Yom Kippur
I thought I'd share a little tidbit about the Day of Repentance. Well, venting and a tidbit.

Venting (you can skip this if you want):

We got to Shul at 10 AM. The service started (I believe) at 9 AM. When we left, at 2:30, they were still (probably) ninety minutes from finishing. Services start again at 5:15, only it gets worse with Ne'ila; instead of sitting and listening to the cantor chant the prayers as slowly as possible, you get to stand (from, let me remind you, 5:15) and listen to the cantor chant the prayers as slowly as possible. This lasts until about 8:00 (yes, you read that right, three hours of standing) when we do Havdalah*.

This is normal for Yom Kippur.

ETA: I told a lie. In fact we had a quite normal evening service immediately prior to the very long Ne'lia service. This would be less ridiculous if the services did not involve exactly the same prayers, in the same order, proving that Ne'ila could be done in half the time without the chanting 9.9

Tidbit:

On Yom Kippur, you are supposed to be repenting of all your sins. This means that you're supposed to wear white, to show your purity. I generally wear black, because I feel it's more sincere to wear something reflecting the actual state of my soul. Also, you're not supposed to wear leather. This makes sense, because if you're trying to be pure, wearing bits of dead animal is not going to endear you to anybody. I therefore own a pair of canvas sneakers, which I wear for about twelve hours a year. I expect them to last me pretty much the rest of my natural life.

And now, to take a nap before hauling myself off to Ne'ila.

*Havdalah: A short service that occurs at the end of holidays, mostly to serve as a spiritual divider between holy and not-holy.