31/10/03

*** yesterday ***

i got up around 10am. i *think*. i went to the bank, where they informed me that traveller's cheques are not considered legal tender in israel - you have to wait 14 days for it to be accessable. after a while i managed to get hold of the bank manager, who allowed me barely enough money for food until then.
i love this country.

i spent most of the day in class. some of it was really interesting. some of it was not.

got home fairly late, helped my niece pack, and finally found my phone charger(s). played a bit of cs, and then went for pizza. we had really cheap, and really hot pizza (the really hot bit got stuck to the roof of my mouth. very sore. very blistered).

i saw her off from my place, and then went with grootbek to get hamburgers. well, one hamburger. i wasn't hungry anymore. when we got home, we played tekken until about 2am, and then went to bed.

*** today ***

grootbek and i woke up at 07.30 this morning, and got to class at 08.30. for a really sucky class in mathematics I. although i guess this is what you deserve when you fail the basic courses more than three times each (i'm including supps).

after class we went to the bank, where i discovered that my money STILL hadn't been made available. so i had to wait again to speak to some foul-tempered woman, who, after much argueing, finally agreed to give me the money.
* PHEW *

said hi to that really pretty girl who works there. she seemed really excited to see me. i guess it's 'cause i'm not available. i'm so full of myself! and happy about it...

we then took a slow walk through herzeliya, stopping in at most of the shops looking for halloween gear.

i was going to make myself eggs for lunch. i put the margerine in the pan, waited for it to boil, and cracked the egg. and nothing came out. all the eggs in our fridge had frozen solid. so i made toast, and had some strange cereal (raisin-bran, but the soya milk had gone funny from the cold).

took a bus to tel aviv, and trained for a couple of hours. nice training. bussed home, went to the corner cafe (the only place open), visited another student apartment (very pretty, with a great big roof), and then came home. we have a new shower head. massage-style. oh yes.

i now have some time to kill, and then we're going out to the party... unless, of course, i find out about a better one.

30/10/03

*** yesterday ***

i got home around 04.45, and passed out. was woken at 08.30, because some idiot who has my number forgot to lock his phone.
BITCH.

i got up at 10.15, and it started raining. very pretty, but it stopped me from being able to blade to class. bugger. i made it just in time for class, only to find out that the class was in hebrew.
...
i decided to stay anyway, as i know the lecturer. turns out, i actually understood most of the class! i amazed myself, at least.

i had a great big lunch, and the walked home for a kip.
i got up at 04.20, put on my blades, and was about three blocks away when it started raining again. so i stopped, put my shoes on, and as i started walking the rain stopped. unfortunately, by that time, the road was just too wet to rollerblade on, so i had to walk AGAIN to class.

the lecturer was only fifteen minutes late. the class is a good one, unfortunately it's mainly stuff that i know already. so i suffered along with the lecturer while he tried to explain concepts like compilation to business students (particularly dumb business students, i might add), until we got a break, where i explained my situation, found out all sorts of neat things (he's a very smart man, and in the know vis-a-vis (whatever) computer science), and promptly made my way home.
running into the lecturer from the first class on the way, and arranging a meeting where he's promised to explain to me how to do well in his course (hopefully without doing too much work).

i got home, and the tekken tournament began. my niece had arrived just before i'd left, so she'd made herself comfortable, and she even organized my supper while i played.
very cool.

*** today ***

a few of us went off to our buddy in pituach, where we sat and chilled, and then returned home for bed, stopping into bomba for some really good french fries.

i had a great shower, remembered (was inclined) to floss, and then made preparations for bed.

it's now 02.43. the reason i'm still awake is because i HAD to play counterstrike. on an israeli server. it was very, very cool.

29/10/03

*** yesterday ***

turns out munchies were on top. but not before counterstrike.
yes, i can play cs again. if only i'd gotten some sleep instead, i wouldn't be in the mess i'm in right now... 20/20 hindsight. at least i did okay.

i went for a walk to the bank, to discover that the atm's were out. i had a huge shuwarma for lunch.
not in that order.

i got home, got my gear, and took a bus to dizengoff center, for some more taekwondo training.

firstly, the gym is NICE. big, lots of punching bags (enormous ones), and all sorts of fun equipment. having said that, i can now say that as much as i enjoyed the training, i got my ass kicked by the trainer (almost literally: i'm covered in huge bumps and bruises). and we learned a new stretch that's intended to make us able to perform the trick vin diesel did in the beginning of pitch black. all sorts of new muscles hurt now.
on a slightly less pleasant note, i kicked some kid in the teeth in the middle of a fight, and i have two small piercings in my big toe. he apologized afterwards for his teeth being so sharp, because he'd broken them and had them replaced.
bastard.

note: the toilets in dizengoff's basement are seriously freaky. they look like shower cubicles, with the toilet sunken into the floor. somehow, people are expected to sit on the floor to take a dump. quite gross. and there's rows upon rows of them... it's like something out of a bad 80's sci-fi movie.

anyway, i was tired before i went. by the time we were finished (17.30 and dark outside), i could barely walk.

i took the bus home, and grootbek came with me to draw cash and go shopping. i have leet shopping skills. unfortunately, i don't have leet banking skills. it's five days later, or something, and my money still isn't in my account, so i'm going to have to go in personally in the morning. missing even more valuable sleep.

i had a quick shower (with my flatmates messing with the hot water on purpose, and then locking me in the bathroom), put on some fresh clothes, and hopped on the us to work.

i've been reading the manual for jane's ah-64d longbow (1996) computer game, and that what i did on the bus. it's got some really interesting information, and makes it worthwhile looking up all the details on the internet that they've left out (although they haven't left out much).

i got into the building just in time to order pizza with everyone else - bacon and mushroom, very good. i spent some time clearing out my email, saying hi to people, and talking to her on the phone.

*** today ***

my job tonight is to learn the new system, which is identical to the old one. i've been bored, and i'm so tired that i can't actually do anything useful. so i've been catching up on webcomics, cnet's news, and every now and again listening in on other helpdesk agents' calls.
i'm tired.

we're almost finished, and i have to be in class at 11.00 in the morning. bleah. but i suppose tonight hasn't been all bad...

28/10/03

*** yesterday ***

i managed to get in about an hour or so of sleep, but it wasn't enough by a long shot. i groggily got up, had a snack, and bladed to campus.

the accounting lecturer is actually really good, and i was surprised to find myself interested in what he had to say. maybe i was just tired? or maybe i'm on my way to becoming a cpa... you be the judge.

bladed home quite quickly after class, picked up my tkd pants, and took a bus to ra'anana.
training was good.
we've already started changing to what i learned in cape town, and after we were finished last night i felt totally worked. and slightly less confident about my fighting ability. and they want me to fight in a tournament on thursday.
i don't think so.

she picked me up from training, and we stopped by my place to pick up some clean clothing, and then went off to hers, where i had an amazing shower and i sat around with her, and friends of hers, her sister, and her sister's friends, eating pizza and talking about things i'd rather not think about (including all the guys that they're all interested in, and so on).

*** today ***

she and her friend came over to my place, where we watched dragon: the bruce lee story (which i'd seen), until 03.30.

it was really late, so they went home.

i woke up at 08.30, got ready, and she came to pick me up. we went to my voting station, i voted, and then went through to hers, and she voted. she had to go back to gedera, so no time for coffee. :(

i played some final fantasy viii, for way too long, and am now trying to decide between getting some sleep, or going shopping. see, i have munchies, but i have to leave for training around 14.00.
decisions, decisions. i get the feeling munchies is on top.

