good weekend!

new apartment!
omfg - i've now unpacked and as of now have an address :) such a pretty place.
on my way out of the building, a book in the stairwell caught my eye: "how to save your own life". i was so busy staring as the title, i almost killed myself falling down the stairs.
figures.

coffee 'n pool 'n coffee:
the dog finished his basics yesterday, so to celebrate we went out on the town. we didn't shut up for one second, it was really nice to talk again :) we began with a cup of coffee, walked to the lincoln, played really good pool:
the waitress was absolutely one of the sexiest girls i've ever seen. so much so that whenever she came past it took about a minute for the game to resume. at the end of the evening, i went to ask her out, and
<flashback>a couple of months ago the dog and i were in the lincoln. when one of the girls heard us talking, they all started asking me if my name was the same as the dog's - we had absolutely no idea what they were on about, and they were quite disappointed when we told them no</flashback>
it turns out that her boyfriend and i look almost identical (she tells me i'm better looking ^_^), and he has the same name as the dog.
bizarre.
we then went back to the same coffee shop, gabbed until about 6am, and then parted company.

it looks like the dog'll be joining my team this coming week - so cool!

my first awol:
i discovered the other day, that i've been doing translation work for her ex-best friend without knowing it, so when i was told i had to finish it i went over to her office in person to complete the job, without asking permission. that was a bad idea, and my commander was NOT pleased.

wednesday: a pissy day, generally unpleasant. continued the work i'd been assigned on monday / tuesday (can't remember), and it's a lot. by the time i got back to the hostel i was in a really foul mood, so i went for a run. by the time i got back i was wiped out - and i arrived AS the security guard was throwing someone out of the building. the perfect day for a fight, and i missed it.
figures.

i'm off in a bit to a great gathering, including my relatives from england - then hopefully off to party!

you've stunned him!

wow - it's been a week since i updated... i don't remember too much of it, either.

this past weekend saw me confined to the base, patrolling in the pouring rain. t'was actually quite fun, i really enjoyed behaving like a soldier's supposed to.

this morning, i began my day with great coffee and an enormous doughnut, and signed the contract for my apartment. i then missioned to the bank, paid the first installment (plus deposit, a frightening sum of money), and then dealt with my social security. i got back to the base around noon, *just* in time to go with my team for lunch, and when i got back discovered, to my enormous delight, a belt on my desk - one that fits me!
it's amazing how much better life is when you're not constantly constricted around the midsection.

that's pretty much the most interesting things that have happened. i'm doing a bit of work, theoretically, and then going to bed. g'nite!

*flit*

if my weeks keep flying by so quickly, my army service will be done any minute...

yesterday was a pretty sucky day, but all's well that ends well. i went to view the studio apartment i'm going to move in to. i got lost on the way... very lost... i walked for hours... i needed to pee... badly..., but eventually found the place. turns out it's in a really good area.

the apartment is fan-friggin'-tastic! i wow'ed, and whoa'ed and ohmygod'ed for about an hour. it's perfect. i can't wait!

i woke up this morning around 6.30, and coughed and hacking and sinusitis'ed my roommates awake. they weren't too happy either. i made my way through to ra'anana, to the telfed building, and spent an interesting hour sorting out the contract - it was really weird to be immersed in a south african environment like that, and i hear the whole building that i'm moving into is very similar.
w00t!

the weather was amazing, and i had myself a coffee and doughnut breakfast while waiting for the bus. by the time i got to the base, my spirits were lifted considerably, and i had a good day. now i'm waiting for permission to sign the contract, and it's all good. i just realized, as i write this, that i was meant to take the contract to the post-office, so it's an automatic day's delay already... bah, humbug.

i came to work, picked up my media, took it to the base, then returned and have been abusing the internet since. i'm on my way home in a bit, as soon as i've finished my KoLing... &ltaddicted> :/

i'm still more than a little surprised that i just put away a fair amount of pizza, after eating pancakes for supper. hmmm.

*sniff* bye bye weekend

i ended up working until 7.30, and was completely bombed by the time i made it back to the hostel. i dropped off to sleep immediately, and woke up around 2pm.

i went milling around all the nice areas of tel aviv, and some of the not-so-nice ones too, and spent the early evening in front of the telly, where i was joined by a really sexy and interesting girl, and we talked for hours.

a friend of wolfman's picked me up, and we went through to wolfman's birthday party, which was really awkward. watched some tv, talked a bit fo crap, and then went back to the hostel... at 2am.

i woke up at 8.30 or so, spent the morning watching tv / sleeping, and in the afternoon went milling about (which included an incredibly chilled cup of hot chocolate, and some random internet time), before coming to herzliyah to work, which i've just finished.

and i've just discovered that my teammates are no longer interested in inviting me to their get-togethers, so i'm going back to the hostel to prepare for a heavy week.

but DAMN, i've needed this one.

long, long week -> long, long day

not bad, though. a little upsetting, there're some changes taking
place in our unit, and i've discovered that there's a chance that i
might have to leave... needless to say, that upsets me a lot. i'm just
hoping it'll all be fine.

we worked hard this week, i learned a lot. i've just found out this
morning that my application for the studio apartment has been
accepted! yay! so monday morning i'm going to pick up the contract,
and at some stage i have to have a look at the apartment, and
according to them it'll be ready for me to move in within a week or
two :) i'm quite excited.

last night, i went out with a couple of friends (yogi, and the guy who
got me into my unit) to a really fancy sushi bar - i thoroughly
enjoyed myself, but i only got to bed around 2am... i promptly
overslept, by an hour, but fortunately i managed to get to her
base on time (we had a "thing" for lone soldiers). i got to see her
in uniform - kinda makes me sad we're not together anymore :P

i managed to find the place where SSSO's daughter's "brita" is
happening, to discover that i got the date completely wrong, and it's
next week friday. now i have time to come up with a card and a gift,
no ideas there.
i had to go through the induction base to get a bus back to my base,
so i went past the academic corps to thank the girl who helped me
out... and today was her last day in the army! serious luck, that was
:)

i'm now at work, completely exhausted, and we're here till 5am.
tomorrow i have to decide whether to stay in the area, do some work,
and go to a friend's birthday party, or to go back to the kibbutz and
get some sleep. this is a real dilemma.

i love engrish

engrish.com, that is. make your way there.

on a slightly more journally note:

saturday night was alright, the company was good and it's the first time i've had sambuca since i was 16. it's also the first time i've been informed, in a pub that claims to be irish, that no, there's no guiness available here...

what sucked about the evening is that i found it nigh impossible to follow any of the conversations, due to my distinct lack of hebrew.

sunday:

sunday was a CRAP day. it all started with me talking to the head of our division, about the weather in south africa. he asked me a question that i wanted to answer, but i simply couldn't think of the words in hebrew. and i was too embarrassed to answer in english. so i just stood there, stupidly, experiencing the dumbest moment of my life. after about 20/20 seconds, he said "bye" and walked off, apparently offended.

for the rest of the day my brain simply refused to process anything in hebrew, and every instruction i received had to be repeated 5 times, which annoyed the crap out of my teammates, and bugged the hell outta me. and it just so happened to be a day filled with work.

i did almost all of my work in english, and was informed that i would have to translate it all to hebrew. so i sat until 9pm, with a f***ing dictionary, looking up each and every word. i was so pissed off when i got back to the hostel, that i literally kicked the walls until i got rid of all my excess energy, and then stretched out properly for the first time in ages. i spoke to my mom, vented a bit, and then went to bed...
to get up bright and early to go on a daytrip.
our dept. head volunteered us, and we had no choice. and i had more important things to do...

anyway, it was semi-enjoyable - there were at least a couple of people to talk to, and the areas of jerusalem we went to were pretty. we finished off the day with a huge candle-lighting ceremony, which was weird as hell - the army band sang the blessings, and then a really odd assortment of songs.

i got back fairly late to the hostel, sat talking with timmy, did my laundry, and went to bed - i got new bedsheets, so i folded everything the way one normally finds it in a hotel - i slept great!

i continued working this morning, turned out the problem i was having with the software concept was a problem inherent in the development environment, and so aside from a simple case of forgetting to save... D'OH!... it really wasn't my fault. so that's the assignment for tomorrow.

oh - and i set up my personal computer in my office. after removing about an inch of dust off of all the components, and scraping the fans clean, and force-reseating the memory, i finally have access to all my shit again :) such a nice feeling. and now we can listen to MY music, and watch movies whenever we have to be on alert.
AWESOME!!

i've come to work just to use the net, so now that that's abused, and i've spoken to sammy for the first time in ages, all that's left to do is play some KoL and then go to bed.

i like this day better now.

weekend's over :(

well, that was interesting. last night, i was so buggered that after watching the first die hard (r0xx0red!), i forgot to change into a nice t-shirt before going to her family for supper... and so i arrived there in a standard-issue army t-shirt, and had to borrow from her boyfriend.

whoops.

supper was nice, but i was too exhausted to deal with all the people and noise... and screaming children.

i got home around 11, crashed, and woke up at lunchtime - in time for an AMAZING braai, followed by liqueur, coffee and ice-cream.

mmmm ^_^

spent the afternoon coding, most successfully - my payment is coming in the form of a p5 glove! w00t!

i'm on my way to visit SSSO, and then i'm going with some of my army buddies to a pub somewhere. or, that's the plan, at any rate.

totally bent in all the wrong directions

by the time we finished working this morning, i was completely broken. i somehow managed to transport myself to the bus station, and managed to keep my eyes open all the way back to the promenade.

where i was accosted by a horrifically drunk man from seattle, who was convinced that i wanted to talk to him. as dead as i was, he managed to pull me into a serious argument due to the sheer stupidity of his statements...

i snuck past the sleeping guard, took the keys to my room, had a shower and packed for the weekend. and then made my way to the bus.

there was no space on the bus, so i had to stand. i was so bombed that i kept passing out, waking myself violently every time as my knees buckled. it amazes me that not one person on the entire bus offered to let the obviously wasted soldier rest.
bastards.

i forgot that the bus that i took doesn't stop on the stretch of road that i needed to be on, and then managed to get on the wrong bus back - fortunately the bus driver wasn't too much of a prick, and dropped me off within 10 minutes of my destination.

i've slept absolutely brilliantly - but i've got so much crap in my head from the last two days that most of my processes are on hold... i reckon naptime is coming up :) breakfast was eggplant-pasta. as much as i hate eggplant, it really wasn't bad at all!

i'm KoLing, mailing, and then i reckon a dvd and/or sleep will do.

boing

i'm listening to trance for the first time in over a month - good, good trance. i can't believe how good it feels, my entire system has just gone from tired to wired in under 5 seconds.

works about to begin, which kinda sucks, but i've spent the past few hours KoLing, clearing email, and generally laying about; i guess i kinda chilled enough anyway.

