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*