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Monday, February 27, 2006

shambling to bed

i was tired this morning. when i got to base, i shambled and groaned up to the cafeteria. although quite a few people there broke out in smiles and nods of agreement, it didn't make waking up any easier.

i spent most of the day either there (playing cards with spot, who was on alert, or just chilling), or in the office sleeping, or chatting with people on the base. there was a little bit of work involved, but i finished it really early on. the work that frustrated me yesterday got discarded because i asked my TL for help, and he couldn't figure it out either.

the mongoose told me that he asked sbelle how our date on friday night went. not only did she not deny its being a date, but she claimed that it went really well.

wow. WTF?? that's messed up. i'm less interested now, and that's off a low base. weirdo. and not in a good way.

played volleyball in the afternoon, but it generally sucked. most of the people we play with aren't very good, and specifically have no concept of teamwork. there were very few points where we actually played.

spot and i spent an hour after home-time playing gta, then he joined me as i did my shopping. i came to mmf's, yogi joined me, and we worked until about half an hour or so ago.

it's EXTREMELY frustrating when you do something right, and the system doesn't let you know until later that it worked. bastards wrote a really shitty messaging system.

now i'm showering and going to bed.

of interest:

not an urban legend?!
'cause that ALWAYS happens to me. at 15 feet.

Sunday, February 26, 2006

sunday bleargh *frothing*

i was supposed to get up at 6.30, but there was no way in hell that that was happening. so i arose, after much altercation with my alarm, around 9. much better.

i sped out, and i made the bus. i met up with spot and the mongoose at the cafeteria, and after a hearty breakfast (of hot chocolate. that was all.) spot and i returned to the office. we found actual (and rather irritating) work waiting for us.

sbelle visited, i eventually chucked her out of the office (on the pretext of getting back to aforementioned work). apparently she's on the rag, which would explain the weirdness... but doesn't make me feel much better about the whole thing. i'm so childish sometimes. or am i?

we broke for lunch, which wasn't too bad. afterwards we played some gta, then went to the courts for some basketball. that wasn't bad at all. we were all rather dirty and smelly afterwards, but that didn't bother me too much. it bothered spot quite a bit, though - he's guarding tonight. he's seriously lucky that i had a spare shirt for him. the consequences of sports before a guard shift is one lesson that i learned a long time ago, the hard way.

the kid and i returned to the office... to discover that spot had left his computer unlocked. he's only got a couple of weeks to go, and he still hasn't learned. i created black icons and mouse cursors (he has a black background), renamed his recycle bin in the registry (to be blank, like everything else), copied all his desktop shortcuts to a random location, and blacked out EVERYTHING. hell, i had a hard time getting his system open, and i KNOW what i did.

my boss called me, with an interesting proposition. and apparently there's a chance i'll get some cash soon. there was another job we were going to do, but it appears that the client is only really looking for the definition, and is planning on getting someone else to do the implementation. bastard. that's most of the work.

we met up with spot a bit later at the cafeteria (yeah, we do that a lot), and then all returned to play some gta. spot and i teamed up against the kid, and spent a lot of time just racing each other through the streets. that was a lot of fun. we seriously pissed the kid off, though.

spot can't play on his pc, so he still has no idea what's in store for him :D

i bussed home, finally finishing web site story. i've decided that i'm not that fond of robert rankin's style, but his stories are definitely amusing, and somewhat insightful. definitely interesting reads, and kind of enriching, too.

i got home, and did some 'netting while waiting for the shower (that was an excellent shower). sammy sent me this (click to enlarge, sorry if it's a bit on the big side):


that's from the new york times. too damn right, that is. i also happened upon some rather disturbing news. normally something of this nature trickles down through the army, but until now i haven't heard a word. just goes to show.

this is kinda cool. apparently the EU are adopting the use of some forward-thinking. i'm surprised there's a form of government that takes robotics seriously.

i've just watched the first episode of the 4400. goddamn exhilarating (i was SURE that was spelled with two i's). i was wow'ed. now i gotta get the rest. i also watched a good fight. now it's bedtime.

hut, hut, hut!

i bladed to spot's, had coffee, and then we both bladed back to mmf's. watched fish out of water (or something of that nature), because spot's grandmother acted in it. it's a movie about new immigrants, and it's actually rather good. always good to be able to laugh at one's humble (and most unfortunate) beginnings :)

we walked through to the park, and joined a group playing american football. it was actually quite fun - a lot more strategy than play. aside from a couple of things i'm proud of (ripping a tag - that's the equivalent of a tackle - and blocking three players at once), i sucked badly. i couldn't figure out the rules and the tactics. at least it wasn't all bad. and i got some exercise. i think i'll join them again. it was a great vibe.

yogi joined five of us for humus, which was really good. then the two of us went back to mmf's, and worked on this financial trade software. lots of head-breaking, and the two of us screaming at each other, but we eventually got sorted out and i wrote the basis for the stuff we've been discussing. the pseudo-language is actually quite powerful, but it only works for me when i remember that it doesn't behave like any other environment i'm familiar with.

sammy picked me up, and we went to spot's to drag him out with us. we went to the lincoln, and had a really great evening. i should probably stop commenting on the two waitresses, but it's all i think of when i think of the lincoln. the pool sucked most of the time - there was a period of three of four games where i was going nuts from sheer frustration (granted, i *was* sitting and watching the two of them playing at the time), but the last three games made up for it. they included two speed games - 5 seconds per shot, 10 for a foul. both games were over in under 5 minutes, and were GOOD games. go figure.

i reckon the second a male brain focuses under pressure, all the crap that generally accompanies a shot just falls by the wayside.

sammy gave me a ride to the lizard. a small, but pleasant party. the music was good as usual, and i had a drink with the owner - recently returned from cape town. he wasn't too impressed, and i'm actually a bit disappointed.

he described cape town as backwards. that's half its charm! and he was upset about the temperature of the water. damn foreigners.

the bartender sat down and told me about his newfound love. all i could think of is how much i want to find love, and at the moment i find it the most depressing thing in the world. and no matter how much i try not to search, it's automatic and subconscious. it's desperation, in its ugliest form. i gotta get that fixed.

it's now approaching 4am... i gotta shave and brush my teeth, and then get up early in the morning.