*bounce* *bounce*

fuzzed week

i'm just about hitting the halfway mark on my day... i'm on a break between a very full day in the army, and a long night of helpdesk...

i'd try putting my week in perspective, but i don't have any. and i don't care. i'm very, very happy in my relatively isolated environment, learning interesting things (it's the beginning of the week where i become an oracle dba), and generally enjoying myself.

the only downer: my first shift back at work coincides with a huge party for our unit :( *sigh*

due to some heavy influence from invader zim, and the fact that our team leader not only has a high rank, but is also several centimetres taller than anyone else in our department, i'd taken to calling him "my tallest".
i've been officially warned that if i refer to him as "my tallest" again, i'll find myself performing every nasty task that he can come up with, and being practically confined to the base, for the next 2.5 years... needless to say, i stopped, but it's hard to break the habit!

i finally finished speaker of the dead: i loved the story, hated the writing style and pace. it felt like it was targeted at an audience aged 5-13. i managed to completely ruin the book itself with superglue, by accident, this morning - i have no idea what i'm going to tell the owner... after i've borrowed his other books.

i just finished reading a recent obituary for my father, and it's brilliant - i couldn't stop laughing when i finished it, it was written by someone who didn't have any qualms about telling it like it is - all respect ^_^

i still haven't seen AvP, and i'm no longer sure that i'll get a chance to see it on the big screen. so i've stopped caring - it's amazing the kind of inner-peace i'm achieving from spending all day in uniform. yes, that's a spurious relation, but i don't care :P

plans for the weekend: sleep, read, work. it's looking like the work will be fun, and maybe even get me some cash.

it's good to be me. ooh - almost forgot: i've been given an AWESOME army jacket, far better than the standard-issue, and next week gets me pants that are one size too big, and a big enough belt to make it *just* fit. it's time to stop looking like a rookie!

*stretch* *yawn* *blink* *blink*

wow - that's the best sleep i've had in AGES. i slept over in herzliyah so that i could work on this xml <-> sql project, and the work's alright, and it's far better than the army hostel... this week's news: our door's lock has lost its semi-functional status, so now nobody needs to even try to open it... we've had lots of visitors.

it looks like getting my own studio is a possibility - and i'm really enjoying my work each day.
^_^

ani - pashut - me'ushar ^_^

translation: i'm - simply - happy ^_^

i haven't felt this good in years, at least since the party days. and now it's happiness from satisfaction with life, myself, and almost everything.

it's not that everything's perfect - far from it - but since i've been in the army my attitude's received the biggest pickup. i feel good about the work i'm doing, i have all my confidence back. i feel like i'm living again, a feeling i haven't had since the turn of the millenium.

...

i had this absolutely incredible revelation this last week: i've been saying for years that the difference between men and women in general is the same as the difference between any two men or women: we've just all been brought up to believe in the roles society has assigned to us.

what's changed? i've finally learned to apply my theory to the task of approaching an attractive woman. and it works! all i've been doing is imagining myself in her position, thinking of how i'd feel if it was a girl, either attractive or not, approaching me in the same manner. granted, it takes a bit of confidence, and a certain amount of ego, but hell - it works! and it's made me relax a lot in general.

...

i am totally satisfied with my current station in my grand vision of the future. it's been a rough ride, but i'm on track and things are going well. the only thing i don't have time for is complainers, whiners, moaning, and the terminally stupid. and i'm not even getting impatient - i'm finding myself more and more amused, and less and less frustrated, the more i get in touch with who i am and what i'm doing.

on a slightly different note:

...

due to a bit of influence from orson scott card, whose speaker for the dead is way better than i anticipated, coupled with my idea of living underground as protection from the general dangers of the universe, and inspired by a two second clip from the national geographic channel of a submarine, i have come up with a grand scheme.

we have PLENTY of space to colonize in our oceans. there have been plenty of ideas along these lines, but this one is mine. imagine an enormous titanium sphere, containing an inner sphere, much like those weighted balls we used to play with as kids, that seem to "slide" along the ground. there's no reason that we couldn't set up a biosphere (heh - "sphere") within, and there are plenty of methods to communicate with the outside world.
i think my idea totally r0xx0rs.

...

i think i've missed AvP on the big screen. that's a bit crap. oh, and last night i totally wiped out the contents of the c drive on my cousins' pc. but, i did get everything back up and running, very quickly, and it's all better than before. and i've made better back-ups. i suck, but i rule!

confuzzled

i have absolutely no idea where to begin, nor where to end this blog. i'm not even sure that i remember even HALF of the past two weeks.

last week:

sunday: visited her parents and grandparents, and worked for an hour

wednesday: left for eilat.

eilat trip till sat. night: simply awesome, and we have incredible photos to prove it. i just had fun for 4 days, met the girl of my dreams (although she lives in eilat. swak.), and generally enjoyed myself in every which way.

this week:

sunday: looked at an apartment, and had a first date with a rather cute girl

tuesday: our first day of real work since i joined - we were all on the base till midnight. also, my birthday: to celebrate i ate 10 "krembo's" (sweetie pie's, but the biscuit's stale) in 10 minutes, and we have a hysterical video of me stuffing my face.

today: was under the most pressure coding i've been since my yellow pages disaster (sometime back in the year 2001), didn't manage to finish, but everything's alright... i've proved to my team that i know what i'm doing.

in general, all i can say is that the army totally suits me - i don't think i've been this happy consistently in my life!

slighty less hurried...

but - should i be? i'm "on my way to bed", but i still have plenty of KoLing to do, and i still have to pack for the next two weeks - incl. a trip to eilat.
where do i begin?

i slept a lot today. in the evening we went out to a restaurant, where the food was great, and the coffee was really hot.
how hot was the coffee? you may well ask.
it was so hot, that when i spilled it on my slightly-older-cousin's-husband-who-i've-met-for-the-first-time, he actually JUMPED back and FELL onto his wife, with the most surreal fright i have ever seen. go me.

so that was the heart-stopping scene, everything else was quite bland. good night.

*hurried blog*

right. the week started off unpleasantly - the army hostel didn't have any sheets or blankets, and it was COLD. although i borrowed a sheet from a neighbour, i shivered and froze the entire night. the following two days i was absolutely exhausted, and didn't get much studying done - plus i had to read a lot in hebrew, and that's difficult enough for me as it is.

i finally caught up on tuesday night, with 11 hours of sleep.
damn.

wednesday night was fun - we went to our dba's apartment, and watched the football match between israel and cyprus - and it was fun. and we won: bonus.

one of the guys in our department also needs to move out of the hostels, so we've begun searching for an apartment together. hopefully it won't take too much longer.

i had a job interview yesterday, which went kind-of-okay, and afterwards met up with the dog in tel aviv. we had coffee with a friend of his, and he convinced me to go along to mike's place, a really crappy bar.

where i ran into a friend of mine (my first crush (mfc)) that i haven't seen in years, who i was meant to meet up with when i was in london, and we talked for ages.

this morning i woke up early (in spite of playing rummy-kub at 3am on my way home), around 8.30, showered, packed up, and got on my way. i had coffee with an old friend in the mall, and met a guy who used to be friends with her father, in one of those jewish-geography/it's-a-small-world things.

i met up with mfc, and we went to tel aviv, to get the bus to afula.
don't ask.
we went separate ways, and met up again in afula, where we chilled for a bit before i came back to the kibbutz.

oh, and i did some organizing during the week, and i'm now officially living in tel aviv. yeah :)

*flit*

wow - another week. zoomed passed, without collecting 200.

DAMN.

on sunday they moved me to the beachfront in tel aviv. now, compared to petach tikva, anything's alright, but this is seriously nice.

two new guys in our unit - it's weird, but i've only been there a week and i feel the same about these two as the other guys do. one of them's a bit of a problem, we'll see how that pans out. but generally, it's been an interesting (learned a lot of oracle stuff) and fun (played serious soccer and had a barbeque) week.

i've received a detailed report on this beit abir martial arts school from the wolf, and it's keeps sounding better and better. i gotta try this, hopefully sunday evening i'll get a chance.

i'm still on the lookout for a nice girl... *juts out lower lip*

*deep breath*

one week later...

i've now been a real, working soldier for a week. and it's been one of those weeks that just flew past.

not yet a dull moment. the guys i'm working with are great, and the work so far, and for the foreseeable next two months, is interesting and not too difficult.

i'm still in shock over how much hebrew i've learned in a single week.

the living conditions have been a bit of a bitch, as the hostel i've finally ended up at is over half an hour away from the base, which wouldn't be too much of a problem if they had a laundry service, and maybe food somewhere.

the firing range was, umm, embarrassing. it's the first time i've used an uzi, and i misunderstood how the safety works, and had mine set to automatic.

