tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73603472024-03-18T08:32:06.494+02:00fisher king's total waste of a journala story about a man making his dreams come true... but with all the interesting bits left out.Adam Fisher / fisher kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17689741133376692346noreply@blogger.comBlogger5756125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360347.post-82007337316769473382024-03-18T08:31:00.000+02:002024-03-18T08:31:35.112+02:00hospitalization<p> an hour or two being bounced between offices until we gave up and went to the clinic, where they took pity on a miserable-looking mr smear and sent us up to the nurse who gave us the referral.</p><p>we did the ER thing from about 11am until around 9pm, it took half the day to get the PCR results from thursday and for a professor of infectious diseases to come and take a look at him: the diagnoses did end up being herpes, and he hadn't been responding well to the meds we were giving him, so we took him through for another eye examination before he was hospitalized for a couple of days' infusion.</p><p>i was already very sore and tired by then. around noon i'd had to rush home and back for medication, in the evening i rushed home and back for a t-shirt and underwear for mr smear and to pick up dinner for all of us, which gd really didn't enjoy, and for most of the day we were either walking around or sitting on uncomfortable chairs.</p><p>once we got him settled, i went home to shower and brush my teeth and pick up a couple more things and returned to relieve gd and let her go home.</p><p><a href="https://twub.blogspot.com/2017/04/a-stay-in-hotel-hospital-suite.html">it's been seven years since our last hospitalization</a>, and it's much easier this time around. if it wasn't for a night full of alarms for IV occlusions waking me up during REM sleep it might've been the most comfortable night's sleep i've had in years.</p><p>i was a wreck after being woken up this morning, but i'm feeling okay now. and mr smear is happy because he's hooked into a bed with a screen that lets him watch youtube...</p><p>... gd just arrived, it's coffee and breakfast time.</p>Adam Fisher / fisher kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17689741133376692346noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360347.post-77360749887221377982024-03-17T09:04:00.004+02:002024-03-17T09:04:22.589+02:00continuation<p> how does a saturday spent playing video games, watching movies and reading comics end with us feeling more exhausted than when it began?</p><p>while a lot of the day was nice (reading <b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/American-Splendor-Our-Movie-Year-ebook/dp/B009HKTKGE/">american splendor: our movie year</a></b>, being mr smear's wingman in <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/2072840/Word_Factori/">word factori</a>, watching half of <b><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10540510/">inu-oh</a></b>, urchin's visit), it was constantly punctured by his suffering and it was capped off with him fighting with us about brushing his teeth.</p><p>*sigh*</p><p>gd and i managed to watch two more episodes of <b><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11202928/">unchained</a></b> before crashing, it's really, really good.</p><p>i'm the only one who got up "on time" this morning, i took out the trash and picked up some coffee and sat down to try and figure out how to get mr smear's PCR results, take care of a few little items, and watch some of <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1759049663917838659"><b>the war on children</b></a>. i've only managed to get through about twenty minutes of it, but so far it's all worrying stuff we're already aware of.</p><p>mr smear got up with an eye much more swollen, so we're now trying to get a referral to return the ER and it's proving really hard.</p><p style="text-align: center;">...</p><p>oh, and with everything else going on i just realized that neither of the recommended babysitters i reached out to responded to me, so between that and the eye situation we're going to have to cancel our tickets to watch my friend's documentary <b><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31021353/">the shoshani riddle</a></b> on tuesday :(</p>Adam Fisher / fisher kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17689741133376692346noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360347.post-14528055332333110012024-03-16T12:13:00.004+02:002024-03-16T12:13:50.035+02:00outbreak<p> thursday:</p><p>i don't remember if it was wednesday or thursday, but there were <i>hours</i> of work spent hunting down bugs that were introduced by copilot. copilot certainly helped me get the code written faster, but that's the first time i've had to deal with a real bug hunt for a mistake i would never have made had i written it all myself...</p><p>early in the afternoon, gd took mr smear to the clinic to get his eye checked out - he'd been suffering from an outbreak for a day or two, we initially thought it was just a scratch and by wednesday evening it was starting to look worrying. the doctor wasn't sure, but she thought it might be herpes and i immediately became anxious - i've been nervous about herpes keratitis <a href="https://twub.blogspot.com/2008/08/from-tragedy-to-success.html">since my officer's course teammate developed it</a>.</p><p>i sent off some photos for an online consultation with a dermatologist, and in retrospect it's pretty amazing how quickly one got back to me. by 4.30 i was on my way to meeting gd and mr smear at the hospital with a referral for the children's ER in hand.</p><p>it took about an hour before we got to see the triage nurse. after another hour in the waiting area with the kid with a scary cough who refused to wear his mask and a row of vending machines with exactly zero products appropriate for children, i approached the receptionist and asked how long the average wait was post-triage - one hour? two hours? she was immediately offended that i would ask such a vulgar question, and of course it would be less than an hour...</p><p>... mr smear's number finally got called another hour after that. the doctor examined him, and then sent us to an opthalmologist in a different building, where we waited again, but fortunately not for too long.</p><p>after the opthalmologist, we returned to the ER as instructed. after another half an hour of waiting, i approached the counter and asked if we'd been forgotten: "no, we're still waiting for the opthalmologist to enter the summary". holy shit, we could have waited until the next morning for that, and gd was starting to freak out because she wanted to get out of there in time to pick up whatever medication would be prescribed.</p><p>so they contacted the opthalmologist, who eventually did what he had to do, while i sat entertaining mr smear with random jokes from the internet and gd paced up and down. then we went around in circles between the doctors and nurses while they tried to figure out what to do about the four or five different possible diagnoses they'd come up with, and took a couple of samples.</p><p>it was just about 11pm when we finally left, all three of us completely exhausted.</p><p>yesterday:</p><p>we all needed to sleep in a little bit yesterday. mr smear woke up complaining that it was getting worse, and we were all in a shitty mood and totally over the day before it began. we (slowly) got moving and went to the clinic, where we were fortunate to find his paediatrician in her rooms. once we'd all figured out how we were proceeding, gd went to the pharmacy and mr smear and i went to get breakfast bagels.</p><p>i'd been talking to the guy at the counter for a minute when i turned around to find mr smear furiously rubbing his eye with the edge of his glasses, and while i want to say "it took everything i could not to freak out", the truth is i <i>absolutely</i> freaked out.</p><p>holy @#!$.</p><p>i rushed him off to gd, who thankfully had something to wipe his glasses and his face with, but it's been twenty four hours and i'm still not really over the horror.</p><p>i returned alone to apologize and pick up the bagels, then met up with them to eat breakfast. then pick up a treat for mr smear - the 14th <b>diary of a wimpy kid</b> book, the 13th wasn't available [though i just picked it up on kindle for him] - and then come home to try and get some rest.</p><p>by sundown i managed to put out the article i'd been fiddling with over the course of the week, so that was a relief.</p><p>today:</p><p>we're still trying to get some rest. we're just breathing into the day one moment at a time.