Saturday, February 25, 2006

saturday morning cartoon

really cute game - only bummer is that for some reason when i open another window, it closes the flash one. extremely addictive, although way more so when i realized that i can use sweet little mechanisms as well as just pouring tons of sand.

i'm struggling to go over the material for when yogi gets here, and i'm toying with the idea of putting on my blades and just fucking off outta here. pizza hut's "hut potatoes" are weird when hot, but make a great cold breakfast.

yep, i'm outta here.

odd friday night

i crashed until around 22.30 - then sbelle woke me up. we rented a movie, got ourselves pizza hut, then came back here to watch and eat.

and that was all. red eye is a great film - loads of fun. but everything with sbelle was strange tonight. odd enough that i just became instantly disinterested.

i don't want to pay to go to the meimad when it's already almost 3am, and i don't want to go to the lizard because it's too far away. and so i'm going to bed.

worst game controllers

Friday, February 24, 2006

^_^ as it should be

i confused the work schedule, we only finished around 4am. i'm VERY happy that i didn't receive a single call. i took a taxi home, passed out watching king arthur (kiera knightley. the only reason i kept my eyes open).

i woke up, got into uniform, and bussed home. it was HOT, and HUMID... i'd forgotten what heat waves are like - no complaints here :D
and i remembered to pay the electricity bill!

i showered, watched a bit of snatch, packed, and bussed back to mmf's. web site story has some brilliant bits, and is definitely a worthy read. i'm almost at the end... i don't actually want to finish it, because i haven't got a replacement yet...

i walked about 3 minutes to meet up with crasher and a friend of his, and then we walked for 5 minutes to get to the beach.

i sat with them for an hour, which is almost as long as it took for us to be served. i had a breezer for breakfast. then yogi rocked up, and i sat with him (and played with the puppy) for an hour or two while watching the volleyball. hell, i couldn't keep up with him just messing about with the ball. my volleyball needs a lot more work.

had an ice-cream with crasher and his friend, then said goodbye and returned to the courts. spot rocked up, i went for a last swim (the water was amazing; totally calm, and not cold at all), and we went searching for breakfast. after several disappointments, we found ourselves at mike's place.

that was, without a doubt, the best breakfast i've had in years. bacon + eggs + sausages + fried tomatoes + chips + mushrooms... and a litre of guiness. DAMN. i'm still extremely satisfied, and it wasn't too expensive neither. gotta do that more often.

we walked back to mmf's, played tekken (i played slightly better), i've had a quick shower to rid myself of the sand, and i'm about to crash for an hour. then sbelle's supposed to come over to watch a movie.

Thursday, February 23, 2006

salty, salty tears

but first - a rather insightful cartoon i've been sent:


i slept like a baby last night. got to the base in time for inspection - i'd really shined my boots properly, which actually felt kinda weird. waiting to be inspected took forever.

the kid and i breakfasted, then spot and i went to a meeting for lonely soldiers (didn't really do any good), and took another breakfast. we returned to the office with the intention of wasting time, but i was called upon to play jay (as in, jason mewes). so i changed, messed with the wig, and waited my turn.

i was supposed to be snorting coke. we had talcum powder. not being entirely certain of its possible side-effects - the warning label on the bottle being a good hint - i got hold of salt instead. three takes, three lines of salt. i don't know if any of the takes are any good, but i've been told they're absolutely hysterical from the perspective of somebody who HASN'T just fucked up their nasal passage. that shit HURT.

maybe i should've shortened the lines a little.

i can't tell you how difficult it is to say "snoochy booches" in jay's voice, while unable to uncrinkle eyes, nose and cheeks.

had a fairly decent lunch (i had a packed malawach, and the chips were alright), then spent an hour wasting time with the team. then i went off to the dentist. to discover that they'd cancelled the appointment that i made over a month ago. without asking me. just cancelled it. without letting me know. just - cancelled - my - appointment.

WTF?!?!?!

so i made my way back. i crashed for a while, got up for "supper", then bussed through to mmf's. i lazied and arbed and slept for an hour or so, then spot came over and i beat him in tekken... although it wasn't by as much as i'm used to. it bothers me that it's more likely that i'm getting worse, than that he's improving.

i'm at work now, until 1.30am. then it's either back to mmf's, or out and back to mmf's, because either way i need to get home in the morning, so that i can spend the weekend in tel aviv proper.

*sigh*
i WILL remember to pay my electricity bill.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

know hope

yogi cancelled, so i'm going to bed. on the way here, the bus did a circle around a block... it appears that only two of us noticed. we went past a wall, upon which was sprayed "know hope". i love israeli spelling mistakes.

so i'm watching jonny bravo and the powerpuff girls, and about to crash. being on the manic side of manic-depression is great!

nothing more to report. except these:

my next coffee table
crap-power
sounds like a good read
fucktard@yahoo.com?
no potential data problems

violent pornography

what a great song :)

today was simply AWESOME. i got to the bus stop on time, and the kid and i spent the first hour or so playing unreal and arbing around. the dog joined us for a bit, then disappeared for most of the day (he did manage to include himself for lunch).

after lunch, we went to the cafeteria for ice-cream, and a really cute girl came up to me and asked if i was the guy who only speaks english. i chatted to her for a bit, then managed to find her on the army messenger before she got back to her office. sometimes my job does have its perks.

i did a little bit of work, then passed out for a few hours. had a rushed supper, then came home. now doing some laundry and then off to mmf's, to meet with yogi (who's doing yoga right now).

my legs are more messed up now than this morning, but that was to be expected. but i physically feel SO good, that there's no way today could have been bad. hell, i don't even know what made today so especially good!

my leg-spoons are killing me!

leg-spoons: a direct translation from the hebrew word for feet. go figure.

i just got in from 3.5 hours of SERIOUS blading. i think we did about 30/35km tonight. huge group, really nice.

i slept well last night - my neck's feeling MUCH better. i made it to the bus stop just in time this morning, and halfway there i suddenly realized that spot was standing right in front of me. we were both listening to our mp3 players, so we pretty much ignored each other for most of the ride.

i spent the morning talking to sbelle, and directing the setup of our branch's display. bloody bastards stole our stapler and scissors, so we had to go borrow. that's not nice. especially not when everyone's working on the same friggin' project.

there were white bits attached to our display, that totally didn't go with our design. i was busy removing (destroying, more like) the second piece, when some woman began screaming at me for ruining all her hard work. if it was important, she really should have said something at the start.

broke for lunch, with sbelle, the mongoose, and spot. was a good humus lunch. i returned to find the display done, rather nicely, but not entirely as planned. doesn't matter, it still outshines all the rest ;)

slept during the afternoon - i was on time for my kitchen duty and they sent me off for an hour and a half... and was woken in time to see spot dressed up as the head of our unit. farkin' hysterical, he really could pull it off!

kitchen duty was alright, kinda boring, but alright. they let us off at 18.30, and i rushed through to mmf's, changed, and met up with sbelle at dizengoff centre. stopped on the way and chatted with the guy who did my tattoo, i think i'm going to get the colour sorted out next week.

sbelle and i were clearly not on a date. we walked to a really nice coffee shop, sat and chatted a while, the went back to the centre and browsed, stopping to go through movie posters (damn - i want all the avp and back to the future ones). some more browsing, and then we took photo's together in a photo booth.

honestly.

i quite enjoyed it all. i'm rather comfortable with her... probably because i don't really expect anything to happen. afterwards, i rushed home, changed into rollerblading gear, and bladed to join the group. unfortunately, after finally remembering to load my mp3 player off mmf's pc, i forgot to bring it with me.

we bladed hard. we bladed lots. highlights: a hot dog, slippery bridges, awesome downhills, and the cigarette and mango juice afterwards. losing the car (i accompanied a friend to her's).

and THE highlight (i actually forgot to post this): rollerblading through the park, with about 4 feet of mist hovering over everything. it was incredible!

now i'm about to shower, shave, and CRASH. i know getting up will be a bitch, but i also know just how well i'm going to sleep ^_^