WHOOPS.

never mind. there are less good-looking girls on the base than i thought, but there's not much i can do about that. i'm still stuck on this girl i met last thursday, but it's a different base :(
*SIGH*

and these are the big issues in life. i can't say that i'm unhappy. i'm fscking ECSTATIC! i can't believe i've been this lucky

^_^


right, now to continue enjoying my weekend.

the OTHER shaving

yep, that's right. i spent this morning shaving my beret. i slept rather a lot, too, and generally arsed around the day, occasionally reading harry potter, and doing the family supper thing.

oh - learned about a new martial art school in tel aviv, the wolf and i are going to go check it out on wednesday.

oh, yeah, and i learned a bit of PL/SQL for sunday. not too complicated.

i just finished getting my bum handed to me on a plate in chess. my brain hurts a little.

really, really in the army

okay - long, long day.

yesterday, after i got to karnaf's place, i slept and slept (and watched
some movies) and slept until 6.15... i made it out of the apartment
just in time, but was almost at the base before realizing that i'd
forgotten all my important documents.

brilliant.

fortunately, i didn't need it at the induction base - same guys from
yesterday, sorted me out in 2 seconds. see what a personal call can
do?

i got sent to the main base in tel aviv, but took a little longer than
i should have as i made the detour to pick up my things. which i
definitely, definitely needed. i love making good calls.

the rest of the day would have been a lot of fun, if i hadn't been
carrying my kit-bag, and if it hadn't been so hot and icky, and if i
hadn't been under time pressure.
i couldn't stop sweating, which increased my general discomfort.
t'wasn't lovely at all.

anyway, the day began with an interview, where the guy was kind enough
to speak in english for most of it. nice guy, heads the unit that MY
unit is a branch of. i got into the unit!

that's actually the main news for the day. the rest of the afternoon
was what they call "form hiking", where you go from office to office
trying to get the right forms filled out. of interest:

the personal-situation commander (what she's going to be) discovered
that the academic corps FORGOT to inform the system that i'd returned
to service.
excellent.

the medical offices are outside the base, quite far away. i walked all
the way there, got a signature, and walked all the way back.

only to get sent all the way back to get the second signature.
DOH!

i completed everything at 16.10, and was promptly instructed to be on
the base in ramat gan at 16.00.
yeah, right.
so, i did my best, and got there at 16.55, just before my commander
(no more "potential") left, and he introduced me to some of the guys,
showed me my desk and pc, and explained what sunday will be like.

sunday will be exactly like today, only on a different base.

also, my kit-bag has been banned from the base (it's considered
offensive), and i've been instructed to come to the base on sunday
with my beret properly prepared (it's new): so i'm now sitting and
shaving it with a disposable razor, and tomorrow i'll find a suitable
container to soak it in.

i finally taught myself to do the laces on the boots properly, so i'm
rather proud, and at some point today i got back into soldier-mode, so
i reckon i'm going to be okay.

now, i get a weekend!

i walked in to my cousins' place, and was told i looked "cute". NOBODY gets pictures,
that's the third person to make that comment. my feelings are hurt.

in the army now

work last night was HORRIBLE. we had technical difficulties, and difficult clients. and when it wasn't going crazy, i was tired and bored.

i got to bed at four am, and woke up at 6.15, shaved, showered, packed and stressed off to get the bus. i was stressing because i forgot to plan my route.

a cousin of mine always says the army mentality is "hurry up and wait". i made it there by 8am, and then waited. after about half an hour, they sent us off to get new uniforms, and this took until around 10-10.30... i'd forgotten little things like how to lace up my boots, etc., but i do now have a uniform that fits.

after another little wait, we got taken to the assignments office. i waited there from 11am till 3.30pm, with a short break for lunch.
i'm not kidding.
apparently this is normal.

at the end of the wait, i received papers that told me to go to "tzrifin" base (where she's doing her basics) in the morning, so that they could send me back here to the ramat gan base.
brilliant.

i made my way home, finally not paying for public transport, and was in almost constant communication with my soon-to-be commander. i have never in my life heard ANYONE speak so fast, and it was all in high-level hebrew. i'm having to make do with understanding the concepts of what he's trying to say, even if word-for-word i'm clueless.

anyway, he's managed to sort out that tomorrow morning i'll go back to the same base, and he'll pick me up from there.
which is nice.

i had a shower, and then crashed - a relative called while i was sleeping, i shouldn't have answered. i was totally not in any state to talk to human beings at the time.

it's amazing how much difference two hours of sleep can make.

and i have strange tan lines because i kept falling asleep in odd places.

so that's my news - i'm happy to be in the army, but it's definitely going to take some getting used to. the reason i'm not working tonight is that a) i'm too tired and b) karnaf just reminded me that it's illegal without authorization.

they'll just have to suffer a man short.

i'm probably going back to bed now, i'm still lacking sleep from about 3 days now.

*exhausted*

i got a ride back to karnaf's, where i had a shower and CRASHED. i got up a few hours later, maybe 5, and fscked off to herzliyah, where i ran around getting signatures. i only ran into one spot of trouble, and that's cause this new employee is a totally nasty person, just looking to piss people off.

got that sorted out eventually.

i stopped by some relatives for lunch, which was really nice, and made it back to karnaf's in time to put on shoes and get my ass to work, where i've been "actually working" ever since.

*sigh*

i'm so tired. so, so tired.

what day IS today??

well, technically, it's the early morning of the 26th of october. i'm sitting here at work, listening to hiphop while waiting for the abuse of stupid americans. i'm kinda tired, but still kinda wired, for which a suitable explanation ensues.

the 24th (not yesterday. the day before. approximately):

t'was a day for watching loads of telly. and ready good ol' 'arry potter. a cousin and i went through to afula for a bit, missioning unsuccessfully for decent chocolate.

oh, and i ate blue blueberry muffins all day. was a pretty good day, i guess.

in the evening, i called the army to find out what my assignment was, only to discover that nobody was assigned. i explained my situation, again, only this time to a male. i am not sexist, but this is the first person who's had the good grace to apologize for them taking so long, and promised me i'd get a call the following day.

false hope or not, i didn't care. i got excited.

yesterday:

around midnight, i went to take out the trash. suddenly got hit by a spark of inspiration - the paved parking lot is ideal for doing taekwondo forms. so i did. i had a good shower afterwards, and slept really badly afterwards.

after waking up, i began sorting through all my army gear, which was amusing. i packed all my things, had lunch with the cousins, and then we all went to afula, from where i was planning to go to work.

coffee: the really cute waitress dropped (in slow-motion, we all got the effect) my cappuccino, immediately after which i received *THE* phone call. i start my army service on wednesday morning!!

SO typical, it's murphy: it's all because i came back to work.

anyway, i was so excited, that i bounced all the way to my cousin's office, to tell her the news. i'd left the girls behind, they were just behind me, and i said "oh, good, you're sitting down.", as we'd laughed earlier that she'd fall off her chair if the army called me back.

she almost had a heart-attack. she went into shock, and it was only then that i realized that out of context, me arriving without the girls, and making a comment about remaining seated, was completely inappropriate. i guess i was just a little too excited for my own good.

anyways, that got sorted out eventually, and the whole ride home i was bouncing up and down, so excited that i would've screamed if it hadn't been for the company.

i got back to the kibbutz, packed my gear into my kit bag, said goodbye to everyone, and did the bus thing. it's been a while since i lugged the bag around - that thing by f@$%!ing HEAVY.

oh, and got two calls on the way -
1) from the university. my degree is more or less closed, i just have to run through tomorrow (today?) to a couple of offices on campus, and finalize things.
2) my mom, who's almost as excited as i am.

got to work, still excited, to tell the boss "thanks for hiring me back, gotta go"... i can't not find the whole thing funny. now i've got to find people to replace me :P

work's been alright, although a bit on the boring side. but my news r0xx0rs SO much, it's just amazes me. and i've gotten in touch with all sorts of interesting people, friends i ain't been able to get hold of for a while.

t'was a good evening. some of the calls this morning have been a bit shitty, but i now have no reason to care. whatsoever.

a GREAT wake-up

i've just been informed that instead of bringing my army service forward, like they promised... those bastards moved it back ANOTHER day.

FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK

DAMMIT.

so ja, just gonna take it easy for a day, then find out what the hell's going on.

too much KoL

it's true. it can be bad for you.

after my unusual wake-up, i joined the family for a trip up north, to the enormous druze village of daliyat-al-karmel. very pretty, and we had a rather nice time. great lunch.

when we got back, we did the whole farm-tour-thing, which was great, and then had a huge braai, all really good food. i've spent the last hour or so online, and now it's time to get to bed. i've found out that the army's called me up, so i have to find out what for in the morning, but i'm not sure if i'm going to come back here tomorrow evening...

Lovecraftian morning.

OMFG. a large group of CLAWcreatures weren eating around a large dining-room table. during the dinner, i remembered a dessert-bowl of food i'd placed "temporarily" in a corner the last time we'd been there, and scrabbled through some boxes on the side of the room, and found it sitting untouched on the floor.

the bowl was still warm.

fascinated, i stared at the contents of the bowl, which warped and wobbled, and suddenly began shrinking, as if something at the bottom was sucking it all up really quickly.

it had, actually, sucked itself up, and was, in fact, a tiny cthuloid gnocchi-beast. it burped a tiny burp, and then threw up everything it had just consumed - only it threw up a little more than that, so the bowl was dripping with overflow.
it then proceeded to suck it all up again.

this happened a few times, each time dribbling a bit out of the bowl, and we were all fascinated and intrigued: a REAL cthuloid gnocchi-beast!

during a spew-period, i attempted to move the bowl to a placemat, but spilled some of the gushing, semi-transparent, slimy liquid. one last, gigantic suck, and a tiny gibletish thing was all that remained.
the gnocchi-beast was gone.