27/10/03

i woke up at 07.45, had a quick breakfast, and then walked with grootbek to university.

i'm finished. it's been a long day, and i've come home between classes to update my logs (although not the other two), and maybe nap a little. i have training tonight, which i'm too tired to go to (but i'll go anyway), and then she's coming back to herzliyah for the election tomorrow, so we're going to spend the night together.

the nice thing about campus today, is that i'm getting back in touch with all the people who i'm sort of friends with...

good night.

26/10/03

*** 19th ***

sunday is family day. i woke up late, i read, i joined some of the other families in the building, watching some dude getting the crap beaten out of him on the sidewalk, by the police.

my mom and i went gift shopping at the flea market, and took some photo's with the new camera. we didn't really find too much of interest.

we went to the waterfront, still searching for gifts. we eventually ended up with some tourist-type books.
wow.

we got home, and found my cousins waiting for us. we spent about half an hour together, and i had the memorable experience of taking my cousin's little kid to the bathroom.
daddy-training.

my mom and i went to a guest-lodge in town, to check it out, and it was really nice. it's in tamboerskloof, which is a bit of an odd position for a holiday, if you ask me. but nice, nonetheless.

we moved on to my aunt's, for a quick goodbye-visit and some coffee, and then on to my cousins', for a goodbye-dinner.

we returned home rather late, to pack. my sister and her kids came by, and then dirk diggler paid us a visit, and then it was time for all those goodbye phone calls.

*** 20th ***

i'd totally forgotten that the 19th was sagirl's birthday! and birthday party! that totally sucked, i felt aweful, and there was no time to go...

i woke up at 5am. i had a shower, and some much-needed coffee, and i drove myself (with my mommy as passenger) to the airport.

on the way, as we came out of hospital bend, we found ourselves driving towards the most beautiful sunrise in the whole world. there was a light mist over the cape flats, and the shadow of the mountains behind, and the bright pink glow and some rays of the sun coming up behind them.
simply stunning.

i said goodbye to my mom outside the airport, and then had to stand in a queue for a really long time - there was a problem with the previous british airways flight, so we had to suffer.

eventually we got on the plane, and we were off!
except for the outrageously long taxi. we finally got in the air about an hour late.

when we landed, i almost ran from the plane to baggage claim, which didn't help as my stuff only came out after about fifteen minutes.
i then literally RAN from domestic arrivals to international departures, the two terminals farthest away from each other.

i got to the el-al check-in JUST in time to be told that i wouldn't be able to fly.
i argued.
i explained.
DENIED.

i ran to the british airways counter, and hurriedly explained my situation, and one of the people on duty ran back with me to speak to them.
DENIED.
back to the desk, for a lovely chat. eventually, i was directed to the british airways desk in domestic departures.

by this stage, i already knew that the earliest i'd arrive in israel was more than a day late, and i was pissed.

i walked up to the counter, and said something along the lines of "hello! i've come to make your day that little bit more miserable!". i have no idea why, but it seemed to work. the people on duty were most pleasant, and helpful. also, polite insistence gets you everywhere. i wasn't pushy, but i made my displeasure known, and they got us (three of us in the same situation) sorted out in surprisingly short time.

cute story: one of the girls at the desk said that i didn't look jewish. so i said, sarcastically, "thanks", but she missed the sarcasm. when pressed, i made a comment about jews and greeks having notoriously large noses. one of the other girls was greek (like i'd know that), and she took immediate offense and went to check her nose.

fortunately, i managed to explain my way out of that, and she ended up helping to organize us first class tickets - see the photo album.

i started talking to the other two, one a fighter pilot from be'er sheva, the other a northern suburbs boy, who'd recently discovered that his father lives in israel, and managed to make contact with him through the internet. nice guy, but absolutely no clue what he was in for... israel is a very special place.

we were provided a free meal in the spur. i ordered a steak, and salad. i only finished the salad - i was quickly reminded why i don't eat at spur. cold, raw meat is not healthy.

i managed a phone call to my mom, to let her know what was happening, and british airways allowed me one phone call to israel, so i phoned her to let her know i'd be late.

'burbs boy and i went through the airport looking for a telkom service spot-thingy, with no luck.

i did some stretching in the international departures hall, figuring that noone would recognize me. nobody did, but i had some really humourous experiences with airport security, who were quite impressed, and one of the trolley pushers, who walked up to me as i was doing a stretch kick, and ran away very fast.

i washed myself down in the bathrooms, which is not an ideal experience, and we went to sit outside the shebeen until our flight, to talk and read (i started on jane's ah-64d longbow's manual). we were both really tired, and were finding it hard to keep our eyes open, so we took shifts closing our eyes.

i think we checked in at around 18.00, and i checked my luggage straight through to tel-aviv. i wrote down in my physical journal something about 1-hour chewing gum, which hopefully i'll remember at some stage. i walked around checking out prices for duty-free scotch whiskey, and decided that it would be better to buy it on the plane, so as not to risk breaking the bottle on the way.

like *i* was meant to know that the prices change.

we had just enough money between us for hot chocolate, so that's what we did. it took forever (damn airport newscafe), and was crap.

we boarded. i was on the right side of the left aisle. i had almost three seats to myself, and the guy i shared them with was most fair about it.

some guy in front of me had leashed his child to his seat, and until taxi this toddler was crawling all over the place - really, really cute.

we had good food (meat and potatoes) on the flight, which i almost missed because i'd passed out before take-off. i couldn't get any more sleep after that, though, so i went to stretch at the back of the plane.

*** 21st ***

after that amazing initial sleep, the rest of the flight proved to be one of the most uncomfortable, painful flights i've ever had. i was totally wrecked by the time we disembarked, and i proceeded to get lost in all the tunnels from the plane.

i eventually made my way to the right place, where there was an ENORMOUS queue (it was heathrow airport). i was about halfway into the queue when i realized that i had about ten minutes till boarding time, and i freaked! i was sure i'd miss another flight.

i was promptly informed of the one hour time-difference...

when i got into the airport proper, i went looking for a post-box, as i'd promised my mom i'd mail something for her. it's the last thing i expected: postman pat was exactly right - the post-boxes really look like that!

i found the first-class lounge (british - airways - first - class - heathrow - airport. WOW.) with no trouble. i found the spa. they have a spa. i put my name down, was warned of a potentially long waiting period, they handed me a beeper, and i went off in search of something to drink.
i drank bitter lemon, while reading the paper - just chilled. i got some interesting stares from the other passengers... i had a beard, and i was wearing a tracksuit with my taekwondo jacket. and crappy shoes.

the beeper went off.
after only five / ten minutes.

i found myself standing in a bathroom, about six paces long, and four wide. with clean towels, an enormous sink, and space to put all my clothing and my handluggage. in the one corner, there was a decent toilet, and in the other, an enormous shower, with five showerheads that can only be referred to as a contraption, with three spray-types, and levers for each one.
oh, and everything had just been cleaned.

i had about half an hour. i stood in the shower for about fifteen minutes, massaging sore muscles, and feeling deep-cleaned - and SO much better.

i got dressed, brushed my teeth, and sadly left the spa.

i looked at my watch, heard the last call for my flight, and RAN down the terminal looking for my gate. i didn't have to run very far, and, in fact, i didn't have to run at all - if i'd known that i obviously wouldn't have gotten all sweaty again... i'd been so clean :(

the first thing that i saw as i sat myself down in the second row, was one of the most fake smiles i've ever received (stewardess), and i was immediately bothered. 'burbs boy was totally excited, telling everyone he could how he'd gotten into first class, and annoying the stewards...

i watched in anticipation out the window as we took off, but there wasn't much to see. the english countryside is really pretty, but not very exciting.