Monday, February 20, 2006

sore legs... and some spirit

bussed home last night, found that i now have all the fights from hido, and fright night. DAMN, what a bad movie! i can't wait to watch it again.

i passed out beautifully, and got up around 6.30 - i actually had to run to the bus stop, and made it just in time. i hate running in the morning. no - i love running. i hate running when i'm a smoker.

before getting on the tour bus, i ran into sbelle - she's broken up with the boyfriend, and told me she wanted to speak to me... on account of the trip, i blew that off till tomorrow. of course, that did get me thinking... buggrit.

the bus ride there sucked. it felt very high-school. was more fun when the bus broke down, and we got a smoke-break while waiting for a replacement.

the trip itself was good. went to quite a few interesting places, not the least of which was my second visit to the underground section of the western wall (kotel hama'arivi). lunch was excellent - we were all surprised.

spot and i were sitting behind a girl with an absolutely fantastic ass, who kept changing leg positions - highlighting all the right things. at one point i sighed and said "SO sexy...", and he responded with "yeah, isn't it?" in a dreamy fashion.
i made a comment afterwards and he said "yeah, sometimes i wish i was religious."

eh?!

turned out that he was referring to the religious tour guide (who was kinda cute). got a good laugh out of that.

i slept the whole way back, woke up suddenly and realized we were passing azrieli. the kid and i hopped off, and he walked with me to my place. our building is heavily under construction at the moment, and as you step off the steps on the 2nd floor, you see straight through - where wall should be - to a styling view of tel aviv at night. very impressive.

i picked up some books i'd forgotten, and we went to the mall for supper. then bussed to the train station, separated, and i got a bus for the city centre. met a sweet canadian soldier girl, we talked non-stop until i realized that i'd missed my stop, so i had to walk a little more than anticipated. and my legs are killing me after today.

the only interesting things i've found online today were sent to me by sammy. they're worth reading, and in order:

worst album covers
even worse album covers

Sunday, February 19, 2006

oi've defini'ely 'ad worse sundays

last night was shower, lost in transration, bed. ("have a nice fright")

i woke up around 6.45am, had a cup of coffee and a smoke while standing barefoot on the grass outside, watching a phenomenal sunrise. then hurriedly got ready, said goodbyes, and got a ride through to the bus station in afula.

i bumped into a guy from our base, who not only taught me about a little-known and way more comfortable bus route to tel aviv, but also gave me two hours of entertaining discussion. and i was worried about the batteries of my mp3 player. we met up with spot at the central train station, and made our way to the base.

today was actually quite nice. aside from spending lots of time with friends at the cafeteria, i spent a lot of time with sbelle. she was having a rough day, so i took it upon myself to cheer her up. ended up cheering us both up rather a lot. the last conversation included swapping phone numbers. i'm not getting too hopeful, but i wouldn't complain if something happened there.

yogi called me, and told me a few interesting things. some guy turned NIS1M into NIS100M in a week of day-trading, and the banks don't want to let him continue. and he was using a slight modification of an extremely well-known (well-known to be crap) theory. good for him! and yogi and SxS got bust playing poker online together, essentially cheating. that's funny shit.

after home-time, our team got down to some serious unreal tournament. i had a crazy sniping run, where i drove the two of them crazy by taking them both out over and over from an open position - at one point the two of them were standing next to each other, scanning the area and screaming at me "where the hell ARE you?!"... two seconds before i removed both their heads. in the next round the teams were switched, and the kid and i put together some awesome teamwork to rip spot and his bots apart. satisfying.

on our way to the bus station, we stopped in an underpass and pulled out our harmonicas for a jam session. spot taught me a much better blues riff, and the two of us got all the passers-by smiling. we tried to get the kid to sing, but in his words, he got stage-fright.

the kid's been making us really proud lately. he's totally relaxed and begun making fun of himself the same way we do. it's great to have three clowns around, and i won't be alone with my silliness when spot leaves... which is all too soon. it's not fair! we started serving at the same time!

spot and i bussed into tel aviv, and i'm now at mmf's hoping he'll rock up online - i promised him i'd be here around 8pm local time, and he's nowhere to be seen. swak. i have to go home tonight, tomorrow we have a branch trip to jerusalem, and i need clean clothing.

i think that was my day. i'm happy with how it went.

[late addition] flexible body-armour

Saturday, February 18, 2006

a good laugh

around the world in 80 days is an awesome movie - beautifully done, and jackie chan wasn't the only humourous element. i really did enjoy every minute of it!

my cousin's kid who's doing his basics rocked up with his girlfriend, i haven't seen him in ages. some amusing army quips ensued. i got a call from this guy spot and i are supposedly working for - he called me because, strangely enough, he also couldn't get through to spot. who finally got through to me, which is really strange, but i discovered that if i was going to go visit him i'd only arrive at 23.00, and having to wake up at 5am would make that a serious waste of a trip.

and so my day ends. it's now time for a shower, then bed - and then tomorrow resumes its regular sunday dreariness. it was a much needed r&r, so i can't complain too much.

less sun, more sleep

i didn't realize i needed that so much! i did try reading a little, but i soon moved back to bed, and crashed until after lunchtime. BOY did i need that ^_^

it was a stunning day today. i spent it inside. brain switched off. now, thanks to spot's inadequate mastery of the cellphone, i'll be doing the same for the rest of the evening / night... can't get through to the blighter, and i would actually like to do something off the kibbutz.

things that peked my interest:

fear of the little guy
pick me!
speaking of alzheimer's

oh, and watching america's next top model, or whatever it's called, being done in south africa was most entertaining. it has to be said: fucktards.

chilly, but pretty...

... it is a nice day ^_^

i got up around 8am. i didn't sleep -badly-, neither did i sleep well. i'm less sick, at least, but my neck's still a bit on the tender side :/

as for the wake-up: barefoot on the damp grass; stupid tv; a snackwich; getting all my net-activity ducks in a row. now going to spend the day reading a book in front of the tv, on the off-chance that something interesting will be displayed.

things that made me compulsively copy and paste links into a text-file:

id vs evolution
cutest flash drives EVER
street fighter card-game

Friday, February 17, 2006

*small addition*

my cousin's husband is the ambulance driver, and today he had to deal with a suicide on the kibbutz. that's never pleasant.

her father, as i'm sure i've mentioned before, has alzheimer's. she was telling me this afternoon that it's gotten to the point where he has no idea where he is, and no idea when he is. completely dissociated from the world. her daughter went with her to visit him before supper, and he didn't recognize her. that's really sad.

now for the great "nothing"

it wasn't a bad day at all.

i woke up around 11am, got ready to move, and moved. i organized myself a very serious white hot chocolate, and began bussing through to afula. when i got there, i walked till i found really good fallafel, and munched that back to the bus station, where i boarded for the kibbutz. i got here, watched about half an hour of teen spanish / argentinian soap opera, then passed out.

i woke up in time to watch three o'clock high, which is actually a great film! i thoroughly enjoyed it: highly amusing, and extremely well-made.

i went off with the cousins for supper, which was pleasant and tasty, and have just returned with the ambition of doing sweet bugger-all for the rest of the evening.

moonflake: i found a pretty helpful guide to tefillin here - they may look dark-ages to you, but they pre-date christ by quite the while. as christ was an observant jew (at least, to the best of *my* knowledge), chances are pretty good that he wore them every morning. while we're on the subject, he was around during the time of the second temple; this means that in all likelihood, he regularly went there to sacrifice small animals.

the look is pretty much traditional - although the oral law is pretty specific about how they're made, i'm fairly certain that they could be modernized to a certain degree. on the other hand, i don't think anyone would actually bother - they've worked quite well until now.

post-script

i almost forgot. it galls me, irks me, and does my nut in. on a night in which all i did was go to work. after i showered, all i did was run my fingers through my hair. no gel, to time spent... and it looks absolutely spunktacular. fantesticle, even. i'm positive that in the morning it'll be all mussed up again.

and either way, i'm going to have to cut it soon. and i can't even post a photo. CRAPPOLA.