*later*

we were all watching through some form of portal, as the caretaker of a large, rather bouncy and energetic cthuloid creature explained that the date-aid had been removed. a crucial part of it must have been in the "soup" that slopped over, and the tiny gibletish thing was undoubtedly its remains. without the date-aid, the cthuloid could not be combined with a partner, and so had separated out, thankfully, into another dimension. i don't know what happened to the gnocchi.

this was the dream i woke up to this morning. needless to say, i *bounded* out of bed to write it down before it disappeared!

yesterday:

i got up fairly early, and i hadn't really slept, so i wasn't feeling too good. we went to afula, had some breakfast and coffee, did a little shopping, walked around, and then came back to the kibbutz.

where i passed out. after my nap, i either watched tv, or read a bit of the fourth harry potter book, or talked with the cousins.

aside from doing the communal supper thing, that was pretty much my day. in the evening, in a flash of giant stupidity, i completely destroyed my cousins' computer - i not only managed to repair it, but improved the installation as well.

and then ghosted the sucker. oh yeah, i felt pretty good when i got to bed, finally, at 2am...

back at the ranch

yesterday:

work was actually quite fun: i got sammy interested in kingdom of loathing, and got to talk on irc again! i love working there.

i slept at sammy's, and during the afternoon got him completely addicted to counterstrike. i'm a selfish, bad person. but proud of it, too.

in the late afternoon, i went through to visit a friend in herzliyah, and then went with SxS and a friend for drinks and snacks at medzzo, a really uppity restaurant in the industrial area.

late night caught us playing texas holden, a really cool variation on poker. i did REALLY well at the beginning, but ultimately got left with nothing. oh well, it's my first time.

today:

i slept really badly, and woke up early to go sort out social security. the security by the door really pissed me off, as they confiscated my bag due to a pair of nailclippers. i almost lost my rag.

sorting out SS wasn't too rough - i paid it off at the bank. i had a haircut, and then met up with an old associate for steaks and dealing: seems i might be getting a salary for a bit... db project, sounds interesting enough. now i just gotta guarantee that i get paid.

he dropped me off at the bus station, and i took the buses to the kibbutz, where i met a second cousin for the first time. so we've all been chatting, and arbing, and eating, and by now it's way past time to be showering, as the haircut's left me all itchy.

w00t! i have clean clothes now!

a curry-filled day

i woke up this morning, and watching the rocky horror picture show. for the first time. and it was quite fun :) prolly not as good as the real thing, but i still enjoyed it.

i spent the day reading through the looking glass, which was very different from how i remembered it. and i see now where the odd bits from the disney movie came from.

i took a long walk to work, and started work with an absolutely BRILLIANT order of curry noodles. with chutney. god bless the thai.

right, working now. or something. $$$

the 18th. kinda like the 18th hole. but different.

right. i felt much better when i went to bed last night, and much better when i woke up. i felt much better when yogi dropped me off at the bus stop, and much better as i had a humungous breakfast with karnaf. i felt incredible as i walked around the city, trying to locate the central office of the kibbutzim, and got the phone number of the one person in the country who can actually help me.

and it turns out he's the same person who helped me before, to get onto the current kibbutz in the first place - now i just hope he won't have any problem moving me to the centre of the country.

i felt good as i made my way to my old workplace, and felt amazing as they told me that not only did they not mind rehiring me until i go into active duty, but that they want me to start immediately. and they'll deal with my social security.

the 3.5 hours of work i did today (retraining) covers my transport costs for the week, and tomorrow night i'm working an 8 hour shift.

AH-YEAH!

i missed the last bus back to afula, which was quite upsetting, but karnaf has been good enough to let me stay here again. after an emergency shower, we sat down to watch clerks. it's just as good the second time around... perhaps better.

oh - and a little afterthought: my previous ex-girlfriend actually called me back today, and we had a quick 10-minute chat. it's good to have at least a clue about what's been happening with her, even if the updates weren't all good.

i feel good about how today went. i feel very, very good about it.

later that same day... kinda

i've just discovered my new bible. aren't i fickle? it's at

this place, over here. i'm a link. click me!

i've decided it's alright for me to become a "normal" human being now. me, just more so. *evil giggle*

i managed to do sweet bugger-all for the rest of the day. i been online, i watched some tv (best fear factor ever - so many things that i wanna try!), and had long arguments with yogi and his girlfriend about moving into yogi's parents' place for a few weeks. maybe i will.

right, back to my big self-realization.

the 17th. a better day.

right. i'm feeling pretty good - i've been introduced to something called "gat", and leaf that makes you happy when you chew it. nice one.

i literally slept the whole of yesterday. i woke up around 8/9pm, and had a pizza for breakfast. sometime after midnight SxS took me through to yogi's, where we talked until 4am before crashing.

this morning, yogi's girlfriend gave me a ride to campus, where i finally dropped off the scotch and gifts i've been luggin around, saw some people, and had breakfast.

i then visited some friends in my old area, and had coffee and a cigarette (i've been smoking quite a bit in the last while, and i just don't care). yogi picked me up, and we went to see the kibbutz in herzliyah. turns out they're fully booked, and so is another kibbutz i tried.
oh well.
i'll just have to wait.
some more.

i joined yogi for some shopping, had some of this "gat" (which i'm most satisfied with), and then returned to his place. i've been introducing him to gmail, which has been quite entertaining, and am now about to spend a few hours assing around, maybe watching some telly. go me!

the 15th. a day of depression (16th)

harsh. i feel numb, and alone. yet, strangely comfortable, familiar with that feeling.

last night i went to her grandfather's surprise birthday party, and it was the first time i've been at her place since i've been back. her new boyfriend was there, and what really got me started on this thought process was the fact that he's allowed to sleep over, whereas i had to avoid her place altogether.
needless to say, i really am jealous.

her father seems to be back to normal with me, which i guess means that he's realized that we're not getting married anytime soon. or that he's growing up.
whichever.
i don't care.

i've been okay with the idea of us not going out since we broke up, but tonight i really felt single for the first time in years.

it also dawned on me that although i may have dealt with all my issues apropos my father dying, i never really dealt with all the other shit surrounding it, like seeing my younger sister in a bad way, and the family drama that occurred during the week after the funeral.

all in all, i've got a lot of dealing to do.

back to the more mundane:

early yesterday afternoon, i got on the bus from ra'anana to afula. about 10 minutes into the bus ride, her mom called to invite me to the birthday party.

now, i don't really mind that she forgot to invite me before that, but her timing was aweful. i got to the kibbutz, did some frantic packing, had to search through their storage facility-thingy to find my jeans, and then...

i got the times all wrong from the bus-company's website, so i didn't think i had enough time to wait for the bus to afula from the kibbutz. i unsuccessfully tried to hitchhike, but was desperate enough to take a cab.

now, the cab fair is 5 times the price of the bus fare, and i'd already spent a fair amount on travelling for the day. not only that, but the taxi driver had to make a detour to go pick something, so i was unimpressed and in a huge hurry.

we started talking, and i explained my homeless situation to the taxi driver. he then explained that the solution is obvious: all i need to do is find a girl who'll move into an apartment with me, thereby reducing all my costs.

yeah, fucking right.

so i explain to him that that's a lot easier said than done, meaning that it's difficult to find a suitable girl, who's happy enough with you, etc., but he misunderstood and tried to set me up with some girl he either knows / is related to.
my god.
no way.
so i politely attempt to explain to him that that kind of setting up is just not a part of my culture, so sorry.
the rest of the drive was silent.

it turned out that the bus would've been on time >@, but whatever. i passed out on the bus, and got off in the industrial area of herzliya.
great, but noone could come and pick me up. so after some frantic organizing, i walked through to a friend's place, and she picked me up from there.

after dinner, during which i successfully defended my fingers at the buffet (at the cost of eating decently), i got dropped off at said friend's place again, and a group of us went for a walk and a sit-down in a park.
t'was nice.
aside from the introspection.
we walked back, ate quite a bit (i had some catching up to do), and i'm now at ru55's, where i'm about to crash.

it must be some kind of record!

we just got back, at 2.30am, from a braai 'n chill, to discover that SxS is rather unSxSful when it comes to keeping pet fish... his goldfish lasted about 28 hours before going belly up.

*sigh*

the 14th. *DOOM*

boy, have i been feeling like crap. the whole day.

i slept quite a bit, but got to the point where i just couldn't sleep anymore. i spent the day disorientated, dazed, and confused.
and slow.
very, very slow.

i had a nap in the evening, after which i felt much better, and i'm really lucky that i remembered to phone her mom for her birthday. i *HATE* speaking on phones, but i managed to pull through, and it's alright now.
*phew*

ummm, after wearing these overalls for a couple of days, i've finally decided that i've found my style. now i just gotta organize myself a few more pairs (pairs?)... they gotta be at least 2 sizes too big for me, have a drawstring or backpack-type belt, and tons o' pockets, and then i'll have all the clothing i could wish for ^_^

and that's about all the intelligence that's coming out of me today.

orange evening of the 13th

yes. i went all the way to the base, getting severely screwed over by a bus driver on the way, to get told a simple line that could have saved much aggravation yesterday if it had only been said ON THE GODDAMN PHONE.

2 seconds after walking in, i then had to walk back out and catch a bus back to where i'd started my morning.

karnaf and i had breakfast on dizengoff, which was rather nice, and after a too-quick 10 minute nap, i was off to the campus in herzliyah.
i hate travelling.

a few of us made a presentation to potential south african / australian students, which was alright, and visited some friends.

turns out that the entire project that i've been working on during my holiday was flawed from the start, and they've built a completely new system from scratch, which totally makes my work worthless.

great.

i've been chilling with SxS, we've been to the airport and back, and now i'm trying to get my paws on some food.

i say it's been an orange evening, 'cause i been wearing my overalls in public again. i *LIKE* my overalls.

early morning of the 13th

and it is. it really is.

yesterday:

i got up stupid-early (around 6.30am), got my blades, packed in a hurry, had a 3-minute shower, and got a ride to afula, from where i took a bus to herzliyah.

and then WALKED. i walked a long, long way. s'what happens when you get off at the wrong stop, in the middle of nowhere.

i spent the rest of the morning on campus, sorted some things out *1, and then she came to fetch me, and we went to the mall. from there we went to her grandparents, for a really nice lunch.

after that i went to SxS's, and from there to our friend in pituach's, for an awesome chicken salad feast.

and then we went to the alumni "do" at the university. was quite pretentious, but we got some spiffy promo things (a glass chess set, and an organizer incl.).

i left early, and bladed HARD to get to the bus-stop. after being dropped off in tel-aviv i bladed HARD to get to karnaf's place. only to find out that i wasn't late.