</p><p>mr cat sent me the first draft of the dedication for the comics, and it's looking great, so today i'm going to try to get him the margin notes i promised i'd send "in a bit" yesterday :P</p>Adam Fisher / fisher kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17689741133376692346noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360347.post-29691114635279307332024-03-14T09:48:00.005+02:002024-03-16T11:19:41.796+02:00located<p> my mother did manage to find the song! i'm not just impressed by her getting her hands on the books, and relieved that one of the books was the right one, but i'm also proud of her for reading through both of them well enough to find what i was looking for ^_^</p><p>it's called "אני מחכה לאחי החייל" and i've no idea who wrote it, but i definitely got the first verse right. i also didn't expect it to hit me right in the feels, i tried reading it to gd this morning, but at some point just couldn't speak through the sobs.</p><p style="text-align: right;"><b>אני מחכה לאחי החייל</b></p><p></p><div style="text-align: right;">יש לי אח גדול,</div><div style="text-align: right;">בן עשרים אולי,</div><div style="text-align: right;">הוא יכול לעשות הכל,</div><div style="text-align: right;">וקוראים לו שי.</div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: right;">אחי שי הוא חייל,</div><div style="text-align: right;">הנה הוא פה בתמונה.</div><div style="text-align: right;">שי הוא חייל גיבור</div><div style="text-align: right;">ושומר על המדינה.</div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: right;">אם שי הולך למלחמה -</div><div style="text-align: right;">אמא נורא דואגת;</div><div style="text-align: right;">אבא שומע רדיו כל שעה</div><div style="text-align: right;">וכולם יושבים בשקט.</div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: right;">והנה בא מכתב</div><div style="text-align: right;">משי שלנו - הטוב;</div><div style="text-align: right;">"אני בריא וחזק</div><div style="text-align: right;">להתראות בקרוב-בקרוב".</div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: right;">אלוהים, לך אני מתפלל -</div><div style="text-align: right;">לגמור את המלחמה ודי.</div><div style="text-align: right;">תן שלום לישראל.</div><div style="text-align: right;">שיבוא מהר הבייתה שי.</div><p></p><p style="text-align: center;">...</p><p>tuesday:</p><p>i'm struggling to recall tuesday. i vaguely remember that there were at least a couple of points of interest, but i'm at a loss right now.</p><p>one thing i do remember, though, is that at bathtime i explained to mr smear how our ears downsample and we only hear about a third of what's said to us, and that we complete what we hear with context and expectations. with the implication being that we literally can't hear what other people are saying when we're upset.</p><p>yesterday:</p><p>yesterday started off scary: i woke up fine at 5am to go to the toilet, but on my way back to bed my back began to spasm. with some help from gd i miraculously managed to stave off the full spasm and by the time i got to the office i was more or less okay. i'm still nervous about it, though.</p><p>also, it looks like i might well have psoriasis.</p><p>it was a busy morning. gd and mr smear were both upset because gd, tired and in pain, spends forty five minutes every morning preparing breakfast and lunch and mr smear doesn't want to eat what she puts in front of him. the conversation that we'd had the night before came in handy: i asked mr smear if he could make himself calm enough to hear what we were saying, and he said "no". so i stopped trying, and on the way to school we managed to talk everything out.</p><p>this morning went much better.</p><p>i spoke to my mom, who informed me that uncle hate has shuffled off his mortal coil and that she was asked not to fly to montreal right now, which i guess is a bit of a relief. i sent my aunt and her kids condolences, glad that gd's supportive of me playing nice in spite of how they treated us.</p><p>i managed to get an authorization sorted out at the clinic, then picked up my favorite onion bagel, then went through to one of the clinics at the hospital to find out if and when gd had an appointment, and went on a side-quest to explain to management that their signage is insufficient. they were shocked, disbelieving, and i'm not 100% convinced they're going to do anything about it.</p><p>the work day went well, it was long but had some good moments.</p><p>the south african foreign ministry appears to be serious in threatening south africans who've served in the idf. assholes.</p><p>in the evening i watched another episode of <b>unchained </b>with gd, then tried to write an article i'm been stewing over for days, then crashing.</p><p>today:</p><p>mr smear was good today, breakfast went well. gd's on a mission to gather her thoughts about our cape town community, i'm going to help her put out an article (on whatever medium) in her own voice because she's really upset about how woke jews around the world are behaving when they have no clue what's going on over here.</p>Adam Fisher / fisher kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17689741133376692346noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360347.post-20916467915491278212024-03-12T09:25:00.001+02:002024-03-12T09:25:37.182+02:00a better day<p> the bug from the sunday continued to drive me crazy until the early afternoon, when my boss told me to just do what the AWS representative advised. i didn't think it was the right thing to do, and i expressed my opinions, but i began implementing it as instructed.</p><p>just one last test.</p><p>fortunately, my tests were pretty solid and i finally had some real data to work with - and i discovered that the "fix" suggested by the professional would have opened a massive security hole! while i struggled to wrap my head around what was actually happening, i managed to find a solution that appears to be not only viable, but correct, and i'm now waiting to see the proof in the <strike>pudding</strike>production environment.</p><p>i was more shocked by how backwards the AWS implementation is than relieved that i've found a solution...</p><p style="text-align: center;">...</p><p>on sunday night, i scratched my head a bit, and a bit of my head came off. last night a dermatologist called me back and advised that i go see someone in person. gd (and dr google) think i may have developed psoriasis. i hope it's not psoriasis :(</p><p>mr smear had a much better day yesterday. the day started off awkwardly because we were both invited to talk with the school councillor; mr smear was in trouble for skipping classes on sunday (when we were having a tough morning), and i was in trouble for not warning his teacher that he was having a tough morning. gd managed to get him to his hebrew tutor and through his homework.</p><p>so: winning.</p><p>on sunday morning, i managed to install the ceiling attachment points for the shower curtain rail, but i accidentally pushed one of the screws through the ceiling and needed to wait 24 hours for the "putty" i used to fix it to dry. yesterday, when it was ready, i finally set about putting up the curtain rail... only to discover that in the month or two since i bought the damned thing and haven't been able to put it up, some of the parts went missing.</p><p>#$@!.</p><p>so now we have to wait for a handyman to swing by and see if he can help us out.</p><p>gd's really having a hard time psychologically, primarily with the war and the international response to it, on top of her daily struggle with pain which seems to have gotten worse since she's been coughing so much in the weeks we've been dealing with covid.</p><p>my mom managed to track down a couple of copies of the hebrew workbooks we had when i was a kid! it's been so long that apparently on one or two teachers even remembered the name (מדרגות or <i>madregot</i>), and i'm hoping that the song i still have stuck in my head is in one of them.</p><p></p><div style="text-align: right;">יש לי אח גדול</div><div style="text-align: right;">בן עשרים אולי</div><div style="text-align: right;">הוא יכול לעשות הכל</div><div style="text-align: right;">וקוראים לו שי</div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: right;">שי חייל והוא גיבור</div><div style="text-align: right;">אמא נורא דואגת</div><p></p><p style="text-align: left;">right, it's time to get moving.</p>Adam Fisher / fisher kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17689741133376692346noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360347.post-67615985215938961062024-03-10T23:55:00.006+02:002024-03-10T23:55:58.163+02:00not really<p> i didn't sleep well. again. i'm tired. apparently i need to learn to sleep on my back.</p><p>and then mr smear woke up inexplicably in fight mode. things got bad, and he crossed a few red lines. so we all had a shitty start to our day.