504fm stereo

'cause i started typing this at 5.04am. i just got home. because it's friday morning. and mainly because when i got to work, i had to send out the following email to all the people in our division:

Subject: to whom it may concern

i heard tell of an interesting rumour going around, so i'd just like to clarify things a little before it gets out of hand. plus, i don't appreciate snickering behind my back. i *do* appreciate snickering to my face: in case it hasn't been noticed, my sense of humour does function properly (ok, maybe it's over-developed).

1) i am not deaf in one ear. i get stereo. maybe it's a slightly softer stereo than most, but my hearing is fairly even.

2) if i WAS deaf in one ear, i'd like to think that i'd be smart enough to put the headset on THE GOOD EAR. i find the idea of getting that backwards slightly silly.

3) unless that was a comment on my brain working properly, or in stereo. in which case, fine, pick on the brain directly - leave the ears alone. and share the joke with me, i had to wait until now to get a laugh out of it... hence this email. i do believe it's amusing enough for everyone.

4) i happen to be deaf in the nose. that's not funny.

thank you, to all a good night. i will be appearing weekly! book now!

i hope my point is made. whatever the point happens to be.

the night was alright. i don't need to do anything for calvin & hobbes, it's just fine as is.

and flying cars like this would be nice.

aside from catching up on webcomics, eating a fantastic thai meal (i ate way too much), and watching a bit of munich (looks good from what i saw), the evening was quite relaxed.

now to bed! then to the kibbutz!

Thursday, February 16, 2006

omfg it's thursday night and the weekend's almost here!

HOT DAMN. that was amazing. i can't get over it! WTF?!?!

one of the guys from work gave me a ride on his vespa to the base. i was wearing a face mask against the cold, and i wasn't in uniform - removing the helmet at the main gate was highly amusing. they let me in anyway, though - chatted for a bit, shaved and brushed teeth, then went to bed - after leaving explicit instructions not to be woken up by anyone - ESPECIALLY not by our TL or SC.

i slept incredibly well, and was woken up for lunch. not a bad lunch. then had coffee with the mongoose while he had lunch, then did some work. work involved designing a display stand to show off our branch, which was actually quite fun :)

i rested a bit more, then was woken up by this crazy dude to put on tefillin again. i scored a good massage out of that - i was quite surprised to learn that he really knows what he's doing. it's a rare find. my back thanks him for it.

spent the rest of the afternoon arbing, which included being "interviewed" by a girl visiting our section. when i say interview, i mean that she didn't stop asking me random questions about my life, just because she was bored. they do that a lot here. and i'm not good at asking questions back, so i don't even know her name.

i messed around a bit, including reading some more of a young lady's illustrated primer, then had supper with the kid, and then left the base.

and realized, about halfway down to the bus, that it's thursday. WHOOOOOOOOO!!! very nice. i read some more web site story (which is simply brilliant now that i've gotten back into rankin's style), and have come home to shower, crash a bit, then go to work. i think i'm going to go straight from work to the kibbutz. it's high time i paid them a visit.

and that's it. WEEK OVER. and it wasn't such a bad week after all. life as a soldier is just SO fickle.

moonflake: i think i'm going to attempt making a cover page for calvin and hobbes, like i did for madam & eve...

bug-eyed and still going

not only has it been a rough night call-wise, but about 5 minutes ago we finished a straight run of an hour and a half non-stop. that was insane. my brain hurts. i was passing out during calls. and dealing with irate and annoying people.

i LOVE this job!

the best thing that came out of tonight is this link. just pick a resolution, add yourself a player, and consider the room password a room name so friends can play you online. As It Should Always Have Been.

erm. yeah. nothing else interesting tonight. going to the base soon!

permagrin

last night yogi taught me all sorts of interesting things about the stock market, then he left and i crashed. i woke up badly - not as badly as the day before, but badly nonetheless - and bussed through to the base. robert rankin - web site story makes me smile.

i spent the first 10 minutes or so attached to the doorframe. it has the perfect angle of attack for the knotted and questionable muscles. the kid rocked up, and i unglued myself to let him through. i almost fainted from the position change.

he farked off, and a gorgeous girl (sbelle, she's this beautifully packaged awesome who dreams of living in the southern states because she likes country music) came for a visit. and to polish her shoes. she's probably the only girl in the israeli army who wears army boots because she likes them - and now that i've seen her wearing them with blue jeans, i can see why. the reason i remember that she polished them is because she then perched herself on my desk, with one foot on my chair arm. i kept having to resist the urge to pull her down into my lap. later on in the morning we were talking through messenger, and she made a comment about possibly breaking up with her boyfriend - i jumped straight onto that one ;).

i did some arbitrary missioning for the SC, which got me involved in a stupid fight with the mongoose - turned out later we were arguing about two completely different things. bleh. that was annoying.

the discipline officer was walking past me, and i had one hand holding onto one of the problem muscles (when i say one of, every muscle on my left side, from my neck to halfway down my spine, not including my arm, is a problem muscle at the moment), and i said "good morning". he looked at me before responding, and told me to take my other hand out of my pocket. i did so (not understanding why), and he duly informed me that my half-gloves are not legal.

"really? you're kidding!"

dammit. i can't believe i got caught. couldn't he have just greeted me back?

i then fucked off to a job interview at scepia, an everything-internet company that mostly deals with web design and search optimization, and with all sorts of odd rubbish and statistics and things as well. i got there exactly on time - impressed the hell outta myself - and spent the next 45 minutes learning why i wouldn't be particularly interested in working there. nice people, good environment, and a few interesting things here and there... but nothing really exciting. and not enough money to make me give up my current work.

i met up with spot at azrieli, we sat for some coffee and i had "lunch" (a brownie. serious stuff). smoking is illegal in malls, has been for years, but nobody really enforces it. we were both halfway through a cigarette when the guy next to us turned around and asked if it would bother us to not smoke in a non-smoking establishment.

we put out the cigarettes, loudly discussing the fact that we have no problem putting out a cigarette because it was bothering someone, but that to mention the legality of it was sheer rudeness. a few minutes later, a security guard walked past and noted that our cigarette boxes were on the table, and warned us against smoking.

damn. getting serious. i'm not sure if i'm disappointed or impressed.