*sigh*

i put on my bright orange primi piatti overalls, and joined the group.

the group's alright, nothing special. the route sucks ASS. they can fuck right off, i'm not doing that again.

not that i completed it in the first place. too of us got completely friggin' lost, and had to take a taxi back to tel-aviv at 1am. 'cause we'd bladed to the next friggin' city. that sucked.

not to mention that it's the first time i've bladed in forever. i got a lot of exercise, but i also got blisters on my feet, and i made it back to karnaf's just before they started to get serious on me.

today:

i just got up, i'm drinkin' ma' coffee, and then i'm off to the base. 'cause i TRIED to call them yesterday. i can't go in my overalls, 'cause they don't have no pockets.

*1: i called the army yesterday. each person i spoke to tried to convince me that i was talking to the wrong person, so i got switched several times. in one of the conversations, i spent AGES trying to explain my situation to this one girl. eventually, she gave up, and asked me for my personal number, which i promptly gave her. she then goes "oh! it's --insert my name here--! how are you? why didn't you tell me it was you?", has a quick laugh with whoever was with her, and then puts me through to someone else entirely, who couldn't help me at all.

12th already...

i gotta be up in 6 hours, so i can go BACK to herzliya.
rediculous.

i completely wasted yet another day. got up at 12, farted around for five hours, and then SxS dropped me off at the bus-stop.

i've just watched the second harry potter movie: not NEARLY as good as the book. some parts were alright, but they skipped important bits, and included nonsense. why, oh WHY, do i expect more??

g'nite.

-bombed-

we just watched hellboy. i fell asleep almost from the start.

not good.

went bowling earlier. i sucked the big one.

*yawn*. it's totally bedtime.

oct 10th

wow. i been here almost three weeks. crazy, man... crazy.

before i forget, here is a link to translated hunter x hunter manga.
my favourite.

last night i came to karnaf's place. we watched mivtzah savtah (operation grandmother) before crashing. i slept rather well, and have spent the entire day so far (i'm still waking up early from the past week) catching up on webcomics, and listening to good trance. simultaneously, even.

in a bit i'm probably off to herzliya. or ra'anana. or wherever. what sucks is that i'm gonna have to go back up north at some stage, and i'm too busy being bored down here :(

all tuckered out

i've been napping all afternoon - i'm completely drained, but feeling good nonetheless.

all good things must come to an end: in about half an hour or so, i'm gonna have to leave this apartment, and the cheshire cat :( *sniff* *sob*

i read more harry potter this morning, then slept until the cat got to me, showered, and spent the day finishing the 3^rd book. what a great book! i can't wait to see the movies, if only to satisfy my curiosity as to how close to the books they are.

and that about sums up the value of my day. as my cousin so succinctly put it (we were discussing our incapacity to enjoy holidays): "i'm a bum!".

it's the 9th already!

alright. here goes. i spent a lot of the evening reading the third harry potter book. i found out that j. k. rowling's not just some housewife who happened to write some good stuff, but that she's an academic and has actually put a lot of work into the series. apparently it's targeted for adults, which isn't too surprising. i have to say that i've been completely drawn in ^_^

SxS and co. came to the rescue. we went out to a club called self, which is where we couldn't get in on halloween owing to my costume (and the fact that israeli's don't celebrate all-hallow's eve).
the dance music sucked, but the hip-hop was cool, and i had great fun. so many stunning girls, and i had no idea whatsoever of how to initiate a conversation. my lack of confidence is mostly due to the fact that you can't hear a damn thing in clubs, and my hebrew's not too good either... i lose no matter what. so i just danced with and eyeballed the girls of interest, until home time.

actually, at one point there were so many people that it became more of a moshpit, but i held my ground until things cooled off a bit. at least, our section cooled off a bit :)

but DAMN, them girls was FINE.

i got back home to a cat that was absolutely PINING for me! it's so cute! almost, but not quite, makes up for me coming home alone.

right, it's a toss-up between more harry potter, and a shower and bed. hmmm...

*phew*

well, my friend finally called me, to let me know that they're alright. took bloody long enough, too.

umm, i went to training this afternoon:
a) i really don't have as much energy as i'd like, i'm totally unfit
b) nothing's changed. at all. i'm just severely disappointed

i came home, a bit morbid (i still am), and had a shower, then a nap. which i'm feeling more-or-less in the middle of, but i'll read a bit before resuming.

shocked (8th)

i just read about the bombing in taba, and that's pretty fucked up. my friend and his girlfriend (who i'm housesitting for) are somewhere in sinai, so it's not only fucked up, but a bit close to home.

yesterday and today:

been bored. done very little, aside from reading harry potter, listening to streaming trance, and taking the occasional walk. the cat woke me up this morning by pawing my nose, as if it were an "on" button.
it worked, dammit.
i think that cat knows something.

i just came back from shopping. on a friday. i should know better.
i'm sure the old people make everything difficult on purpose.

all is quiet

i just finished watching shaun of the dead. good movie.

it's officially holiday time, and it feels like everything's come to a complete standstill. i have the urge to do absolutely nothing.

today went better after i managed to get the sleep out of my eyes. i cleaned the kitty litter, which wasn't nearly as bad as i expected, and did some basic shopping. my mother would be ashamed if she knew what i bought, but nevermind.

i walked a good deal again, had a cup of coffee at azrieli center, and then SxS and i played some pool at the lincoln. and i actually won, for the first time in ages... i wish i could say it was due to me improving...

i had a good nap this afternoon, and the cat obviously didn't notice :)

here's to my boring holiday. *bleargh*

*groaaaaaaaan*

oh god. help me please.

i was woken at 4am, or something, with a face full of fur. only problem is that this pussy mews LOUD. and then, not only did it take me forever to get back to sleep, but the cat gets cranky and noisy at 7am PRECISELY - because he's run out of food.

and i haven't exactly gotten quality sleep... i'm allergic to cats so my nose is partially blocked.

and i thought my headache was bad when i went to bed...

i think the cat, gorgeous as he is, has it in for me. and i haven't yet had the pleasure of cleaning the kitty litter.

*throb* my brain hurts! *throb* (5th Oct)

oh wow - hectic day!

1) somehow managed to get up early, unloaded / loaded the dishwasher, shaved, showered, picked up my laundry, packed, and left

2) sorted myself out with cash and a shuwarma in afula

3) arrived in herzliya's industrial area, waited half an hour for her to arrive, had coffee, walked around, and got dropped off at the train station

4) took the train to tel aviv, got picked up by karnaf, and was introduced to the apartment, it's owner, and the cheshire cat

nice bloody apartment. i can most certainly deal with staying here for a few days. the cat's diabetic, so it consumes a lot = it produces a lot.
but that's alright.

i decided to walk, so i could learn a bit of the area, and the bus routes. i walked all the way to azrieli centre, arbed and wombled around there, then walked to kikar rabin.
that's quite a lot of exercise.

i bussed back here, with no problem, and have just received a call from an old friend. i would have met up with her tomorrow, but we realized that it's impossible for me to get back here to look after the cat, so we'll just have to wait...

right, i'm gonna nap a little, then i guess i'm off to yogi's place.

later that same day...

we justed watched jackass: the movie. some of it was hysterical (pandas, golf), a lot of it was just tasteless and horrible. still, haven't laughed like that in a long time...

uncoil (4th)

wow. i have got to learn to just accept people for the way they are. it's not my business to teach anyone how to behave. other than my own children, of course.

the other big realization for the day is that the story of my life is in the process of unfolding, and i have to stop living only for the future. everything i've been doing has been for the current phase, and i've got a long way to go for the next one. my unfortunate news for the day is that apparently there's nothing i can do about my army service till it's begun... and the way i was spoken to today, i get the feeling that my position in this unit isn't as secure as i thought.

so, basically, it's all just wait-and-see. so i may as well do that. and i really do have to learn to just relax, and enjoy myself. i actually do have time.

in case it's not readily apparent, i did practically nothing today.

wobble 'n wooze (3rd)

well.
well, well, well.
well.

i say, "well!".

i managed to go to sleep after posting my last post, and this is a basic summary of what i dreamed:

we were shooting some sci-fi movie, us being lookalikes for the actual cast. the movie ends with my character's girlfriend crashing in to the rescue. or something.

we took the train back. the train passed through private tracks, owned by the university i've just finished attending. michael j. fox was working as the conductor, and we had to give him cash for the ticket. angel (our CLAW one) goes absolutely dotty over him, while i try to act all nonchalant. she climbs into a tiny cupboard / compartment thingy at the front of the train, from where she proceeds to make train announcements (interesting acoustics).


i must be alright :)

i woke up to a cup of coffee, and got a ride into afula. i caught the bus at 8am, and arrived on the base just before 10am. it's ALWAYS better to do these things in person - i think the girl i spoke to understood me, and it appears that things should go smoother now if i just chill and wait for a response.

i got in touch with an old flame, without having to circuitously get to her through her parents... but i'll have to wait and see if she actually wants to get in touch with me.
*sigh*

i had a great coffee / breakfast with karnaf, who then extremely considerately gave me a ride all the way to hadera. i would have stopped in herzliya, but i was wearing my i've come for your daughter shirt, and her parents and grandparents would NOT be okay with it.
*silly chortle*

the bus back sucked, as it was packed and i had to stand. by the time i got back to the kibbutz, i was wasted, and i totally crashed. i woke up in the evening, in time to catch most of the fellowship of the ring, supper, and rush hour. now that this computer's been re-installed, it's working alright, but i can't wait till tuesday - gonna be housesitting, and will have access to a REAL pc. w00t!