i read quite a bit, until lunch, which was most pretentious, and quite average in taste.
i laugh at people who pay for first-class.
the only thing really worthwhile, was being able to sleep completely flat. in fact, in combination with the spa, it almost made the day's delay worth it.

more listing:

customs queue interrogation, the rose is legal, running into punching-bag, pickup, home to the niece, meeting our brit, coffee and chocolate *** 22nd ***

banking, cable search, falaffel, food shopping, grootbek's sad attempt at vindication (ie bullshit), an orange experience, cousin's farewell dinner, petrol and the storyteller, a long walk through a short street

*** 23rd ***

her arrival, sleep, minhal hastudentim, idc, kiwi-litchi-granadilla, shopping and coffee, home to shower and unpack, farewell, (something else?) and sleepover

*** 24th ***

babysitting instead of coffee

*** 25th ***

wake up 07.30, bust pc, washing, a mission to the mall (birthday shopping), lunch and more babysitting, driving to petrol, character creation, meeting the others, my first vampire session, lift home, on to sammy's, back to her place, driving back to mine, family time

*** 26th ***

breakfast, driving to sha'ar ha'ir, driving to ramat hasharon, the #@$%ing parking fine, real breakfast, on to university, our first maths lesson, a great big lunch, arbing around (email check), hot walk home, movin' the pc, fixin' the pc, movin' the pc (sore arms), playing (this log), the bus ride - torn pants, 2.5 hours of tkd talk, back for brit talk, grootbek talk, invader zim introduction, sleep

19/10/03

just an (edited) outline, more for me than you.

*** 15th (wednesday) ***

actually went to bed early.

*** 16th ***

arrived 6am. left 6.15. drove mom to work, read with coffee, went to training. pulled muscles. got goodbye speech. dropped one of the guys off at the waterfront, one in town. i tried to visit a friend of mine who works there, but there was nobody there.
i took second mom to the waterfront. we went to ardi's, had coffee and some sandwiches (i had an AMAZING tuna-mayonaisse), sat around for a bit, and then returned home. i had a shower, slept some, and went to fetch my mom. who dropped me off at the waterfront (deja vu?), with my book, but no cellphone. much frustration at having to use the tikki-boxes by the toilets. very dirty area / people.

i was standing at the counter for vida e cafe (or however the hell you write it), and i some guy greeted me. he looked familiar, but it wasn't until he told me his name that i had ANY clue who he was! some dude i used to party with. nice guy, in spite of his enormous size. and he appreciated my goggles (MGR!). the hot chocolate was really, really good. i can't emphasize that enough. really, REALLY good. and it was made with REAL, WHITE chocolate. yummy.

my mom picked me up, then dropped me off at shadowslight's for thursday night movies. t2 - director's cut. incredible that they left out the tie-in scenes, and some great stuff. also, it was just plain enjoyable watching the movie again.

*** 17th ***

i went straight to training. we had beginners in the class, so we took it all fairly easy. with final touch, however - our instructor came up with an extreme method of hurting the legs and lower back... we all said our goodbyes, and then i went home for a shower.

my mom came with me to organize my traveller's cheques, and i picked up my airline ticket. i drove my mom to work, a little later picked up my traveller's cheques (screwed up all the signatures, as usual), and then returned to my mom's office to pick her up.

we had supper at my cousins', and i went to gandalf's afterwards, for a farewell party. thrashed a bit.

*** yesterday ***

gave a friend a ride home, and then went to sleep.

babyacid and shadowslight came over in the morning, and i opened the box of kariot (cushions - best cereal ever) that i'd been meaning to do for two months. moonflake arrived, and we all (including my mother and her .38 special) went off to the range.

we got there on time. the instructor was nowhere to be found. we were informed by one of his colleagues that he would be back from the range in a short while, and we'd have to wait. we began inspecting all of the equipment.

first thing to notice: you don't need a license to own a crossbow. they have the deadliest looking crossbow, up on their wall, that i have ever seen in my life.
mmmm.
secondly: the "suck my glock" sign. and the "fight crime - shoot back" sign. and many others.

after about five minutes (or more, i dunno), the instructor came out, looking harrassed, and apologized for taking our time, but he had a "situation".
anout a minute later, moonflake, who'd been looking through to the range, asked, "doesn't that guy look like jean-claude van damme?"
after some arbitrary debating (i was sure it wasn't), one of the guys behind the counter piped up that that was him. he told us a rather cute story of some arabic prince / sheik / something who'd come to cape town and made his life a misery...

when van damme came up, with his violent (and none too pretty) girlfriend, and apparently useless bodyguard, we all suddenly found the knives to be extremely interesting.

* note *

capetonians are not people to run after celebrities requesting autographs. we have pride. we also have an understanding of others' need for privacy. this does not, however, mean that we won't tell everyone who'll listen who we saw, where, and what part of breakfast was in their teeth.

and besides, i hear tell that he's a complete prick. not that i care. i do, however, know that his girlfriend has some deep-seated issues to work out, hopefully before someone gives her a firearm.

we were taken to the range, instructed in the basics, and each given a couple (four, i think) of rounds to fire, before our instructor had to go somewhere else. we arranged to meet back at the range when he was done, and so the five of us went for a walk.

we found ourselves at cash crusaders (mainly in search of more movies for shadowslight), and my mum and i found a really nice, cheap, camera. so we purchased, and then went off to some obscure little coffee shop.
good coffee, great company, and our waitress was absolutely STUNNING.
like a prettier version of jada pinkett. yes, i typed that correctly. god DAMN.

aaaand back to the range. all our ammo are belong to targets. some great shooting from babyacid, some INCREDIBLE (to be expected, though) shooting from moonflake (first shot straight into the target's nose), and a rather worrying quantity of enthusiam exuding from shadowslight.

i must say, i really like the glock (9mm parabellum). it's easy to use, easy to get used to. i learned some very important things concerning trigger use, and i have the target on my door to prove it...

i fired off five rounds with my mom's revolver. that thing is absolutely frightening to use - the recoil can be felt from a foot away, and you can really sense the raw power of thing.

we split up after the shooting, and moonflake came with me and my mom home for lunch. all three of us went gift shopping at canal walk, which was a lot of fun, and quite an experience.
moonflake and i had a quick supper, and then went off to the green man, to meet up with arad and shadowslight for my farewell.

some good pool, some cute old-school house music, and some beer. and some photographic posing.

*** today ***

on our way to the parking lot, shadowslight stopped to help two good-looking girls parallel park. inspired by ed (great tv series, everyone should watch it), we offered shadowslight R10 to go back to the girls, and say "hah, i offer you my beef".
which he did.
we were most impressed, and most proud. the response: "thank you, but no".

moonflake, arad and i went buttsex shopping (mac hall). we were walking up and down the aisles, calmly asking other patrons at the store if they'd seen any buttsex, or knew where we could find buttsex, etc. we really upset some of them. surprising, that.

after paying for all the buttsex, we went off to moonflake's, where we found a gathering of clawcreatures - and i was given a nice farewell after all.

we said some sad goodbyes, and then i went home, to shower, and sleep.

