27/09/03

*** 25th ***

i woke up really badly, after a night spent tossing and turning - all my muscles were really stiff and uncomfortable, and the bruises were all screaming for acknowledgement.
so, for once, skipping tkd became a very real option.

i didn't have the energy to drive my mom to work, which meant that i was stuck without a vehicle for the day.

firstfallen and i had arranged to meet in town, so i decided to take a walk, through greenpoint. it was a pleasant walk, and it did help a little to loosen my muscles (although not to remove the tenderness), but i realized about halfway there that i wouldn't make it in time, so i flagged down a black taxi. i got dropped off at st. george's mall, with all my valuables still on me (i always get paranoid), and after a bit of walking around town discovered that i'd been closer to my destination when on foot.
figures.

i met up with firstfallen, and we got ourselves some seafood for lunch. i had a calamari burger with chips, and she got herself fish and salad, the latter turning into chips all by itself.

after lunch i walked to the train station, and bought a ticket to rosebank. one stop before, i got up, and found myself staring at a woman who used to work for my parents (years and years ago). we had this moment, before she realized who i was, and then jumped up to give me a hug! we talked for a bit, and then i had to get off.

i took the jammie up to campus, and went in search of some CLAWcreatures. moonflake wasn't in her office, and NCc. was empty, so i went to visit campey (which was the main purpose of the trip anyway - i just like to cross the i's and dot the t's).
we went to the cafeteria for an interesting cup o' coffee. while we were talking, his sister drove up, so i met her from a distance. i joined him for a bit of a mission, then went off to stare at the view from jameson hall. it's amazing, how cape town always makes an incredible background, but we almost never focus on it.
we perfomed a quick experiment on campey's linux box, attempting to program in c++ in vi and pico (i MUCH prefer pico). it didn't work. i think it's the platform and setup, as opposed to my code being faulty. i really need to learn how to setup the environment, or at least how to deal with different ones.

he reminded me that he was involved in a play (gilbert and sullivan?) called sailor beware!, and then shadowslight called telling me to be ready to go through to firstfallen's place. we were going through for a visit in light of the jewish new year getting in the way of her party on friday night.

drivin' with shadowslight was entertaining as usual. we picked up firstfallen, and went on some errands of hers. while we were waiting outside the laundromat, some really, REALLY stoned / drunk / whatever guy came up to the car window looking for a handout. he stumbled and squashed his face against the window, and i had this image float through my mind, of her in that situation, 'cos she'd be TOTALLY freaked out.

firstfallen bought this humungous roti, and we met up with synkronos as he happened to be walking by. we then went to firstfallen's to play some munchkin fu.

i had about half of the roti, which was quite potent. it was also a very friendly one - it kept popping up to say "hi" throughout the rest of the evening.
i beat them at munchkin fu - employing some really silly (albeit clever) tactics, and getting the others to practically allow me to win...

we then joined some friends of ours at the masque theatre, in muizenberg. i almost had a run-in with my 7th grade history teacher, but fortunately he didn't recognize me. the production was amateur, but most amusing, and seeing campey in his sailor outfit (and his british boxer-briefs) was completely worthwhile.
afterwards, we all went backstage to have a little fun at others' expense, and then headed home.

*** yesterday ***

the first thing i remember from yesterday, was waking up thinking about the roti. goodness, gracious, great bowels afire!

there was way less traffic than usual, apparently something to do with school holidays, which was much less frustrating than usual.
taekwondo was very chilled. apparently, nobody had turned up the day before, so i didn't actually miss anything. thank you, me!

i got home, showered, and promptly turned into errand boy for the rest of the day.

i drove my second mum to my aunt's place, to drop off some stuff for dinner, returned, had curry for lunch (not strong curry, but i hadn't seen the last of the previous night's as yet), and then received a call telling me that i had to go do some shopping.
on my way, i received another call cancelling that instruction. my sister had asked me to wait at her place for telkom to come and install the phone lines, but there was nobody home. so i went to her soon-to-be old apartment, where her kids were busy packing, and wondering how to schlep everything across.
so i offered to help. while we were moving some rather heavy boxes (i seem to have an affiliation with hernia-popping activities), we realized that my niece (the other one) had left her phone in the apartment. i then got a frantic call from my sister saying that the telkom guys had arrived. my nephew and i continued moving, while my niece ran off to let them in.

she couldn't get the door open, so my nephew went after her, and i got stuck carrying the boxes by myself. brilliant.
eventually we got organized, and i got some exercise. unfortunately, i ripped my pants while lifting - although i suspect it had a lot to do with the curry's flamethrower effect having weakened the material.

i returned home to change my pants, only to be reminded that i'd completely forgotten my mum at work, and had less than ten minutes to get there.
PANIC!
i got there pretty much on time, and we went to pick 'n pay for some emergency (and munchies) shopping. we bought two whole roasted chickens, which we've now named ted and brian.
and they DO look tasty.

my mom went to the synagogue, and i watched some tv. i don't know if other people have this problem: at some point i remembered that i'd wanted to take a shower. my mom didn't have keys on her, so if i did shower then there'd be a good chance that she'd arrive, and be stuck outside. so i didn't shower, and of course she arrived much, much later.
grrr. at least i'd had one earlier.

we went to my aunt's for dinner. it's the first new year we've celebrated without my uncle (who passed away this year), and it was really difficult for my mom and aunt. i was a little distracted too, and when i got there, there were all these people whom i hadn't seen in a long time, and everyone was asking me all sorts of questions that i really wasn't in a frame of mind to answer.
so i had me a johnny walker black label, and hid with my cousins in a metaphorical corner, until i could get my head more or less together.
one of my mom's best friends phoned her around 9pm, asking her to please come to the jail at 01.30 to bail him out - he'd been arrested for being over the alcohol limit. that was entertaining.

the basic plan after getting home, was to kip for half an hour, and then accompany my mom to the jail, and then to go out for the tail-end of firstfallen's party.

*** today ***

apparently, my mom tried three times to wake me up this morning, and even managed to get responses from me. i don't remember talking to her at all.

i woke up in time for saturday morning cartoons, which i haven't done since i was a kid. i've been reading a bit from terry goodkind's wizard's first rule, which is getting interesting (i'm going to have to get used to his style, though). i was meant to call her last night, and we got the timing all wrong, so i'm gonna try now, and hope she's not too upset with me.
i'm still quite exhausted, so i'm gonna have to do some sleeping today - BEEG party tonight. gonna hopefully get hold of some magical fungus...