</p><p>in the evening, i came home to find him still in fight mode, but less, and over dinner i think i managed to get through to him a little. the rest of the evening was mostly positive. he was very excited to be introduced to the idea of eating with chopsticks.</p><p>the morning's work was a bit stressful, but with a bit of help i got the job done. then three of us went off to the schnitzel place, where to accompany my usual falafel and chips i picked up a bottle of vinegar. i regret nothing.</p><p>in the afternoon i started working on a bizarre bug that seems impossible to reproduce and that doesn't make any sense. i left the office a bit late, irritated by the potential problem and hoping that somehow i'll wake up with some kind of direction...</p>Adam Fisher / fisher kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17689741133376692346noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360347.post-23902697136793298242024-03-10T00:54:00.007+02:002024-03-10T00:54:57.420+02:00quiet<p> it was a peaceful <i>shabbat</i>. after so many hours invested in <b>bloons adventure time</b>, i decided to pick up the three characters that unlock all the levels and i regret nothing. while mr smear playing <b>human fall flat</b>, gd and i started watching <b><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11202928/">unchained</a></b> last night, and we watched another episode today, and it's really good so far.</p><p>my favorite parts of the day were</p><p>1. getting sandwiches at our local vegan cafe with mr smear reading a book at a different table while we just enjoyed being there and doing nothing</p><p>2. mr smear and me putting together the free warhammer figure that he received yesterday</p><p>3. getting the original dedication pages to the illustrator and putting out the latest pages, only a month and a half after receiving them</p><p>4. mr smear and me playing <b>rain world</b>, first taking turns and then vs in the arena mode</p><p>i've spent most of the last few hours watching random youtube videos, overall not the greatest use of my time. now i'm regretting starting a macos update on my work computer because it's taking much longer to get to some kind of checkpoint than i was expecting...</p><p style="text-align: center;">...</p><p>my back's been hurting me a lot the past few days. i hope i manage to sleep better tonight.</p>Adam Fisher / fisher kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17689741133376692346noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360347.post-28249124344489705652024-03-08T20:26:00.001+02:002024-03-08T20:26:15.712+02:00define success?<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL7U21W-2VA"> today's tom nash report</a> is both encouraging and discouraging. it seems militarily sound, but what about the hostages? we leave them there for another month? that's just insane. though no less insane that any of the events that have brought us to this point.</p><p>i'm very glad i'm not in a position where i need to make these kinds of decisions.</p><p style="text-align: center;">...</p><p>as evidence by my last post, i didn't sleep very well last night. getting up this morning was hard. i'm grateful that mr smear eventually got himself sorted out because i had zero energy available to deal with the usual morning stuff.</p><p>gd and i began the day watching <b><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0782867/">the secrets</a></b>, which i just realized i've seen <i>twice</i> before. i recalled the scene that i'd been uncomfortable seeing <a href="https://twub.blogspot.com/2007/08/late-night-posting.html">while sitting in a movie theatre with my mother</a> (not as bad as i remembered), and i recalled the ending, but everything else was like a nice surprise seeing old friends :)</p><p>during a break (one of the main reasons i like seeing movies at home... i know, imma gettin' old and cranky) i managed to bend the shower curtain rails and it looks like i did a good job. i'd planned on putting them up, too, but i was too tired by the time we eventually got back from our errands so i'll try again on sunday.</p><p>we picked up mr smear, dropped his school bag off at home, then jumped on a bus to dizengoff center. we got most of the new lens prescription story taken care of (we just have to go back early next week), we managed to pick up an inoffensive <i>purim</i> costume he's excited about (a non-threatening knight's helm and a sword and shield), i got some cool anime stickers for my work computer, and we had a really good lunch from our favorite vegan food stall.</p><p>i napped on contact with our couch, then later got mr smear through a page of hebrew reading, spent a good chunk of the afternoon / evening doing not much (doomscrolling, watching random things on youtube, and purchasing a volume of <b><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/American-Splendor-Our-Movie-Year-ebook/dp/B009HKTKGE/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2GVJDMKGSIIOQ&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.aJqoik856H0POSXVuQI5-Iuvlt4nt8P7sc18QphSVO7GjHj071QN20LucGBJIEps.o4hI44Sl7S3qZJRz5WnfHP2RaEQ02g03mLgyi9S64XM&dib_tag=se&keywords=harvey+pekar+american+splendor&qid=1709922204&s=digital-text&sprefix=%2Cdigital-text%2C229&sr=1-1">american splendor</a></b>), and now i've done all the dishes and posted this and we're about to say <i>kiddush</i>.</p>Adam Fisher / fisher kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17689741133376692346noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360347.post-6880368050309857772024-03-08T02:51:00.004+02:002024-03-08T02:51:52.843+02:00thursday<p> the day started pretty well. on the way to dropping mr smear off at school i recounted a story about a bunch of my officer's course platoon laughing in the bathroom, and i'm praying that i wrote down what initially triggered that laughter and that i'm able to find it. [<i>was it <a href="https://twub.blogspot.com/2008/09/post-zionist-post-nav.html">this</a>? that can't have been it, surely?</i>]</p><p>the work day was very relaxed, my boss and coworker returned from their trip and had lots of stories to share. my yemenite coworker unwittingly putting loads of carolina reaper hot sauce on his food right after i started calming down from my own intense experience with it.</p><p>a video chat with our community rep and gd, and offering to meet with the rest of the leadership and the offending parties. just offering set off my anxiety, and i'm now writing this after getting up in the middle of the night - an hour or more ago - and tossing and turning while imagining addressing them.</p><p>the CEO forgetting me when ordering sweets for our "happy hour" and feeling really bad about it.</p><p>my nostrils hurting - both of them - because i can't clean them properly while working on repairing the tear. my stomach doing a number on me all day.</p><p>dropping my gear off at home after work and walking to mr smear's best friend's for a sushi night, which was both social and delicious. eventually getting home with a very full belly and getting mr smear into bed around 10.30pm...</p>Adam Fisher / fisher kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17689741133376692346noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360347.post-18922804274958016812024-03-06T23:47:00.002+02:002024-03-06T23:47:26.361+02:00upgrade<p> <b>the looney tunes show</b> episode 25, <b>muh-muh-muh-murder</b>, is literally jaw-droppingly shocking. and not even slightly funny. holy fuck, i was horrified, and not in the least because everything about it was completely inappropriate for an eight year old.</p><p>wtaf.</p><p>mr smear and i both simultaneously agreed that we're done with that series.</p><p>...</p><p>yesterday:</p><p>another work from home day, gd was (and still is) feeling terrible and needed me to handle some things. also, i started off the day (again) at the clinic, this time to see a doctor about the tear inside my nostril. the doctor wasn't particularly phased about it, though, and i've been using a cream which seems to be helping.</p><p>gd finished watching <b><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0352994/">walk on water</a></b>, and although i wasn't really paying attention i did see the ending; i totally didn't expect it to trigger a catch in my throat.</p><p>the work day wasn't hard, but it was a struggle nonetheless as i really didn't know what i was doing, nor supposed to be doing. having said that, i did learn quite a bit and established a good starting point for today's labor.</p><p>today:</p><p>another difficult night. they've been difficult for a long time.</p><p>today i returned to the office for the first time in two weeks. we got to put the protocol i established to the test, and so far it's looking pretty solid. i got really good support from my coworkers in that and the confusing task from yesterday, and i'm pretty sure i've plugged an important potential security hole.