15/10/03

*** yesterday ***

i woke up all groggy, got dressed, and went downstairs, where i was greeted by shadowslight's father. went to their place for supper, which was very nice, and extremely spicy, and we all watched a great movie called tadpole.
i was thinking of the movie fallen, at some point, and for the life of me couldn't remember the title. this continued to plague me until later in the evening.

after the movie, shadowslight took me home. i found it empty, and decided to go for a walk. i stopped in at my sister's, where we talked for a bit, and i got some coffee, and shadowslight sms'ed me the single word, fallen.
* phew *

the first half of my walk was really nice, but sad at the same time. i walked along the promenade, watching the oil-rig, and the waves crashing against the rocks, with a light, cool breeze and distant sounds of traffic accompanying me.
i got to the part of the grass with the swings and things, and sat on the merry-go-round in a trance-like state, just staring straight ahead and preemtively missing cape town.
the way back was a bit dodgy, as there were guys nonchalantly standing against the wall staring at me, and some guy was "discreetly" tailing me. nothing like paranoia to ruin a special moment.

*** today ***

i got up unnecessarily early this morning, dropped my mom off at work, and went to tkd. we had a decent training, albeit tiring - when asked what was wrong with us, i responded that i'd been listening to rodriguez - cold fact in the car, which can take the fight out of anyone. at least it brought smiles to SOME people's faces.

i went home, and my second mom made me lunch (one fluffy omelette with sliced up sausages and onions, really good). i had a shower, read for a bit, and then drove to bellville for an appointment with an eye specialist.
the man checked me out, and informed me that my vision is fine - good enough for a fighter pilot. nice to hear! he used these anaesthetic eyedrops on my, however, which really stung. and made my eyes drip yellow goo.

figuring i didn't have enough petrol to make a round trip, i went straight to milnerton, where i had a quick lunch and parked off in the car while waiting for my mom. i got through quite a bit of my book, but i'm worried that i'm not going to be able to finish it before i leave...

on my way to supper now, and then i have to get to bed early so i can go to training in the morning.

14/10/03

*** 12th ***

another early morning. still exhausted from the day before, i arrived at moonflake's around 09.40, and we began our journey to gordon's bay. listening to firstfallen's cd collection, which proved to be an education. the trip took us around half an hour, i think.

we arrived at sandman's parents' place, talked for a short while, and were sent off to bikini beach. on the way, we stopped in at this cute little cafe, where we bought toasted sandwiches, and i got myself two packets of niknaks and a wilson's toffee. mmm, toffee.
nice beach, not too crowded when we got there. the water was really nice, but i was still hurting from the saturday morning, so i couldn't go out very far.
so pretty.
moonflake and i baked and talked for a while, before returning to the house for a cold, but much needed, and most gratifying, shower.
we were treated to a braai of note... TOO - MUCH - FOOD. my stomache hurts just thinking about it. and it was soooo good. after lunch, we all chilled and talked for a couple of hours, before we had to head back home.

the drive back home was incredible - we drove straight through the lightning storm, and the helderberg looked absolutely fantastic. and when the sun started coming out, devil's peak turned orange - it was simply delightful.

i dropped moonflake off, then missioned back to my place. through all sorts of nasty traffic, too, only to discover that my mom didn't need the car, so i could've gone straight from moonflake's to protoplasm's, which is practically next door.
bugger.

i was all tired out, and still in need of some belly rest, but i went through to the braai anyway. i stopped on the way at the shell select. got out the car, took a photo of the mountain, turned around, and discovered that the shell select is GONE. very disorientating.

protoplasm's: great trance, and great smells coming from the braai (still no appetite though). we had a very pleasant evening, and i met some interesting people. everyone had some very funny stories to tell, so that's what we did until late. i think i got home around midnight.

*** yesterday ***

i had to force myself out of bed, took my mom to work, and got back in time to have a twenty minute kip. which i obviously needed, as i was dreaming from the second i shut my eyes, to seconds after my alarm went off.
now, i wasn't REALLY in the mood for training. and listening to all4one in the car didn't help. so i got there, thinking only of her, and sleeping some more.
as the gym hadn't opened yet, i put cypress hill - can't get the best of me on, to psyche myself up. it worked. about halfway through the song i was worked up enough to be semi-thrashing, and was totally ready for tkd.

when the instructor opened up, and i got out the car, i discovered that a couple of people had been there for a while, and had been giggling at my car bouncing up and down. not that i cared, but i found it kinda funny.

training was good - my legs were still killing me, and were practically useless, but i discovered that our instructor was in no better state, and that totally lifted my spirits. the training was very movie style - we learned a couple of new strike, which look and feel very cool, and i was quite happy with myself in general.

i was completely relaxed when we finished. i drove home slowly, not even enough energy to sing loudly, and had a great shower. i then took a walk to texie's, and got myself half of a hake gatsby. i walked back holding the package in both hands, the sun was shining, and i had a big grin on my face. and everyone who passed me by smiled back. i love cape town.

i even took a couple of photo's of the gatsby - i'm hoping they'll show just how huge the thing is (and i only had a half!). i was beaten after three quarters, and passed out lazily on the couch. i woke up around 4pm, baking in the sunlight, and slightly dehydrated, and jumped to get on the road to pick up my mom.
fortunately, i didn't hit peak traffic, as she was in a hurry to see a friend before they left for the states. we made it just in time, and spent about five minutes there before the friend had to go.

we went shopping, i dropped my mom off at home with the grocery bags, and drove straight through to moonflake's, where i stopped in for a quick cup of coffee before we went to shadowslight's for monday night tv madness / mayhem / whatever.

my last one. that sucks.

the evening was quite enjoyable, but around 23.00 we had to run off, as i was hoping to make the training at 06.00.

*** today ***

i got into bed around 00.30.
i woke up at 05.15.
at 05.30 i thought "this probably isn't a good idea."

i woke up around 09.00, and managed to leave around 09.40. i missed the bus, but fortunately there was a taxi five minutes later.

we trained forms only, and i really have improved a lot in two months. getting everything right was most satisfying. we got one of those really inspirational lectures before being sent home.
i really hope i can get those right when *i* teach.

i remembered to order a jacket and t-shirt (so cool), and i walked with one of the guys to the waterfront, where we talked for a bit before he went to work. i got myself a really delicious chocolatey thing, and then took a bus back home.

a great shower, and a great lunch (boerewors, fried onions, rice) later, and i'm writing these logs and then passing out again.

if i've learned one thing today, however, it's that wednesday night i'd better be getting to bed early, if i want to make it to the 06.00 training on thursday...

12/10/03

this entry was intended to be more of an outline, as i'm pressed for time, and inclination too. i haven't had much opportunity to get online this week (she's REALLY not impressed), and i've been totally drained to boot.

*** 7th ***

woke up feeling slightly better, and had a chilled cup of coffee with my mom at her work. i had a slow drive back to sea point - my goggles ROCK (MGR from now on). parked the car outside, and on my way in had an american beauty scene as the wind was coming up.

i needed to get my israeli keys cut, in order to give my niece a copy. i couldn't find them ANYWHERE, and my second mom and i pretty much ransacked the apartment in a desperate search for them. we searched, and re-searched THREE times, and i know we didn't miss a thing, before giving up. i even phoned anyone i could think of who i may have left them with accidentally.

i went to cavendish, and met up with dirk diggler. he organized me a battery for the cellphone, which cost R80. talk about being connected. also, the battery has a little blue torch on the underside, for those moments when you use your cellphone as a mini-torch in the dark.
beat that.

i got a call on cellucity's land line, from my mom, informing me that my second mom had found the keys. in a place where we'd both already looked...

we went to mugg 'n bean. in light of firstfallen and synkronos' experience, i was extremely explicit with the waiter about the amount of time he'd take serving us. i think he set some kind of record. dirk diggler and i talked for a while, and he gave the waiter a R20 tip. stupid bastard, shoulda given ME the money.

i then rushed off to sea point (i was late, having to take my niece to the airport). so much for the rush - i made it just in time to witness the beginning of the invasion of the retarded monkey drivers.
i got home eventually, picked up the keys, told my niece to be ready in ten minutes, and rushed off to get the keys cut.

