squatting

my worries are reaching critical mass, my brain is on its way to implosion. the last two days have been mostly spent organizing a place to stay. and that's not easy on zero-day notice.

my commanders have been unbelievable. totally supportive. and the bull has once again impressed me no end. he sat me down the second he found out, and made me list every single thing that the south african zionist federation has done to me over the past year. it came out like a horror story, and he sent me off while he called the fed.

he called me back a short while later: i can now leave whenever i like, and i will receive my deposit back, with no penalty for defaulting on the contract.
apparently, having an excellent commander and an army legal team behind you is a serious advantage.

they didn't move my things yesterday - because somebody screwed up and they'd managed to damage the entrance to the new "finished" apartment so badly that it was completely inaccessible.

aside from the traumatic moving stuff, i've been training mini-me. he's not taking the exercises i've given him seriously, and it's beginning to anger me. he's demonstrated that he's capable. but i need him to actually realize the objective, not show me he knows how. he's in for a serious foot up his ass if this continues.

international talk like a pirate day was cancelled due to a total sense of humour failure. every now and again i'd remember, but i just couldn't get my aaaaarrrrrr going.

from the base, i bussed through to work, and yogi took me on his bike to his new pad. incredible ride through rush-hour traffic (my eyes are still stinging happily), and his (and his wife's) new home is fabulous.

i had a shower, dressed nicely, and we went off to the wedding.

great place, and it was fantastic seeing ze germans and the rest of the gang from studies again (and the pregnant friends, wow!). we had a great evening. the ceremony was really nice, the food (aside from disappointingly well-done steak) was good, and i didn't need to drink too much to enjoy myself.

and the music selection was styling. general funk, disco, and 80's. had a blast.

today:

-- potential for a quizzical interlude --

we left the wedding around 1.30am, and yogi dropped me off at "home". i brilliantly managed to leave the hot-water cylinder heating up the entire night, once again. awful.

sms wake-up: i didn't notice until my alarm went off, but from 3.30am till 6 / 7am, i received an sms every few minutes from my server testing application, informing me that no recipients were registered. that's a crazy bug, and deleting all those messages was not a pleasant way to wake up in the morning.

pink floyd and the sneaker pimps calmed me down considerably. i got to base, and a section breakfast was a great start to the working day.

during a round of announcements, my TL stood up and calmly informed everyone in our section about my transfer. he was greeted by silence... everyone was simply shocked. not only because they were impressed, but because it was absolutely the last thing anyone expected from me. i was a bit embarrassed, but i managed to spill out a quick speech (kinda like a super-short acceptance speech, a bit weird).

my brain was split up between actual work, training mini-me, and apartment hunting the entire day. it's like being schizophrenic - every thought is being harassed by the others to get a move on so the next thing can get taken care of. couple that with an absolutely absurd number of lengthy phone calls, and i'm feeling like i've had my head stuck in a microwave all day. every time my phone beeps or begins ringing all i'm thinking is "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!".

at some point, the contractor called me up to inform me that the new apartment is totally ready (bullshit.), and he wanted to know how to proceed. i told him to return my moved belongings to the temporary apartment, because i'm refusing to move until next week. i heard him swearing as he put the phone down.

about an hour later, he called again.
"do you want me to move the washing machine as well?"
"yes. i'd like everything left outside my front door, i'll deal with it when i get home."

before putting the phone down, i heard a long, bitter list of expletives escape him. i'm feeling like a bastard, but fuck them. i can't believe that after all the complaining about israelis that i've been doing all these years (along with all immigrants), all i've been thinking the past few days is "i friggin' HATE south africans!"

obviously i'm referring to an incredibly specific group of people, but it's unbelievable that from now on i'll be doing everything in my power to stay as clear of the community here as is possible.

i went to go look at an apartment i've been offered temporary sanctuary in, and it's absolutely stunning. and right next to the base. now i've been given the choice of going to the real-time programming course tomorrow (that i've been excited about for weeks), or moving into the new pad immediately.

i'm going with the course. i have to. i now have to personally organize civilian movers... bummer. i really don't want to be stuck in the zionist fed's apartments for the weekend. friday night 'til sunday night is the jewish new year, and if they get bitchy then i'm going to have a problem.

nystire arrived on our base around 5pm, and missioned with me to work. sat chatting with the cute coffee-shop girl. spot informed me that she's going into the army soon, so i took her details and i'll pass them around and see if she can be sorted out ;)

until now, i've been clearing my head. now it's time to get to work. i've decided i'm going to the course tomorrow, sod the zionist *spit* fed - they're not going to ruin this for me.

... [short break]

it amazes me how strong the mind is. after such a shitty day, i'm totally amped. why? because i've just been thinking about the fact that in three months and two days, i'm getting on an aeroplane and flying down to sunny south africa. and i'm going to spend two weeks partying and sleeping and chilling and being a human being.

i'm taking this opportunity to apologize in advance to anyone who doesn't get to see me while i'm there. if you're not a part of the solution, then you're a part of the problem. i aim to overdose on fun and craziness, and anyone who's keen to join me is only too welcome*!

* terms and conditions may apply.