</p><p>my nose is still hurting, but less.</p><p>we have new office chairs! and they're good chairs. even though i've been at home for two weeks, sitting down on my new chair was a physical relief.</p><p>it was a pretty good day, but i (we) got hit with a shitty feeling just before dinner when i checked my messages and learned that our community in cape town is under attack from within, jews who are very angry with the leadership for not taking an anti-israel stance.</p><p>i can't not think of the jews during the holocaust who voluntarily collaborated with the nazis.</p><p>...</p><p>mr smear and i have been having some really good conversations the past couple of days. however things play out, i'm a lot more optimistic about how he's coping.</p>Adam Fisher / fisher kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17689741133376692346noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360347.post-58745653041900536962024-03-04T22:10:00.005+02:002024-03-05T07:23:26.947+02:00dethpicable / the hole<p>yesterday:</p><p>morning compassion for gd after hearing a comparison between daffy duck and her brother, then an afternoon go-fuck-yourself over homework, leaving us with a pretty deep sense of betrayal. the evening was kind of okay, though.</p><p>gd finishing <b><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0374053/">mivtza savta</a></b>, i'm very glad she enjoyed it!</p><p>a long workday being walked through a complicated process and formalizing a protocol to upgrade a blockchain node, seemingly successful.</p><p>a fun game night with vfmp, we discovered <a href="https://www.yucata.de/en/GameInfo/SudokuMoyo">sudoku moyo on yucata</a> while trying to install <b>magic the gathering arena</b> (i didn't know it was on mobile!)</p><p>today:</p><p>gd's alarm pulling me out of a nightmare in which i'd rescued some girl from a couple of guys who'd used some kind of drug that had made them zombie-like, and they chased me up a flight of stairs. when the alarm went off i'd just realized that my attempts to kick them down the stairs were utterly futile and i woke up with a deep sense of despair.</p><p>this morning we authorized mr smear's evaluation for attention issues.</p><p>this morning i gave our landlady a stern talking to when i realized she'd managed to misinterpret the plumber's very specific and clear explanation of the work he did last week and the need to do the bigger work. smh</p><p>it was a good morning until i discovered that the upgrade yesterday had broken something in monitoring, and it was really hard figuring out what because i've been spoiled by good observability tools from my previous employer.</p><p>gd watched <b><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3576084/">zero motivation</a></b> this morning, and i'm very pleased to report that she enjoyed that too :)</p><p>gd's still really struggling to breathe, and so i picked up mr smear, had a good chat with him, dropped him off at his tutor and went to the coffee shop to work over a cup of coffee for half an hour.</p><p>the only coughing fit i had today was at the coffee shop, surrounded by other people.</p><p>i picked mr smear up - he received good praise from his tutor - rushed him home, and eventually managed to figure out what the problem was. overall, it was a successful day, and mr smear was happy to do his math (prodigy) homework after learning that he didn't have to do additional hebrew after his lesson :P</p><p>discovering the hole in my nostril wall before bathtime. like, a proper hole. i need to go to the clinic tomorrow :(</p><p>gd upset about me "over-sharing". even if i disagree with her i get where she's coming from.</p><p>mr smear's in bed, and i've written this, and we're about to settle in and start watching <b><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0352994/">walk on water</a></b>.</p>Adam Fisher / fisher kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17689741133376692346noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360347.post-85624445215002053552024-03-02T20:24:00.005+02:002024-03-02T20:24:45.537+02:00clearer<p> a bit clearer, at least, but still suffering coughing fits and frequently blocked sinuses.</p><p>this morning had some rough edges, but it was okay, and we discovered <b>professor kliq</b> (there are two accounts <a href="https://music.youtube.com/channel/UCBZB07PhLlWaQH94SKJ7mLw?si=c9Ad2PR5HNOVcqtJ">[1]</a> and <a href="https://music.youtube.com/channel/UCtTlJdfTciJGzAouSJ35b_w">[2]</a>).</p><p>around noon we took the bike and my blades and rode to the pump track, meeting cm and his kids there (i kept my distance). it was a loooong slog to get there, as mr smear was struggling more than usual, and about halfway back i realized that mr smear's bike was stuck in a high gear. brought it down from sixth to third, absolute gamechanger, but he was already exhausted.</p><p>we both enjoyed a really nice rest stop, sitting on the grass at park hayarkon listening to a busker playing along to relaxing songs.</p><p>we stopped off for ice lollies on the way home, then jumped in the bath when we arrived, then chilled for a while, then wrestled a bit of a dent in one of the couch cushions, then investigated dnd character creation, and then watched the <b>the float</b> episode of <b>the looney tunes show</b>.</p><p>holy crap, that was an <i>amazing</i> episode! mr smear was so cut up about daffy duck being so utterly repulsive and detestibly mean to porky pig, that it served as a perfect platform to tie in with all the lessons we've been trying to teach him over the course of the past week. that being good parents is making sure that he doesn't end up a daffy duck, and that we'll know we're doing well if he's got a good heart, and is capable of following his dreams and dealing with whatever life throws at him.</p><p>it was truly a huge relief being able to have a calm, comforting conversation like that. now for the bedtime battle.</p>Adam Fisher / fisher kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17689741133376692346noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360347.post-13246162621523550872024-03-01T18:39:00.004+02:002024-03-01T18:39:48.661+02:00off<p> i took yesterday off. i wasn't planning on it, but i needed it. i'm still not used to taking sick days, even if i now officially have covid. having said that, gd and i <i>both </i>did RATs yesterday and hers came out negative.</p><p>*shrug*</p><p>yesterday:</p><p>the wake up was not good. mr smear messed around until i carried him out his room, then insisted on claiming that he didn't know how he got from his bed to the corridor, and neither of us believed him. maybe he was telling the truth. either way, not a good vibe to start the day.</p><p>at some point on wednesday one of our main water pipes developed a tiny hole, and we began our day with unexplained flooding around the washing machine. we assumed it was the washing machine, and resolved to take care of it as soon as we returned from dropping off mr smear and taking care of some stuff at the clinic. on the way out of the building there was a distinctly unpleasant smell in the stairwell.</p><p>about an hour later, as we arrived at the entrance to our building, we noticed the source of the bad smell - our building's sewerage tank had clogged up and was leaking. i then wondered if the cause of our flooding wasn't the washing machine per se, but rather that the pipes were backed up all the way down.</p><p>then gd opened the (literal) water closet for the first time since we moved in, and we found ourselves looking into an absolutely revolting portrait of landlords' neglect. panicking, i tried to put insulation tape over the hole using chopsticks so as not to scratch myself on the mildewed rust, but the pipe was completely inaccessible.</p><p>it would take another three hours for the plumber to arrive, and the hunt to figure out how to turn the water off at the mains was more complicated than it should have been.</p><p>i interpreted each and every syllable out of the plumber's mouth from the moment he set eyes on the closet as "ka-ching!". he needed an assistant to patch the hole for the weekend, and he was nervous about it. we were (and are) exceedingly grateful that he'd arrived in time for us not to be stuck without water for a whole weekend.</p><p>i was feeling much better physically than i had in a week, but i was still struggling very much with the runny nose and coughing.</p><p>as the plumber left, i rushed out to pick mr smear up from school. i happened to see our neighbors - the ones with the neurotic dogs who left our building a couple of months ago - wheeling a stroller ahead, and i didn't want to get close but was happy to be able to send them our congratulations :)</p><p>mr smear came running to me when i arrived, and unfortunately our joyful reunion was marred by the fact that his teeth accidentally met my shoulder and it really hurt him. otherwise, we had a pleasant walk home.