i parked really impressively on regent rd, ran to the key cutters, and after five minutes of hanging around, was told that they couldn't cut the keys, and would have to go to the place in adelphi centre.
so i legged it back to the car, screamed off to the centre, where i had to park around back. so i RAN to the place, was informed that nobody in south africa can cut an israeli key (WTF?!), and so i ran back to the car, only slightly pissed off, and flew back home.

to discover that my niece hadn't finished packing.

we had a long argument about being in a hurry, and so on, which didn't help. eventually, we managed to get on the road, without too many tears.

we arrived at the airport, got a parking, and a really cute tourist ride to the terminal. the check-in went smoothly, and then my niece and i sat down and had a "talk". about respect, and obligations, and other facts of life. i hope my kids won't be this difficult.
but it seemed to go smoothly.

my sister arrived just at the tail end of the conversation, and there was much frantic scribbling of important names and phone numbers, before the long goodbye (snot, trane, maar sonder videotape).

drove back home, saw someone i hadn't seen in YEARS (she was our maid when i was a teenager), and had a really arb conversation with her.

i had a quick lunch, and had a well-timed drive to milnerton. MGR. some guy pulled up beside me as i was going off to rage against the machine, with my goggles on. he burst out laughing, and we were driving alongside each other for most of the way. every time he saw me he got the giggles.

when i got there i had to go shopping for something to drink, and i saw a tabloid with a picture of cameron diaz and justin timberlake. now, i can totally understand demi moore going for ashton wossname, but #@%$ing justin timberlake SUCKS ASS! life isn't fair.

driving towards the mountain on the way home, i was enthralled by the cloud covering it. so very pretty.

i played my nephew tekken, i with the broken control, and i still kicked his ass - he must have just been getting lucky during the tournament.

i was forced to watch smallville, which i despise (it's so NOT superman), and then my other niece got really unpleasant, so i left.
i had a salady supper, and some munchies, and watched some tv.

a friend of my mom's came over, and then my sister as well. i went with her to her apartment, where we talked about our israeli experiences. she had a really kak one, and while talking about mine, i realized i've had some really shit things happen to me too (shitty flatmates, and getting screwed by my partners for around NIS 200,000).
she got a phone call, i was exhausted, so i went back home to bed.

*** 8th ***

i drove my mom to work, had a cup of coffee, and filled out the application forms for an idc scholarship. i then had a pleasant system of a down drive back to sea point, where i stopped in at tkd to drop off some papers, and talk to the guys (and explain why i wasn't training, my back was / is still screwed).

i went home, had a shower, and then went off to uct. MGR, i got some funny looks when i got on the jammie.
first stop was moonflake's office, where she was doing some rediculously complex (for us mere mortals) astronomical problem, and i read my book (terry goodkind - wizard's first rule) until she was ready. we got us some brunch, and moved off to sharpe and campey's office. i introduced them to xkobo (really good game - wkobo for windows), and we watched sharpe fail abysmally with a bride-building simulation.

back in freedom square, we ran into sexual-frustration man and a few other CLAWmembers i hadn't seen in years, and we spent a couple of hours catching up, and talking other crap. i started itching for taekwondo (four days without training). i introduced some more people to my goggles. MGR.
one of the guys brought some subtance that combusts with any organic matter, which proved quite interesting.

at one point, a really beautiful black girl walked past. she was wearing a tight green tank top, and white pants (both of which suited her), but her pink boxers were sticking out. FASHION POLICE!!

i found moonflake in her office, and we went off to take the jammie to my car. in the queue we got into a group discussion about fashion, like pointy shoes and other evils, which was quite entertaining.
and i discovered that one of sandman's friends is gay. she's really cute, and i suppose it wasn't so unbelievable, but i was surprised anyway. and a little disappointed too, i might add... :)

off we were to milnerton, but my mom was out, so we amused ourselves with loud music and much head-banging, and then went into the centre for some bottomless coffee and hot beef (on rye).
and i got a lecture on cooking, which was interesting, but it remains to be seen whether any of it will stick in my mind.
the hot beef. yes, we sucked down on the hot beef, almost inducing my gag-reflex, with me dribbling bits all over the table.
can't they just make it so you can actually bite through the damn stuff? it was very good, all the same.

my mom came back, and then dropped us off at shadowslight's, for an attempt at catching up on the monday night tv madness which we missed on monday.

we watched undeclared, citizen baines, and a bit of friends, before my mom came past and i had to take her to sea point in order to get the car for the night.

moonflake and i then went through to her place so she could get some warm clothes, and she showed me her stylised version of zenstar's finger-pose.
damn impressive, that is.
we went off to obs. too early for the firedancing, we took a look in at a second-hand bookstore, and i found a beautiful, leather-bound collection of rudyard kipling's major works, for R90, in great condition.
we went to this little chinese place for take-out (i had the pork chop-suey), and we walked through obs, with a warm wind, eating out of styrofoam cups using chopsticks. a perfectly cape-town moment.
the firedancing was too cool! i saw a few people i hadn't seen in a long, long time, and my buddies are a hell of a lot better than i expected - they really know what they're doing! i was just a tad annoyed though, 'cause i didn't have a camera with me.
i dropped moonflake off at home, and then returned to shadowslight's, where we watched ed (which gets better every episode), played a good game of munchkin (less is more, so i win again!), and he helped me put my email on cd (before our server gets cleared). by the time i got home, and got to sleep, it was about 3am...

*** 9th ***

i awoke at 07.30 (as usual), and did the standard drive to drop my mum off. i went to taekwondo - it was my first training since i screwed up my back, but it was just forms, so relatively relaxed and not too damaging.
plus i NEEDED to do something physical.

i got a call right after training, from aeroplane, and rushed home to grab a towel and camera, and made my merry (yet slow, behind-crappy-drivers) way to clifton 4th. there was parking right outside, which never happens for me. i got down to the beach, and it was very, very pretty.
also, very, very empty.

as i hadn't showered, i went for a dip in the ocean, which wasn't NEARLY as cold as usual. and the water was all blue and stuff, too.

i arbed around with aeroplane and a friend of his (ours?) on the beach until around 2 / 3pm. we played with a mini-american football, and stared at some gorgeous woman (must have been a model), and talked crap for a while.
MGR. some guys walked past, staring at me, and told me they were admiring my "visor". also, i discovered that the lenses are as good as advertised: really comfortable, even when looking almost directly into the sun, and you can still see all details around you. NICE.

when we left, we agreed to meet at the kfc in sea point. i had the streetwise two - big deal combo, which consists of a roll, two pieces of chicken, chips, and a coke, all for R19.90 (NIS 14). and it was GOOD.
i had a crumby observation, though - i think it was moonflake who'd commented on the stuff between the crumbed layer, and the actual chicken. it's all gooey and gross, and that's what makes kfc taste the way it does. it just looks SO unhealthy.

we all followed up with coffee at erte, and then went across the road to the new tattoo parlour to check out their artwork. some nice stuff, but mostly quite arbitrary and lacking coolness.

we split up, i went to obs to buy the book. very freakin' cool book. and me 'n my goggles (MGR) fit into obs perfectly.

i then went to milnerton to pick up my mom. i was still a bit damp, and covered in sand... i was a bit tired (too much sun), so i had something to drink and read a bit from wizard's first rule. i passed out while reading it. i woke myself up by sliding off the chair, and managed to arrange myself with my head on the desk.
five minutes later my mom made me get up so we could go home.

