had enough for a film festival!

I even shared my largesse with others who have cable television: Boo, Sandy, Jeff the ex, my first niece!

Now, it's time to resume my movie-watching spree, having been to the grocery store to restock my pantry and fridge, and with a fresh glass of ice water in hand!

(Yes, being retired means I can again use the ice from my freezer, as it is not tainted with the germs from the papers of sick students.)

Hallelujah! Hal-le-lu-jah!