right, more tv, then bedtime.
yup, definitely bedtime.

shoot me. shoot me now.

great - i have to be up at 7am, so OBVIOUSLY i can't get to sleep. i've been tossing and turning, trying to remember the hebrew word for squirrel.
i hate myself sometimes.

yesterday evening my cousin's brother took us out for coffee, which was nice, and after getting back, i whiled away the time reading, watching tv, and going for a long walk.
good on me, eh?

dammit, i feel like crap. and by that, i mean that i don't feel so good.

ho hum... (2nd Oct)

yesterday:

i didn't sleep so well. went to bed around 6am-ish, woke up a couple of hours later. i gave the dog's cousin a good lesson in tekken, although he really wasn't bad, and had a decent breakfast while re-watching the first spiderman. there was a lot of army conversation / jealous argument going around, and i found it rather interesting / amusing.

i took a bus to afula, and from there back to the kibbutz. dinner last night was quite pleasant, and we watched gorgeous in the evening, which was quite entertaining, and contained some of jackie chan's most amusing work. i got to bed rather early.

today:

i woke up quite late, after dreaming some extremely strange dreams (including running around naked in a futuristic school / synagogue / gigantic colloseum-type thing). i've had a pretty lazy day, but am now quite frustrated due to a bad copy of rush hour 2. i'm totally disappointed, and i haven't seen the ending. my cousin's husband has been sorting out his pen collection. i'm really trying to take an interest. really, i am. honest. they want me to upgrade their computer, which wouldn't be a biggie, but they want everything in hebrew... i think i'm going to go bury myself in my new book.

*bzzz* (30th)

*sigh*
so tired.
all the time.

yesterday:

i went for a drive with the cousins to an enormous meat mall, and watched brother bear. i had a good nap, and we had a birthday supper for one of the cousins, which was rather nice.

i took the bus to tel-aviv, where i met up with the dog, who i haven't seen in years, and we played pool, and generally arbed all over the city.
*womble*

mmmmmm... so many pretty girls. mmmmmm.

this morning:

i'm busy introducing him to KoL, and am about to steal his copy of the elegant universe, which i've been looking for for ages.
*glee*

*yawn* *stretch* (20th)

yesterday:

well, i did shower, and i did shave. i feel a bit more human. i ate lunch in the mess hall, and then spent the afternoon relaxing and napping.

in the evening i called my relatives, to say hi, and while i was doing this i called her mom, who has the flu. now i hate talking on phones, but never so much as when the person on the other side isn't in the mood to talk either. i was really uncomfortable.

we went to fetch my great-uncle from the home, and came back for supper. to celebrate the festival (tabernacles, i think it's called in english), we all set up on the grass with coffee and cake, and watched a cute show (singing, dancing, stories...). one of the girls really made an impression: incredible singer, and totally hot: i thought she was 16, turns out she's older than me.
DAMN.
i'm really bad at this... the soldier girls here don't look more than 15. boy, am i EVER in trouble!

last night we watched a couple of movies, the score and october sky. october sky was great, simply inspirational, and it was nice to see the score from the beginning.

*groggy* (29th)

hmmph. i'm typing this on a computer that's set up for hebrew, is virused to shit, and i can't see what i've typed until i've finished each sentence. superb.

yesterday:

i took a bus through to herzliyah, to my old apartment. nobody home, and i didn't feel comfortable using my keys. damn south-african culture. i went off to the idc campus, handed over the bottle of bells, spoke to some friends, and got threatened by the new person in charge of student housing. the nasty person. managed to get around her, thankfully. and i put in a request to close my degree. and double-re-checked that i don't owe the university any money.

i checked my bank account, bought myself a falaffel, and met up with her, while waiting for the new student in my old apartment to arrive. i got my mail, and received assurance that my bed and books would be fine. nice.

she and i went to the mall, where we had a non-alcoholic liquid lunch, and ran into a girl i haven't seen in years, who i kind of dated at one stage, and upset terribly with my lack of interest. she seems to have gotten over it (she didn't talk to me for months).

i visited SSSO, who's due to give birth within the next few weeks. it was nice to catch up, and we talked for quite a while.

now for the army situation:

i expected to have to go into service immediately. the academic corps has set my return date to the 8th of november. that's more than a month from now. that means two months with no place to live, and the unit i'm in needs me to begin immediately, as i have to replace someone. so now we're all fighting with my old commander to move the date forward.

i went back to kfar saba, picked up my gear from sammy's, and he gave me a ride to SxS's, where i discovered how upset they were with me about their cape town experience. we went off to the industrial area of herzliyah, had supper, and he then dropped me off at the bus-stop.

the bus ride was long, and uncomfortable. i did study some more japanese, but i'm progressing rather slowly. i have time, though :)
i got picked up by my cousins, and we talked quite a bit during the drive, and when we got to the kibbutz, but we were all exhausted, so i had a quick shower and crashed.

today:

i woke up late, and have spent WAY too long updating this site... this computer is STUFFED. i'm off to shower and shave.

confuzzed again (28th)

last night:

i finally made my shirts, and they came out BEEEE-YOOTifully. i'm rather proud, and i own some very pretty shirts. yes indeedy.

sandman came over, and we began the packing procedure. then protoplasm and associate came over, and we all sat around and talked for ages. they all left, i read my book, and then airplane and co. picked me up.
we went to erte, where they totally ignored my order, the bastards. we then fucked off to the beach, and talked a lot. this talking included the israeli-palestinian situation, general anti-bush/thabo sentiment, and the idea that corporations ruling instead of governments wouldn't be any worse.
i finally finished across the nightingale floor, and had a quick shower, finished packing, and left for the airport.

DAMN.

boy, was i ever nervous, and couple that with sleep deprivation, and you have an idea of what i was going through.

i made it JUST in time for the SAA flight to johannesburg, i got totally lost in the airport there, and for the first time ever i got taken to that special place for checking bags.
thank the lord that the dude wasn't being a prick.

i did some shopping, and bought goodies (like expensive whiskeys and biltong), and ran into SxS's dad, which was amusing.
after a long, boring wait to board, i began a 9 hour cycle of sleeping and learning japanese - i'm getting the idea, i reckon.

and the food was surprisingly good.

there was a mix up when i landed, and i had two people coming to fetch me... how unlucky am i? :P
the luggage took a full bloody hour to get onto the baggage claim, and then the bastards made me put it through the customs check.

maybe i should shave.

sammy and his wife have really made tonight easy. i quite like it here. i'm off to bed.

*sniff* (26th)

i can't believe i'm leaving tomorrow. it's been so good, and now i just have to leave it all for a great unknown.
crap.

yesterday:

supper was interesting, but my predictive posts are almost always wrong: i came home and went to bed.

today:

we started off our mission at my sister's, with no luck finding a working printer. we then went to my cousin's in kenilworth, where i printed all five of the transfers BACKWARDS.

DOH.

so i had to reprint them. they came out beautifully, however. we then went shopping, and i found replacement trousers - didn't think that would happen.
my mom dropped me off at schpatcon, for a day of munchkin and tekken. was a nice day, and i'm sad to say goodbye to all my friends...
and to cape town...
and to a nice, easy life on holiday...

the rest of it (25th)

alright. i woke up a bit late, but not too late :)

the module this morning was quite fun, and we did rather well. the tekken tournament, aside from some bungling, went just fine, and turned out to be quite fair as well. i wasn't allowed to play, but as promised, i did beat the winner.

and that's more or less how the day went. we played a munchkin game that lasted WAY too long, and it was basically them against me until the end.
figures.

i'm waiting now for my mum to arrive, and then it's big supper time. then i'm off to sweetiepie's to watch a video.

g'nite.

nooo! nooooo!(25 Sept)

i can't believe it's the 25th already! how sucky is THAT?!?!

yesterday morning, before going to bed at 5am, i managed to get hold of my mum's forgotten info, without having to touch windows 98. SO proud of myself.

two hours later, we went to my uncle's place, for coffee, and to be blown away by the 60/70 inch plasma screen. and full home theatre sound. and i'm so jealous it's disgusting.

after coffee, my mom dropped me off on middle campus, and i spent the afternoon in charge of the tekken players - the tournament begins today, so yesterday was more or less the training camp ;) i had to leave early for the whole yom kippur thing, so i couldn't play in moonflake and zenstar's module :'(, i was rather disappointed. and i'm going to have to leave early tonight, too...

after supper, i read for an hour or two, then passed out. and didn't wake up to let my mom in when she got home - whoops. nevermind.

right, i'm going back to sleep now.

*wooze* (24th)

i've just come back from upstairs - great fscking party. but i gotta be up early, so i had to leave :(

i'm a bit on the tipsy side, so this might come out a bit weird...

tuesday:

what an upsetting day. i put the pc together, paranoid all the way, only to discover that i had the wrong power supply. so i drove all the way to rectron, bought a new one, installed the damn thing, and the system refused to boot.