i started waking up in the car, and we were almost home when i saw two of the girls from our tkd class walking to training. and i thought, "i have no reason not to go right now". so my mom waited outside while i ran up to our apartment, grabbed my gear, and ran down again, and then dropped me off with time to spare.

i have my own groupies! some very sweet girls, we talked for a bit before the lesson began. the lesson itself was similar to the morning session, so once again i practiced the forms, and tried to help the others.

i got home, went downstairs to say happy birthday to my sister (44!), and then returned upstairs for an absolutely wonderful, much needed, long, hot shower.

everything feels better after exercise.

i got out the shower at 20.15. i had to pick up my cousin from rondebosch at 20.30.
figures.
i almost made it in time, though. drove her to constantia / tokia / wherever, which wasn't a hassle at all.

after dropping her off, i went through to shadowslight's, for "mists of avalon". i think i got there about an hour or so into the movie, so i hadn't missed much. that IS a long movie.
i got in just when all the weird shit started happening, and the guys were MST3King it to shit. hell, after a minute or too, even i joined in - this is one movie that just begs for it! so we had lots of fun, even though it was about two hours too long.

we then played a munchkin game from hell. i was wasted (although, quite frankly, i'm always wasted), and it went on, and on, and on. there were some great moments, but i was so tired i can't even remember them.

i got home, having missed supper, to an urgent slab of cottage pie, a pear, and some guava juice. we don't get guavas in israel. that sucks.

*** 10th ***

i missed tkd, in the morning, as i was woken around 10.30 by a call from protoplasm who'd gotten the whole day off. he arrived around 11.30, and we went off to erte for milkshakes.
he's driving a standard nissan bakkie. #@$% me, that thing can TURN! apparently something to do with no lock on the steering column, but that thing turns like it could rotate on a pinhead. i was shocked and awed.

the milkshakes were great.

we then went off to town. parked in bo-kaap, and took a walk to rugged vinyl. on the way, we walked past a subaru impreza for sale. stunning vehicle, really sleek and sexy, and all hooked up with rockford-fosgate and so on.
aaaaaand not too expensive.

the visit to rugged vinyl didn't last very long. the dj i'd gone to see wasn't in, and the other one was busy teaching some guy to spin. so i got some contact details for shippers (wanna bring some real shit to israel), and got outta there.

on the way back, we stopped in at bloomsbury's. i had to take care not to slobber all over their shiny, silver lamborghini diablo vt, for R1,450,000. convert that to dollars, bitch.
i reckon if i owned that vehicle i'd spend half my time just sitting and staring at it in my garage (with floodlights, obviously). the thing is, it's all a question of style. lamborghini have it, in quantities no one else can touch.
that's all there is to it.

we headed off to milnerton, to swap cars, and my mom showed us the developed prints from my camera. two of the sunset photo's are so beautiful - i'm so proud.
we then took the car, and moved on out to access park.

i like access park. the shop we went to was a bit confusing - their fitting room is a curtain around the door for the toilet. so when the attendant pointed at the door, i thought she meant inside, and the last thing i wanted was to change in some dodgy as hell toilet.
i found the pants i've been looking for. seriously styling, pockets for africa, and in orange and blue.
my favourite.
and for only R75 per pair. another reason to stay in this city.

we had massala steak sandwiches for lunch, and then headed off to a friend's (one of the fellow firedancers, a guy who came with to the party two weeks ago).
now, it has to be said that cape town has produced some of the laziest people on the planet (lazy, chilled, same difference). but when people here set their minds to something, they do it properly. two cases in point: one, the firedancing. i mean, these guys decided it was cool, and they've become really, really good at it. two, music. they started fooling around with software like fruity loops and reason, and the music they're producing now is getting to professional quality. i am way impressed.
the two of them jammed for a while, i had some coffee, and we then returned to milnerton, where we said goodbye.

the sunset was incredible - but no camera. oh, pooh.

on the way home, while waiting for my mom, i took off my shoes and put my feet up on the dashboard. my feet were just a little warmer than the glass, and i spent a good ten minutes making little patterns on the window. funny how one's mind can so totally become absorbed in something so meaningless.

went to pick 'n pay, and ran into some guys i haven't seen since high school days. traded numbers, then had to run off to check out. my mum can be most impatient.

got home, started writing this log. i spent about an hour on it, and got nowhere, which says something about my state of mind...

we went to cousins for supper, which was quite pleasant, and the food was good. i was tired when i got there, however, and most of the evening was as if in a dream.

*** yesterday ***

i got to bed around 1am. i woke up at 06.15. i don't know why. i left the apartment at 07.10, and picked up moonflake and firstfallen around 07.30. the drive to paarl took around an hour, and i was driving at an average of 160km/h. it was very, very pretty - as we came down one of the hills, we had an excellent view of a valley swirling with mist and rays of sunshine... quite magical.

we got to the training facility at 08.30, said hi, took a two-minute tour, and then went back to the main road for a quick bite to eat.
to a place called "trust cafe". bit of a let-down. moonflake rated the pie as a dysmal failure, but firstfallen's sandwich made the car smell of toasted breakfasty goodness - pity i was about to train, so i couldn't eat anything.

training was gruelling. two months ago, when i got here, i wouldn't have been able to handle that first five minutes, but now i made it through pretty much the whole training. i damaged a finger during warm-ups, but that was about it. we trained so hard that i felt quite sick afterwards, and there were all sorts of goodies to eat in honor of one of the guys' birthday. a pity, because i couldn't even bring myself to LOOK at the food.

the drive home was quite uneventful. loads of retarded monkeys, but that's the "civilised" world for you. one of the better moments, for me, was driving with two girls in the car, all three of us singing along to nine inch nails - closer. this is a wonderful world we live in.
it only served to remind me, however, that i'm slightly deviant, and she's not at all. there has to be some kind of middle ground.

dropped the girls off, then went home for a shower and a nap. i could barely move, so the nap part wasn't by choice.

my mom and i went to my aunt's place for coffee, which was pleasant. on our way out, i took a bunch of photo's of table mountain and lion's head by sunset, which was fading from light blue to red and purple. the strange thing is when we got to sea point side, the colours had gone and everything was blue. eh?

did some quick shopping, bought really cheap film (three rolls of kodak gold with 36 exposures: R60), and then my mom went home i went to firstfallen's.

mmmm. sushi. there were seven of us, and the entire meal cost about R150. and it was GOOD sushi. and, i have to admit, i have never eaten that much sushi in one sitting.

afterwards, panda made us some coffee, and then moonflake, firstfallen and i went to gandalf's.
gandalf's was empty. arad joined us at some point, but the music wasn't really inspiring and moonflake and i needed an early night, so we left around 11pm.

*** today ***

i got home, and immediately started working on these logs. she sent me an sms to tell me that she's upset with me for not calling, but when i called her, her phone was off, so i had to leave a message.
hmmph. figures.

i'm really exhausted. and i gotta be up early in the morning, so i'm just going to post this, and then fall asleep.

06/10/03

i've just gotten back from the traditional "breaking of the fast" at some relatives, and i am completely stuffed. i ate until bursting, and then ate some more. my mother always told me that whatever you do in life, you should do it properly. i think that covers being a pig.

*** 4th ***

my mom and i watched keeping the faith. a fun movie.
at some point, my back started feeling a little better. i went to sleep, and

*** yesterday ***

i woke up feeling worse than before.
pretty much all i did sunday was whine and moan. i couldn't really focus on anything other than how much pain i was in.

for all you non-jews, from yesterday until this evening was, to quote keeping the faith, the superbowl of the jewish calendar. it's a 26 hour fast (no water, no nothing), and lots of praying. i didn't have a problem with not eating, but the no drinking thing got to me rather quickly. i spent my day a little disorientated from the dehydration.

