Headaches, Screaming, Meltdowns, and Real Davening.

1. I had a headache yesterday from about 11 a.m. until 11 p.m. when I went to sleep. The davening was very beautiful (I especially loved Eitan Katz's Shacharis) but I had difficulty holding kup during musaf because of the pounding in my brain. My strategy of taking a Hammer Gel with 50 mg.s of caffeine just before the fast, which worked so well on Tisha B'av, failed miserably this time.

2. The chevra at my shul apparently thinks that Hashem is hard of hearing, k'viyachol. Why else would they scream the entire Neilah? Do they think Hashem won't hear them if they simply say the words at something less than "The Who" decibel level? It certainly did not help my headache. Thankfully, I took a friend's advice and brought earplugs to shul which partially saved me.

3. When I got home and finally sat down to eat at 8 p.m. (we end ten minutes late, spend ten minutes dancing (also very helpful to my headache) and then say Kiddush Levana) I found out that the financial world did not take a break from its meltdown. My world, among many others, suffered a particularly gruesome day and I was forced to put out a few fires. I was on the phone and blackberry until 11 and barely realized I was eating to break my fast. My headache never went away.

4. Now that I get to take an early train with OOD once or twice a week, I get to see her daven (come on, you don't expect her to get up even earlier to daven at home before a 6:52 train!). Let's just say that I am embarrassed to call what I do davening after seeing how she davens.