we bussed back to the base, discussing interesting ways to get released from the army as mentally unfit. my method required up to half an hour of just smiling stupidly, so spot bet me that i couldn't hold it that long. i managed about 10 minutes - i'm well impressed. and it was most entertaining to watch people's faces when they saw me just walking and smiling while spot tried to make me say something.

once back in our office we got to work. i finished all my jobs, and found myself searching the others' task lists to see if they had anything that needed doing... weird. some religious guy came through to talk, and it resulted in me putting on tefillin for the first time in years.

the guy we smoked nargila with just over a week ago (spuzz) joined me and spot, and we went off to the lincoln.

as spot said: we always go there to play pool. we always stay because of the waitresses.

the pool was great, the waitresses were simply phenomenal. i changed into my overalls (more comfortable; i wanted to drink alcohol), and the mind-blowing one actually stopped to comment on how good they look. i feel bad about asking her out, because i've already asked out so many of the waitresses there. buggrit.

we went to zinc afterwards for supper - i began with a faux pas, offending the headwaiter by trying to order from her. granted, i *was* in a hurry (to get to work), but still not good. the food was quick, though - and great as always. i then bussed to work.

i showed the driver my soldier's id. he told me i need to be in uniform (there's me, standing with army boots hanging off my bag and a huge army jacket in hand), so i told him i *was* in uniform. he gave me a funny look, and i pulled down the overalls until it was possible to see the belt. when he realized what he was looking at, he burst out laughing, and waved me through: "do just that if a conductor does a check!", he shouted as i sat down.

one of the two girls sitting in front of me was wearing buffalos, so i asked where i could get men's. this got me included in a very cute discussion about what to buy for her boyfriend's birthday.

i walked through to work, and our shift is beginning now. so g'nite... i reckon.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

blogspot was DOWN

so here's the post for yesterday:

first thing: i informed the guy in charge of the shift that i couldn't carry anything today... he told me that it's fine, i just have to get back to him when i'm feeling better. that just goes to show how much they need me to do this.

i went to the welfare officers to apologize for yesterday, and got what i consider to be a fair punishment. i had to sit through a lecture on why i should be nice to people. i gritted my teeth and nodded in all the right places.

i actually worked quite a lot today. and enjoyed some of it, too. funny, my back felt better the worse i sat. i'm going to end up a pretzel.

we had a team talk with the branch commander - he asked how i felt, and i told him straight out how disappointed i am with the decision, and my service in general. that scored me a private meeting afterwards, where he shat on me for having such a bad attitude.

in and amongst that, he reminded me of what it looks like from a superior point of view, and the bottom line is that he's right, and i really don't have anything to complain about as far as the actual work i'm doing is concerned.

he told me i'm egotistical. i told him "damn right". at least i got a laugh. i don't know how much it's worth, but now all three officers above me have agreed to push for more flexibility time-wise with the new commanders. i suppose i'll get by if i don't get it, but it would vastly improve my quality of life both as a soldier, and as a human being. pray for me.

so i felt better after that. much better. the only real problem we had was with one of our clients (our commander's girlfriend), who's on the rag. we know this because he was whining about it. the guy who called us on her behalf, after office hours, was in a flat panic, and quite upset. at least we're not left wondering.

i went past spot's, then we came here to mmf's, played some tekken, and then walked to the balcony. it was quite fun, with the scout joining us around midnight, very pub-like. great music. i've decided i'm completing my tattoo this week. and we made a pact to go snowboarding once we're all out the army.

quote of the day:
it's like a snow-capped mountain in my mouth - me, slightly drunk and holding an ice-cream
had coffee - got hit on by a waitress who i REALLY couldn't decide on, and have just returned home. four hours to wake-up.

very cool: multi-touch monitor

and for today:

i went to bed feeling more or less okay. i woke up into a nightmare. it took me about 10 minutes just to get out of bed. i eventually had to hold my head in place with my hands as i squirmed onto the floor, because anything else became extreme agony, frighteningly fast.

hell, even going to the toilet was a mission and a half. i haven't been in that much pain in ages.

in spite of that, i was only late by about 15 minutes. okay, so i walked funny - not much worse than usual, and tilted at a strange angle.

i got in to the office to find spot on the bed. i couldn't get him up, and sitting wasn't doing me any good. eventually i managed to rouse him, and found a good position to lie in that stretched my neck... unfortunately, i passed out, and moved into a terrible position. i woke up with my arm in PAIN. not pins and needles, but electric fire flickering through my fingers.

during the rest of the day it wasn't good, but it did get better.

i got some work done today. a little bit of socializing too, but nothing that put something on the cards for valentine's day. nothing that made me want to put something on those cards.

i learned something about spraypainting today. i got lucky last time. i learned today about stencil size and resolution, more about environment effects, and not to let anyone touch my friggin' spraycan.

i bussed home, showered, started downloading fights from hido (thanks, btw), and got ready and bussed into tel aviv. on the way here, i ran into spot's mom - she's offered to house me and my mom when we're in new york, and i then had to put up with a guy working the corner cafe who was totally smitten with her - and then a cute girl from the army, and then came inside. yogi's here, brought pizza and we're about to begin workin'.

Monday, February 13, 2006

*locked*

my back and neck are COMPLETELY buggered. can't move for shit. i don't know how i'm going to get out of kitchen duty today, and i'm not going to be able to enjoy the balcony tonight.

i hate this.

Sunday, February 12, 2006

let it rain suck! (bitch, bitch, whine whine)

i'm depressed. i'm frustrated. so, of course, my natural reaction is to share the suck with everyone. and take it out on innocents. i hate myself more for it.

wow. the army really has managed to bring out the worst in me. i'm hating every minute of it, i can't find a thing to smile about. and when i can, i manage to quickly wipe it off and resume scowling.

this has fast become one of the most painful downs of my life. each moment gets harder to bear, and my attitude keeps shifting further and further over to "complete asshole".

it doesn't help that my neck is out of commission again, and no matter what i do makes it feel worse. playing basketball today didn't help any. i think i coughed up a pack of cigarettes, though - makes me feel better about the amount i've smoked since.

i spoke the guy in charge of "base janitors" today - he asked me if i had any experience with gardening equipment.

gotta be shitting me.

i lost the plot completely when my welfare officer told me that there's nothing they can help me with - i'm going to have to go and apologize tomorrow.

after my kitchen duty. at least i found a replacement for work tomorrow night, so i can go to the balcony and drown my sorrows. well, to be honest, it's more about releasing rage on the dancefloor than drinking. i just want to scream and shout and throw my body at the air, in vain.

i discovered today that smashing objects can be very therapeutic. leaves you with less smashable objects afterwards, though.

with three tentacles...

a creature can shove one up your butt, and hold you like that while slapping you with the other two. i don't have a clue where that comes from.

i bussed through to the lizard, had a couple of drinks, then walked home. that took longer than described, but that's more or less the long and short of it. talked about mixed idioms.

i got home to discover that i finally have a decent copy of predator, in english. so i watched the end, and have just discovered that antigravity beams are a possibility. do we care if the church approves this one? what would bush say?

shaving, showering, crashing. in that order.