*** today ***

i didn't go to synagogue this morning, but i did make it for both nights. i even had a few moments of spiritual wellness - maybe i needed to go more than i thought.
i spent the day reading, and feeling sorry for myself. at some point my sister's kids were driving her nuts, so i dragged them out for a stroll along the beachfront. i think it was probably the first fresh air they've had in months, and they reacted rather well. also, my nephew gave me a puma vest, which fits quite nicely, and i think she should be happy with it.

tomorrow's going to be a hectic day - the phone i've borrowed is totally $#@%ed, so i need to get it repaired, and i need to give my niece a ride to the airport. the big issue at the moment is that she's going to be staying at my place in israel. she has absolutely no respect for other people's property, and i'm not so sure i'm comfortable with her being there, but she really has noplace else to go.

ugh. although, i suppose, better the enemy you know (and are related to) than the enemy you don't...

i'd better get some sleep. i'm ZORsted.

04/10/03

*** yesterday ***

i didn't / couldn't do much yesterday afternoon - i was too messed up. i did go to synagogue, however. super weird. i saw lots of people there whom i haven't spoken to in years, some of whom i wasn't in the least bit interested in being reaquainted with...
oh, well. it's nice to know a picked a good path in life.

shadowslight and his parents came to us for supper, which i think we all enjoyed.

i had to call her at 23.15, but i was tired, so i had a cup of coffee first so that i wouldn't fall asleep while we were talking.
i went to sleep around midnight,

*** today ***

and woke up at 4am. i have to say, i think that the coffee helped - it's the first decent sleep i've had in a LONG time. i have the feeling that the caffeine took care of my body while my brain did it's thing, and that's fine by me.
problem is, i couldn't get back to sleep again. at least not until five minutes before i had to get up. it was also in this five minutes, that i pulled the muscles in my neck (we've all done this at some stage of our lives), and i woke up in screaming agony. with me doing the screaming, of course.

fortunately, my mum studied a bit of physiotherapy, and she managed, miraculously in my opinion, to get it all working and moveable again.

and then gave me a lift to tkd. moonflake and firstfallen were supposed to come along to watch, but they cancelled late last night. turns out it was fine, as we didn't do any decent sparring, so there wasn't that much to see.
the penalty for kicking the person holding the focus pads is 100 push-ups. i tried to get fancy, and did a spinning-heel kick. i touched his hand. i started doing push-ups. i was somewhere in the nineties, when my back spazzed out, and the problem from the morning came back with a vengeance. our instructor wouldn't let me stop, but fortunately we were only going to do stretching, so i continued without too much difficulty.

after training, four of us went through sea point, handing out flyers to businesses and at traffic lights. i was quite enjoying myself.

i got home around 14.00, and had a shower, and then my neck / back REALLY started hurting. we went to the waterfront for a farewell lunch for my niece, who's on her way back to israel this week.
it would have been much better if i'd been able to turn my head. i have been so uncomfortable, that i can't focus on anything else.

after lunch i went to my sister's place to pick up a back-massager / oversized vibrator, watched the weakest link with it pressed against the aching muscles (to no effect), played tekken with my nephew for a bit (taught him how to catch, and he's now an expert), and have just returned home. i'm going to try to figure out how to fix this back of mine in time to go out tonight...

*** later ***

i've given up. i've tried resting it, stretching it, a hot-water bottle, and a steaming bath, and none of it's helped in the least. i have totally pulled a muscle that runs all the way from my neck to halfway down my spine, and if i breathe too hard it flashes with pain.
i've been seriously considering jumping off our balcony - eight floors should be enough. i'm sure it wouldn't hurt as much.

03/10/03

*** 1st ***

my sister came over, and somehow we ended up going through a whole bunch of photo albums. i had me a gin & tonic, which i'm acquiring a taste for (only natural, seeing as i quite like plain tonic water), some decent supper, and then went to bed early.
and woke up around 2am, in desperate need of a stretch and a midnight snack. my legs, as stretchy and bendy as they're becoming, are just as much of a nuisance as ever.
stupid human leg muscles.

*** yesterday ***

i drove my mom to work, got a much needed cup of coffee, and then drove back for tkd. i was the highest ranking, again, and therefore put in charge of warm-up. which i quickly delegated, as i couldn't think of anything, whatsoever. my brain doesn't work when i'm not under pressure, so there's no reason why it should when i am.

we had a fairly light training. unfortunately the majority of people there were beginners, so i was quite bored. i'm definitely not complaining too loudly though...

on my way back, i went past the sabc building again. this time, i got put on a call to the head offices in johannesburg. where they informed me that sabc might know the details for each event within a day of the actual broadcast.
very professional.

i showered, i ate. i went to the post office, and
PICKED UP MY GOGGLES!
they are totally-super-wicked-cool. they are the bomb-diggety-pow-sock-wham of sunglasses. i'm really happy with them. when on my forehead, they look exactly like hwoarang's (from tekken, you tit), and when they're on they look like 1950's racing goggles. so cool when i'm driving. so cool.

i visited my great-aunt, to drop off a letter and to pick up a mattress, and had a cup of coffee and a rather pleasant conversation.
having been away for so long, i've really gotten into the whole family thing...

i went to cafe erte, for an amazing milkshake (if you TELL them to make it thicker, it's the same as it used to be. i don't know why they think that milkshake with a skim-milk texture is appealing), and sat on the net for about 45 minutes. for R5. that's about NIS 3.5. i'm going back in about two weeks, and that kind of thing is gonna depress me no end.

i went home, shaved, then went to get a haircut. it's not too bad, and definitely an improvement, so whatever. it'll grow.
on my way out, i walked past a really dodgy looking internet cafe. i'd have gone in, but i didn't have enough time (or money). another day.

i returned home, discovered i had some time to kill, and went downstairs to my sister's apartment, to play tekken against my nephew. even with the shitty control, and 70% health, i totally kicked his ass. my leet tekken skills are not dwindling.

i dropped him off at a friend's place, then went to fetch my mom. we did some shopping, and then walked out of the mall into a really magical sunset. you couldn't see where the water ended and the sky began, and it looked as if the sky had been stirred with a really big wooden spoon.
pretty.

my mom dropped me off at shadowslight's, for the thursday night movie. the movie was hudson hawk. really funny, but i did have to concentrate in order not to take the movie seriously at any point. it's a completely rediculous movie, great fun.

we then had an absolutely brilliant game of munchkin. it lasted for $#%@ing THREE HOURS, approximately, and was filled with temporary alliances and nasty backstabbing (arad's being particularly effective, and consistent). i, for what was probably the first time in my life, managed to keep a poker face, and after everyone had spent their cards, in horrific last resorts, took the game with a remarkably silly move.
i rule.
which reminds me, i saw a license plate a couple of weeks ago, which read "I RULE - WP". yes. yes you do.

arad gave me a lift home (for which i am most grateful), and i passed out very, very quickly. i was totally exhausted.