</p><p>the afternoon, just like every afternoon this week, involved long, drawn-out discussions and arguments about mr smear's homework. once he gets himself over the "i don't wanna", he does just fine, but getting him over the "i don't wanna" is <i>really</i> hard.</p><p>today:</p><p>woke up still not good in the nose and throat and chest departments. mr smear's wakeup went much better. after dropping him off at school, i came back for gd and we headed to the clinic to see if there was a nurse on duty who could help her out - we were worried she'd developed bronchitis again.</p><p>the clinic took a long time, but it looks like gd's (relatively) okay and we hopped over to the pharmacy to pick up meds. that took a long time too.</p><p>we picked up a breakfast bagel and a sandwich along the way, then came home and settled in to watch some of <b><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0374053/">mivtza savta</a></b>, which i'm very glad that gd is enjoying so far. then we went to pick up mr smear, and came home for a very relaxed day. at least until homework time, where we repeated the now-daily dance, but there wasn't a lot to do and he eventually did it well.</p><p>the sun has set, and i'm about to do the dishes. i really hope that i'll be clearer tomorrow.</p><p style="text-align: center;">...</p><p>today i completed all the free-to-play levels in <b>bloons adventure time</b>. i took the opportunity to sync my phone with my copy on steam, and ended up writing a review. that led to me looking up how many hours i've played, and it turns out that after an entire month averaging 2.5 hours a day, i'm on about 75 hours. and this is my second time playing, because i got pretty far in 2018/2019 when i first discovered the game.</p><p>huh.</p>Adam Fisher / fisher kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17689741133376692346noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360347.post-41953505670915600472024-02-29T01:53:00.006+02:002024-02-29T01:53:53.244+02:00worse, or better?<p> omg, i feel awful, but slightly less awful than when i passed out a few hours ago. and slightly less awful than the first half hour / hour after i woke up again. my sinuses, my nose, my throat and my chest are really messed up.</p><p>it's probably covid. i should go get a RAT tomorrow.</p><p>getting mr smear up and at 'em this morning was work, but slightly less than for school. gd and i continued our "homework" listening to <b><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/13225387">wired for love</a></b>, and she had a revelation similar to mine regarding its application to one's relationship with one's children. honestly, if ever there was going to be an official guide to parenting, i'd recommend this book being the one.</p><p>we all went to the hospital for mr smear's allergy test this morning, but i soon sent gd home because she was coughing incessently and uncontrollably. i was snotty, but not coughing, except for two occasions: the first coughing fit was exactly as the skin prick test started, and the second was while waiting in line for food.</p><p>so that was embarrassing.</p><p>we were there for almost three hours, and we were bored out of our minds. well over an hour waiting for our 9.40 appointment that we'd arrived on time for, the a five minute chat with the allergist, then a wait for the test, then the test itself plus fifteen minutes plus review, and then at least another hour waiting for one mom to finis her conversation with the doctor so we could get our two minute send-off.</p><p>and - and i cannot stress this enough - i was feeling like absolute dogshit.</p><p>on the way out mr smear decides he wants a <i>laffa</i>, so we head into the food court. as we're walking in, a mother is wheeling her clearly very sick kid out in a wheelchair, mr smear looks at him and gags loudly in an exaggerated way and at the top of his lungs goes "that kid! that kid!". i wanted to die. i rushed him inside to explain that that was really cruel, but it's still blowing my mind that i needed to explain that 🤯</p><p>i tried to go to the clinic on the way home to get authorization for - oh, yeah! so from the results it looks like mr smear might not be allergic to dairy any more! or dogs, or cats. having said that, gd made a good point that <a href="https://twub.blogspot.com/2023/06/drama-llama.html">it was less than a year ago when he last had a reaction</a>. i think i may have forgotten to mention that to the allergist...</p><p>... shit.</p><p>anyway, we tried to go to the clinic but the queue was ridiculous, and i was falling apart.</p><p>finally, we arrived home, and i declared that i was going to lie down for a bit, before taking mr smear to his therapy session. we had yet another argument about him doing his homework and chores, but it included a very constructive moment of us talking about and forgiving each other for the saturday/sunday blowouts and our responses to them.</p><p>things were fine when we left the apartment, but something triggered him into being angry again and i'm still not sure how things calmed down by the time we got on the bus.</p><p>i dropped him off, feeling a complete mess, then sat outside with a decaf coffee and updated my mom / listened to <a href="https://medium.com/counterarts/dune-by-frank-herbert-and-seven-pillars-of-wisdom-by-t-e-lawrence-a39d91b3415f">an interesting article about <b>dune</b> and <b>seven pillars of wisdom</b></a>.</p><p>i picked up mr smear, who'd drawn an intriguing picture of slenderman that looked like it might well be a portrayal of me during the tantrums.</p><p>we returned home, where what *should* have happened was me continuing to feel like shit while mr smear took care of his homework.</p><p>ha, ha, ha.</p><p>it was another difficult evening, though we did (thanks to gd's input, though she doesn't remember doing anything) finally manage to get through some things. and then it was dinner time, bath time, bed time, and i have to say that as the days go by i'm becoming more and more convinced that he <i>does</i> have some kind of attention issue, or perhaps is on the spectrum as a really high-functioning autistic.</p><p style="text-align: center;">...</p><p>the nose / chest thing is coming in waves. i'm so fucking tired.</p>Adam Fisher / fisher kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17689741133376692346noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360347.post-36633384422474046342024-02-27T23:34:00.004+02:002024-02-27T23:34:46.517+02:00bbq bailing<p> last night was rough. today was rough. gd and i were both suffering from much worse coughs than we had been before, it's now been about two weeks of feeling sick and almost a week of that with a sore throat and speedrunning through the facial tissues.</p><p>it really sucked bailing on ze germans' barbeque, we were all looking forward to it :(</p><p>we did go vote today, though. i'm praying that we made the right choice, because it's really impossible to tell. and it's very hard to not be nervous about all the religious groups trying to wrest control of our city by any and every means.</p><p>managing mr smear was a full-time job today, although i guess that's not entirely true because i did manage to complete and publish the article i was working on. as the days go by, i'm becoming more and more convinced that he's... neurodivergent, i believe the kids call it these days.</p><p>i don't know how i managed to get him through a homework exercise that he clearly didn't want to do. nor how i managed to figure out the reason why he was confidently arguing with me about how many hours there are in a day and find a way to explain day vs daylight hours to him.</p><p>good grief.</p><p>i've been managing my <b>bloons adventure time</b> addiction better. and my emotions, too. i'm still feeling pretty dysfunctional, though, i've been having a really hard time doing All The Things that need to get done. and tomorrow's mr smear's bi-annual (twice-yearly) allergy update appointment...</p>Adam Fisher / fisher kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17689741133376692346noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360347.post-65087369859336968242024-02-26T23:53:00.005+02:002024-02-26T23:53:59.148+02:00the balancing act<p>things got worse before they got better. but who knows what tomorrow may bring?</p><p>yesterday:</p><p>the day began alright, although i was still sick and i'm still sick now. i'm praying i'll be feeling better / less icky by tomorrow because i really want to take my family to the election day barbeque with <i>ze germans</i>. i dropped mr smear off at school, and i managed to get some work done before picking him up from school.