all about taste

i'm sitting here, munching on delicious ikea liquorice and preparing to nap while completely reinstall ubuntu - everything was perfect until i tried automounting my media disk, and no matter how much i've played with fstab i can't get it right :/

the celebration on saturday night was fantastic! we drank a lot, had lots of family catch-ups and the food was great. her brother (the barmitzvah) got up on stage with his band, and while they're not the least cacophonic i've heard he's definitely not bad :)

i didn't dance very much, although at some point i did notice that "eastern" music becomes bearable when blood-alcohol content exceeds a limit. i'm fairly certain that i wasn't good to drive.

i was exhausted and dreaming on the way back, and shuffled into bed without even remembering to brush my teeth. i was horrified when i realized that in the morning.

i'd given myself a fairly large buffer to get to the meeting, and was late anyway. the train was rerouted when we neared haifa, and a few us of had to take another train and then a bus. that would've been easier if there hadn't been a bomb scare at the bus station, and it would've been a little better if after clearing that obstacle the bus had come on time.

the man i had to meet with seems nice enough, and i'm very glad that i managed to obtain a formal refusal out of him without burning any bridges. he treated me to lunch, and after all our talking i felt a bit uncomfortable that i simply hadn't been able to return even a single smile the entire time. i was reminded of the interview for my second army job, where i was so sure that for all the nice speeches i couldn't trust the guy i was dealing with.

returning back to tel aviv was a mission. there was an ugly wind bringing dust and sickly smells on the way to the station, and i couldn't talk to anyone on the phone without being cut off by train interference. i was comfortable on the train, though, at least until i was turned out of the reserved coach (i hadn't seen any signs). i spent the rest of the trip huddling with the unwashed masses.

i continued speaking to my mum when i got home, then crashed. i was woken an hour and a bit later by a couple of phone calls, the one from gn1 pulling me out of my comfort zone to go shopping with her at ikea. it was a long evening, and we didn't find anything there. we did find a store that got me excited - and in trouble for being obviously excited in front of the salesman - because they produce their own furniture and can easily accept any design tweaks or colour changes. that, and the fact that the prices are decent.

a quick stop on the way back to her place to pick up dental floss and a toothbrush, and we were all set for an evening that would have been pleasant if not for a bit of emotional flooding and frustration - i wonder if normal relationships have this many bumps. we've been together just over three weeks (gaining on a personal record) and it feels like we've been clanging through hurdles at breakneck speed. i think it might be nice if we could both relax a bit.

more sleep of the dead, and i haven't really "woken up" the entire day. it began with a search for her employee card at my place (resulting in her finding my spare key in her car - win!), and progressed through the medic's office, then the service centre for my satellite phone. at least now when they take it back i'll have a printout of numbers.

i had my favourite shinto breakfast (i wasn't in uniform, but the nice girl there did me a favour anyway with a wink and a smile) and then returned to see the doctor. a few minutes later i was out of there with drops for my low-grade ear infection (how nice), and i joined gn1 and a friend of hers while they ate lunch.

during my walk home, my SC called to give me what appears to be very serious news: our unit commander wants me in his office bright and early tomorrow morning. this doesn't bode well. or it bodes very well, but the in-between phase looks to be very unpleasant.

that kinda ruins my plans to meet up for a childish night with ru55, so we decided that instead of going holiday crazy we're probably just going to hang out with some of ze germans. in the meanwhile, i'm doing laundry and grabbing some z's.

and reinstalling.