2009 is now 15 years ago. (I know you already knew that.) And I had another blog in 2009. I thought I would look at the week starting March 16, 2009, and see what I was thinking about, or what was going on in my life. Here goes:

(1) “The Civil War: A Musical Tribute” was the name of a show playing at Ford’s Theater. My reaction was “Am I the only one who thinks this name is both weird and offensive?” [March 16]

(2) I finished reading a 2003 book The Flying Camel, featuring the stories of 18 Jewish women who grew up in Muslim countries (Iran, Iraq, Libya, Tunisia and Morocco), and who told of their experiences growing up in these countries and then how their families were treated if they moved to Israel. I found the stories hair-raising and credible. And I thought everyone should find and read the book. [March 18]

(3) This one I have to quote in full: “My passwords and my user ids for my office email account, my two gmail accounts, my yahoo account, my bank accounts, my two blog accounts, my facebook account, my twitter account, my Delicious account [what was that?], my Ebay account, my PayPal account, my Smithsonian account, my Dinnerbroker account [huh?], my National Law Journal account, My Washington Post account, my New York Times account, My Ancestry account, my Flickr account, my Snapfish account, my NAHMA account, my NLHA account, my Pacer account [huh?], my Hilton account, my Mariott account, my American Airlines account, my Delta account, my Southwest account, my AARP account, my HDR account, my Postini account [huh], my Kodak account, my Ritzpix account, my Best Western account, my Lexis account, Allregs account, my Orbitz account, my Expedia account, my Travelocity account, my Hotels.com account, my Hertz account, my Amtrak account, my Northwest Airlines account, my Hotwire account, my Consumer Reports account, my Comsumer Checklist account, my Amazon account, my Borders Books account, as well as the many other accounts that I don’t even remember I have.” [March 19]

(4) I seem to have been very offended that companies were entering bankruptcy, and paying executives to remain with the company during the bankruptcy process by paying them excessive amounts of compensation, which I thought ridiculous and unfair to creditors. I was especially perturbed about the AIG bankruptcy, where apparently some executives were paid in excess of a million dollars. I have not thought about this outrage in the last 15 years. My guess is it remains a problem. Or not. [March 22]

(5) A summation post, talking about what happened the preceding week. First, our cat was diagnosed with an overactive thyroid, which required liquid medicines twice a day, something our cat didn’t seem to appreciate. Second, dinner at Cafe Deluxe in Bethesda [now gone] which was very good, Saigon Bistro on P Street [now gone] which was not very good, and Grenville Moore’s on H Street NE [still there] which was “as always, excellent”. Third, theater: at the Forum in Silver Spring [now gone] I saw an end of civilization play called “Marisol” [don’t remember it at all]. I appreciated the acting, but not so much the plot, which I describe on the blog, and compare it unfavorably with Thornton Wilder’s By the Skin of Our Teeth. By the way, I thought the world, in 2009, was barely hanging on. Didn’t even imagine what 2024 would feel like. Fourth, three weekend lectures at Adas Israel by Rabbi/Professor Max Tiktin [may his memory be for a blessing], on (a) Hebrew poetry, and especially the poetry of Yehuda Amachai , (b) Hebrew literature and its role in Israeli society, and (c) Yiddish literature in Warsaw between the wars. Sorry that I remember so little of it.

(6) Books. Reading the volume of Viktor Klemperer’s diary covering the years 1942-1945 in Dresden, a few short stories, and made an attempt (not successful) to read Nechama Tec’s Defiance, about the Bielski resistance.

(7) Cousins. I had pizza at Pete’s in Columbia Heights with my newly found second cousin. [Now this is a mystery – who could that have even been?]

That’s it. What lessons do I draw from that? First, I was more active at 66 than I am at 81, it appears. And second, memory can only take you so far. A blog is important. Next life, I am going to start blogging as soon as I can write and operate a computer, and I am going to use it not for those who will read it next week, but for myself to read when I am old and doddering.