</p><p>i wasn't able to cancel gd's allergy test by phone - we didn't just have a problem with authorization, and we didn't just have a problem with her being unexpectedly sick, but we also had a problem with her forgetting not to take antihistamines for the week before the test - so i dragged mr smear along to the hospital to do it in person. the receptionist admitted that when she's alone she never answers the phones. it got a bit awkward. but not as awkward as a couple of hours later when she called me back from the morning and figured out who she was talking to.</p><p>mr smear was really hungry - it didn't occur to me to check his bag and see that he hadn't eaten his lunch - and we went past our favorite bakery where they made him up an excellent bagel, i grabbed a ciabatta and the two of us sat on a bench in the sun, enjoying them and a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/reel/3549485225315570">conversation about mindfulness</a>.</p><p>for a couple of hours things were going alright, and then it was time for homework. i warned him beforehand, to give him time to prepare, but things immediately started going awry and then suddenly we found ourselves back in tantrum town.</p><p>it got really, really bad.</p><p>again.</p><p>i called the therapist, who was able to call back very quickly and we talked while there was an ongoing situation, with gd and i taking turns to go check in on him. it was madness, and i admit there were steps i took that i keenly regret.</p><p>"we should try not to pathologize his behavior" was unfortunately said <i>after</i> i'd made the observation that his behavior was demonic.</p><p>the therapist tried to assure as that his behavior wasn't extraordinary enough to warrant panicking, and suggested some possible mitigation steps, but i'm pretty sure an eight year-old throwing a full-on tantrum isn't normal, and those mitigation steps seemed mighty similar to what i'd been doing in the first place when all the shit started.</p><p>eventually things calmed down, and the remainder of the evening was... bearable. we put him to bed as usual, but when i wished him a good night it was with a heavy, heavy heart.</p><p>today:</p><p>today started off well again, although i was still sick and i suspect it might be getting worse. i know gd's was definitely worse today, and she was in a particularly bad way yesterday and saturday. i hope she doesn't have bronchitis again. hell, i hope i don't get it. i'm becoming pretty confident that this is covid.</p><p>no, we're not testing, because the protocols once you're tested are completely ridiculous.</p><p>anyway, the morning was mostly good even though mr smear was a bit upset when i dropped him off at school - he doesn't like how the world works, he just wants a dog - and i had a pretty productive workday until picking him up early from school to take him for an introductory session with a recommended hebrew teacher.</p><p>the plan was to pick him up fifteen minutes prior to the session, which took place about a five minute walk from the school. that <i>seemed</i> like a great plan, at least, until he took more than ten minutes to get to the gate.</p><p>*sigh*</p><p>we rushed across to the teacher, and then i went and picked up a coffee (good coffee, uncomfortable toilet and i needed to pee). i sat thinking about mindfulness and <a href="https://youtu.be/osVib1ddXwM?si=7np5Y0xBBLUSetXw&t=88">yanis varoufakis on neo-feudalism</a> until the smoking outside started bothering me, then called my mom for a quick chat on my way to pick him up.</p><p>he seemed to have had a reasonably good time (she has a dog, that definitely helped), we came home, and things were calm until homework time.</p><p><i>DUN DUN DUNNNNNNN...</i></p><p>i tried to do things a bit differently than yesterday. there were some touch-and-go moments. i invested heavily in something that i've obviously been developing unwittingly: manipulation. and heavy compromise. and more manipulation. whatever it was that worked, the two of us managed to get through a bunch of questions, one of which he initially flat-out <i>refused</i> to answer, and i got him onto <a href="https://www.prodigygame.com/">the prodigy math game</a> for a lot longer than i told him he had to without any actual fighting whatsoever.</p><p>gd's impressed, i'm still in disbelief.</p><p>good dinner, good bathtime, good bedtime (we're reading <b>harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban</b>). post-bedtime has been a struggling with the runny nose and the coughing, but i've put together a good chunk of a first article on the tech i've been playing with and gotten this out, while listening to our neighbors struggling to deal with their little kid (it's almost midnight, holy shit) and pondering whether my own child has attention issues / some mild form of autism.</p><p>what a weird fucking week so far.</p><p>and tomorrow's municipal election day. i know who i'm voting for (the incumbent), but i'm not sure about the party (why are their parties involved?) and i'm worried that with our booked car and supply of vegan meat alternatives we might end up bailing due to illness :(</p>Adam Fisher / fisher kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17689741133376692346noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360347.post-89892511377714854582024-02-24T23:20:00.003+02:002024-02-24T23:20:32.407+02:00further down<p> today was hard. firstly, i woke up with a sore throat, and while it was kind of alright for most of the day i'm already feeling like tomorrow morning's going to be more of the same. i wasn't feeling good, but gd was a mess.</p><p>secondly, mr smear threw the mother of all tantrums this morning because we didn't agree to him using the ipad while eating breakfast... and for context, he'd literally spent the entire morning up until that point (it may have been early afternoon already, i just don't remember) playing with LLMs and watching <b>adventure time</b> with us.</p><p>i'm relieved but surprised that the neighbors didn't call the police on us. holy shit. he lost his goddamned mind and it took a loooooong time and extreme levels of patience and tolerance before he calmed down.</p><p>he said some really awful things. like, really awful. at one point i found myself standing outside his door, [redacted].</p><p>today was hard. on the one hand, i feel like i've failed him in a big way. on the other, i feel like i pulled out some mighty fine parenting in spite of that.</p><p>once through that, the rest of the day was okay. i took him out on his bike and he had fun, the afternoon / evening was peaceful, bathtime / bedtime were both positive.</p><p>i don't know how i managed to stay even remotely "online" for an hour long chat with horseman, and i'm now in this weird space where i know i have a ton of things that need doing but not so much as an ounce of motivation to do anything, and i'm tired but wired and i don't feel like going to bed, and i don't feel like watching anything either (i did some doom-scrolling earlier, it definitely didn't contribute anything positive).</p><p>fuck.</p>Adam Fisher / fisher kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17689741133376692346noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360347.post-50286759647047414352024-02-23T22:10:00.000+02:002024-02-23T22:10:02.213+02:00down<p>i don't feel so good. i'm starting the think that i've been sick for more than a week, and that i've got whatever mr smear's been having. possibly gd too. and what we think he's been having might be covid... but according to the doctor it might also be streptococcus.</p><p>joy,</p><p>also, my nose hurts :/</p><p>yesterday:</p><p>a long day at work, and it started with an emotional rollercoaster of a phone call from mr smear's therapist. i was occasionally functional over the course of the rest of the day.</p><p>today:</p><p>a slow start to a day of rest. i did some filing, we activated gd's new bank card, and we sat down at our local vegan coffee shop for sandwiches and a pleasant chat with a swiss <i>oleh</i>. once we got home, the rest of the day was spent with mr smear on chatgpt (including a period of enforced hebrew which ultimately yielded positive results), i watched the rest of <b><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087544/">nausicaä of the valley of the wind</a></b>, which is hard to watch but beautifully made, and i played quite a lot of <b>bloons adventure time</b>.</p><p>oh! and i was very frustrated for most of yesterday waiting for <b><a href="https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/super-meat-boy-forever">super meat boy forever</a></b> to be free as promised, but eventually they dropped the price and i had a fun time getting through a couple of nasty levels this morning. and i played a bit of <b><a href="https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/love-65c4d0">love</a></b> at some point, too. good stuff.