*INSTANT PANIC*

i was sure i'd screwed something up. i didn't feel so good about it. i haven't felt so bad about anything in a long, long time.

my friend with no nick (erm, hellraiser) took our pc under his wing, and i had to run off and drive my mom around town. which only added to my stress. the good news: by the time i'd gotten back, he'd figured out what the problem was (the video card), and i cannot express my relief in words. talk about saving the day.

we had some coffee, then met up with another friend of mine for drinks and kareoke. t'was interesting. more coffee after that, and then it was definitely bedtime.

yesterday:

i started the day reading across the nightingale floor - i'm about halfway through, and it's fan-bloody-tastic. i'm rather enthralled.

i ran through to rectron, bought a video card (far superior to mine in israel), and finally got this machine up & running. i can't believe windows XP takes so long to install, and i've discovered that my mother forgot to backup something crucial, so i'll have to re-install the old windows 98 to get it.
crap.

my mum and i went through to my aunt's in the evening for coffee, and i made it in time for TNM at shadowslight's. we watched dagon, which was great fun. and we played munchkin. the game took a bit too long, so we gave up and watched the gamers.

and then protoplasm dragged me off to the club.

continued (21st)

crap. day.

tkd almost killed the lot of us (three, really). at one point i was seeing in flashes - my body simply was not coping.

my mom aggravated me majorly, i had to sit like an idiot and wait for her for about half an hour, and i really didn't enjoy that. i then fscked off to rectron, and after a bit of a struggle i managed to organize the components i need. now to not destroy them when setting everything up. i'll have to do it tomorrow.

went off to canal walk, ran into an old friend, and bought across the nightingale floor: can't wait to read it. we had pretty good chinese for supper, and bought a packet of white rabbit! yay!! certainly can't get those in israel. and they had the coconut milk inna can, too.

i just spent an hour or so with my sister, catching up and scanning in some photo's, which i'll put online one day, i guess, maybe. i *have* to print my transfers, the waiting is killing me!

my neck! my legs! (21st Sept)

i went to training yesterday morning, against my better judgement. fortunately, i was the only one there, so i did my own thing, and rewarded myself by leaving early. sloth, you say?
never.

after a much needed shower, i made my way to campus, for a serious cup of not-so-serious coffee, and then moved on to my aunt's place, where i read some news and sorted out most of my email (they're clearing the mail server. again.).

i went back to town, and came up with a rough estimate for my mom's pc's upgrade... today's the day to get it over and done with.

in the late afternoon, i had a too-quick ten-minute nap, and then went to training again. t'was nice, but painful. did all sorts of damage, sweating, and generally exhausting things.
and got hold of the demo dvd - w00t!

spent last night watching the emmy's, and the first half of the documentary "the world according to bush". interesting, and it does lend a different perspective to the most dangerous man on the planet.

*bounce* *splat* (19th Sept)

i got up REALLY early this morning, around 9.30am, to go to the cemetary. there was a lot of visiting to do.
i just realized this morning that i've actually gotten something right. my late grandmother made me promise not to get married until after i'd finished studying. i'm finished studying. i haven't married anyone yet. i'm sure this normally wouldn't elicit comment, but considering what i've been through, it wasn't entirely out of the picture.

i read quite a bit of the curious incident of the dog in the night-time, then showered and got dragged off to the jewish museum, and then the national gallery.
interesting.

i picked up buffalo wings at nando's, and enjoyed them thoroughly while finishing the book. awesome bloody book. and thank heavens i've now been to london, or there were a couple of chapters i wouldn't have appreciated at all...

i joined sandman and his girlfriend in obs, and after a bite to eat we moved to cavendish. bookworms, the lot of us. i have a list of things to read. again.
we did a coffee thing, and then went to watch king arthur.

right. let's not talk about suspension of disbelief, and raging anachronisms. let's talk about king arthur being a roman.
um, ah... no.
let's talk about lancelot being a dodgy ponce with no romantic interest in guinevere.
ummm, errr.... no.
let's talk about keira knightley being a sexy, sexy, sexyⁿ woman.
oh, yes.

on my way home, i was annoyed by a set of brights right behind me. so i slowed down to let the idiot pass. and the idiot slowed down. so i slowed down some more. so did he.
this went on till we were doing about 30-40 kph, and i was getting really, really angry. he sped up a little, and i sat behind him for a while with my brights on, and he seemed to get the idea and fucked off.
but - WHY?!?!

and then i got home to find that some prick had parked across our parking entrance. WTF?!?!

watching the paralympics is inspiring. we're taping a documentary on bush's stupidity (can't wait!). i'm irritated that i finally have shirts and transfer paper, and our printer sucks and the scanner ain't workin'.
@!$%.

drained... cont'd (18th Sept)

less drained, ACTUALLY. firstfallen's surplise party was really, really nice. good food, good company, and she ACTUALLY like my pressie! yay!

not only did we find out about synkronos' 2000AD collection (*DAMN*), but we had a rather entertaining general CLAWs meeting, which was unusually productive.

my car got stuck in the mud outside moonflake's, and i only discovered a solution once they were already outside. so i had a moral support team, and it seems to have helped ;)

time for bed. or pre-bed reading. whichever.

-- oh my! i might get to an offspring concert tomorrow night! w00t!! --

drained (18th Sept)

thursday (16th):

thursday night supper was cool, and the food was good. i quite enjoyed being with my cousins again.

yesterday:

training yesterday morning was more educational than usual: i've been informed that i'm flat-footed when i fight, so i now have something to work on.

i managed to recruit some people into KAOS, and i made it to the Annual Gnarlyburr Marathon, which i haven't seen since '99...

my mum and i went to acupuncture together, which was really nice. cleansing.

supper last night was chilled, and babyacid's birthday thingum was rather nice, but i had to go home early due to general fatigue and a lack of breathing potential (too much smoke).

today so far:

i hate malls, and i started my day off in one. pre-breakfast. i picked up a couple of t-shirts, but that was as productive as it got. we then picked up some iron-on transfer paper, and went to the waterfront for breakfast and prezzie-shopping.

breakfast was nice - waffles with cream, and serious chocachino. i felt much better for it, less agitated. my mom has now officially missed shrek ii, as with so many other great films, and i'm a tad disappointed.
i got myself the curious incident of the dog in the night, for not too much money, and two books that will apparently start me off on the road to speaking japanese.

instead of doing some work, i'm about to nap for a bit (and read, too), and then later on i'll just see who's where.

and the days go on... (16th Sept)

supper last night was nice.

training this morning was nice. only two of us, doing forms. my legs still hurt badly afterwards, though.

lunch this afternoon was not so nice. rather uncomfortable, didn't know anyone, many elderly, the only person my age was a not-so-cute chick.

we tried to visit an art gallery in town, but they've had this brilliant idea and turned all the paintings around, so that we can see what's written on the backs of them. they can fuck right off, that's just stupid, and not exactly art.

napping this afternoon was alright. that's about everything so far.

laze... (15th Sept)

yesterday:

i slept most of yesterday, and went to training in the evening. training was cool, very cool. but i'm sore now. *sigh*

today:

i drove my mom around this morning, to reduce stress levels and to acquire the use of the car for the day. i was going to go to training, but i thought i'd rather sleep in instead. and so i did.

i went to campus, to discover just how bad the KAOS situation is... i'm actually rather embarrassed about the clawmembers - they are completely uninspired and unmotivated... they're just a bunch of useless nerds. i am ashamed to be in any way associated with them.

i picked up my mom from work, we did some last minute shopping, and i've been arbing around while she's at the synagogue. i'm a really good jew. really.

so, happy new year!

home (14th Sept)

friday (10th):

hyper_viper and i started off the day at the starbuck's in green park. she met us there, and we all went off to the science museum. nice, but not quite as cool as i'd hoped. rather disappointing.
we then went off to the tate modern - now THAT was cool. we didn't have enough time to see everything, but we certainly tried, and it's just filled with awesome things.

we went back to st. paul's cathedral for a few minutes (she hadn't been there before), and then back to the eerie pub, for a couple of drinks and a good chat.

it was then time for supper, so we parted company. supper was really, really nice.

saturday:

after we got home, i watched school of rock, which was amusing. that's a lot less than i was expecting, but never mind.

she and i started off the day with oxford and regent streets, which included hamley's - good heavens. we then moved on to camden town, for a gander and some lunch (i had the lemon chicken *grin*). while shopping around, i found THE trousers (damn the word "pants", you british bastards) of my dreams, and tried them on. they were STUNNING, but very expensive. as i leaned over to pick up my wallet, to see if i had enough money on me, i heard an aweful ripping sound.
right cunts, i'm not spending THAT much money on crap. we left in a right huff.
we hung around lloyd's for a while, waiting for hyper_viper to join us. all three of us went to kilburn, to find out about the evening's events - turned out to be a bit more difficult than we'd anticipated. oh well.

we took her to the green park station, said goodbye, and then returned to highgate for a quick shower 'n coffee.

we had some drinks in leicester square, where we talked a lot, and were unfortunately interrupted by an annoying homosexual somalian, who figured he'd found a good time to hit on us. after giving up trying to get rid of him, we left. we met up with a friend, and hit another pub, before embarking on our journey into london's nightlife.

boy, did that trip ever go wrong. three times we got on the wrong tube... how?!?!

we ended up at frantic. aside from the music, the place was absolutely brilliant, and the crowd was great. we quite enjoyed ourselves (aside from three pints costing about R150 - we drank very slowly). i passed out on the night-bus home.

sunday:

we got to bed around 3am. all three of our phones rang simultaneously at about 9am or so... this not only woke us up, but confused the crap outta us at the same time. turned out to be the girls playing a prank on us.

we went for a drive into heartfordshire (did i spell that right? do i care?), and came across a sign that states: "panshanger". so, when we entered the pub, i asked "are we shanging?"
in a snobby english pub, this was not entirely appreciated. oops.

i've never eaten a bunny before, so i ordered myself the braised rabbit. t'was good. the chocolate brownies for desert were simply too good...

hyper_viper and his girlfriend did me an ENORMOUS favour, and drove me around london so i could do all the things i had to before leaving. this included a cup of coffee with some cousins, who have pet bunnies, and children who don't like the idea of rabbits as nourishment.
it was all i could do to keep myself from laughing: hyper_viper's girlfriend was pointing out the pieces i'd consumed, and hyper_viper was saying things like "should've been named tasty"... BASTARDS.

unfortunately, driving through london is a lot slower than taking the tube, which resulted in some rather bad timing. the circle line was out of service, i didn't have a zone 6 ticket, and the train changed destinations (WHAT?!) between stops. needless to say, i was rather stressed and tense by the time i got to heathrow airport. and i made the check-in by TWO MINUTES.
*gasp*

so i was just in time to board, and off i went.

yesterday:

the flight was AWESOME, and i actually felt sorry for the idiots in business class. we flew on a 747-400, and the plane was practically empty, so almost all the economy class had four seats each.
with personal displays - i watched garfield, and van helsing.
and i'm so glad i didn't pay to see them.