Saturday, February 11, 2006

hell for leather

because i just *love* leather.

i have no idea what compelled me to say that. anyways, it was a weird afternoon for me with the family. i find my life so out of my control at the moment, that i really don't have anything to say. everyone kept asking me "how's the army?", and i kept trying to say positive things... and failing. i kept zoning out, and thinking about how crap my life really is at the moment.

on the flip side, the food was fantastic.

i crashed when i came home, and have spent the last hour or so online, watching arbitrary tv, and chatting with my mother about my upcoming game-plan. this is going to be an interesting week.

i had a long talk with SSSO - she's a tad upset that i'm not going to participate in the "business" she's pushing; i tried to explain to her that it's the kind of thing one needs motivation for, and right now the army's stolen that from me.

my word - if i could improve my conditions in the army, i really would have a chance of getting back to being myself. and maybe doing something with my life. that would be nice.

easy rider

and with jimi hendrix to boot. i slept beautifully, and had a really chilled wake-up... the way it's SUPPOSED to be :D

i'm about halfway through terry pratchett - truckers, and it's terrific. humans as nomes laughing at humans is a beautiful metaphor.

in about an hour i'm getting picked up to go north - hee hee, from here herzeliya is north - and for that i'm missing a beach day... and a coffee day... i'm already feeling better about life due to my new empowerment. i was able to hang around at a club, not the lizard, last night by myself, and returned home without any strain on my legs or my wallet. i like living here.

late night revelrie

suddenly remembered a kid i was in primary school with, name of "revel papernik". evil parents, i tell you.

i slept the afternoon away, and slept bloody well. it was a mission and a half to get out of bed, shower, and freeze my way down the road. i met up with picker, ate supper and had good coffee, and then we went off to the meimad.

great bloody party. good vibe, and the music was EXCELLENT. the new line was really well done.

free entrance is always nice, too :P

picker spent his evening spotting and flirting with girls. it kind of got to me at some stage, because in the middle of a crazy song - when it was fully apparent that i was enjoying myself immensely - i'd get tapped on the shoulder and told stories of failures and asked for assistance.

i'm of the opinion that parties are meant to be enjoyed for a number of reasons, and if cute girls happen by they're nice to look at, and if something happens then so much the better. but the last thing i actively look for is meaningless drivel and sheer waste of energy. my line from last year: "i will not expend energy on sex, unless already in the act" keeps coming back to me.

on my way out, i was informed that i should make my way to the balcony for monday night's party - now to find someone at work to switch shifts with me. i just got home, in a few hours i'm off to herzeliya, empty-handed as usual. damn soldiering.

Friday, February 10, 2006

ta friday

woke up around 9 - 9.30am, had a cold shower (i think i dreamed getting up to turn on the hot-water cylinder), had breakfast, and then we went off to the university.

attended a lecture by the dean of cs - had a hysterical chat with him afterwards, got invited over for friday night supper sometime. then met up with a friend from la, and the three of us walked through to have some coffee. afterwards, i took a bus back to ta, and went searching for a gift for her little brother's birthday party tomorrow.

didn't find a damn thing for him. i'd arrived too late on a friday. i did manage to find a book for myself, but that doesn't help much.

i ran into my almost-cute ex-partner for our c workshop, and a really cute friend of hers. she's always really excited to see me... too excited. i've received an open invitation to abuse her residence, but i'm a little uncomfortable about how serious she seems, so i'm not sure i want to get involved with that. not that it'll make a difference in my life if i upset her, but i'd feel bad about it.

therein lies the reason behind my celibacy.

not only am i bloody picky, but when i do find someone i could deal with (even in the short term), i find plenty of reasons not to. one of these days i'm going to chill out, and i'll look back on this ugly period of my life and say "what the fuck was i so worried about?", or "why was i making such a big deal out of it all?"...

oh yeah ^_^

and i almost copped out! i watched the princess bride: GREAT film. then i passed out. i woke up groggily around 11pm, and almost turned over and slept the night away.

would've been such a waste!

i met up with picker, and we walked to the lizard. it was alternative night, the music was awesome - simply brilliant selection - and the crowd was fun (with cute girls).

around 3.30 or so picker joined me and my team (both spot and the kid rocked up), and we went to the lizard. we played some pretty good pool, and then i challenged one of the girls who works there.

we played BRILLIANT pool. both of us. and i beat her 4-0, in one of them i sank all the balls except the black on the first turn. then i played spot for the final game, and it was a great game.

i'm now at spot's, feeling gooooooood and about to crash for a couple of hours, before going to the university for open day. sounds like fun!

Thursday, February 09, 2006

weekend! finally! get me outta here!!

imagine if i didn't blog. you would all be able to think of me as stuck inside a box, let out every now and again for a chance to stretch my legs. that's how i think of me, anyhow.

i managed about 10 minutes of the princess bride before passing out - i'm watching it while blogging :P

i woke up at 8am, got ready and made my way to the bank. all my suffering and hard work last month paid off - i'm alright this month! w00t! i can eat! and drink! and be merry! or something...

i spent the day running around the base on errands, and chilling. and sleeping. i discovered, to my extreme dismay, that the poster i made last wednesday - that i'd grown extremely fond of - was torn. i missioned around the base trying to find the perpetrator of such an act, and was disappointed. when i got back to my office, i noticed that it was not only torn, but also had a penis spraypainted over it.

worse, in my opinion. defaced, damaged, and with only one suspect. the asshole who woke me up with a banana last thursday. i called him up to scream at him, and as bad as i made him feel, nothing's going to bring my poster back. i can't describe how much that aggravates me.

i did a bit of work, ate "supper" in the mess hall, then bussed home. i'm THRILLED that the weekend's here! now i'm going to finish watching, and crash, and then go party. or, at the very least, have a drink or two and sleep some more :P

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

survivor - israeli army deskjob

weeds is simply awesome. great fun.

bottom line for the night - the new guy is really frustrating, mainly because he just doesn't listen, he's inefficient (to be fair, that comes with experience), and he's none-too-good with the politeness thing (to be fair, he's israeli AND he lacks experience). i'm sure he'll be fine, but as a perfectionist it's always hard to deal with these things.

there's a girl who works with us who gets on my nerves a bit - that she's a bit of an oddball is fine, but she seems a bit disconnected and a lot of her behaviour clashes with my idea of decent. there's not a lot to be done about that, but it does get aggravating sometimes.

the new guy gave me a ride to my area, and i walked home, started a load of washing and crashed (around 5.30am). i was then up, shaved, dressed, with laundry on the line and getting onto the bus at 7.10am. total zombification.

i got to the base *just* in time, had breakfast with my SC - where we continued discussing yesterday's abominable news - and then began kitchen duty. which went on until roughly 3pm, by which stage i was completely wasted and my world was spinning.

i bussed home, watched some more fights and most of american beauty - a movie that made me feel really good about myself, as usual - had a super shower and supper, and am now going to bed, watching the princess bride for the first time.

i'm sure there's plenty i haven't covered, but whatever. *bombs away*

later

man, crappy night - i'm exhausted. and i can't sleep because i can't not watch weeds. i'm gonna die in the morning.