</p>Adam Fisher / fisher kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17689741133376692346noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360347.post-85306400959753514362024-02-22T08:26:00.006+02:002024-02-22T08:29:05.851+02:00the chop<p>tuesday:</p><p>another infuriating waste of time at the clinic on the way to work, improved somewhat by a breakfast bagel.</p><p>i got my hair cut on tuesday, gd was so upset she refused to let me leave yesterday morning without fixing it :P</p><p>but it was overall a pleasant experience.</p><p>yesterday:</p><p>i began my day with a mindblowing conversation: the end of the 90 day window for me purchasing my options from my previous employer is fast approaching. i messaged my previous boss - the one who was laid off during our second round - to see if he's purchased his yet. he purchased some of them, giving an interesting reason of FOMO, and i asked if he feels that their 2024 is off to a good start.</p><p>he proceeded to inform me that my boss (originally my team lead) and the company's star researcher both left right after me.</p><p>HOLY SHIT.</p><p>so the first takeaway is that i'm not going to purchase my options, and i'm going to feel confident that they're not going to do anything amazing. the second takeaway is that i left just in time. the third, that that's the second time in a row that i've left a team and it's immediately fallen apart. i know it's not causational, but it feels... weighty.</p><p style="text-align: center;">...</p><p>on the way to work, i managed to clear one of the two authorization hurdles at the clinic. then i had another breakfast bagel.</p><p>i had to skip lunch with the team because i was in an awful meeting with the school about mr smear, but apparently the lunch trip didn't go very well either. mr smear's struggling, in particular with hebrew language, which is taught by the decidedly incompetent teacher he despises.</p><p>it's really not fair. our alternatives are to either try to switch schools - that doesn't seem like a smart move right now - or get him up to speed in spite of them. and that means a tutor, which is more money we don't have, and less chance of getting gd into sewing classes which she's been begging for for ages.</p><p>aside from all that joy, mr smear and i had a good conversation which was followed by an absolute meltdown last night. in retrospect, i could easily have avoided it, but once it was on it was on. thank fuck this morning started off on a better note.</p><p style="text-align: center;">...</p><p>nystire sent me an update yesterday, after NINE LONG YEARS his wife / mother of his two israeli children finally got cleared for permanent residence! we're so pleased and relieved for them, it's nothing short of miraculous.</p>Adam Fisher / fisher kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17689741133376692346noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360347.post-62208475962540033962024-02-19T22:58:00.001+02:002024-02-19T22:58:20.884+02:00aches<p> i'm still excited about finally publishing the article this morning! i'm also still very sore - or should i say i'm very sore again - from yesterday's pilates class.</p><p>mr smear was far too sick for school today, poor kid spent most of the day in bed :(</p><p>the workday was a bit of a bummer, i consulted with our devops specialist and ended up dragging him into a rabbithole that he ended up stuck in while i got moved to something else. falafel for lunch at tamir was pretty good. the workday ended with a bit of success on both ends, but i was suddenly so sore and hyper-aware of all of my individual muscles that it became a race to get home as soon as possible.</p><p>watching news - the fact that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMt41NE0K_w">eylon levy has to explain so much of this stuff</a> and it'll still fall on deaf ears is just beyond me - reading some more <b>mathilda</b>* to mr smear, passing out on the couch, getting up to shower, read a little bit more of <b>john dies at the end</b> to gd, and now getting ready for bed myself.</p><p>* apparently gd does the voices better than me</p><p>i'm excited to be getting a haircut tomorrow.</p>Adam Fisher / fisher kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17689741133376692346noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360347.post-15134624330512867172024-02-19T02:41:00.006+02:002024-02-19T02:41:43.917+02:00i ******* did it<p>i'm starting to write this just before 2.30am, so the morning's going to be painful, but ZOMG i finally managed to get my CDK project to deploy a static website with an API reverse proxy and i'm so freaking relieved / excited!</p><p>additionally, i just managed to send the next pages description to mr cat. even though they're very simple, i've been somewhat out of it for over a month, and it was a big deal just to hit the "send" button on <i>anything</i>, really...</p><p>yesterday evening was pleasant, i started watching <b><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087544/">nausicaä of the valley of the wind</a></b> but just wasn't as into it, probably because of my general mood and still not feeling great.</p><p>this morning started off with a bang, an unpleasant fight that took so long to untangle and resolve that i had to jump straight to work.</p><p>*sigh*</p><p>the workday was pretty average, i guess? in a good way, i guess? i did share an idea of mine with my boss, and i wonder if that might (ever) have any impact...</p><p>i stayed late, and finally joined a pilates class. it wasn't as tough as i expected, but i also wasn't expecting it to be as much of a struggle to walk to the bus / from the bus home. also, in retrospect i probably should have showered there rather than hop in the bath when i got home, the yoga mat i used seemed a bit... damp :/</p><p>mr smear seemed to have a pretty good day, although he had a really bad cough. hopefully he'll be better tomorrow. his teacher indirectly reprimanded us for taking him to school, after his previous teacher reprimanded us for not taking him to school unless he had a fever. make up your freaking minds, people!</p><p>i'm very happy to hear <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WH6c3pfRyc">the latest tom nash report</a> saying that it looks like hamas is effectively done, and in spite of the speaker being a royal piece of garbage i hope that people hear <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm_47emYdts">netayahu's speech at the US jewish leaders conference</a>.</p>Adam Fisher / fisher kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17689741133376692346noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360347.post-10331088152124454402024-02-17T17:15:00.001+02:002024-02-17T17:15:18.892+02:00unplayful<p>jesus fuck. mr smear's friend just left a short while ago, and we had to have a talk. i don't think he realized how mean/unfair his behavior was, even though he eventually did listen to us... parenting is hard, man. trying to raise a kid who can function in a society is just hard.</p><p style="text-align: center;">...</p><p>in the evening i had a quick chat with horseman - who very excitedly reported the first real success in the investment enterprise he's been working on - and then watched some of <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Looney_Tunes_Show">the looney tunes show</a></b> over dinner (it's really good).</p><p>i crashed early last night, and i crashed hard. i woke up feeling a bit better, though still a bit stuffy, and spent most of the day reading scrapper's war-outbreak journal (he copied it into a doc for me to be able to add comments), playing <b>bloons adventure time</b> or napping. or running interference on my son's unwitting attempt to lose another friend.</p><p>oy.</p>Adam Fisher / fisher kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17689741133376692346noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360347.post-54258838942261257072024-02-16T19:55:00.002+02:002024-02-16T19:55:24.489+02:00all wet (again)<p>it's friday, i'm tired. my world is full of crazy things and people. i started a sinus infection last night, i strongly suspect i'm coming down with something. a cold? coronavirus? the flu?</p><p>one of those crazy people is my son, but i seem to be getting into a groove when it comes to handling him (or, he seems to be getting into a groove of being easier to handle). mostly.</p><p>work-wise, the week started off smoothy and i managed to get the "meat" of my task done in short order, but the rest of the week was consumed by writing and rewriting tests that continuously bumped up against bizarre brick walls. fastapi dependency caching: i see you. i don't understand you, but i see you.