speeches and cream

after being jammed into the door by the mass of great unwashed at the front (there almost wasn't enough space to get on), i pushed my way past the scowls and snide remarks to the back, where there was plenty of room. i loudly described the situation at the front to those in the middle and told them that it would be nice if they showed a little consideration and joined me.

the one person who didn't ignore me gruffly informed me that there wasn't any space, and didn't respond when i asked him if that meant that i didn't exist.

the rest of the ride was spent politely urging the little prats in the back to turn the mizrachit down. i kept wondering about all these parents who have enough cash to buy their kids such cool tech but not enough for headphones.

...

an old lady on the bus who was impressed by my railing against the usual idiots asked what organization i belong to. i told her i belong to an anti-israeli group. the poor woman was very confused.

[a friend of mine asked me to please not confuse "anti-israeli" with "anti-moron"; i told him that when a country excels at raising morons, it's hard to not equivocate.]

---
yesterday was one of those special days - i went into work to build a relatively complex service from scratch and it was up, running and tested five hours later. not fully tested, mind, but only theoretical tests could be done due to the timing of the requirement's addition. their problem, i'm out and i've documented everything.

i learned something disgusting about my employers, though. it appears that their "once-off bungle" is not so once off - it is their wont to pay all of their employees in cheques (that take days to clear), and i hear that it's so that they can earn the little bit more interest. adding that onto my only getting paid the end of the month after i bill, and we end up with a nasty little catch. it looks like the three (three!!!) billings that were supposed to be paid a week and a half ago won't be in my account until after my mortgage payments drop, so i'm going to have to (albeit temporarily) borrow cash to make up the excess.

that's unacceptable. and at a third of my rate, i'm not exactly costing them a bomb. we shall have words when i get back.

---
i picked up another ticket for the festival (for a friend of pg's) and sat with the girls (turns out i studied last year with the flatmate of the girl selling tickets) over coffee discussing politics. the conversation wavered between hope and hopelessness...

contrasted to the sunday route, last night's rollerblading seemed like walking. it was social, chilled, and more like a stroll in the park than real exercise.

---
we're leaving in about five minutes for four days of jumping up and down. i think i quite need this little holiday. in fact, i think i kind of deserve it.