i was exhausted by the time i got back home. i didn't even have the energy to go out for food, so we ordered a debonairs sub for lunch, and i slept the afternoon away. i went to shadowslight's in the evening, for some tv goodness, which was cool.

today:

due to a time-zone change, i missed my dentist appointment this morning. my mom is pissed, and i think it might be because it's the second missed appointment this holiday.

i'm currently reading introducing relativity. and my brain hurts.

i have slept an aweful lot today, i think my body may be hinting at me.

hot, wet, ... (10th Sept)

it's warm, and raining, and i can't figure out if i should be wearing a jacket or a vest.
*STEAM*

yesterday:

i forgot, until i got to the entrance of westminster abbey, that i didn't have any money.
crapicus.
so i had to walk for AGES to find a place to change dollars for me, and then i had to walk for AGES to get back. luckily, starbucks improved the return trip.

due to my inferior timing, i did a brisk walk through the abbey, which is not only interesting, but architecturally stunning, and i didn't have time to see everything - i'll have to come back someday. i did get to see charles darwin, though, which is cool (i almost stepped on him).

i met up with hyper_viper for overly-expensive drinks, and we went missioning off to the national gallery. due to our inferior timing (and some serious stomache-grumbling), we had to skip some sections. all in all, it was incredible.

we had chinese in camden town, and then went shopping at cyberdog - i wasn't allowed to leave without something, so i'm now wearing a super-cool vest that cost me lots and lots of money: but it does have a cyberdog label.

we stopped off at lloyd's for drinks, where i managed to slow my intake to a single pint of guinness, and we then made our way back towards the station. omfg - i have tried on the leather trenchcoat (matrix-neo style), and it is good. i don't know if i have enough cash for it, however...

rabbi_e met us up on the way, and hyper_viper went home to change, and the two of us went through to leicester square, and met up with a couple of his buddies. i went to the bathroom to blow my nose, and i was wiping off a tiny piece of tissue from my nose when the female bartender walked in, and she reckoned i'd been doing coke... got that sorted out, though :)
no, i can't give you any!

hyper_viper joined us, we drank another pint, and then the three of us went to another pub, where i had a smirnoff ice. at least i'm handling, but i probably shouldn't be drinking this much :P.

hyper_viper went home, rabbi_e and i visited his friends in a nice little apartment ON leicester square (bastards! that's a LOT of fscking money!), before i decided to come back here and get me some shuteye.

hurry! (9th Sept)

right, i gotta have a quick shower and get myself over to westminster abbey, so i'd better be quick... or else!

two days ago:

the braai was AWESOME, hyper_viper KNOWS what the hell he's doing. met some very weird girls, was most disturbing, and we didn't watch shaun of the dead because one of the guys had an exam in the morning.

and my word, i'd had FAR too much to drink.

yesterday:

a much earlier start to the day, hyper_viper and i did a peremtory clean-up, and did the highgate showering thing. we had a serious starbucks breakfast, and waited for AGES for rabbi_e to show up.

we all went through the greenwich, and visited the maritime museum, and then the observatory, both of which were very cool.
then it was back to the pub. i'm starting to love guinness.

we met up with addict on the southwark bridge, and we all went off to the eerie pub (that place just ROCKS), and consumed until it was time to run along.
i was a bit concerned about paying £3 for coffee, and then the waitress turned up with an entire jug of filter coffee. which i felt obliged to finish.

TOO - MUCH - COFFEE.

i took a leisurely stroll to my relatives place, who i'd never met before, and we had a lovely dinner, and talked a LOT.
t'was nice.

i got a ride back to kilburn, and had decaf coffee with my hosts, which was quite pleasant, and then discovered that she was around. turns out the reason she hadn't contacted me was that my hosts' son had forgotten to give her my number.
brilliant.
so we all chatted until about 2am.

today:

coughing my lungs out. thank you london for the fresh air, but at least i'm getting used to it. to be fair, i wasn't in too good a state when i left cape town, either.

right, that's me, buggering off.

*crick* (7th Sept)

well. well, well, well.
i'm still in london - so nyah nyah!!

yesterday:

i got up late, and went through to leicester square, for an excellent white choc mocha and a brownie from starbucks, which is far better here than in israel. surprisingly.

i organized a sim-card for my phone, which has helped tremendously, and we arbed around london, which included buckingham palace, the sherlock holmes, the millenium bridge (and another bridge), st. paul's cathedral (which is under restoration, i'm sure it's even more impressive in its normal state), a seriously gothik bar (abso-fuckin'-lutely AWESOME), and more to drink than is good for me.

after a quick bite to eat with my hosts, i made a mission to high barnet. the pool was good, and the bar was great until we had an incident with a zimbabwean and zambian, and we left just before the fists (ours) started flying. rather unpleasant.

we spent the remainder of the evening at a friend's place, which was really nice, and went to bed around 6am.

today:

after a quick breakfast, we took a bus down to highgate, had coffee and a shower, and then went back to c. london, where we saw the tower of london, and london bridge, and then stopped off desperately at kfc before returning to highgate - we're now on our way back to high barnet for a braai, and to watch shaun of the dead!!!

w00t!!

london! london! london!! (5th Sept)

wow!
wow!
wow wow wow! this is all so cool! ^_^

the flight sucked, and we all panicked as the wheel hydraulics where damaged, and we were stuck on an active runway for over an hour.
listening to herschelle gibbs' girlfriend mouthing off about her modelling career (she's not that pretty)...

first things first. it's summer here. hot, sunny weather. i don't know what it's really like here normally :P

the airport was confusing, the money was confusing, my phone doesn't work at all. i eventually managed to figure everything out, though (but with stress, as usual), and managed to get to kilburn a-ok. found the place with little hassle, had a shower, said hi to everyone, and then went with her and her cousin to central london, to see trafalgar square, whitehall (avenue?), big ben, the thames (much less blue than anticipated), and then back to trafalgar square to meet up with dirk diggler.

we walked through soho and oxford street, and the girls went home, while we went to camden town.

WOW.
AWESOME.
EXACTLY my style.
i thoroughly enjoyed myself, and i'm going to have to spend more time there.
i came back to base to change into smarter clothes (seriously busy household: lots of kids all covered in flour from making pizza, and the soccer buddies were all over, so it was quite loud), and then went to leicester square, which, on a saturday night, is a real experience. so many people... so many things going on...

hyper_viper met up with me with about 5 friends of his, and we went for drinks. and then to chinatown, to a moroccan restaurant (in chinatown??) for more drinks, a nargila, and the usual humous and pita etc.
and it totally wasn't my idea.

we walked through tottenham court road, which was quite entertaining (some serious freaks hanging around there), and then took the night bus to highgate. it was about 2am, and i was literally falling over.
we had coffee when we got to hyper_viper's girlfriend's place, and talked until the coffee wore off.

this morning, we were woken up with a serious breakfast - croissants, crumpets, coffee, and orange juice. i quite like crumpets.

after a shower, and borrowing clothing (hee hee - a unity top), we took a bus (i'm learning to abuse a 1-2 zone pass) all the way to high barnett (zone 6, no extra charge), to spend the day lounging around in the sun, drinking, talking, playing pool, running around with a rugby ball, and generally having a good time. we actually left london for an out-of-the-way pub, where i was introduced to a sunday roast lamb (with yorkshire pudding, weird stuff that), which was SU-PERB.

i just got back to base (my hosts have been in and out the whole weekend, so i haven't really seen them), and am about to get into the shower and then go to sleep.

hyper_viper has actually moved to london yesterday (as in, no longer lives in leeds), and i couldn't have picked a better time to get here. we're going to be running around london doing all the touristy things until i'm out of here.

so that's my news, i'm absolutely LOVING it here, it's wonderful and exciting and fun. the money's a bit weird, but i'm not converting - just going with everyone's advice and letting that see me through.
and letting them buy me drinks, of course :P

i've just had decaf coffee and biscuits, and now it's bedtime. *happy sigh*

arrival (4th Sept) (in progress)

due to lack of updation, some of the following may be inaccurate.

tuesday (31st Aug):

i'd forgotten to eat during the day, so i never made it to training. that about sums up my day.

wednesday (1st Sept):

i'd forgotten about it being spring. it rains in spring, but it's hot. hmmm.
i trained hard in the morning, went through to zenstar's, had an incredible shower (he has an incredible shower), watched jackie chan's police stories (1 and 2), trained some more, and my mom and i ordered pizza for supper. a good day, all in all.

thursday:

i had a good training in the morning, followed by good doughnuts.
mmm, doughnuts.

after a good shower, i went off to do some shopping in milnerton, which never got done. my mom had to work, and i ended up following her around. it sucked.

i had about an hour's nap in the afternoon, before going to fetch my mom from work. i wanted to go to shadowlight's for TNM, but my mom was busy and i had to wait again. more frustration, and i missed the first half of hellboy - AAARGH! and it was good enough that i thoroughly enjoyed the second half!
we then watched the first episode of stargate: atlantis, which was AMAZING. we settled on some things apropos KAOS, and then shadowslight dropped me off at home. which included coffee, and a fantastic piece of oriental translation.

friday:

i slept late. i called the danish consulate, beginning my attempt to re-connect with my ex-girlfriend through her family. that sounds a lot dodgier than it is.
i drove my mom to town, and picked up my second mum on the way back. ran into security guards wielding uzi's - don't they know that it's best used as a throwing weapon?
i went through to century city, and acquired an international student card. now i have to remember to USE the damn thing...

lunch was made up of more samoosas, which is happily consumed before returning home for a nap. i then went to town, picked up my mom and went with her to milnerton, where we did some last minute mr. price shopping. we then went to the waterfront to buy gifts for my host families, had some coffee while there, before going home to pack and say goodbye.

saturday (4th):

i slept terribly, and it was a LONG flight.
bugger.

the food was aweful, and the landing was absolutely frightening.
-- continued in next post ---