Egret brought a slight problem to my notice Sunday. She had kindly invited us to dinner for Yom Kippur - since I like to celebrate the Jewish holidays as my family always did, with a big dinner, we've had her and T2 over for that a few times, and she kindly decided it was her turn. I thought that was so sweet, since it's not their holiday, that I didn't quite have the heart to point out that this is a fasting holiday. It's not as if I would have been fasting anyway. But that's not the problem.
The problem is that, after asking what day the holiday was, Rudder pointed out that it was the same day he'd invited people over for his annual marathon erg seesion. (It's a BYOE - Bring Your Own Erg - deal). I would rather like to do the marathon this year, at least if I end up competing,but more than that, it's a solemn holiday and even if I'm not participating I don't even want to be around a raucous event like that.
If I were frum (observant), fasting and all that, I'd have no compunction about telling him to reschedule it. (On the other hand, if I were observant I'd be in shul all morning, so it owuld be a nonissue.) However, I don't fast. I do like to observe the holiday season, Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur, in my own way, paying respect to its tradition of reflection and contemplation of the past year. A couple of years ago, I did a "media fast" on Yom Kippur, avoiding TV, radio, and computer on that day and I was thinking of doing that again because it worked well for me. I felt refreshed afterward.
I've asked Rudder to see about rescheduling. He only knows of two other people who plan to do the ergathon this year, so it shouldn't be impossible. If he can't manage it, I may just need to find somewhere quiet to go - the library maybe. I don't feel right asking him not to do something in his own house when I don't have what feels like a real reason, but I don't feel right having it there either.
On the other hand, while I was writing this Rudder called to tell me he'd done a really stupid thing that would have been much more characteristic of me - he accidentally drove into the garage with the boat rack on the Hummer, and the garage roof is only about 4" above the Hummer roof sans rack. Oops. Apparently the boats rack survived nicely but it tore the Hummer's rack track apart. He wants me to meet him at the mechanic's this evening, so this may be a good time to put in a request.