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

the tunnel's burst

right, we've all heard about corporate shafting. today's lesson was in military shafting. and my team got FUCKED. none of us are sitting comfortably.

we've been awaiting a decision from on high for months now, and today was the day. there were two options - a) begin building everything in java and b) leave everything as is and hang around providing support.

we got c) get transferred to another branch that does lots of work... but ONLY using the technology that is the sole cause of all our problems and anguish.

aside from the initial shock, the following half an hour of rage, and the deep suspicion while discussing it with our now kind-of-back-with-us commander, we then had a long meeting with the SC, and we all made it perfectly clear that we're not happy with the decision - and that from now on we're looking out for ourselves.

i've actually gotten to the point where i'm REALLY willing to REALLY be a janitor on the base - at least those guys only do half-days. and it's physical labour without too much thinking involved. and the rest of my service is going to suck either way.

afterwards, in my capacity as still-replacement team leader, i took charge of the situation. we have agreed that until we get proper-fucked, until we actually have to begin signing forms and really fighting with the army, we're going to do NOTHING but have fun, learn what we want, and everyone else can get stuffed.

in fact, my explicit instruction to the kid (the scout's been renamed by the rest of the base) is to sign in tomorrow morning on time, and to sign out on time... but other than that i don't want to see him on base. and spot has to finish any and all work by tomorrow evening, because i want him to take a week or so off starting thursday. during which time the kid and i will find things to do - painting and waterfights are at the top of our list, followed by exercise and continuing with the windows api.

that was the important stuff for the day. this morning it was hard getting out of bed. mmf's bed is actually more comfortable than mine. i took the bus that spot is supposed to get each morning, the difference being that *i* got to the base on time... yeah. strange that.

it was a pretty chilled day. had some interesting work - windows scripting and batch files... i doubt i'll ever use it again, but it was entertaining. lots of mooching around the base, talking to people, relaxing... and it all ended with spot and me sitting in our office with two gorgeous girls. that was when our now-back team leader rocked up, chucked them out most ungraciously, and then told us the news... he was smiling when he informed us. we don't get lubricant from him - he's the type to "fuck a guy in the ass, and not even have the decency to give him a reacharound".

i'm at work now - tired already, and we're here until 4.30... and tomorrow morning i'm on kitchen duty... *sigh*

a bit later

i packed and went, lugging my kit bag with rollerblades attached - it looked very soldier-like. i got here, cleaned up, had an odd run-in with the landlord (he can't know i'm staying here), and fought with mmf's pc.

yogi came over, between the two of us we got it back together, and we played some tekken. i still won most of the games, but he definitely did some damage. after he left, i did some shopping, and now it's net time before i crash.

moonflake: i have to say, it's difficult to decide if argyria may not be fun - just a slight amount though, to give my skin a slightly blue-ish tinge. i quite like the idea, actually.

africa the MMOG. cute. anyways, off to bed now.

Monday, February 06, 2006

treasure

i completely forgot yesterday - on our way out from that friend's place last night, we were all standing around the nargila... and the coal spontaneously exploded in our faces. farking FRIGHTENING, we were all covered in soot, and just stood in shock.

today:

those five minutes of sleeping in really don't help much. i just missed the first bus, and the second (prick) just went straight past me. so i arrived a tad late this morning :(

it was a mostly boring day. to sum up, gave a can of tuna as a present for our annoying secretary getting rank (seargent), played texas hold'em (and we're still going - i'm up the most), finally got my second temporary exemption from guarding, confronted the guy who was with me when i got beaten up, and got the other side of the story (apparently they did help), and got given all sorts of horrible tasks to perform for the next couple of weeks.

oh, and i did all my forms real slow - almost died. training begins bright and early tomorrow morning, if i can get out of bed :P

i got a call during the day: "uh, we accidentally broke your door down before realizing that your apartment is occupied. so sorry."

stupid fools. at least they replaced the door - i've been instantly transported from apartment 306 to apartment 105. that doesn't happen every day. and it had better not begin now.

so after making sure everything's alright, i spent an hour watching enormous men beating the stuffing out of each other - bobb sapp is just awesome to watch. i've just decided i'm sleeping at mmf's tonight, so i gotta be off now.

Sunday, February 05, 2006

easy like sunday... yeah, right :(

i decided this morning to sleep in. technically, i can arrive late on a sunday, and the scout is usually around in case of emergency.

usually. i forgot he was guarding. and to spite me - thank you, o' lord - our systems failed BADLY over the weekend. bastards on the induction base are responsible, but ultimately i'm the one who has to deal with the shit.

so i got a call at 8am, asking me if i was in the office yet... immediate panic, and i tried contacting the dba's to get started on the problem, but they weren't answering the phone. so i had to make a really kak decision - and i called my NEC. and shave and hurry to get to the base. unfortunately, he knew i wasn't up north this weekend, so i was in big trouble. lots of shouting and nastiness - but i'm ultimately very grateful that he didn't have me court-martialled... it was purely my bad, but i admitted as such and explained myself well enough that he understood that i was coming clean.

but damn that sucked. and it took bloody AGES to get the systems working again.

the rest of the day was pretty boring.

it's so easy to forget that sunday isn't a working day. spot called his mom to tell her that he'd decided against officer's course (making said decision while filling in the form to get started, very well done), and woke her up at 8am on sunday morning. that sucked for her :P

i spent an hour or so in the clinic, trying to get organized with my exemption - the discipline officer is looking for my signature because i've been put down as guarding on the 8th. i bleeding WARNED the moron.

i am WELL impressed with the posters i did on wednesday - renewed enthusiasm each time i see them. they look professional, and SO pretty. i, in my amateur fashion, managed to get the shading from the spraypaint *just* right, and they look airbrushed ^_^

we're making another unit film, and i got my part back as jay. only problem: i need to organize the wig this time. buggrit.

i finally gave a guy from decentralization the gift i promised him - a polystyrene aeroplane that not only flies true, but the propeller spins and everything! i should have bought myself one, it cost me R4!!

from the base i went with a friend to his place, right next to the base, to smoke nargila, drink beer, and talk crap. spot joined us, and after much amusement we bussed through to tel aviv, and then i bussed home... stopping to buy terry pratchett - diggers, which i've been eyeing for a while (i had my coupons on me this time).

had a long chat with the boss, everything's in the clear at the moment. i'm all good. here're some interesting slashdot stories from today:

whiskey pc
paintball success story
time physics
jet racing
real-life zombies
a shameful way for a king to die

stupor-fied

good heavens. not a good idea to drink, when one is not only sick, but tired too. i'm FUCKED UP.

i can't view my blog at the moment, so i'm not sure if i wrote yet that i tried to work on the bugs in the hospital project, only to discover that they're all problems on my co-worker's side. and i watched oh, brother, where art thou, and it's just great.

yogi picked me up around 6pm, went to mmf's, set up tekken, i kicked his ass for a while (26 - 1), we watched a very not-funny comedy, and then he dropped me off at the lizard.

a few friends arrived, we drank, we danced, i helped out with a computer problem (everything was blurry already, by that stage), and i walked home with picker (the american from yesterday). picker is so named because he just flirts with every girl, and totally isn't prepared for the crap they give on sight. hell, i overheard two of them discussing making fun of him because he doesn't speak hebrew... which he does. he just pretends he doesn't. bastard - he even messed me around with that.

everything's spinning. bye-bye now.