</p><p>monday:</p><p>skipping the clinic admin session because their ticket system was stuffed up. i was initially going to work from home, but then our neighbors started some construction and i bolted.</p><p>tuesday:</p><p>the second attempt at the clinic, and dealing with the unhelpful woman again:</p><p>"i can't just give out your family's details to anyone, do you know how many cases we have against us?"</p><p>and then she couldn't understand why i was angry after <i>she</i> made <i>me</i> coach her through the steps of identifying me and finding my family's records. good grief.</p><p>wednesday:</p><p>my first quarterly feedback session: very positive.</p><p>the bloody baron: it was not the easiest of days.</p><p>valentine's day - non-vegans ate the vegan offerings, and then i received a special gift pack from management to make up for it! and the only potential allergents were pecans and walnuts, which gd had tested out of on sunday... so i had something to take home to the wife ^_^</p><p>yesterday:</p><p>an uneventful pain clinic morning, except for the bit where we needed to convince the receptionist with the simpsons lips that what the doctor wrote down was what we wanted to book. good grief.</p><p>birthday lunch: people who piss you off live rent free in your head. people who behave like lunatics, though? i ended up walked away from an argument with a crazy soldier who wanted an apology for us taking his seat even though there'd been absolutely no indication that the seats were taken.</p><p>at least the <i>frena</i> was great.</p><p>a whole day lost to fastapi dependency caching shenanigans. then a fun-but-very-loud "happy hour" before coming home.</p><p>today:</p><p>dropping mr smear off at school, proudly remembering that electrical tape is called <i>isolierband</i> on my way to the hardware store, playing more - oh! have i mentioned my completely engrossing addiction to <b>bloons adventure time</b>? - <b>bloons adventure time</b>, a quick-ish shopping (i was dragging my feet and my body the whole way), picking up mr smear, heavy napping, and then watching <b><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113824/">whisper of the heart</a></b> (perfect). then two rounds of overdue dishes. now...</p><p>who cares.</p>Adam Fisher / fisher kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17689741133376692346noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360347.post-20440276207488422482024-02-12T09:13:00.000+02:002024-02-12T09:13:00.459+02:00home safe<p>friday:</p><p>i picked up mr smear from school, and thought we go grab a bite. he wanted to ride his bike, but i was still recovering from thursday and told him i wasn't up for it - he decided he just wanted to go home. i wasn't going to force him to spend time with me, but that did sting a little.</p><p>i continued on to azrieli center, where i picked up an enormous potato from "teeras". i probably shouldn't have finished it, but i regret nothing.</p><p>i went back to the hostel for a couple of hours, then hopped on the "sababus" to go visit nystire. we had a nice catch-up, and i'm very impressed by how built up that little part of not-tel-aviv is. unfortunately, the weekend bus takes an hour each way and i was completely done by the time i got back to the hostel.</p><p>at which point i encountered my new neighbor - a very big, very disturbed man in the capsule next to me, who didn't give a shit that everyone around could hear him yelling into his phone after midnight. being fairly confident that i didn't want to get involved, and that he'd suspect me immediately if i asked the management to step in, i just did my best to ignore him and eventually fell asleep.</p><p>saturday:</p><p>i woke up early, and the first thing i noticed was that the bathroom had been turned upside down - or, at least, somebody had gotten angry with all the toilet paper. fortunately, there was another bathroom in which i could brush my teeth and fortunately i didn't need to use the toilets, but i high-tailed it outta there and walked home with my heavy backpack.</p><p>i'm still not clear on whether i've actually paid for the week, nothing's off my card yet but the hostel claims we're square.</p><p>weird.</p><p>anyway, i got home and woke gd up and we synced, it was a lot to sync about but we're in a good place. over the course of the day, we all went out for breakfast at our favorite (local) vegan coffee shop, and in the evening we ordered pizza that we all enjoyed (our usual source wasn't available, but pizza porto had two delicious vegan offerings and mr smear thoroughly enjoyed the broccoli and zucchini one).</p><p>yesterday:</p><p>a good start to the day, gd and i starting our "homework" together, then at 8.30 gd remembering that she had an allergy "challenge" at the hospital at 9am. then i got out the appointment slip and we realized it was actually at 8.30. we arrived at 9, and got sent off to get authorization, which needed special authorization so that took another half an hour or so. then we finally got to see an allergist, and she asked us where our challenge supplies were - we'd been expected to bring our own. so i rushed off to by fresh pecans, and then returned to find gd about to start chewing on some old ones they'd found in the fridge. then the lady administring the test made it clear that there was exactly 0% chance of gd getting to do a strawberry challenge as well, and that the pecan challenge would take until mid-afternoon.</p><p>so i went back home to work from there, so that i could easily pick mr smear up from school.</p><p>just prior to picking up mr smear, i discovered that i'd been working on the wrong thing all morning. i picked him up, but it took so long (between him dawdling and syncing with one of our friends along the way) that i was in a massive rush to prep for a meeting with my boss. then gd arrived, much earlier than expected, with a box of strawberries - the doctors are convinced there's no pecan or strawberry allergies! this is really, really big.</p><p>so we celebrated by eating the strawberries together, then i took off for work.</p><p>i worked late, but managed to make big progress. dinner was nice, but bathtime turned sour when mr smear and i had a misunderstanding and he went to bed in a bad mood.</p><p>gd and i finished watching <b>freaks and geeks</b>. we both loved the rewatch, it was awesome ^_^</p><p>...</p><p>this morning started off grumpy, but i managed a miraculous rescue with mr smear and i sent him off to school with good vibes. gd and i had some work to do to sort out our own feelings and miscommunications, but we eventually got through it. now that that's taken care of, along with some medical admin and posting this, it's time to resume homework, and go past the clinic on the way to work.</p><p>the weather's really nice today.</p>Adam Fisher / fisher kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17689741133376692346noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360347.post-46617022192434529532024-02-09T11:37:00.003+02:002024-02-09T11:37:27.516+02:00humble still-fast<p>if anyone ever feels like i'm overdue a nice, warm slice of humble pie, just remind me that i once took a shower in a public bathroom while a party was going on, and only realized once i was completely done that i'd forgotten my towel.</p><p>that was <i>not</i> a pleasant conclusion to an otherwise very pleasant shower.</p><p>i slept, although that's about as positively as i can put it. i woke up early, walked across to the fit house cafe to pick up a coffee. their schtick appears to be that those training have to keep running loops out and around the building, i'm guessing because the warehouse footprint is tiny. it's a lot of very serious, rather unfortunate-looking people running laps between the coffee shop patrons.</p><p>i sat in the hostel lobby with my coffee, putting some more work into my article on SPA hosting, then eventually went back to the capsule for an hour or two. listening to the <b>wired for love</b> audiobook and playing more <b>bloons adventure time</b>. i realize that my brain's skipped over some parts, and i think gd and i should try actively listening to it together as "homework".</p><p>eventually i got up, packed up and took a walk towards the school to pick up mr smear, after giving up on a few different places (sick patrons, no vegan options, and a packed supermarket full of the mentally differently-abled), i just sat down at a nice little coffee shop in spite of the lack of edible options.</p><p>i'm <i>exhausted</i>. but the weather's nice for the moment.</p>Adam Fisher / fisher kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17689741133376692346noreply@blogger.com0