*** today ***

considering how tired i was when i fell asleep (around 2 / 3am), i chose to take the bus this morning (which gives me an extra hour to sleep). i woke up, practically falling all over myself, and the cup of coffee i had for breakfast was literally the only thing keeping me out of bed.

fortunately, i got to the bus stop just in time to take a taxi, and had a few moments to myself when i got there ("meditating").

training today was a complete sodding bitch from hell with a leather riding crop and a face that could sink a thousand ships. from the fitness training, which had already tired us out, we moved to bar work.
i'm not going to give any specifics, but i don't think that my muscles are going to be forgiving me for this anytime soon. it was really painful, and there was plenty of it, and we just had to keep going.
the pain, the pain! why, oh why does it burn?!

i have to say though, that i'm really glad that i went. after training, i felt so good about myself - i know i'm much stronger than i was a mere few hours ago. doesn't make it any easier though. it goes against all sense of self-preservation.
oh, and one more tkd thing. our instructor demonstrated something today, that put me in complete awe of him. apparently, if we work on the bar more, we'll be able to do it to, but #$@% me, am i EVER glad that i'm probably never going to have to fight him. he's one scary muthafunsta.

i made myself a smoked beef omelette for lunch today, which only heightened my need for a nap, so i think i'll do that now before the rest of the day happens to me.

01/10/03

*** 29th ***

I finally finished watching the horse whisperer. there were parts of the movie where i almost cried. this was due to the shameless and AWEFUL nature of the acting. or lack thereof.

shadowslight was in sea point to pick up his munchkin card game, and he picked me up for monday night tv madness. babyacid was there waiting for us, and we played a rather fun game, which was cut short when moonflake arrived and reminded us that the tv was calling.
so i won quickly, and we found our places (with babyacid joining us), and the watching began.
soon after charmed started, i suddenly felt absolutely exhausted, and i literally couldn't keep my eyes open. maybe it's a sign of a tumor or something? fortunately, after dozing off for a bit, i managed to catch the majority of the episode.

*** yesterday ***

in taekwondo, in cape town, there is a phrase in korean that must be said when the instructor enters the room, and it has to be said by the person with the highest rank.
i had the highest rank.
i hadn't learned the phrase.
when the instructor walked in, there was a really uncomfortable silence - broken, eventually, with him saying, "right, everyone give me fifty push-ups."
let's just say i wasn't mister popular.
nearing the end of the training, i glanced out the window, and there was a guy standing there. i immediately recognized him as a guy i used to be quite friendly with, who owned a rental / maintenance shop for rollerblades / skateboards / bicycles in mouille point. turns out he's a cousin of our chief instructor. unfortunately, he was gone by the time we finished, so i didn't get a chance to speak with him. crazy motherfunsta, he is, with all sorts of interesting stories to tell. used to keep me entertained for hours.

i got home, totally fixated with looking at myself in the mirror. i really am getting all buff 'n stuff. way to go, me!
i had a quick shower, a quick lunch, and a rather long nap.

shadowslight woke me up with a phone call, telling me that they had an extra ticket for the smirnoff comedy festival. tres cool!

in my search through sea-point for a decent internet cafe, i stopped by the nigerians' corner in adelphi centre. R7 per hour, fairly decent speeds, but a kak interface, and a non-too-pleasant atmosphere. but once i'd discovered that i was already paying the R7, so i stayed for most of the hour.
and i did find a few promising-looking links for driver development. and i read the log for vultar's ressurection (they spelled it wrong first!). $#@%ing hysterical!

i got back home just in time to not hit rush-hour traffic on my way to fetching my mom. as i got there, i suddenly developed serious munchies, so we organized a few (three for me) large vegetable samoosas, which were delicious. i can't believe i finished them. i'm such a pig.

we went to my sister's soon-to-be old apartment, but her landlady was late, so i didn't get to perform any intimidation tactics. i hear now that my mum did just fine by herself though (i didn't think she wouldn't, she intimidates me sometimes), so i don't feel bad.
brief family explanation (you won't find many of those here):
my sister and i have the same father, different mothers. although, for all intents and purposes, my mom practically adopted all my siblings, so to each other we are 100% siblings, not halfs. my sister's mother had another child, however, so my sister's sister isn't any relation to me whatsoever.
i gave my sister's sister a ride home.

i had a quick supper, and then stole away in my mom's car to shadowslight's. we arbed around for almost an hour, and then i drove us to the baxter for the show.

the comedy festival was great. the two fools outside were really not funny, just annoying. also, seeing stupid people laughing at stupid jokes irritates me, i don't know why.

the majority of the acts were really good. most of the time i at least had a smile on my face, and there were some minutes of absolutely hysterical laughter. which felt really nice.
things i didn't appreciate: the canadian dude with the baby-eating jokes simply wasn't funny. also, all the non-south africans, whenever they wanted to pick on a place where hicks come from, only used bellville. there are LOTS of places where we find dutchmen and gengstas. and the last guy, with his nakedness thing, was just tasteless. i think it was meant to have shock-value.
things i did appreciate: the couple in the front row on their first date (MORONS!). the hosts "driving over the speed limit" story. so true.

i dragged (without much argument) shadowslight to meet up with the friend (protoplasm) i went to the party with. now, granted i was a bit stoned, but it turns out the reason the girl in the back of the bakkie on sunday morning looked so familiar, was because she's protoplasm's sister. which she told me in the bakkie, but my hearing was less than optimal and i couldn't figure out what she'd said.
anyway, protoplasm's girlfriend (who was the main reason for the visit) made us coffee, and we all sat and chatted for a while. they have a 3d noughts and crosses! very cool. after quite a lot of animated discussion, she had to leave. i got a taste of protoplasm's trance collection, and shadowslight got a mouthful of utter boredom.
we then went off to play pool in claremont.

our first idea was to go to the place inside the bowling alley, which shadowslight and i had discovered the other night. it was already 00.30, or thereabouts, i think, maybe, and it was closed. so, we thought, we'll just go to lizards. now, lizards is a fine place by my standards. not too expensive on the tables (R3), fairly decent tables (no, i'm lying), and a dark and smoky atmosphere with pretty good music.
on our way there we passed the green man. it had a sign in the window, something along the lines of "new tables, 1st floor". what the hell, why not take a look?
awesome. styling place, smoke free, STUNNING tables (all new and shiny and they had red ones and EVERYTHING), and it only cost R2 per game! and most of the music was good. so, all in all, a winner - i'll definitely go back there.
i also had a castle lager. my tolerance for alcohol has improved drastically, to pathetic.

i dropped everyone at home, and got to sleep around 02.00 - 02.30. i think. probably.

*** today ***

lack of sleep, and a little bit of alcohol, made waking up this morning an evil bitch. with vd.
and it was raining. i love sleeping while it rains.

i took the bus to tkd. i was tired when i got there. during the training i thought i was going to pass out, as i was disorientated and couldn't see straight. i carried on though - my masochism always keeps me going. that, and knowing i'll get a good-ol'-fashioned butt-kicking if i don't.

i walked through the waterfront mall, picking up a decadent donut and a coke on the way through, and waited for the bus. which took more than forty minutes to arrive.
i got off at the sabc building, with the intention of finding out about the schedule for taekwondo in the all africa games, which are coming up soon.
the security check was a little awkward. there's me, with my palestinian-bomber beard, all sweaty and carrying a backpack. the guard didn't know what to do with me, so i asked him if he wanted to see inside, and he got this worried look on his face. he then told me that i didn't have to sign in. huh??
anyway, they were most unhelpful. the guy at reception told me that nobody in the building would have access to the schedule, and that i'd have to go and by the tv guide from a local news agency.
wtf?!
what's WRONG with these people??

i walked home, had a shower, had pies for lunch (while reading wizard's first rule, which i haven't been able to put down), and passed out. for about three or four hours. i woke up all groggy, with some really odd remnants of whatever i was dreaming about whizzing through my brain, and began writing this log. i'm not sure if it's taken me a long time to write this, or if i only just got up. what i do know is that finishing my mom's non-dairy ice-cream was a brilliant idea (with robertson's choc sauce, of course). i'm still feeling a bit lost, but, as i said, maybe i have a tumor or something. anneurism on it's way!