Saturday, February 04, 2006

slow and steady - make that mostly steady

slept like a bomb. tried watching easy rider again this morning. this time i made it most of the way through before passing out again.

i don't wanna work. i don't wanna do anything. i just wanna be bored. i have things to do when i'm bored.

got the following email this morning - annoying!

How Smart Is Your Right Foot?

1. While sitting at your desk, lift your right foot off the
floor and make clockwise circles with it.
2. Now, while doing this, draw the number "6" in the air with your right
hand. Your foot will change direction!!!
I knew it!!... And there is nothing you can do about it.


the mongoose's boss called me - he's arriving in cape town monday, and he wants to see the nightlife. any suggestions?

instant addict

mono - i *like* it. i was reading an article about the x-box 360, called reshaping the past... and the video [link no longer available] i downloaded ("Read" is the link to the actual video) is just frightening.

work was pleasant - rather quiet, actually, which was a nice change. the "pizza" was mediocre at best. a lot of amusing discussions with the co-workers, wherein i remembered that my biggest problem with girls in this country is my being "culturally gay". if i actually WAS homeosexual i think i'd do just fine :(

i walked to the lizard, had a couple of drinks, looked disdainfully upon the sexy yet mentally unappealing girls, and had a long chat with an american. we walked home most of the way together, it turns out he lives practically next door.

no fights tonight :P

Friday, February 03, 2006

unheeded warning

i've just been informed that there're people at work who read my blog... but i'm not going to edit out not-nice stuff. i think it's fine as is :P

i had a hot shower, and got dressed watching k1 and pride fights - watching bobb sapp get someone in a lock is just unbelievable. it just doesn't make any sense!

i walked to work, nothing eventful there, cleared some mail, and am currently in a state of arbing. after crying to me today until i helped him with his work, the mongoose had the nerve to call me a whiner when i complained that he isn't going to bring me food at work.

not impressed.

so work is about to begin, and we're ordering "pizza". great. and i'm disappointed that i've managed to lose my password for gamespot. no cool movies for me.

impoRtance

since posting, my day has been broken up as follows:

a) laundry
b) gaming - getting my ass handed to me in counterstrike and gta... finishing a mission in syndicate, and getting to level 16 in warning forever
c) net catch-up
d) agreeing to replace someone at work tonight
e) being shown a photo of (to see if i'm interesting in meeting) a girl that not only do i know from my studies, but called me up once in the middle of the night to tell me she likes walking around naked (and she's not very attractive)

and just now the mongoose called again, begging me to fix the site that spot is responsible for.

FFS :/

and i'm still feeling like crap.

still screwed - and a screw-up

well, there's me at 4am on a thursday morning, polishing my boots before going to bed. waking up at 7.20am, half-dead, and getting myself off to inspection. an aweful inspection, we had to suffer a speech (made by a really annoying woman), and it was all very pointless.

did the coffee thing (actually, in my case it's become the sachlav thing). comic moment - while talking, some girl came up to us, scratching herself in a most ugly manner. she apologized loudly, explaining that she's terribly itchy, tossed a bright blue blanket on me, and went off to buy herself coffee.

i just sat there, staring blankly. what the hell was there to do?

we then mooched back to our offices. played a bit of gta, but we were interrupted by our section commander (SC - i'm finally sick of typing that)being an idiot - we all got assigned totally arbitrary and meaningless tasks. mine involved other SCs, who didn't trust that what i was doing was officially sanctioned, and i just forwarded their reply emails to my SC, and went to bed.

i was totally dead, couldn't even get myself up to go eat lunch. i was woken with a banana in my mouth and everyone laughing hysterically - that's the last time the asshole responsible comes into our office. and i'm not particularly impressed with my team for allowing that to happen - they KNEW how fucked up i was.

our SC woke me up for a personal interview... during that he realized how unhealthy i was, and instead of just sending me home, actually gave me a ride.

since i've been home, all i've done is sleep, and watch movies (demolition man and gleaming the cube). i still feel like shit, but slightly less green and sticky.

and i *just* received a call from the mongoose, to whine that the website that he and spot have been working on has a huge problem: they don't have backups, somebody erased a critical file, and spot told him that *i* can somehow help... when i have fuck-all to do with the site. and spot actually gets upset when i tell him he's unprofessional.

Thursday, February 02, 2006

spittin' black

from mmf's, i took a long walk to the bus (although relative to my normal walks in ta, it was nothing), bussed home, showered, and crashed.

i was woken at 1:18:58am, with an urgent call for me to get to work - i missed my alarm! dammit! manic dress, pack and go, took a taxi, but got to work and everyone was indifferent.

weird. stressful.

turned out i was to coach a new guy, not take calls myself, so that was cool. or would have been, but the new guy did some very silly things - repeatedly, and drove me nuts. whatever. SEP field time.

i took a taxi to the base - minus taxi expenses i made about NIS 50 last night... not a lot... and crashed until 9. read a bit of the diamond age before going to sleep, nice to get back into that.

woke up feeling like shit. i don't actually know what happened during my first waking moments / minutes / hours. around 11-ish the mongoose and i went for a walk, and ended up getting shuwarma for lunch. then i got dragged to a toy store. i bought "art supplies" for our room decoration procedure. which i've made up. because i said so.

most amusing ride back on the bus, two soldiers in uniform, with artsy papers and a fuck-off big squeaky-toy duck. and a duck finger-puppet. and a spiderman doll. and a toy electrocuting cellphone. that was awesome. not quite chuck norris and mr. t awesome, but still good.

spent a half-hour with my welfare officer. began as a fight, eventually got her to more-or-less (less more than more) sort me out. i don't like her attitude.

i initiated talks into running a tekken school on base, and had a long and interesting argument about israeli girls and their general suckiness (in spite of their general good looks) - with an israeli girl.

i did the spraying, using the direction of the breeze for cool shadow effects, and smiley stencils for borders. looks good. very good. i then stood there watching the paint dry, and giggling hysterically whenever an officer walked past staring.

the dog arrived, and we spoke for the first time about what happened on friday night. we both decided that doing the jackie chan thing would have been most effective - i've actually gained quite a bit from the encounter.

i did some debugging on the scout's mfc code, and i guess we're learning at the same pace, even if he's getting more practice. then the two of them did some work, and i spent an hour or so sorting out the new posters and nailing things.

hee hee.

i read for a bit, and ate supper early - the kitchen commander (the big cheese, the head hamburger, and the rest weren't amusing at all) almost threw us out before i *ahem* put him in his place. reminded him of his job, lied about our situation (okay, i told the truth about mine and indicated them while saying "there're other soldiers with these issues too".

played some GREAT gta before i left - i did some whoopin' (a first!), then went to mmf's, organized something for him, then took a short walk to the bus (figured routes out) and bussed home. i got home in time for a two-minute shower, then took yet another taxi to work - slightly more worth it this time. it's been a good shift, albeit a bit hectic.

gonna be getting to the base around 4am, and i gotta be up for the Big Inspection at 7.30... not gonna be fun. or it will be entertaining. and then looking forward to another day of windows api, resting, exercising, and gaming.